Bellringer

1. What characteristics define the ancient river valley civilizations?

2. Do the Olmec & Chavin fit these characteristics? How? How not?– Chronology? Location? Government?

Economy? Social structures? Religion?

3. Why are they similar? Different?

Olmec

• 1200-400 BCE

Chavin

Comparing River Valley Civilizations

History is about questions and thinking critically to answer those

questions!

India & China?

– Less is known due to gaps in scholarship• India

– Harappa, cities– Traded with Mesopotamia & Central Asia

• China– Xia & others before Shang?– Most isolated but still traded– Rigidly patriarchal

• Only sons capable of venerating ancestors• Lacking a male heir was regarded as a crime

against the ancestors

Mesopotamia & Egypt

• Primary source documents

Document Questions

♦What is the basis of the a king’s legitimacy

in Mesopotamia?

♥How would you characterize Mesopotamia

religion and afterlife?

♣What is the relationship between the gods

and humankind?

♠What are the principles of justice in

Mesopotamia according to the code?

Share Readings

1. Main Idea; Thought-provoking Quote; Issue in Document/Question

2. Read “The Occupations of Old Egypt” and accompanying “Be a Scribe.”

– What might historians learn from this text about the jobs and social structure of Egypt?

Comparisons

Group Analysis

As a group,

• Analyze the similarities and differences between Mesopotamia and Egypt.

– Consider social issues, economies, governments, purpose of literature & architecture, etc

Mesopotamia

Fertile Crescent

Cuneiform

Urbanization

“The urbanization process as such in Mesopotamia is totally beyond our reach . . . . It is true that cities rose here and there around royal residences, trading settlements (ports of trade), wells, and certain sanctuaries, but nowhere do we find such an agglomeration of urban settlements as in southern Babylonia—and so early in history at that. In this dark and remote period originated the basic attitude of Mesopotamian civilization toward the city as a social phenomenon. This attitude is one of unconditional acceptance of the city as the one and only communal organization. . . .”

City-States

Ziggurats

Hammurabi

Women

Trade

Egypt

Nile River Valley

Pyramids

Afterlife

Women

Trade

Closure

Write an “AP” thesis statement in response to:

Analyze the similarities and differences in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt.