HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY 1001ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS I

CONTENTS

I. MEANING AND ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION • • • • • 2Meaning of Term • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 3Origin of Man • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 4The Fall of Man • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 7The Flood from God • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 8The Origin of Civilization • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 11

II. EARLY EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION • • • • • • • • • • • 21Geography • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 21History • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 22Economy and Government • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 27Letters and Art • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 28Religion • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 30

III. ASSYRIAN AND BABYLONIAN CIVILIZATIONS • 33Old Babylonian Empire • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 33Assyria • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 35The Neo-Babylonian Empire • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 41

IV. PERSIAN CIVILIZATION • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 44History • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 45Religion • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 47Administration • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 47

GLOSSARY • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 50Author: Donald von Dohlen, M.A.Editor-in-Chief: Richard W. Wheeler, M.A.Ed.Editor: Richard MorseConsulting Editor: Howard Stitt, Th.M Ed.D.Revision Editor: Alan Christopherson, M.S.

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OBJECTIVESRead the objectives. The objectives tell you what you will be able to do when you have

successfully completed this LIFEPAC®.

When you have finished this LIFEPAC, you should be able to:

1. Define civilization.

2. List the elements of civilization.

3. Relate non-biblical views concerning man’s origins.

4. Discuss the biblical views of man’s origins.

5. Describe the Fall of man.

6. Discuss the Flood.

7. Explain the rise of rainbows and the seasons.

8. Trace the beginnings of the people and languages of the world.

9. Trace the rise of early nations.

10. Describe the boundaries of ancient Egypt.

11. List the main divisions in the history of ancient Egypt.

12. Name the outstanding rulers of the period.

13. Explain the political relationships of Egypt and its neighbors.

14. Describe the Egyptian economy.

15. List the classes in Egyptian society.

16. Discuss Egyptian arts and literature.

17. Discuss Egyptian religion.

When a society has developed cities, thegroundwork has been prepared for the attainmentof civilization. Freed of the struggle for basicsurvival, people can devote their lives to othergoals. Technology develops, labor divides andspecializes so that new goods can be produced, artsand literature flourish, trade increases, andpolitical organization takes place.

Man’s earliest ancestors were Adam and Eve.Having fallen from God’s grace in the Garden ofEden, they entered a world of scarcity where theyhad to work hard for their livelihood. The strugglefor dominion of the earth caused civilizations todevelop.

The Flood sent by God to punish man’swickedness saw only a handful of people survive—Noah and his family. From them we are alldescended. The story of Noah’s offspring is ourstory. Following the dispersion from Babel, theyspread out to form the races and civilizations of theworld.

One of the earliest of the great civilizations wasEgypt. Its accomplishments included the building

of great cities and massive structures such as thepyramids. The Egyptians developed a complexeconomic system, invented paper on which theywrote in new literary forms that we still use today,and invented techniques of embalming. They werean agricultural people who used what they had toits very best advantage.

Babylon was the capital of a great empire,called Babylonia, that encompassed much ofMesopotamia in the Fertile Crescent. TheBabylonians were best known for developing acode of laws. They also contributed to mathematicsand astronomy. North of Babylonia was Assyria,which was most expert at war, but produced artand literature as well.

The later Persian Empire followed the fall ofBabylon. Persia was fair and just to the people itconquered. The Persians had a genius forgovernment and administration. Their lands werejoined by post roads which enabled messages totravel a thousand miles in a few days. Persia laidthe foundation on which the later Roman Empirewould be built.

ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS I

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18. Describe the boundaries of ancient Babylon.

19. Discuss the achievements of Hammurabi.

20. List the accomplishments of the Babylonians.

21. Describe the boundaries of Assyria.

22. Relate the important events in the history of Assyria.

23. Describe the religion, art, and literature of the Assyrians.

24. Relate the events that led to the rise and fall of ancient Persia.

25. List the types of Persian gods.

26. Describe the administration of the Persian Empire.

Survey the LIFEPAC. Ask yourself some questions about this study. Write your questions

here.

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I. MEANING AND ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION

Civilization occurs after a society is able to feeditself and to support classes of people who arenonfarmers. Then cities arise, specialization oflabor develops, and commerce evolves. Withwealth from commerce, the arts, literature, andsciences are able to flourish, and politicalorganization is achieved.

Differing views exist concerning the origin ofman. Evolutionists believe man evolved from alower form of life. Most Christians believe in the

biblical six days of Genesis. Theistic evolutionistsbelieve that God started the evolutionary processand then left it to work according to His laws.

Regardless of various interpretations of man’sorigins, most Christians believe that man’s Falloccurred in the Garden of Eden and was followedlater by the great Flood from God to punish man’swickedness. From the offspring of Noah, theFlood’s survivor, civilization originated with itsvarious races, languages, and nations.

SECTION OBJECTIVES

Review these objectives. When you have completed this section, you should be able to:

1. Define civilization.

2. List the elements of civilization.

3. Relate non-biblical views concerning man’s origins.

4. Discuss the biblical views of man’s origins.

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5. Describe the Fall of man.6. Discuss the Flood.7. Explain the rise of rainbows and the seasons.8. Trace the beginnings of the people and languages of the world.9. Trace the rise of early nations.

VOCABULARYStudy these words to enhance your learning success in this section.

antediluvian mandatecuneiform monogamycyclical monotheismdevolution ontogenyevolve polytheismliteracy quintessence

MEANING OF CIVILIZATION

Many scholars believe that civilization is onlyattained by a society that has developed cities. Itmeans the ordering of society in such a way thatarts and letters are able to flourish. The very termcivilization comes from the Latin word for city,civitas, from which “civility” is also derived.

The city is only possible when society isdeveloped sufficiently to support a largepopulation of nonfarmers. Only then can theculture expand since societies producephilosophers, scientists, and teachers only whenthe problem of providing food is solved. Societiesthat are concerned with basic survival are notcivilized.

One of the most important elements ofcivilization is technology—the tools and processesused to make things and to satisfy human needs.The more advanced a society’s tools are, the moreadvanced the society is. The invention of the plowwas crucial from the standpoint of civilization; itmade food production more efficient and freedmore people for other pursuits. Even today,societies that still use hoes and sticks forcultivation are less developed culturally than arethose that have adopted the plow. Mechanizedtools allow for an even greater productivity andmore complex societies.

An advanced society demands a division oflabor—people specializing in their work. No one,therefore, is economically self-sufficient. Everyonedepends on the work of everyone else.Self-sufficient economic units (families, clans, ortribes) are found only in primitive societies.

An advanced society is marked by commerceand trade. Such a society demands the use of

money as a means of exchange. Another feature ofan advanced civilization is record keeping;bookkeeping and accounting are needed to recordand evaluate transactions.

Civilization requires a higher level of politicalorganization than is ordinarily a part of primitivesocieties. The concept of the modern state, forexample, is generally considered a recentdevelopment. The organization of society becomesmore complex as it advances. Legislatures, courts,laws, and constitutions are significant advancesover the will of a tribal chieftan.

Scholars generally attribute advancedcivilizations with higher moral codes than those ofprimitive civilizations. Such concepts asmonogamy, justice, humane treatment ofcriminals, belief in one God, are considered to beadvances over primitive practices. Advancedcivilizations, to some extent, reflect thedevelopment of religious doctrines. Obviously,someone who accepts the Judeo-Christiantradition and the Old and New Testaments asbeing from God (divine revelation) cannot believein any significant evolution of religious beliefs.Historic departures from biblical concepts aredevolutions from an eternally existing height. Thisstatement does not mean that God’s revelation ofHimself and His program has not beenprogressive. He has revealed His truth in stages,but these stages are not evolutionary. Hisrevelation was not a progression from polytheismto monotheism. Polytheism is always a perversionof an original monotheistic revelation (Romans1:17-28).

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Complete these activities.

1.1 What do scholars believe societies must develop before they can have true

civilization? (one word) ______________________________

1.2 What is necessary before cities can exist? __________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1.3 List four elements of civilization.

a. ____________________________ c. ____________________________

b. ____________________________ d. ____________________________

1.4 Define technology. _____________________________________________________________________________________

1.5 What was the impact of the invention of the plow? _____________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Complete these statements.

1.6 The interdependence of an advanced society demands the division or specialization of

_______________________________________ .

1.7 Isolated, self-sufficient economic units mark a more __________________________________ economy.

1.8 The modern _______________________________________ is normally held to be a recent development.

1.9 A Christian cannot believe in the ____________________________________________ of religious beliefs.

1.10 The term, ____________________________________ revelation, means that God’s revelation of Himself

and His purposes has been in stages.

1.11 Polytheism is always a _________________________________ of an original monotheism.

ORIGIN OF MAN

Music and art can be found in almost everysociety. The most primitive culture has artists andsingers. African tribes make music and so doprimitive Amerinds. Their music is not as complexas that of Bach and Beethoven, however. Primitivecultures produce art that is more simple than artproduced in more advanced cultures. Suchconcepts as depth, shading, and precision are oftenlacking in the art of simpler societies. The works ofRembrandt and Michelangelo are products of ahigh level of civilization.

Literature and writing in general are theaccomplishments of an advanced society. Theyrequire a certain amount of technology(papermaking, ink, and a writing implement), theyrequire an extensive language, and they require agroup of individuals with the time and educationnecessary both to write and to read their writings.Even more complex business transactions demandsome literacy. The more civilized a society is, themore books it will have.

The Christian belief in the origin of man, asdescribed in Genesis chapters 1 and 2, is directlycontradicted by evolutionists, who believe manevolved from a lower form of life. Some Christianevolutionists have combined the two ideas, saying

that God created man according to His laws ofevolution and that both evolution and Genesis arecorrect. However, if the Bible is divine revelation,as we believe, then man is the highest achievementof God’s Creation.