|
|
||||||||
Ruling a large empire- During the history of the Middle East it was important to invade and conquer different regions. Some people just invaded towns to steal everything (looted) and then burn it, others invaded to stay and rule. In about 2300 B.C. Sargon the ruler of Akkad invaded Sumer. He built the 1st empire known in our history. After he died invaders destroyed his empire. After new conquers followed in the ways of Sargon and tried to bring unity to the Fertile Crescent.
Hammurabi- In about 1790 B.C. Hammurabi the king of Babylon conquered most of Mesopotamia. He made the Code of Hammurabi to unite his Babylonian empire. He was not the author of the set of laws and the laws have been around since Sumerian times. He hired artisans to carve the 300 laws on a stone pillar. He put the stone pillar for all to see before the god Shamash. (“To cause justice to prevail in the land, to destroy the wicked and evil, that the strong may not oppress the weak”- This was Hummarabi’s goal.) Hammurabi’s Code was the first set of laws in history. It dealt with criminal laws and civil laws like private rights and matters. His laws followed “an eye for an eye and a life for a life.” The code tried to protect women and slaves. Divorce laws for women were fairer to women in Hammurabi’s code than in other countries. Hammurabi also improved irrigation and he organized an army. He repaired temples and made Marduk the chief Babylonian god over older Sumerian gods.
Warfare and the Spread of Ideas- Sometimes conquerors uprooted the people they won so that they can help spread ideas. Others like the Hittites brought new skills to the region. The Hittites pushed out of the Asia Minor into Mesopotamia in 1400 B.C. They knew how to extract iron from ore. They made weapons from iron and they were able to arm people at less expense. The Hittites tried to keep the secret of how they extracted iron from ore but when their empire collapsed in 1200 B.C. the ironsmiths moved to serve people in other places. Now people in Asia, Africa and Europe knew how to make iron which caused the rise of the Iron Age. The Assyrians who lived on the upper Tigris learned to make fake iron weapons and they expanded across Mesopotamia in about 1100 B.C. They earned the reputation as one of the most warlike people in history. Assyrian rulers had a well-ordered society. They were the firsts to develop laws regulating life without a royal house. King Assurbanipal found the first library in Nineveh. He collected cuneiform tablets form all over the Fertile Crescent. In 612 B.C. after Assurbanipal died King Nebuchadnezzar revived the power of Babylon. He rebuilt canals, temples, walls and palaces. The Hanging Gardens were known as one of the wonders of the ancient world. The Babylonians studied astronomy and they believed it had a great influence on all events on Earth.
The Persian Empire- In 539 B.C. Babylon fell to the Persian armies of Cyrus the Great. The Persians eventually controlled the area from the Asia Minor to India. The Persians treated the people they conquered with respect to their customs and religious traditions. Under the Persian emperor Darius, who ruled from 522 B.C. to 486 B.C., a division of the Persian Empire into provinces took place. Each province (satrapy) was headed by a governor call a satrap. They had to pay taxes based on its resources and wealth. To encourage unity Darius repaired hundreds of roads which made communication easier. To improve trade Darius set up a common weight of measures and weights. He encouraged the use of coins because it brought a system of money to the empire. Most people continued to be part of the barter economy, exchanging one set of goods or services for another. Religious beliefs made by Zoroaster the Persian thinker helped unite the government. Zoroaster lived in about 600 B.C. and he said that Ahura Mazda ruled the world. Ahura Mazda was fighting with Ahriman the prince of lies and evil. They both said that Zoroaster would have to pick a side to support. The Zend-Avesta was the book of Zoroaster’s teachings. It said that Ahura Mazda fights against all evil and one day people will be judged for all their actions.
The Indian Subcontinent- The Indus valley is located in the subcontinent of India that goes out into the Indian Ocean. A subcontinent is a large landmass that juts out from a continent. The Hindu Kush and the Himalayas are mountains that are on the border of the subcontinent. These mountains made it hard for India to communicate with other lands which helped its people make an original culture. But there were still pathways though the Hindu Kush that allowed people to migrate and invade. The Indian subcontinent is divided into 3 major zones: well-watered northern plain (south of the mountains which is watered by the Indus, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers), the dry triangular Deccan plateau ( This is the most recognizable feature of India and it lacks malting snow which makes it very dry), and the coastal plains on either side of the Deccan (These are separated from the Deccan by low-lying mountain ranges, the Eastern and Western Ghats and the land is fertile). A monsoon ( a seasonal wind) was a defining feature of Indian life. These winds pick up moisture from the Indian Ocean and drench the land with the water. If the monsoons are late famine can occur. If the rains are too heavy then there can be deadly floods. India’s great size and diversity made it hard to unite. Sometimes there were emperors that conquered India but still it was hard to unite and the customs still remained.
