wanderers and settlers
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27 January 2009. Wanderers and Settlers. Defining “Western Civilization”. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
WANDERERS AND SETTLERS27 January 2009
DEFINING “WESTERN CIVILIZATION”
Western – Or the “West,” may have multiple meanings. The term is often associated with particular geographical, historical, religious, economic, political, cultural, etc. contexts (i.e. Europe/U.S.A., Rome/Greece, Christian, capitalist, monarchies/democracies, classical music/blue jeans/McDonald’s).
Civilization – has a political, economic, social, religious/intellectual, cultural system (but is often associated with “loaded” terms like progress, advanced state, development, superior sense of self and collective identity)
History – an account of past events, often written (can be oral/memory), that does more than just relay “facts” (names/dates/places) by attempting to given cause/effect relationships (the how and why)
WESTERN CIVILIZATION Economic system Social system Political system Religious/Intellectual system Cultural system
How do these things define civilization?
AFRICAN GENESIS AS ETHNOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
Ethnography - The branch of anthropology that deals with the scientific description of specific human cultures. Early hominids had: 1) bipedalism 2) very
large brain 3) human larynx Did climate changes spur human
“evolution?” Homo habilis – 2 to 3 million years ago Homo erectus – 1.8 million years ago
HOMO SAPIENS
Between 160,000 and 200,000 years ago About 40,000 years ago, the first “modern”
human began to appear A new species, began displacing old human
populations and spread from Africa to the Americas, Australia and the Arctic
As challenges emerged they went through minor evolutionary changes in order to adapt
THE STONE AND ICE AGES The appearance of the first “man-made”
stone tools around 2 million years ago to the introduction of metal tools around 5,000 years ago is called the Paleolithic Age (Old Stone Age)
Periodic cold climate changes, known as ice ages, occurred frequently considering the expanse of time. The last Ice Age ended about 10,000 years ago
DURING THE ICE AGE How might an Ice Age speed up social
evolutions?
Climate change forced humans into small, highly mobile bands creating the “hunter/gatherer” society as did the genderization of roles create better efficiency
Because of the nomadic lifestyle, hunter/gatherers did not spend lots of energy on housing
“PRE-HISTORY” TO 4,000 B.C.E. Prehistoric human societies existed at the mercy of
environment and the constant search for food Development of hunter/gatherer societies Groups maintained their own territory; didn’t roam
randomly Develop early trade patterns
Tools for luxury goods like shells for jewelry Technological development
Better weapons Fire
Early Religious systems Ritual disfigurement of the deceased Burial rituals—do they believe in an afterlife? Hierarchy?
CULTURE AND COMMUNITY Early communities organized around
kinship and “marriage” Staying put led to greater “advances”
in “arts,” “sciences,” and “religious developments”
VENUS OF WILLENDORF 24,000-22,000 B.C.E.
THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION Neolithic means “New Stone Age” Discovery of agriculture and the domestication of animals
Called the Neolithic Revolution (10,000 – c. 4,000 B.C.E.) From nomadic existences to settled life Strong relationship between cultivating crops and
population increase First animal to be domesticated: sheep, 8500 B.C.E. Led to gender-based division of labor and emergence of
social hierarchy Invention of irrigation (~6,500 B.C.E.) facilitated the
establishment of settled agricultural communities in the Fertile Crescent
ÇATALHÖYÜK, A NEOLITHIC SETTLEMENT
ÇATALHÖYÜK
NEOLITHIC POLITICAL ORGANIZATION The Earliest Monarchies
Absolutism Essential duties:
symbolic father Dynasty building
peace-keeper Legal systems
warrior
NEOLITHIC POLITICAL ORGANIZATION Polytheistic Religion
Gods and goddesses representing earthly and celestial elements
Priest figures celebrated gods with ceremony
Communal feasts to celebrate gods Early calendars built around polytheistic
religion
SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF CIVILIZATION Famine/insufficient nutrition Plague Division of labor
Gender Social class
War
THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION
Neolithic means “New Stone Age” Discovery of agriculture and the domestication of
animals Called the Neolithic Revolution (10,000 – c. 4,000
B.C.E.) From nomadic existences to settled life Strong relationship between cultivating crops and
population increase First animal to be domesticated: sheep, 8500 B.C.E. Led to gender-based division of labor and emergence
of social hierarchy Invention of irrigation (~6,500 B.C.E.) facilitated the
establishment of settled agricultural communities in the Fertile Crescent
MESOPOTAMIA ~4,000 – 1,000 B.C.E. Most historians
trace the origins of “western civilization” to the land area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers Mesopotamia=la
nd between the rivers.
