Chapter 1 The First Civilizations: The People of Western Asia and Egypt

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Chapter 1The First CivilizationsThe People of
Western Asia and Egypt
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The Spread of Homo sapiens 1. It is estimated
that the earth is as much as six billion years
old. Creatures like human beings appeared in the
last three to five million years. The earliest
of these, called hominids, lived in Africa.
Known as Australopithecus afarensis, these first
hominids lived in East and South Africa. Unlike
other animals, the hominids were capable of
passing culture from one generation to the next.
Australopithecine fossils have been found in
Hadar, Ethiopia, where at least thirty-five
individuals (one a female) date from between 3.0
and 3.5 million years of age. At Laetoli in
northern Tanzania, fossil jaws, teeth, and
footprints have been discovered that are 3.35 and
3.75 million years old. Younger, at 1.75 million
years, are the fossil remains of a four-foot
individual, called Homo habilis (skillful man),
found in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Significantly,
crude tools were found near these remains. 2.
About 1.5 million years ago the second stage of
human development occurred with the appearance of
Homo erectus ("upright human beings"). These
hominids used more sophisticated tools than
Australopithecus and were the first to leave
Africa and move into both Europe and Asia. Homo
erectus disappeared about 300,000 years ago. 3.
Homo sapiens ("wise human being") made their
appearance about 250,000 years ago. By about
100,000 B.C.E. two groups of Homo sapiens had
developed -- Neanderthal and Homo sapiens sapiens
("wise human beings"). Remains of the
Neanderthal (first found in the Neander Valley in
Germany) have been discovered in both Europe and
the Middle East. This specie has been dated
between 100,000 and 30,000 B.C.E. They relied on
a variety stone tools and in Europe, Neanderthals
buried their dead. Neanderthals also made
clothes from the skins of animals killed for
food. Homo sapiens sapiens, on the other hand,
appeared in Africa between 200,000 and 150,000
years ago. About 100,000 B.C.E., they began
migrating out of Africa. By 30,000 B.C.E. the
Homo sapiens sapiens had displaced the
Neanderthals who became extinct. Interbreeding
between the two races may have occurred. 4. The
spread of Homo sapiens sapiens was a very slow
process with people advancing beyond their old
hunting grounds at a rate of two or three miles
per generation. What drove these people to
migrate is unknown but surely two factors may
have been that of seeking a more certain food
supply and pressure from competing groups for the
same resource area, the loser moving on. Over
tens of thousands of years these mobile Homo
sapiens sapiens came to populate the world. By
10,000 B.C.E. the process was completed. 5.
The last stage of world occupation by Homo
sapiens sapiens came about 15,000 years ago when
Asians made their way into North America. Driven
by a search for a greater food supply or perhaps
pursued by other groups, the first occupants
crossed by way of Beringia connecting Siberia and
America. This bridge may have been either land as
a consequence of lower sea levels or ice due to
the ice age. Some may have come by sea from
Polynesia. 6. At Lascaux, in southern France,
and Altamira, in northern Spain, cave paintings
from the Paleolithic period (c. 15,000 B.C.E.)
have been discovered. The paintings, which
feature cattle and horses, were part of the
mythic-religious rites of hunting. Questions 1.
How did the hominids develop and spread to
populate the world? 2. What distinguished the
various hominids?
The Spread of Homo sapiens
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• The First Humans
• Australopithecines, c. 2-4 million years ago
• Homo erectus, c. 100,000-1.5 million years ago
• Homo sapiens
• Neanderthal, c. 100,000-30,000 B.C.E.
• Homo sapiens sapiens, c. 200,000 B.C.E.
• The Hunter-Gatherers of the Old Stone Age
• Paleolithic Age, c. 2,500,000-10,000 B.C.E.
• Nomadic people
• Division of labor
• Fire, 500,000 years ago
• Cave Paintings

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The Development of Agriculture 1. Throughout
early hominid development, the people were
hunters, fishers, and gatherers, but not
producers of food. The division of labor was
according to gender. Men were the hunters,
fishers, tool and weapon makers, and warriors.
Women, less mobile due to childbearing and
accompanying responsibilities, smaller in
stature, and with less strength, gathered nuts,
berries, wove baskets, and made clothing. It was
in their capacity as gatherers that women
probably discovered how to plant and care for
seeds. 2. The Age of Agriculture, during the
Neolithic ("New Stone") Revolution, began
following the end of the last ice age around
10,000 B.C.E. and would last to about 4000 B.C.E.
