The First Civilizations Guide to Reading Section Preview Early civilizations introduced key belief systems through law codes and religious beliefs that have influenced Western thought. In ancient Mesopotamia, city-states elaborated the concept of the law code and divine kingship. (p. 122) The divinity of the pharaoh and religious belief contributed to the long life of Egyptian civilization. (p. 124) Key beliefs of Judaism that became important to the West developed during ancient times. (p. 125) Hinduism became a conservative force in Indian society that has lasted to this day. (p. 127) The lessons of Confucius influenced basic Chinese attitudes of deference and loyalty to family. (p. 128) Content Vocabulary civilization, patriarchal, pharaoh, Judaism, monotheistic, covenant, prophet, caste system, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism Academic Vocabulary code, focus, network, core People to Identify Hammurabi, King Solomon, Aryans, Siddhartha Gautama, Confucius Places to Locate Israel, Judah, Indus River, China Reading Objectives 1. Trace how the law codes and religious beliefs developed in ancient civilizations. 2. Describe how the caste system influenced the lives of people in ancient India. Reading Strategy Compare and Contrast As you read this section, prepare a Venn diagram like the one below to show the similarities and differences between Hinduism and Buddhism. Hinduism Buddhism Preview of Events 3000 B.C. 2500 B.C. 2000 B.C. 1500 B.C. 1000 B.C. 500 B.C. A.D. 1 c. 3000 B.C. Sumerians establish independent city-states 1792 B.C. Hammurabi comes to power 1200 B.C. Israelites emerge as a distinct group of people c. 500 B.C. Buddhism develops 202 B.C. Han dynasty begins California Standards in This Section Reading this section will help you master these California History Social Science standards. 10.1: Students relate the moral and ethical principles in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, in Judaism, and in Christianity to the development of Western political thought. 10.1.1: Analyze the similarities and differences in Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman views of law, reason and faith, and duties of the individual. CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER The Legacy 1 of The the Ancient First Humans World 121
Ancient Mesopotamia In ancient Mesopotamia, city-states elaborated the concept of the law code and divine kingship. Reading Connection What are the motives behind the system of American laws? Read to learn how the goals of Hammurabi shaped his law code. The first civilizations were born near rivers in four areas Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China. None is part of the Western world. The people in these areas were building cities, writing, and creating laws while people in the area now called Europe were still living in huts and caves. What do we mean when we say European civilization or Mesopotamian civilization? A civilization is a complex culture in which large numbers of people share basic elements, such as a social structure, religion, and art. Acivilization is defined partly by its geography. If a land lies open to invasion, as Mesopotamia did, it may experience many invasions, and that will affect the social and religious attitudes. The following poem reflects the despair of the people of Ur after their city was sacked and burned: Ur is destroyed, bitter is its lament. The country s blood now fills its holes like hot bronze in a mould. Bodies dissolve like fat in the sun. Our temple is destroyed, the gods have abandoned us, like migrating birds. Smoke lies on our city like a shroud. Geography is not the only basic influence on a civilization. Its sheer age can affect its traditions and customs. A civilization that dates from 3000 B.C. is rooted in a time when people knew and understood only certain things. Their customs developed in a certain way because of what they knew. Perhaps they treated their elders with great respect, or perhaps they expected children to grow up faster. Perhaps parents and families had the main role in deciding on the man their daughter married. Although all civilizations advance over time, these social and cultural attitudes can survive to some degree even in the modern world. The modern world came about in Europe with the Industrial and French Revolutions, but to understand what is meant by modern, it is helpful to remember what is not modern. It is also helpful to remember the contributions of early civilizations. Ancient civilizations created law codes and the idea of divine kingship. They also created major religions that have endured in the modern world. The City-States of Mesopotamia One of the world s earliest civilizations developed in the citystates of southern Iraq, known in ancient times as Mesopotamia. City-states were cities which had control of the surrounding countryside. By 3000 B.C., the Sumerians had created a number of city-states. These city-states began to fight over land and water, resources that were in short supply in this ancient region. The flatness of Mesopotamia s land made Sumerian city-states vulnerable to invaders. Some city-states took over others and created empires governments powerful enough to rule over many peoples. The Empire of Hammurabi In 1792 B.C., a new empire controlled much of Mesopotamia. It was based in Babylon, a city-state north of Akkad, where a man named Hammurabi had come to power. Hammurabi had a well-disciplined army of foot soldiers. He was able to divide and conquer his opponents and created a new Mesopotamian kingdom. After his conquests, he called himself the sun of Babylon, the king who has made the four quarters of the world subservient. Hammurabi was not just a great warrior. He built temples, defensive walls, and irrigation canals. He encouraged trade and brought an economic revival. A detail of a stele, or stone monument, representing Hammurabi standing in front of the seated sun god 122 CHAPTER 1 The Legacy of the Ancient World Musee de Louvre, Paris/E.T. Archives/SuperStock
Hammurabi s empire collapsed after his death in 1750 B.C., but he is still remembered because he created the earliest law code that has been preserved. The Code of Hammurabi, a collection of 282 laws, was based on strict justice. Hammurabi wanted to keep order and prevent conflict. Penalties for criminal offenses were severe and took no account of motive or accidental circumstances. Retaliation an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth was fundamental to the code. Another feature of Hammurabi s code had to do with penalties. Since there was no concept of equality of individuals, penalties for the same crime differed among social classes. For example, a man who stole from a noble was punished more harshly than if he stole from a commoner. A direct comparison of two laws in the code makes it clear that punishments depended not only on the crime, but on the social class of the victim. Law 196 of the code says: If a free man has destroyed the eye of a member of the aristocracy, they shall destroy his eye. Yet law 198 describes a lesser punishment for the same crime against a commoner: If [a free man] has destroyed the eye of a commoner or broken the bone of a commoner, he shall pay one mina of silver. The importance of family to Mesopotamian civilization can be judged from the fact that many laws in the code focused on it. Parents arranged marriages for their children, and parties signed a marriage contract. Without this contract, a couple was not legally married. Society in Mesopotamia was patriarchal, that is, it was dominated by men. Women had far fewer privileges and rights in marriage than men. A woman s duties were in the home, and if she failed to fulfill them, her husband could legally divorce her. He could also divorce her if she did not bear children or tried to engage in business. Even more harsh, a wife who was a gadabout,... neglecting her house [and] humiliating her husband, could be drowned. In a patriarchal society, the man ruled his children as strictly as he ruled his wife. Obedience was expected: If a son has struck his father, he shall cut off his hand. If a son committed a serious enough offense, his father could disinherit him. Obviously, Hammurabi s law code covered almost every aspect of people s lives. Reading Check Describing What are three examples of patriarchal behavior in Mesopotamian society? In Sumerian cities, the temple sat at the top of a massive stepped tower called a ziggurat. A restored ziggurat at Ur is seen here. CHAPTER 1 The Legacy of the Ancient World 123 Ancient Art & Architecture Collection Ltd.
Hatshepsut Ruled 1503 1482 B.C. Egyptian pharaoh Hatshepsut was the daughter of the pharaoh Thutmose I. She married her halfbrother, who became the pharaoh Thutmose II. When he died, Hatshepsut assumed the full power of pharaoh. Statues show Hatshepsut clothed and bearded as a king would be. She was addressed as His Majesty. Hatshepsut s reign was a prosperous one. She is best known for the temple dedicated to herself at Deir el Bahri on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes. One of the inscriptions she had placed there reads: Now my heart turns to and fro, in thinking what will the people say, they who shall see my monument in later years, and shall speak of what I have done. Egypt and Divine Kingship The divinity of the pharaoh and religious belief contributed to the long life of Egyptian civilization. Reading Connection Do you ever attribute superhuman traits to a famous person? Read to learn about how early Egyptians revered their pharaohs. Egypt is one of the oldest civilizations in the world and, like that of Mesopotamia, developed near a river, the Nile. This civilization was very stable and lasted a very long time. In part this came from the fact that the Nile flooded at regular intervals. Farmers could plan, and people felt secure. Early on, the Egyptians developed a sophisticated irrigation system. To irrigate, Egyptians had to keep flood records and plan together. This alone proves that the Egyptians had an advanced civilization. Egyptian history is often divided into three major periods called the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, and New Kingdom. These were periods of long-term stability marked by strong leadership, freedom from invasion, the building of pyramids, and great cultural activity. Between these stable periods, Egyptians suffered from chaotic government and foreign invasion. During the Old Kingdom, which lasted from around 2700 B.C. to 2200 B.C., powerful monarchs presided over a unified, prosperous, and splendid kingdom. Egyptian monarchs had many titles, but the most common became pharaoh, originally meaning great house or palace. Kingship was thought to be divine and the pharaoh was considered equal to other deities Egyptians were not monotheistic but worshipped many gods. The pharaoh was seen as part of the universal order: What is the king of Upper and Lower Egypt? He is a god by whose dealings one lives, the father and mother of all men, alone by himself, without an equal. By obeying their divine pharaoh, Egyptians believed they were helping to maintain a prosperous society. The Middle Kingdom came to an end about 1652 B.C., when the Hyksos people from western Asia invaded. The Hyksos drove horse-drawn chariots and overwhelmed