Geography allowed for the cultivation of surplus foods and so the Sumerians and Babylonians built large cities near the two rivers
Mesopotamia, 4000-1000 B.C.E. Includes Sumer, Akkadian Empire, Assyria,
and Babylonia Egypt, Canaanites, Hebrews, 3050-1000 B.C.E. Hittites, Minoans, Mycenaeans, 2200-1000 B.C.E. Greek Dark Age, 1000-750 B.C.E.
THE FIRST ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS
WHY IS MESOPOTAMIA IMPORTANT? The “West’s” first large-scale societal
structure and system Developed the wheel, writing, complex
math, complex metal working (bronze), and the first empire (Akkad)
What “cultural” developments arose from Mesopotamia? What of ourselves can we recognize in this society?
THE KEY TO WESTERN HISTORY Writing (and so history)
began in Sumer Cuneiform (wedge-
shaped) written language Pictographic Increasingly intricate
and abstract Expertise required Leads to advances in
math, science, engineering, metallurgy, etc.
CITIES, KINGS AND TRADE Mesopotamia made up of small city-
states Agricultural expansion led to political
centralization Power in Mesopotamia held by king
and religious elites ~2,350 B.C.E., Sargon, ruler of
Akkad, was the first to unite the small city-states into one kingdom – Sumer (southern)
The Akkad kings toppledby the Babylonians ~ 2,000 B.C.E.
HAMMURABI AND THE FIRST LEGAL CODE
SUMERIAN SOCIETY 4 Main social distinctions in Mesopotamia
Nobles Free Clients of the nobility Commoners Slaves (society was not, however, organized
on the foundations of slavery) Society was generally organized around
religion pleasing of gods and goddesses The temple (ziggurat) was the meeting place
and temple
ZIGGURAT AT UR
THOUGHT AND RELIGION
Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic gods and goddesses representing almost
everything in the cosmos Gods and goddesses were human, with
supernatural powers, particularly in regards to the natural world
Such religious ideas spawned efforts to create myths about the origins of the world
The Epic of Gilgamesh is a Sumerian creation story
IN SUMMARY Environment determined much of development possibilities Power and authority centralized and out of this comes elite
class and social hierarchies Emergence of large-scale empires In this period Civilization then defined by urban
settlements, religious cultural foundations, writing, diversified agricultural economy, organized political structures
Such organization (political, social, and economic) appears in a form that seems to typify much of western civilization through the pre-modern era (until 1789 A.D. or C.E.)
THE GIFT OF THE NILE The most important geographical feature
of Egypt is the Nile River regular flooding of the Nile provided irrigation
and fertilization for Egyptian agriculture, many natural resources to exploit, making
Egyptians more self-sufficient (perhaps isolated, to some extent) than the Mesopotamians
Egyptian society unified by the Nile religion, ideology, daily ritual, based on the
idea that the Nile was a “gift” from the gods
THE NILE RIVER
DIVINE KINGSHIP Early Political unity of Egyptian
communities into a larger “Egypt” is called the Old Kingdom (~3,000-2,000 B.C.E.)
Further centralization of Egyptian authority in the form of pharaohship during the Middle Kingdom period (~2,000-1,500 B.C.E.)
Egypt would later be characterized by imperial expansion during the period of the New Kingdom (~1,600-1,200 B.C.E.)
DIVINE KINGSHIP Egyptians developed complex ideas
about the afterlife rooted in the natural world with emphasis on
cycles (i.e. regular flooding of the Nile). Evidence for this: great tombs and pyramids
The pharaoh was the “king” of Egypt a “god” on earth (the son of the sun-god Re), the chief priest the embodiment of “Egypt” (as state,
geographical entity, etc.) the focal point of religion and politics All of Egypt belonged to the king and
everyone served him Power reflected in the structure of the tombs
and pyramids A royal administration kept track of
Egypt’s natural resources and controlled Egypt’s economy
EGYPTIAN SOCIETY AND CULTURE Maat – authorized order of the universe (truth, balance,
order, law, morality, justice) The Egyptians have advanced writing system—
hieroglyphics used it to communicate in various forms (not just a religious
function, or learned only by elite scribes) the basis of advances in chemistry, medicine, mathematics,
engineering and architecture A heterogeneous population, the Egyptians were
divided into 3 broad groups: King and high-level officials at the top Low-level officials, priests, professionals, artisans, and wealthy
farmers in the middle Peasants, who made up the bulk of the population, at the
bottom (slavery existed, but was not foundational for the Egyptian economy)
EGYPTIAN DECLINE Invasion from Africa and the Near East shattered
Egyptian power Libyans in the north and the Nubians to the south
The spread of Egyptian culture came not from its own imperial ambitions rather from the borrowing/embracing of Egyptian ideas
by invaders Egypt never recovered, never really re-unified
under the kind of power displayed during the Old and New Kingdoms
The decline led to the success of other societies Phoenicians, Syrians and Hebrews and the prosperity
of smaller, independent city-states that fragmented out of the Egyptian Empire’s dissolution