The shift to agriculture was slow and probably
lasted from about 10,000-7000 B.C.E.
Accompanying the domestication of grains was also
the gradual domestication of many animals such as
dogs, pigs, cows, goats and sheep. 3. Between
8000 and 7000 B.C.E. agriculture appeared
independently in five different areas the Near
East about 8000 B.C.E. in China, Africa, and
Mesoamerica about 4000 B.C.E. and in India by at
least 3600 B.C.E. In the Near East the
revolution was centered on wheat, barley, and
lentils. Wheat was also the standard in India.
Millet and rice were cultivated in southern Asia
and China. In Mesoamerica, beans, potatoes, and
corn were domesticated. Millet and yams were key
in western Africa. 4. The growing of crops led
to the establishment of permanent settlements.
One of the oldest known agricultural villages was
Jericho in Palestine dating from about 8000
B.C.E. By 3000 B.C.E. when writing was invented,
there were urban civilizations in the valleys of
the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Mesopotamia,
the Nile River in Egypt, the Indus River Valley
in India, and the Yellow River basin of China.
The Mesoamerican urban civilizations would
develop in the first millennium
C.E. Questions 1. Examine the transition from
hunting-gathering to agriculture. 2. Why was
there a sexual division and labor and what were
the consequences of this?
The Development of Agriculture
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• The Agricultural Revolution (c. 10,000-4000
  B.C.E.)
• Neolithic Revolution
• Independent development
• Middle East, 8000 B.C.E.
• Balkans, 6500 B.C.E.
• France, Central Europe, and Coastal
  Mediterranean, 4000 B.C.E.
• Western Asia and Nile Valley of Egypt, 6000
  B.C.E.
• Northwestern and Central India, 7000-5000 B.C.E.
• Southeast Asia and South China, 5000 B.C.E.
• North China, 6000 B.C.E.
• Mesoamerica, 7000-5000 B.C.E.
• Villages
• Writing
• Metalworking

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• Emergence of Civilization
• Characteristics of Civilization
• Urbanization
• Religious structure
• Governmental bureaucracy
• Military structure
• Social structure based on economics
• Materialism
• Writing

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The Ancient Near East 1. Protoneolithic culture
developed independently in northern Syria and the
Jordan Valley at Jericho near the Dead Sea in
Palestine. Existing as early as by 8000 B.C.E.,
Jericho covered several acres by 7000 B.C.E.
Massive fortified walls 6 feet 6 inches at the
base and at some places 20 feet high surrounded
the city. Enclosed within the wall were the
houses of the two thousand inhabitants. In the
north on the central plateau of Asia Minor above
the Taurus Mountains was the Neolithic town of
Çatal Hüyük which covered about thirty-two acres
and housed about six thousand inhabitants living
in one story mud-brick houses built around inner
courtyards. Reaching its zenith between 6700 and
5700 B.C.E., the community apparently grew
wealthy due to trade in obsidian that was used in
jewelry, mirrors, or knives. With adequate
rainfall and both plants and animals to
domesticate, agriculture apparently began in
these plains rather than the river valleys. 2.
The headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
are found in the mountains of Armenia (modern
Turkey). The land between the two rivers is a
rolling plateau broken by limestone suitable for
pasturage. Beyond the Tigris are wooded hills and
fertile, well-watered valleys. The Euphrates
flows over a course of about 1675 miles while the
Tigris winds for almost 1150 miles and joins the
Euphrates about 120 miles from the Persian Gulf
at the Shatt al-Arab. Subject to rains,
tributaries, and the melting snow in the Zagros
Mountains between April and May, the two rivers
irregularly flood leaving deposits of rich
alluvial silt in the swamps of the delta. Such
conditions fostered the necessity for water
management through irrigation and drainage
canals. This required both population
concentrations (cities) and organizational and
bureaucratic controls. One of the earliest
cities was Uruk near the Euphrates. It occupied
an area of about a thousand acres and was
surrounded by a six-mile long wall with defensive
towers every thirty to thirty-five feet. The
housing consisted of both the flats of peasants
and larger dwellings of civil and religious
officials. 3. Overland trade routes in
Mesopotamia usually followed the Euphrates
because the banks of the Tigris are frequently
steep and difficult. The excellent location of
Babylon allowed it to dominate the trade of
Mesopotamia. Merchants followed the Tigris north
to the lands of Assyria and Armenia while the
Euphrates led northwest to Syria, Palestine, and
the Mediterranean. 4. The early residents of
Mesopotamia, the Sumerians, arrived at the mouths
of the Tigris and Euphrates around 4000 B.C.E.
