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Books about Ancient Civilization :
The Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the
Ancient Near East (The Cultural Atlas Series)
In Search of the Cradle of Civilization
: New Light on Ancient India
Babylon (Ancient Peoples and Places)
The Cambridge History of Ancient China : From the Origins of Civilization to 221 B.C.
The term civilization basically means the level of development at which people live together peacefully in communities.
Ancient civilization refers specifically to the first settled and stable communities that became the basis for
later states, nations, and empires.
The study of ancient civilization is concerned with the earliest segments of the much broader subject called ancient
history. The span of ancient history began with the invention of writing in about 3100 BC and lasted for more than
35 centuries. Mankind existed long before the written word, but writing made the keeping of a historical record
possible.
The first ancient societies arose in Mesopotamia and Egypt in the Middle East, in the Indus Valley region of modern
Pakistan, in the Huang He (Yellow River) valley of China, on the island of Crete in the Aegean Sea, and in Central
America. All of these civilizations had certain features in common. They built cities, invented forms of writing,
learned to make pottery and use metals, domesticated animals, and created fairly complex social structures with
class systems.
Apart from written records and carved inscriptions, the knowledge about ancient peoples is derived from the work
of archaeologists. Most of the significant archaeological findings have been made in the past 200 years. The Sumerian
culture of Mesopotamia was discovered in the 1890s, and some of the most important archaeological digs in China
were made after the late 1970s.
The single, decisive factor that made it possible for mankind to settle in permanent communities was agriculture.
After farming was developed in the Middle East in about 6500 BC, people living in tribes or family units did not
have to be on the move continually searching for food or herding their animals. Once people could control the production
of food and be assured of a reliable annual supply of it, their lives changed completely.
People began to found permanent communities in fertile river valleys. Settlers learned to use the water supply
to irrigate the land. Being settled in one place made it possible to domesticate animals in order to provide other
sources of food and clothing.
Farming was a revolutionary discovery. It not only made settlements possible--and ultimately the building of cities--but
it also made available a reliable food supply. With more food available, more people could be fed. Populations
therefore increased. The growing number of people available for more kinds of work led to the development of more
complex social structures. With a food surplus, a community could support a variety of workers who were not farmers.
Farming the world over has always relied upon a dependable water supply. For the earliest societies this meant
rivers and streams or regular rainfall. The first great civilizations grew up along rivers. Later communities were
able to develop by taking advantage of the rainy seasons.
All of the ancient civilizations probably developed in much the same way, in spite of regional and climatic differences.
As villages grew, the accumulation of more numerous and substantial goods became possible. Heavier pottery replaced
animal-skin gourds as containers for food and liquids. Cloth could be woven from wool and flax. Permanent structures
made of wood, brick, and stone could be erected.
The science of mathematics was an early outgrowth of agriculture. People studied the movements of the moon, sun,
and planets to calculate seasons. In so doing they created the first calendars. With a calendar it was possible
to calculate the arrival of each growing season. Measurement of land areas was necessary if property was to be
divided accurately. Measurements of amounts--for example, of seeds or grains--was also a factor in farming and
housekeeping. Later came measures of value as commodity and money exchange became common.
The use of various ways of measuring led naturally to record keeping, and for this some form of writing was necessary.
The earliest civilizations all seem to have used picture-writing--pictures representing both sounds and objects
to the reader. The best known of the ancient writing systems is probably Egyptian hieroglyphics, a term meaning
"sacred carvings," since many of the earliest writings were inscribed on stone.
All of the major ancient civilizations--in Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, and China-- emerged in the 4th
millennium BC. Historians still debate over which one emerged first. It may well have been the Middle East, in
an area called the Fertile Crescent. This region stretches from the Nile River in Egypt northward along the coast
of former Palestine, then eastward into Asia to include Mesopotamia. In this area people settled along the riverbanks
and practiced field agriculture. This kind of farming depended on the reproduction of seed, normally from grain
crops.
Mesopotamia (from a Greek term meaning "between rivers") lies between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers,
a region that is part of modern Iraq. By about 5000 BC, small tribes of farmers had made their way to the river
valleys. On the floodplains they raised wheat, barley, and peas. They cut through the riverbanks so that water
for their crops could flow to lower lying soil.
These early irrigation systems were more fully developed by the Sumerians in Mesopotamia, who drained marshes and
dug canals, dikes, and ditches. The need for cooperation on these large irrigation projects led to the growth of
government and law. The Sumerians are thus credited with forming the earliest of the ancient civilizations.
The land of the Sumerians was called Sumer (Shinar in the Bible). Their origins are shrouded in the past. They
were not Semites, like most of the peoples of the region; they spoke a language unrelated to other known tongues.
They may have come to southern Mesopotamia from Persia before 4000 BC.
Sumerian towns and cities included Eridu, Nippur, Lagash, Kish, and Ur. The cities differed from primitive farming
settlements. They were not composed of family-owned farms, but were ringed by large tracts of land. These tracts
were thought to be "owned" by a local god. A priest organized work groups of farmers to tend the land
and provide barley, beans, wheat, olives, grapes, and flax for the community.