Egyptian soldiers, who fought from donkey carts. The Egyptians showed another trait that can contribute to a civilization s survival they learned from their conquerors. From the Hyksos, the Egyptians learned how to make bronze weapons and the war chariot. Eventually, they drove the Hyksos out. During the New Kingdom that followed, Egypt built an empire. For a while, Egypt was the most powerful state in Southwest Asia, but it grew too large and could not maintain its frontiers. In modern times, too, there are examples of an empire s growing so big that it eventually collapses. A number of surrounding peoples invaded from time to time, but in the thirteenth century B.C., one last group of invaders the Sea Peoples, who may have been from the area around the Aegean Sea dealt the final blow. The New Kingdom collapsed in 1085 B.C. Reading Check Analyzing How might geography influence how a civilization develops? 124 CHAPTER 1 The Legacy of the Ancient World SuperStock
New Centers of Civilization: The Israelites Key beliefs of Judaism that became important to the West developed during ancient times. Reading Connection Have you read that explorers have conquered space? Read to discover one source for the belief that Westerners should conquer nature. By 1200 B.C., neither Mesopotamia nor Egypt dominated western Asia. Because there was no single dominant power, it was possible for a number of peoples to emerge and build small states. One of these groups was the Israelites. The Israelites were a group of Semitic-speaking people. They left an important legacy in the religion of Judaism. Judaism flourished as a world religion and later influenced Christianity and Islam. The spiritual heritage of the Israelites is a basic pillar of Western civilization. History of the Israelites Under King Solomon, who ruled from about 970 B.C. to 930 B.C., the Israelites established control over all of Palestine. Jerusalem became the capital of a united kingdom, known as Israel. This great king expanded the government and army and encouraged trade. Solomon is best known for building the temple in Jerusalem, which Israelites viewed as the symbol for their religion and for the kingdom itself. The tribes that made up Solomon s kingdom did not stay united after his death. Israel split into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah. Stronger powers, the Assyrians and the Persians, eventually destroyed both kingdoms, but the people of Judah survived. They became known as Jews, and their religion was thus called Judaism. Judaism became a stateless religion. Jews did not believe that God was fixed to any one place: Yahweh was lord of the whole world. Over the centuries, the Jews took strength from their faith. It helped them maintain their identity as a people even though they did not have a state. Ancient Palestine Cyprus 33 N Mediterranean Sea Tyre Byblos Sidon SYRIA Damascus W N S E EGYPT Sinai Mt. Sinai Samaria Red Sea PALESTINE Jordan R. Jerusalem Dead Sea 33 E 36 E Phoenicians Kingdom of Israel Kingdom of Judah 0 100 miles 0 100 kilometers Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection After King Solomon died, unified Palestine was divided into two separate kingdoms. 1. Interpreting Maps When Israel was divided into two kingdoms, which kingdom lost access to the Mediterranean? 2. Applying Geography Skills Why did the Phoenicians not develop into an agricultural society? CHAPTER 1 The Legacy of the Ancient World 125 Bettmann/CORBIS
The Ark of the Covenant, depicted above, played an important role in Judaism. A page from the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, is at right. The Spiritual Dimensions of Israel Jews were monotheistic: they believed in one God, not many. They called their God Yahweh. According to Jewish belief, Yahweh was Creator and ruler of the world. All peoples were his servants, whether they knew it or not. Unlike many religions in Eastern civilizations, this powerful creator was not in the sun or stars, but above everything in nature. Even so, he watched over his creatures. He punished them for wrongdoing, but he was merciful, too. Since human beings were God s special creatures, they were expected to rise above nature. In Judaism, if humans fail to do so, they have done wrong, or sinned. These Jewish beliefs are markers of the Western tradition: human beings are separate from nature and must struggle against it; human beings have a particular relationship to a Supreme Being, who watches over them. These beliefs are not prominent in civilizations of the East. Jewish ideas can be traced in three aspects of their religion the covenant, law, and the prophets. In Jewish tradition, God made a covenant, or contract, with his people when Moses led them out of bondage into the promised land. The covenant said that Yahweh would guide them if they obeyed the Ten Commandments Moses received on Mount Sinai. The Jews could choose whether to follow these moral laws, but if they did not, suffering and evil would follow. The prophets were the second important element in Jewish tradition. Jews believed that God used the prophets, or religious teachers, as a voice to speak to his people. The prophets flourished from roughly 900 B.C. to 500 B.C., a time that coincided with threats to the Israelites or even their conquest. The message of the prophets was that the Jews had not been faithful, but if they turned from evil, God would be merciful. Unjust actions brought punishment, as the Book of Isaiah in the Bible made clear: The Lord enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of his people: It is you who have ruined my vineyard; the plunder from the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor? declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty. The Lord says, The women of Zion are haughty... with ornaments jingling on their ankles. Therefore the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the women of Zion; the Lord will make their scalps bald.... Instead of fragrance there will be a stench;... instead of fine clothing, sackcloth.... The prophet Isaiah had another message, the concern for all humanity and a vision of a peaceful world. In the words of Isaiah: He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many people. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Finally, the prophets cried out against social injustice. They condemned the rich for making the poor suffer. The rich should share with their neighbors and care for the unfortunate. The prophets thus became a source for ideals of social justice. Judaism was unique among the religions of ancient western Asia and Egypt in being monotheistic. It was also unique because it gave all people, not just a ruler and priests, access to God s wishes. God s wishes were communicated to the people through the prophets and were written down in the Bible. No leader could claim that he alone knew God s will. Reading Check Examining Did Jews believe that other peoples belonged to their spiritual community? 126 CHAPTER 1 The Legacy of the Ancient World (l)the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, (r)superstock
Ancient India Hinduism became a conservative force in Indian society that has lasted to this day. Reading Connection What kind of thinking makes us feel that some people are worth more? Read to learn about the social distinctions in ancient India. In the fertile Indus River valley, another of the world s earliest civilizations arose. It was known as the Harappan or Indus civilization and emerged sometime after 3000 B.C. The cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were its center. The Harappans were advanced. Their cities were well planned, and they had a piped water supply and bathrooms. Bathing and washing seem to have been important to rituals of their religion. Internal problems, perhaps a flooding of the agricultural plain, brought an end to the Harappan civilization. Then, beginning around 1500 B.C., a new people, the Aryans, began to dominate. They fought with metal-tipped spears and were able to gain control of most of the subcontinent. The Aryans created an Indian civilization whose social structure has very distinct divisions. Most scholars believe the Aryans originally came from central Asia, but one theory suggests they could have been from the Indus Valley. If this second theory is true, the Aryans would then have had to spread north and west over time. Only such a movement could explain why many words in languages spoken from Greece to India have common roots. Today we refer to these as Indo- European languages. The Caste System When the Aryans arrived, they brought their own social system. It divided society into four varnas, or broad social classes ranking people from History Siva is the god of destruction, transformation, and change. Siva creates with the right hand and destroys with the left hand. Compassion and healing are offered with the lower hands. How does this bronze statue illustrate Siva s role in Hinduism? high to low. At the top were the Brahmins, the priestly class. Kshatriyas (ku SHA tree yuhs), the warriors, were next in importance. The Vaisyas (VYSH yuhz) were commoners who were usually merchants. The fourth large class were the Sudras (SHOO druhz), or peasants. The word varna itself means color. Thus discrimination based on skin color likely played a role in Aryan social divisions. Over centuries, a caste system of social and religious discrimination evolved in India within the four varnas. A caste system is based on occupation and extended family networks. There are thousands of castes. With rare exceptions, a person is born into a caste and remains in it for life. In many traditional societies, as in medieval Europe, people were born into their social station. India s caste system was more difficult to escape because it was based on beliefs about religious purity higher castes had greater religious purity, while castes at the bottom were polluted. The Untouchables were seen as the most polluted group and not part of the caste system at all. Untouchables were given menial, degrading tasks that other Indians would not accept, such as collecting trash and handling dead bodies. The life of the Untouchables was extremely difficult. When they traveled outside their quarters, they were required to tap two sticks together so that others could move away from their path. Some people have suggested that a benefit of the caste system was that it gave a sense of order during chaotic periods. In modern times, India s government has worked to end the caste system. It is a very old tradition, however, with religious roots, and has survived in varying degrees, especially in rural villages. CHAPTER 1 The Legacy of the Ancient World 127 Victoria & Albert Museum, London/Art Resource, NY