and by 3000 B.C.E. had created a number of
independent city-states, most notably Ur, Uruk,
and Lagash. Vulnerable due to the ease of
invasion from the north and constant warring over
land and water rights, Semites from Akkad
conquered the area. By 1700 B.C.E., the Sumerian
element was completely submerged due to the union
of Mesopotamia by the Amorite (Semite) Hammurabi
(1792-1750 B.C.E.) of Babylon. 5. The Hittites,
Indo-Europeans, arrived in Asia Minor about 2700
B.C.E. By about 1750 B.C.E. the Hittite Empire
had extended itself to Babylon where the dynasty
of Hammurabi was extinguished. Hittite strength
came from being the first in the Near East to
master the technology of smelting iron. This
gave them both a military and commercial
advantage. The empire disappeared about 1200
B.C.E. in part due to the attack of marauders
called the "Sea People." Question 1. What
physical and geographical characteristics might
affect development of organized society?
The Ancient Near East
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• Mesopotamia
• Sumerian city-states, c. 3000-2350 B.C.E.
• Wheel
• Social groups
• Nobles
• Commoners
• slaves
• Akkadian Empire, c. 2340-2100 B.C.E.
• Sargon
• Amorites (Old Babylonians)
• Cuneiform
• Epic of Gilgamesh
• Code of Hammurabi

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Ancient Egypt and the Nile 1. The Nile River
flows north almost 4200 miles from its
southernmost source in modern-day Burundi in
central Africa. In ancient times, the arable
portion of the Nile Valley extended about 800
miles upriver from the mouth. The river floods
every spring from about June to the end of
October over a narrow strip of land that is never
more than thirteen miles wide. Catch basins
built by the Egyptians trapped water over the
soil that allowed the salt to settle. Because
the color of the soil left by the flooding Nile
is black, Egyptians called their country Kemet
which means black. 2. At the Nile Delta about
one hundred miles from the Mediterranean Sea, the
river splits into a number of branches that flow
to the sea. This territory, north of Memphis, is
called Lower Egypt while the land upstream to the
south along a narrow ten to twenty mile wide
valley, is referred to as Upper Egypt. Like the
delta of the Tigris and Euphrates, engineering
works were required to make full use of the
waters. Unlike the Tigris and Euphrates that
required large population centers to help control
the unpredictable rivers, massive intervention
was not needed. For this reason, the population
remained rural. 3. Granite and sandstone for
building were mined near the First Cataract.
Minerals came from the hills and deserts to the
east. Nevertheless, Egypt lacked copper and
timber that were acquired from Sinai and
Palestine. The Nile Delta was the source of salt
for Egypt 4. The Nile was reflected in the
Egyptian creation myth which declared that before
creation there was a watery void and then, just
as the Nile recedes leaving little hillocks of
mud, the primeval watery void subsided leaving an
island hillock upon which sat the creator-god
Atum who brought into existence all other beings
and phenomena of the universe. (John A. Wilson,
The Culture of Ancient Egypt, p. 59) 5. For
administrative purposes, the Old Kingdom was
divided into twenty-two provinces in Upper Egypt
and twenty in Lower. After 2000 B.C.E., most
pharaohs made Thebes their capital. The temples
to Amon and tombs of the pharaohs and their
queens were built into cliffs at nearby
Luxor. 6. South of the delta is Memphis, the
capital of the Old Kingdom (2700-2200 B.C.E.).
North of the capital is Djoser's Pyramid, the
first pyramid to be built, and Giza where the
Great Pyramid and the Sphinx are located. These
pyramids served as burial places for the pharaohs
of the Old Kingdom. The largest of the pyramids
is Khufu (Cheops) dating from about 2540 B.C.E.
Standing 481 feet high and 756 feet on each side,
it covers thirteen acres and is composed of 2.3
million stone blocks averaging 2.5 tons each.