These early cities, which existed by 3500 BC, were called temple towns because they were built around the temple
of the local god. The temples were eventually built up on towers called ziggurats (holy mountains), which had ramps
or staircases winding up around the exterior. Public buildings and marketplaces were built around these shrines.
The temple towns grew into city-states, which are considered the basis of the first true civilizations. At a time
when only the most rudimentary forms of transportation and communication were available, the city-state was the
most governable type of human settlement. City-states were ruled by leaders, called ensis, who were probably authorized
to control the local irrigation systems. The food surplus provided by the farmers supported these leaders, as well
as priests, artists, craftsmen, and others.
The Sumerians contributed to the development of metalworking, wheeled carts, and potter's wheels. They may have
invented the first form of writing. They engraved pictures on clay tablets in a form of writing known as cuneiform
(wedge-shaped). The tablets were used to keep the accounts of the temple food storehouses. By about 2500 BC these
picture-signs were being refined into an alphabet.
The Sumerians developed the first calendar, which they adjusted to the phases of the moon. The lunar calendar was
adopted by the Semites, Egyptians, and Greeks. An increase in trade between Sumerian cities and between Sumeria
and other, more distant regions led to the growth of a merchant class.
The Sumerians organized a complex mythology based on the relationships among the various local gods of the temple
towns. In Sumerian religion, the most important gods were seen as human forms of natural forces--sky, sun, earth,
water, and storm. These gods, each originally associated with a particular city, were worshiped not only in the
great temples but also in small shrines in family homes.
Warfare between cities eventually led to the rise of kings, called lugals, whose authority replaced that of city-state
rulers. Sumeria became a more unified state, with a common culture and a centralized government. This led to the
establishment of a bureaucracy and an army. By 2375 BC, most of Sumer was united under one king, Lugalzaggisi of
Umma.
The Sumerians were conquered by their Semitic neighbors. But their civilization was carried on by their successors--the
Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Chaldeans.
The Babylonians made distinct contributions to the growth of civilization. They added to the knowledge of astronomy,
advanced the knowledge of mathematics, and built the first great capital city, Babylon. The Babylonian King Hammurabi
set forth the Code of Hammurabi in about 1800 BC. (This was the most complete compilation of Babylonian law and
one of the first great law codes in the world.
Egyptian farmers had settled in the long and narrow valley of the Nile River by 5000 BC. Within 2,000 years they
had invented writing, built massive irrigation works, and established a culture that bequeathed the pyramids and
other magnificent monuments to posterity. The primitive farming settlements of Egypt were concerned with the raising
of vegetables, grains, and animals. These settlements slowly gave way to larger groupings of people. Probably the
need to control the Nile floodwaters through dams and canals eventually led to the rise of government in the region.
By the end of the prehistoric period before 3100 BC, Egypt was divided into two kingdoms. Lower Egypt had its capital
at Buto, while Upper Egypt was centered at Hierakonpolis. In this period travelers brought in ideas from Sumeria,
including the concepts of writing and the pottery wheel.
Egyptian civilization began with the unification in 3100 BC of the upper and lower regions by King Menes. He established
a new capital at Memphis. In this era the Egyptians developed the first 365-day calendar, discovered the plow,
made use of copper, developed hieroglyphic writing, and began to build with stone. Trade and exploration flourished.
The Egyptians were ruled by kings known as pharaohs who claimed to be descended from the god Horus. These kings,
supported by a priestly class, lived in splendor; and they saw to it that after their deaths they would be buried
in splendor. The tombs built for them were designed as storehouses to hold all the things that the kings would
need in the afterlife.
The earliest royal tombs foreshadowed the later great monuments, the pyramids. By about 2700 BC the first pyramid
was built, in Saqqara. The three great pyramids still standing near Cairo were built between 2650 and 2500 BC.
Early Egyptian history is divided into three major eras: the Old Kingdom (2700-2200 BC), the Middle Kingdom (2050-1800
BC), and the New Kingdom (1570-1090 BC). By the dawn of the Old Kingdom, the characteristics of Egyptian civilization
had already been firmly established. The periods not accounted for by the dates are believed to be times of decline
known as the Intermediate Periods.
The valley of the Indus River is considered to be the birthplace of Indian civilization. Located on the Indian
subcontinent in modern Pakistan, the Indus civilization was not discovered by archaeologists until 1924. The ancient
history of this region is obscured by legend. It appears, however, that by 4000 BC primitive farmers were raising
vegetables, grains, and animals along the riverbank. By 2700 BC two major cities, Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, and
numerous smaller towns had emerged.
There is some evidence that Mesopotamian traders reached the early Indian people by sailing from Sumeria to the
Indus Valley. While the Indians shared some developments--such as complex irrigation and drainage systems and the
art of writing--with the people of Sumeria, they also developed a unique cultural style of their own.
What little is known of the Indus civilization suggests that it had large cities that were well laid-out and well
fortified. There were public buildings, palaces, baths, and large granaries to hold agricultural produce. The many
artifacts and artworks found by archaeologists indicate that the residents of the Indus had reached a fairly high
level of culture before their civilization was destroyed.
According to the Rig Veda, the ancient Hindu scriptures written after about 1500 BC, Aryan invaders conquered the
earliest Indian civilization. The Aryans, who were a nomadic people from the Eurasian steppes, imposed on Indian
society a caste system, which persists to the present day in Hindu law. The caste system, which divides all people
into social classes with differing rights and obligations, was a formal expression of the interdependent labor
division seen in all civilizations. By the 6th century BC at least 16 Aryan states had been established on the
Indian subcontinent and Brahmanism was flourishing.
By about 2500 BC a civilization had emerged on the island of Crete in the Aegean Sea. Excavations in 1900 at the
site of Knossos revealed the existence of a culture named by archaeologists as Minoan after a mythical king, Minos.
Minoans probably settled in Crete before 3000 BC.
There is evidence of outside influence in Crete; apparently Egyptian traders reached the Aegean Sea soon after
the Minoans did. Nevertheless, Minoan civilization developed its own unique features, and by about 2000 BC, great
cities with elaborate and luxurious palaces were built, and sea trade was flourishing.
The Minoans had a picture-writing system, as had other ancient peoples. The Minoan religion seems to have centered
on a mother goddess and on the figures of the bull and the snake. The Minoans are known for their beautiful and
colorful wall paintings and their fine pottery. In about 1400 BC Minoan civilization began to decline. The end
was hastened by invasions from mainland Greece.
The Chinese had settled in the Huang He, or Yellow River, valley of northern China by 3000 BC. By then they had
pottery, wheels, farms, and silk, but they had not yet discovered writing or the uses of metals.
The Shang Dynasty (1766-1122 BC) is the first documented era of ancient China. The highly developed hierarchy consisted
of a king, nobles, commoners, and slaves. The capital city was Anyang, in north Henan Province. Some scholars have
suggested that travelers from Mesopotamia and from Southeast Asia brought agricultural methods to China, which
stimulated the growth of ancient Chinese civilization. The Shang peoples were known for their use of jade, bronze,
horse-drawn chariots, ancestor worship, and highly organized armies.
Like other ancient peoples, the Chinese developed unique attributes. Their form of writing, developed by 2000 BC,
was a complex system of picture writing using forms called ideograms, pictograms, and phonograms. Such early forms
of Chinese became known through the discovery by archaeologists of oracle bones, which were bones with writings
inscribed on them. They were used for fortune-telling and record keeping in ancient China.
The Chou Dynasty (1122-221 BC) saw the full flowering of ancient civilization in China. During this period the
empire was unified, a middle class arose, and iron was introduced. The sage Confucius (551-479 BC) developed the
code of ethics that dominated Chinese thought and culture for the next 25 centuries.
Meso-America is the term used to describe the ancient settlements of Mexico and Central America. Civilization arose
in the Americas much later than in the Middle East. Whether Native Americans reinvented the tools of civilization,
such as farming and writing, or whether they were brought from older societies is a topic of debate among scholars.
The earliest elaborate civilization known in the Americas is that of the Olmec of central Mexico. The Olmec lived
in the lowlands of present Veracruz and Tabasco states from about 1200 BC. They left artifacts ranging from tiny
jade carvings to huge monuments such as the volcanic rock statues at San Lorenzo. These monuments suggest the existence
of an organized and diverse society with leaders who could command the work of artisans and laborers. Other early
civilizations in the Americas include the Chavin of Peru, the Chono of Chile, the Tehuelche of Argentina, the Tupians
of Brazil, the Maya of the Yucatan Peninsula, and the Inca of Peru.
Only four ancient civilizations--Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, and China--provided the basis for continuous
cultural developments in the same location. After the Minoan society on Crete was destroyed, its cultural traditions
and legends passed into the life of mainland Greece. As for Meso-America, its cultures were submerged by the Spanish
conquerors of the 16th century.
Books for Children
Adams, J.-P. Mediterranean
Civilizations
Atkins, Sinclair. From Stone
Age to Conquest
Lambert, David. Ancient Peoples
Odjik, Pamela. The Ancient
World
Books for Young Adults
Age of God-Kings: Time Frame
3000-1500 BC.
Boardman, John and others, eds. The
Oxford History of the Classical World
Cotterell, Arthur, ed. The
Penguin Encyclopedia of Ancient Civilizations .
Howe, Helen and Howe, R.T. The
Ancient World
Lamberg-Karlovsky, C.C. and Sabloff, J.A. Ancient Civilizations: The Near East and Mesoamerica
Larkin, P.J. The Ancient World
McNeill, W.H. The Rise of
the West
Thomas, C.G. The Earliest
Civilizations: Ancient Greece and the Near East, 3000-200 BC
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