Hinduism and Buddhism India was home to two world religions, Hinduism and Buddhism. Hinduism developed from several sources. One of these was the religion of the Aryans, but Hinduism included a number of other beliefs, too. Some early Hindus stressed that there was a single force, or ultimate reality in the universe, the Brahman. If the individual self, the Atman, sought to know the Brahman in this life, the self would merge with the Brahman after death. By the sixth century B.C., other important ideas appeared in Hinduism. One is reincarnation, the belief that after death, each person s soul is reborn in another form. After a number of earthly lives, union with the Brahman is achieved. Karma refers to the belief that what a person does in this life affects this future life. If people are dutiful, they will have good karma and move closer to the Brahman in each succeeding life. These beliefs have tended to support the caste system, justifying the privileges of higher castes people in them must have lived a dutiful life in past lives. What did people in the lower castes find attractive in this belief? It gave them hope that if they were dutiful in their current status, they might improve their condition in their future life. Another world religion also developed in India, Buddhism. It was the product of one man, Siddhartha Gautama. Born around 563 B.C., he is better known as the Buddha. In his lifetime he gained thousands of devoted followers. People would come to him seeking to know more about him. They asked, Are you a god? No, he answered. Are you an The Buddha angel? No. Are you a saint? No. Then what are you? The Buddha replied, I am awake. Thus Buddhism began with a man who claimed that he had awakened and seen the world in a new way. His simple message of achieving wisdom created a new spiritual philosophy. Both Buddhism and Hinduism were crucial to the civilization that flourished in India, and they remain influential today. Reading Check Analyzing Why would it be more difficult to escape your caste in rural India today? Ancient China The lessons of Confucius influenced basic Chinese attitudes of deference and loyalty to family. Reading Connection What do Americans mean by family values? Read about how family values were shaped in Chinese civilization. The first flourishing Chinese civilization came about during the Shang dynasty, which ruled from about 1750 B.C.to 1045 B.C.It was the next dynasty, the Zhou, however, that saw the development of recognizable ideas in Chinese culture. During their long reign from 1045 B.C. to 256 B.C., for example, the belief in the Mandate from Heaven came about. This political belief said that a ruler was the ruler because Heaven had given him a mandate. If the country was invaded, or the economy was in crisis, the people had reason to doubt his mandate and withdraw their support. Under the long Zhou dynasty, Chinese society took shape. In China, the family is the core of society, and within the family the father s place was very high. Devotion to family and to one s ancestors made China a stable society, but also a conservative one. China s powerful position in the world today stems from its great size and cultural influence. These factors trace back as far as the Han dynasty. The Han, the dynasty that reigned from 202 B.C. to A.D. 221, extended the boundaries of its empire far into the sands of central Asia and southward along the coast of the South China Sea into what is modern-day Vietnam. Chinese culture appeared to be unrivaled, and its scientific achievements were unsurpassed. Chinese civilization is closely tied to Confucius, a philosopher who lived in the sixth century B.C. Confucius traveled the length of China, observing society and seeking employment as a political counselor. He never received a political appointment, but became a teacher to hundreds of students. 128 CHAPTER 1 The Legacy of the Ancient World Christies, London/Bridgeman Art Library/SuperStock
This early nineteenth-century painting illustrates scenes from the life of Confucius, who is shown here with his followers. Confucius lived at a time of great confusion in China. Rival armies were constantly fighting one another, and Confucius wanted to answer a moral question: How do we restore order to our society? The most important thing to Confucius was not the supernatural world, but how to act morally in the real world. He believed people were naturally good. Every person could acquire knowledge and virtue, but this was not likely to happen unless they had virtuous leaders. Obedience to superiors became very important in Confucianism. Student disciples recorded the sayings of Confucius, which guided the Chinese and other peoples in the Chinese Empire for centuries. Confucianism remains an important cultural influence to this day. Reading Check Explaining When did the Chinese feel it was justifiable to turn against a ruler? HISTORY Study Central For help with the concepts in this section of Glencoe World History Modern Times, go to wh.mt.glencoe.com and click on Study Central. Checking for Understanding 1. Vocabulary Define: civilization, code, focus, patriarchal, pharaoh, Judaism, monotheistic, covenant, prophet, caste system, network, Hinduism, Buddhism, core, Confucianism. 2. People Identify: Hammurabi, King Solomon, Aryans, Siddhartha Gautama, Confucius. 3. Places Locate: Israel, Judah, Indus River, China. Reviewing Big Ideas 4. Explain how the Code of Hammurabi influenced political thought. Critical Thinking 5. Connecting Ideas Analyze how the Hindu system of reincarnation supported the Indian caste system. CA HI 1 6. Compare and Contrast Create a chart like the one below to compare the contributions of Isaiah, the Buddha, and Confucius to religious beliefs. Religious Contributions Effects on Leader Beliefs Isaiah the Buddha Confucius Analyzing Visuals 7. Examine the photo on page 123. What does this image teach us about Sumerian religious attitudes? 8. Expository Writing Explain why Hammurabi s code was significant. Develop a set of laws based on the Code of Hammurabi that would apply to your community. Explain why your code differs from that of Hammurabi, or why it is similar. CA 10WA2.3 CHAPTER 1 The Legacy of the Ancient World 129 Giraudon/Art Resource, NY