Indus Valley Civilization- The first Indian civilization was in the Indus River Valley in 2500 B.C. It grew for about 1,000 years then it vanished without a trace. Archaeologists have not uncovered most of the Indus Valley sites but we know that the Indus Valley was the largest civilization until the rise of Persia. We don’t know any of the kings or queens tax records etc. The two major cities Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were large capitals that were dominated by a large temple. Both had storage areas to store food in. The tow cities were both carefully planned and that were laid out in a grid pattern with rectangular blocks larger than modern city blocks. Houses were built well and they had good systems in the houses. Merchants used a uniform system of weights and measures. Powerful leaders made sure the cities had a steady supply of grain from the villagers. Most Indus Valley people wee farmers and they grew a wide variety of crops. They were the 1sts the cultivate cotton and weave its fibers into cloth. Some people were merchants and traders and their ships carried things like cotton and grains. The Indus Valley people were polytheistic and they believed in the mother goddess (the source of creation) Indus people also worshipped scared animals like the bull.
Decline and Disappearance- By 1750 B.C. the Indus Valley cities started to decline, ands the cities weren’t organized like they used to be. Ecological disasters could have been why this happened. By 1500 B.C. nomadic people, the Aryans, began to arrive from the north. With their horse drawn chariots they destroyed the Indus cities.
The Vedic Age- The Aryans were one group of people who migrated across Europe and Asia looking for water and food for their pasture. The early Aryans built no cities. We know about them because of the Vedas which is a collection of prayers, hymns, and other religious teachings. The time where Aryan priests memorized it for a thousand years is called the Vedic Age (1500 B.C. to 500 B.C.) From the Vedas we learn that the Aryans are warriors. We also learn that they divide their people by occupation. The three basic groups were the Brahmins (priests), the Kshatriyas (warriors), and Vaisyas (herders). The Vedas also shows us that the Aryans felt superior to the Dravidians the people they conquered. Although the Dravidians had an advanced civilization the Aryans had no use for them so they decided to make a fourth group the Sudras (non-Aryans-farmers, servants). During this age class divisions showed the social and economic roles between Aryans and non-Aryans. As time went on a complex system of social groups arose which were called castes. People were born into theses groups and they couldn’t do anything to change it. The Aryans were polytheistic and their worshipped gods and goddesses. Fierce Indra was the god of war which was the chief god of the Aryans. Indra’s weapon was a thunderbolt. Other major gods included the Varuna (the god of order and creation) and Agni (the god of fire). Some religious thinkers moved forward to the notion of a single spiritual power beyond the many gods of the Vedas, called Brahman that resided in all things. Mystics are people who devote their lives to seeking spiritual truth. Indian mystics sought direct communication with divine forces.
Expansion and Change- Aryan tribes were led by chiefs called rajahs. A rajah was a worrier that ruled a council of elders. Aryans mingled with the people they conquered. From the people they conquered they learned farming and other skills. By about 800 B.C. the Aryans learned to make tools out of iron. By 500 B.C. a new Indian civilization had emerged. The people shared a common culture rooted in both Aryan and Dravidian traditions.
Heroic Deeds and Moral Lessons- For many years
Indians have shared Arjuna’s agony. Arjuna was a warrior that had to
fight his friends and family in a war. Arjuna is one of the heroes
of the Mahabharata the greatest Indian epic. The Mahabharata is
about 100,000 verses long and it mixes history, mythology, and
religion. The plot is told around 5 royal brothers the Pandavas who
lost their kingdom to their cousins. Arjuna had to fight with his
cousins. Krishna who is a god in a human form tells Arjuna about
life and death. In the end Arjuna fights his cousins putting his
personal feeling aside and he brought peace to his kingdom. The
Ramayana is another epic about fantastic deeds of Rama and his wife
Sita. The story tells us how Rama saves Sita after she was kidnapped
with the help of the monkey general Hanuman. These epics evolved
over thousands of years, and they teach us morals.
