CHAPTER 1 - THE BIRTH OF CIVILIZATION
CHAPTER SUMMARY
This chapter relates the development of human culture in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages and discusses the
early civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Near East (Hittites, Kassites, Mitanni, Assyrians and Israelites). It
also contrasts the world view of these Near Eastern civilizations with that of the Greeks.
The chapter begins by describing the tools and implements used by Paleolithic man in his hunter-gatherer
existence. This is contrasted by the Neolithic Revolution which occurred about 6000 B.C.E. and brought with it
agriculture, the domestication of animals, and other attendant social, labor and role changes. This agricultural
revolution enabled people to live in more or less permanent settlements which were established first in the Tigris and
Euphrates River Valleys in Mesopotamia (about 3500 B.C.E.) and shortly afterwards along the Nile River in Egypt.
The Sumerian culture grew in southern Mesopotamia, near the Persian Gulf. They established the social,
economic and intellectual foundations of Mesopotamian culture and were followed by Akkadians and Babylonians who
united the region. These peoples contributed important advances in technology (bronze tools and weapons), in writing
(cuneiform), law, education and religious thought. Hammurabi's law code reflects the desire for discipline and order in
society and yet, Mesopotamian civilization is pessimistic in outlook. Egyptian civilization developed somewhat
differently from Mesopotamian. Its geographical isolation, bordered as it is by desert and water, and the unity
encouraged by the Nile River, gave rise to centralized political control. Pharaonic authority was generally strong as
evidenced by the pyramids of the Old Kingdom and the imperialism of Thutmose III and Ramses II. The text then
emphasizes the Amarna revolution and the monotheistic worship of Aten by the pharaoh Akhenaten.
The chapter continues with an account of the contributions of the Hittites (the smelting of iron) and especially
the Assyrians who established an empire by 665 B.C.E. that included Palestine, Syria, and much of Asia Minor down to
the Persian Gulf in the southeast. In addition to maintaining and ruthlessly exploiting their empire, the Assyrians
served as a buffer to the civilized Middle East against the barbarians on the frontiers. Their empire finally fell because
of internal revolution and a defeat in 612 B.C.E. by the Neo-Babylonians (Chaldeans).
While these empires rose and fell, the most important intellectual development was that of the Hebrew
religion. The Israelites (or Hebrews) were a people, like the Phoenicians, who flourished in the political vacuum left by
the weakening of the Egyptian empire and the annihilation of the Hittites around 1200 B.C.E. The Israelites were
responsible for a religious revolution founded on the concept of a single, universal God who had a covenant with his
chosen people. God was a just judge who required obedience to his laws. The early Greeks (Thales, Xenophanes,
Pythagoras and Hippocrates) tried to understand the world without reference to supernatural powers, but rather with
emphasis on logic and observation. In this, and in other ways, the Greeks differed radically from Near Eastern thought.
KEY POINTS AND VITAL CONCEPTS
1.
Important Definitions: The text emphasizes the differences between culture and civilization:
A) Culture: "the ways of living built up by a group and passed on from one generation to another."
B) Civilization: "a human form of culture in which many people live in urban centers, have mastered the art
of
smelting metals, and have developed a method of writing."
2.
Development of Government: As more people began living in the same area, various forms of government
developed ranging from strong centralized monarchy (Hittites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Israelites, etc.), to the
less centralized monarchies of the city-states in Sumeria, to the theocracy of Egypt.
3.
Geography and History: Egypt was protected by deserts and the sea and nourished by the Nile which flooded
regularly; it was less prone to invasion and hence more secure politically. Mesopotamia was invaded
regularly, having no natural barriers; the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers were difficult to navigate and control
and flooded regularly. The first use of writing may have been to record the arrangements for river control.
The Mesopotamian civilizations are described as more pessimistic than the Egyptian civilization, which was
more secure geographically.
4.
Near Eastern Contributions: These include the development of law (Hammurabi) and monumental
architecture (pyramids, obelisks, temples, etc.), and the organization and administration of empire (Egypt,
Assyria, etc.); included in these contributions must be the idea of monotheism conceived by Akhenaten in
Egypt and the Israelites (although these conceptions of a god differed from each other greatly).
SUGGESTED FILMS
Prehistoric Man in Europe. International Film Bureau. 22 min.
The Story of Prehistoric Man. Coronet. 11 min.
Digging up the Past. Time-Life Films. 20 min.
The Origins of Art in France (Neolithic - 400 C.E.). Time-Life Films. 40 min.
Prehistoric Images: The First Art of Man. Macmillan Films. 17 min.
Rivers of Time. McGraw-Hill. 26 min.
From Ur to Nineveh. Radim Films. 18 min.
The Alphabet - March of Man. McGraw-Hill. 20 min.
Digging for the History of Man. Roland Films. 55 min.
Ascent of Man I: Lower than the Angels. Time-Life. 52 min.
Ancient Egypt. Coronet. 11 min.
Ancient Egypt. Time-Life. 51 min.
The Ancient Egyptian. International Film Foundation. 27 min.
Egypt: Cradle of Civilization. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 12 min.
Egypt - The Gift of the Nile. Centron. 29 min.
In Search of the Mummies' Curse. Pyramid Films. 29 min.
Submerged Glory - A Study in Stone. McGraw-Hill. 28 min.
Mysteries of the Great Pyramid. Wolper Productions. 50 min.
Ancient Egyptian Images. Macmillan. 13 min.
Nubian 64 (Saving the Temples of Ancient Egypt). Roland Films. 40 min.
Tut, the Boy King. NBC. 52 min.
Bring Forth My People - Moses and the Exodus 3200 Years Later. Cameras International Productions. 52 min.
Jerusalem - Center of Many Worlds. Atlantis Productions, Inc. 29 min.
Dead Sea Scrolls. Family Films. 15 min.