The pyramid was covered with limestone blocks
(subsequently removed for building Cairo). The
four sides coincided closely to the four points
of the compass. 7. During a religious struggle
in which the worship of Aton was introduced and
the temples of rival gods were closed, Amenhotep
IV or Akhnaton (1367-1350 B.C.E.) sought to
lessen the power of the priesthood of Amon-Re at
the capital of Thebes by moving the center of
government two hundred miles north to Akhetaton
(near modern Tell-el-Amarna) where an immense
temple to Aton was built. Questions 1. What
impact did the Nile have upon Egyptian
civilization? 2. Describe how the physical
environment of Mesopotamia and Egypt differed and
the manner in which this might contribute to the
emergence of different civilizations.
Ancient Egypt and the Nile
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• Egyptian Civilization
• Upper and Lower Egypt united, 3100 B.C.E.
• Old Kingdom, 2700-2200 B.C.E.
• Middle Kingdom, 2050-1650 B.C.E.
• Maat
• Pyramids
• Hieroglyphs
• New Kingdom, 1567-1085 B.C.E.
• Hyksos
• Amenhotep IV (Akhnaton)

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The Pyramid at Gizeh
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The Temple of Queen Hatesheput in the Valley of
King
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Ancient Palestine and the Jewish Kingdoms 1.
Phoenicia was centrally located on the main trade
routes between Egypt, Asia Minor, and
Mesopotamia. The first Phoenicians (Canaanites)
established their urban centers at Sidon, Byblos,
and Ugarit about 3000 B.C.E. 2. From the
Hittites, the Phoenicians learned how to smelt
iron and passed the techniques west to the Greeks
and south to the African continent. The
Phoenician urban civilization also served as a
center for manufacturing, the skills of which
were learned from the conquering Egyptians who in
return were influenced by Phoenician cults and
religious ideas. 3. Phoenician culture was
influenced by Babylonian mythological stories of
the beginning of the world, the birth of the
gods, and the creation of humanity. It may have
been through the Phoenicians that the Babylonian
origin myths were passed to the Hebrews and
Greeks. 3. The northern Phoenician coast is
isolated by the Lebanon Range but approachable
from the sea by a series of harbors at Tyre,
Sidon, and Byblos. By about 2000 B.C.E., Byblos
was supplying Egypt with timber from nearby
forests. It also traded Egyptian papyrus which
the Greeks called byblos after the city from
which it came (biblia came to mean book in
Greek). The port went into decline after 1100
B.C.E. as Tyre and Sidon became more powerful.
Before 1100 B.C.E., Tyre was controlled by Egypt
and traded with the people of Asia Minor and the
Aegean. 4. Palestine is about 150 miles long
and less than 10,000 square miles in area. The
coast is harborless and except for the rich Plain
of Esdraelon the land is barren limestone.
Although the area had neither sufficient
rainfall, means of irrigation, nor economic
resources, its location on the chief trade routes
from east to west was an invitation to migrating
people from the deserts and the mountains. As
Palestine became a battleground for stronger
nations, the culture of the region came to
reflect the influence of Babylon, Egypt, and the
Hittites. 5. The name Hebrew may come from the
ancient Semitic word abar meaning "to cross or
pass over" and perhaps refers to the passage of
Abraham and his followers into Canaan across the
Syrian Desert from Ur. 6. The Semitic Israelites
began their exodus from slavery in the Nile Delta
about 1230 B.C. Crossing a series of shallow
lakes, they drove south down to the barren,
rock-strewn Sinai, the Wilderness of Zin. At Mt.
Sinai their God gave Moses the Ten Commandments.
About 1200 B.C.E. the Israelites crossed the
Jordan River into Canaan where they came into
conflict with the Philistines who were part of
the Sea Peoples who had settled the coastal plain
of Palestine. The wars forced the scattered
Israelite tribes to unite under a king. Once the
Philistines were defeated, Israelites split into
two halves in the north, Israel with its capital
at Samaria, and in the south, Judah centered on
Jerusalem. Questions 1. What role did the
Phoenicians play in cultural diffusion? 2. How
did the environment and contact with other people
shape the Israelites?
Ancient Palestine and the Jewish Kingdoms
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• Indo-Europeans
• Phoenicians
• Hebrews
• Abraham
• Yahweh (YHWH)
• Exodus from Egypt, 1300-1200 B.C.E.
