Introduction to Egypt
Geography
Protection from outside invasion due to natural barriers like deserts, cataracts (impassable falls), and a harbor- less north
Contra Mesopotamia: protected from constant invasion
Settlement along: the Nile, worlds longest
Characteristics: south to north, fertile all along, the rest of Egypt 90% no farming
Delta:
Flooding: regular and predictable, good, fertility, every September, silt
Upper and Lower Egypt: southern and northern
Boundary to south: cataracts
Natural Resources
Papyrus: made from reeds,
Wildlife: along river for food
Stone: in the south
Precious metals: gold (south) and copper (north east)
Far more: self sufficient than Mesopotamia
Climate change settling along the Nile, North Africa dried out, groups fled to the banks of river
Heterogeneous: population, many different groups settled here
Politics
Dynasties: name of family line of kings
Pharaoh: head of state
Religious view: god incarnate
Results for codification of law: no need, ask the god
Ma’at: divine order of the universe, kept in place by the role of the Pharaoh
Pharaoh seen as an indispensable link between worlds
Death: community must help journey back, construction of the pyramid, burial place
Contents: things needed in next life, wives, servants, animals, riches
Materials of Pyramids: stone tools, no wheel, levers and pulleys a yes
Labor: compulsory but thought to be important
Communication
Hieroglyphics: form of writing for record keeping and religious texts , words, syllabus, or sounds
Rosetta Stone: Napoleonic expedition in the 1800’s, allowed the translation of hieroglyphics
Old and Middle Kingdom: isolationist, stay home, no contact needed with other advanced kingdoms
The Levant (Modern Israel): traded with cedar, gave them gold, grain
Nubia, to the south: traded for gold
Tropical Africa: ivory and exotic animals
Somalia: myrrh
The People
Ethnically: diverse 1 million people
Slavery: limited, pows, debtors, could gain freedom
Women: told by men, men in charge, but women own property
Marriage: not formal, usually monogamous, divorce for either one
Contrast with Mesopotamia: woman had more rights than in Egypt
Religion
Polytheistic:
Book of the Dead, Weighing of the Heart, and the Negative Confession:
The Indus River Valley Civilization
Material Culture
Indus Civilization: 2600-1900 BCE
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro: two greatest cities
Original inhabitants were possibly the Dravidians: dark-skinned original inhabitants of India
1500 BCE pushed south by invaders from the north: Indo-Europeans peoples known as The Aryans
Writing system: deciphered today, pictograms, thousands of finds, limits our knowledge of their beliefs and history
Cities laid out: in grid pattern, city blocks
Homes had: internal plumbing
Government needed in River Valley civilizations to: coordinate irrigation projects, require large numbers of workers, complexity, all civilizations organize surplus labor
Wide spread: trade with other cultures
Early beliefs may have had similarities with: Hinduism
Caste System: class structure you are born into
Brahmins: priestly class the highest
Polytheistic: later up to hundreds of millions!
Transformation of the Indus Valley Civilization
Cities abandoned: 1900 BCE
System failure: political, social, economic, natural disasters, destruction from within not without
Rivers: changed courses of dried up, cities have to move