The Ancient World: Prehistoric, Mesopotamian, and Egyptian Civilizations

1
The Ancient World Prehistoric, Mesopotamian, and
Egyptian Civilizations
2
First Humans

• ca. 300,000 B.C.E. Neanderthal
• ca. 200,000 B.C.E. Homo sapiens in Africa
  35,000 years ago established in Europe
• Made tools
• Cooked with fire
• Buried dead in ritual ceremonies
• Worshiped forces of nature

3
Paleolithic (Old Stone Age)

• ca. 35,000 - 10,000 B.C.E. (corresponds with
  geological Ice Age)
• Cave art Lascaux, France (fig. 1.1) bulls,
  humans, etc., painted in deeper parts of caves
  not used for living
• Portable art Woman of Willendorf (fig. 1.2)

4
Neolithic (New Stone Age)

• ca. 8000-2300 B.C.E.
• Megalithic structures Stonehenge (fig. 1.4), a
  post-and-lintel structure, perhaps a calendar

5
Bronze Age

• ca. 2300-1000 B.C.E.
• Began to cultivate the land
• Civilization in Mesopotamia

6
Mesopotamia

• Present-day Iraq
• The arts, writing, and law flourished
• Empires dominated the Near East and northern
  Africa

7
The Sumerians

• ca. 3500 B.C.E.
• First people to use writing (cuneiform)
• Constructed monumental buildings Ziggurats
  stepped pyramids
• Literature Epic of Gilgamesh, which tells of a
  Great Flood also recounted in the Hebrew Bible
• Religion polytheism

8
Empires of the Ancient Near East

• Akkadians the Victory Stele of Naram-Sin (fig.
  1.8)
• Babylonians Law code of Hummurabi (Stele, fig.
  1.9)
• Assyrians conquered lower Egypt
• Ashurbanipal
• Nebuchadnezzar II Ishtar Gate (fig. 1.13)
• Persians Darius palace at Persepolis (fig.
  1.14). Persepolis later fell to Alexander the
  Great

9
Egypt Religion and Society

• Pharaoh, or king, was living embodiment of a god
• Rest of society stratified
• Polytheistic
• Belief in the immortality of the spirit
• Treasures buried with mummified dead to insure
  happiness after death

10
The Arts of Egypt

• Architecture
• Great Pyramids of Giza (fig. 1.2)
• Funerary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (fig. 1.24)
• Temple of Amen-Mut-Khonsu (fig. 1.25)
• Sculpture
• The Great Sphinx (fig. 1.21)
• King Menkaure and Queen (fig. 1.22)
• Four Seated Figures of Ramesses II (fig. 1.27)

11
The Arts of Egypt

• Painting
• House and Garden of the Scribe Nakte (fig. 1.26)
• Nobleman Hunting in the Marshes (fig. 1.28)
• Musicians and Dancers (fig. 1.29)

12
Rulers of Egypt

• Akhenaten cult of the god Aten
• Established court at Amarna with his queen
  Nefertiti
• Rule noted for new intimacy in the pictorial
  depiction of humans (fig. 1.30)
• Tutankhamen restored cult of Amon-Re
• Ramesses II monumental, richly-decorated tombs

13
Decline of Egypt

• Kush empire
• Assyrians
• Persians
• Alexander the Great Hellenistic culture