• King Soloman (c. 971-931 B.C.E.)

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The Assyrian and Persian Empires 1. The Armenian
highlands and the plains of Babylon bound the
lands of ancient Assyria on the north and south.
In the east, the Zagros Mountains lying just
beyond the Tigris River hemmed in Assyria. These
geographical roadblocks kept the Assyrians from
ever permanently expanding north and east. To
the west, however, the absence of natural
boundaries and strong powers after the demise of
the Hittite Empire permitted Assyrian expansion
to the Mediterranean. 2. Mesopotamia and the
surrounding lands were satisfactorily endowed but
those of Assyria were not. Although iron
deposits were present, the Assyrians had to seek
other mineral resources from Armenia, Persia,
central Asia Minor, the Danube region, and Egypt.
Regular rainfall meant no large irrigation works
were needed and as a result Assyria became a land
of farming villages with few significant cities.
Trade was generally carried out by foreigners.
The aggressive nature of the Assyrians may have
been due to threats from their war-like neighbors
to the north and east and from Babylon to the
south. These threats prompted political cohesion
and militarism. 3. By 700 B.C.E., Assyria
controlled Mesopotamia, parts of the Iranian
plateau, parts of Anatolia, Syria, Palestine, and
Egypt down to Thebes. The Assyrian army used a
variety of tactics including guerrilla and siege
warfare as well as terror, especially laying
waste the land of enemies by destroying dams,
burning crops, cutting down trees, obliterating
towns, and committing atrocities against the
people. Prisoners were often deported from their
lands to Assyria where they repopulated areas
decimated by warfare. Over the course of three
centuries some four to five million people were
deported to Assyria resulting in a very racially
and linguistically mixed people. 4.
Babylonia became wealthy due to its location on
the trade routes crossing Mesopotamia, a strong
agriculture, and a developed textile and metals
industry. An eight-mile wall, encircled by a
moat filled from the Euphrates surrounded the
capital of Babylon. The city was adorned with
temples and palaces including the Hanging Garden,
which consisted of terraces and an artificial
mountain upon which was a lush garden irrigated
by water piped to the top. 5. The original
homeland of the Persians was Persis in the
southwestern corner of modern Iran. The western
coast along the Persian Gulf is narrow and
harborless. Hemming in this hot arid region to
the east are abrupt mountains rising to six
thousand feet. Beyond the mountains is a high
plateau broken by valleys, which are fertile and
blessed with adequate rainfall. Here in a
temperate climate a considerable population could
be supported. Nevertheless, this was not the
basis for an empire since there was no outlet to
the sea and the only routes west were through the
mountain roads to Susa and Babylon. The
harshness of Persis is characteristic of all of
Persia. High mountains that isolate the interior
from the sea surround a vast central plateau,
which extends from the Tigris-Euphrates valley in
the west to the Indus valley in the east. On
this broad plain lay scattered oases and two
immense salt deserts (Dasht-i-Lut and
Dasht-i-Kavir covering some 38,000 square miles)
which physically form a barrier between the east
and west. The Dasht-i-Kavir southeast of the
Caspian Sea is mostly covered with salt instead
of sand and is devoid of water or plant life.
Facing the impossible desert, nomads migrating
into Persia from central Asia and the steppes of
Russia would turn east to India or west to
Mesopotamia. 6. Darius (521-486 B.C.E.), after a
year of civil war, began strengthening the
empire. He built a canal linking the Red Sea and
the Mediterranean by way of the Nile, campaigned
into western India extending Persian territory to
the Indus River, and conquered Thrace making the
Macedonian king a vassal. In 499 B.C.E., the
Ionian Greek city states revolted and after
receiving aid from mainland Greeks, invaded Lydia
and burned the provincial capital of Sardis. The
rebels were punished and Darius invaded the Greek
mainland culminating in his defeat at the
Marathon in 490 B.C.E. Question 1. How did the
geography of the Near East impact the character
of the Assyrians?
The Assyrian and Persian Empires
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• Assyrian Empire
• Ashurbanipal (669-626 B.C.E.)
• Iron weapons
• Horse-drawn war chariots
• Terror
• Persian Empire
• Indo-European
• Cyrus (559-530 B.C.E)
• Cambyses (530-522 B.C.E.)
• Darius (521-486 B.C.E.)
• Zoroastrianism