Professional Documents
Culture Documents
WHAT IS A CIVILIZATION???
CIVILIZATION- (1) group of people living and working
together for the purpose of creating an organized
society.
(2) the highest cultural grouping of people which
distinguishes humans from other species
(3) complex systems or network of cities that
emerge from pre-urban culture
What is civilization?
From civis = citizen or
member of a larger group.
The cultural achievements of a
specific group of people (e.g.,
Mayan civilization)
civilized = refined, polite,
opposite of barbaric.
Complex Societies
Intensive agriculture
Urbanization
Division of labor
Social hierarchies
Government / State
Larger populations
Laws, Armies, culture
Band/Tribal Groups
Hunter/Gatherer
Nomadic villages
No specialization
Egalitarian
Family/clan leadership
Small populations
(8) Development of
Cities
food surplus.
What word is missing here?
Early Civilizations
Features of Civilization
Systems of Recordkeeping History doesnt really begin until the first written
records. Everything before it is considered pre-history. Keeping a written record of
even the simplest things in a society (such as trade) and/or forms of literature,
personal recollections, diaries, etc. help historians understand the collective past. It
is how we communicate with future generations.
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Cities
Central
governmen
t
CIVILIZATION
Social
classes
Traditional
economy
Organized
religion
Specialize
d jobs
Art and
architectur
e
Roads, bridges,
and other
public works
System
of writing
Organized Governments
Activity
Polytheism
Job Specialization
Social Classes
Social Mobility
Being able to
move between
social classes in
ones lifetime.
Is it easy today
to move up the
social pyramid?
What value is
being
expressed in
the Statue of
Liberty?
Public Works
Writing
Summary Assessment
Fast Food
Frozen in time
ANCIENT
CIVILIZATIONS
ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS
Ancient Mesopotamia
Ancient Egypt
Ancient India
Ancient China
Ancient Greece
Ancient Rome
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA
Oldest known
civilization
Babylon
Gilgamesh
Hammarabi
Nebuchadnezzar
Ziggurat
Hanging gardens
ANCIENT EGYPT
Nile River
Mummies
Pharaohs
Rameses
King Tutankhamen
Cleopatra
ANCIENT INDIA
Indus Valley
Hindu religion
Buddha
Reincarnation
ANCIENT CHINA
Great Wall
Chinese Characters
Dynasties
Inventions
Confucius
ANCIENT GREECE
Greek Gods and myths
Archimedes and
friends
Trojan War
First Democracy
Architecture
Olympics
ANCIENT ROME
Etruscans
Roman Empire
Julius Caesar
Coliseum
Hannibal and the
elephants
Mount Vesuvius
Jati (Subcastes)
As Vedic Society became
more complex and specialized,
the caste system changed to
include specialized
occupations.
Occupation determined an
individuals jati (subcaste).
By the 18th and 19th centuries
C.E., the system featured
several thousand jati.
Brahmins alone have some
1,800 jati.
The Upanishads
Appeared late in Vedic Age, around 800 to
400 B.C.E.
Upanishad means sitting in front of and
refers to practice of disciples gathering
before a sage for discussion of religious
issues.
The Upanishads were dialogues that
explored the Vedas.
The Upanishads
Each person is part of a large, cosmic order and
forms a small part of a universal soul known as
Brahman.
Brahman is an eternal, unchanging foundation
for all things.
Individual souls were born into physical world
many times.
Their souls were most often humans but
sometimes animals, and even occasionally
plants.
The highest goal of the individual soul is to
escape the cycle of birth and rebirth to enter into
permanent union with Brahmin.
Permanent
Permanent
settlement, part of
life by the people
who had learned to
master
the
environment;
this
settlement
left
permanent
structures,
artifacts
and
records
that
showed how the
Cities
As
farmers
settled in river
valleys,
they
began to grow
surplus
or
extra
food;
this extra food
increased the
population of
the
settlements; in
time,
the
settlements
grew
into
cities (e.g. Ur
and Babylon).
Organized Central
Governments
As
cities
expanded, the
food supply and
irrigation
systems
needed to be
maintained;
governments,
such
as
councils
or
religious
leaders, began
to oversee the
business
and
existence of the
cities.
Organized
Religions
Religious
leaders
would
conduct
elaborate
ceremonies
to
appease the gods
and
ensure
a
bountiful harvest;
floods
and
droughts
were
blamed
on
the
gods
anger
so
rituals
were
conducted in the
temples.
Job
Specialization
Artisans
and
craftsmen were
needed
to
maintain specific
items and tasks;
Now,
some
concentrated on
teaching,
scribing,
stonecutting and
so forth.
Social Classes
Writing System
Records
were
needed
to
keep
accounts on trade
goods
and
food
storage; writing was
needed because the
information became
too
great;
in
addition,
one
needed to express
more complex ideas
such as "belief" and
"social order" where
pictures and words
simply would not
suffice.
Art and
Architecture
This expressed the
beliefs and values of
a civilization; often
the art was used to
impress visitors and
people about the
beauty and power of
a
king
or
community.
Public
Works
The government
would
order
these, although
costly, to aid
and benefit the
community;
such things as a
wall to protect
from attack or a
canal to aid in
irrigation would
help insure the
survival
of
a
people.
THE END