The Indo-Europeans
Half the people living today speak languages that stem from
the original Indo-European languages
Indo-Europeans
-Indo-Europeans were a group of nomadic peoples who may have come from the
steppes
-Steppes-Dry grasslands that stretched north of the Caucasus
-Caucasus-Mountains between the Black and Caspian seas
-They lived in tribes that spoke forms of a language that we call Indo-European
-Migrated into Europe, India, and Southwest Asia and interacted with peoples living
there
Indo-European Language Family
-English, Spanish, Persian, and Hindi all trace their origins back to different forms of
the original Indo-European language.
-Historians can tell where Indo-European tribes settled by their languages.
Copy these questions into your notebook:
Which way did the Celts move?
Which way did the Greeks move?
Which way did the Aryans move?
The Hittite Empire
-Occupied Anatolia, modern day Turkey
-High, rocky plateau, rich in timber and agriculture
-Separate Hittite city-states came together to form and empire there in about 1650 BC.
-Hattusas→ capital of empire
-Hittite empire
-Occupied Babylon, chief city in Tigris-Euphrates Valley
-Struggled to control northern Syria against Egypt, resulted in peace treaty
Hittites continued...
-Hittites used their own Indo-European language
-Borrowed ideas about literature, art, politics, and law from the Mesopotamians
-Excelled in technology of war
-Chariots
-Iron Weapons
-Iron ore and wood to make charcoal→ easily accessible in the mountains of Anatolia
-Hittite Empire→ 1190 BC collapsed due to invasions
Aryans Transform India
-Aryans→ homeland probably somewhere between the Caspian and Aral seas
-Vedas→ oral text passed down generation to generation
-sacred literature that left a picture of Aryan life
-4 collections of the Vedas
-prayers, hymns, instructions for performing rituals, spells, and incantations
-Rig Veda
-most important collection, contains 1,028 hymns to Aryan gods
Caste System
-Rig Veda→ tells how
Ancient Indian society was
set up into 4 groups
-Varnas(groups according
to color )→
Brahmins
Kshatriyas
Vaisyas
Sudras
Aryan Kingdom Arises
-Settled along the Ganges and Yamuna river valleys
-Progress was slow due to difficulties clearing the jungle for farming
-Chiefs were elected by the entire tribe
-Magadha:
-Major kingdom
-Expanded south to occupy almost all of the Indian subcontinent