Back to Top
Geography: The Middle Kingdom- the ancient Chinese called their land Zhongguo the Middle Kingdom. Long distances and physical barriers separated it from Egypt, the Middle East and India. To the west and southwest of China, high mountains the Tien Shan and the Himalayas and brutal deserts made it hard for people to travel. In time it the Chinese had goods that reached the middle east. Invaders were like nomads who lacked the skills to create a society. The invaders conquered China but sometimes they just assimilated with the Chinese. The Chinese heartland was across the east coast and the valleys of Huang He or Yellow River and the Yangzi. The rivers provided irrigation. Beyond the heartland is the Xinjiang, Mongolia, and Manchuria. Powerful Chinese rulers conquered or made alliances with these regions. China influenced the Himilayan region of Tebet which was called Xizang. Chinese history began i the Huang He Valley. The Huang He got its name from the loess or fine windblown yellow soil that carries eastward from Siberia and Mongolia. The Huang He was known as Rives of Sorrows. As the loess settled to the river bottom it raised the water level that made water overflow. Peasants made dikes to hold the overflow of water but if the dikes broke there would be floods causing destroyed crops.
China Under the Shang- In about 1650 B.C. until 1027 B.C. the Shang who are Chinese controlled a corner of northern China. Chinese civilization took place during this time. Shang kings led warriors into battle. From their walled capital city of Anyang they drove off nomads from the northern steppes and deserts. in one Shang tomb archaeologists found the burial place of Fu Hao the wife of king Wu Ding. This shows us that the women had power during this period. Princes and nobles were heads of important clans or groups of families who claimed a common ancestor. The social classes were like early civilizations. 1st came the royal family, then came the noble warriors, then came artisans and merchants. Most people in Shang were peasants and they all worked the fields and they repaired dikes.
Religious Beliefs- The Chinese had complex religious beliefs. The Chief god was Shang Di and a mother goddess who brought plants and animals to earth. The Chinese believed that only spirits of the greatest mortals can talk to god like the king. But when nobles and warriors prayed they prayed on behalf of everyone. The ruler's power grew out of this veneration of ancestors. Gradually the Chinese other people besides the royal family performed spiritual rituals. They offered sacrifices to their gods and when westerners reached China they called this "ancestor worship." The Chinese believed the universe reflected a balance between two forces yin and yang. Yin was linked to Earth, darkness, and female forces when ying stood for heaven, light, and mae forces. There was a harmony between these forces.
System of Writing- The ancient Chinese developed a system of writing using both pictographs and ideographs (signs that expressed thoughts and ideas). The oldest examples of Chinese writing are on oracle bones used by priests to predict the future. 4,000 years ago the Chinese shaped their system of writing. It is very hard to learn Chinese. Chinese scholars turned calligraphy or fine handwriting into an elegant art form. The system of writing united the Chinese.
The Zhou Dynasty- In 1027 B.C. the battle-hardened Zhou people marched out of their kingdom on the western frontier to overthrow the Shang. They set up the Zhou dynasty which lasted until 257 B.C. The Zhou believed in the divine right to rule which they called the Mandate of Heaven. Instead of having a king from the royal family the Zhou believed that a king should be chosen by god. The Chinese later expanded the idea of the Mandate of Heaven to explain the dynastic cycle or the rise and fall of the dynasties. As long as the dynasty had a good government it enjoyed the Mandate to Heaven. If the rulers became weak and problems started the Heaven would take back its support. Famine, Floods or catastrophes were signs that the dynasty was falling apart. Then a new leader would set up a new dynasty. His strong government would win him the support of the Mandate of Heaven and the cycle would start again. The Zhou gave their supporters control over different regions. Feudalism was a system of government in which local lords governed their own lands but owed military service and other support to the rulers. This was the type of government of the Zhou. In 771 B.C. feudal lords exercised the real power and profited from the lands worked by peasants within their domains. Knowledge of ironworking reached China in 500 B.C. and it helped farmers produce food. Commerce expanded and the Chinese began to use money for the first time. There were also new roads built. There was an increase in population and people from Haung He came into central China and began to farm the Yangzi basin. In the end of Zhou times China increased in size, population and prosperity.
Chinese Achievements- The Chinese made progress in the Shang and Zhou periods. They developed an accurate calendar because they recorded sun eclipses, they were advanced in art. By 1000 B.C. the Chinese made silk from cocoons of silk worms. Silk became China's most valuable export, and the process of making silk was kept a secret. Under the Zhou the Chinese made the first books which included I Ching, and the Book of Songs. By 256 B.C. China was a large, wealthy and highly developed civilization. Chinese culture was already dominant in East Asia.
