River Valley Civilizations: The Nile and the Indus

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River Valley Civilizations The Nile and the Indus
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River Valley Civilizations

• Nile Valley and Indus Valley
• Each civilization has a distinct pattern that is
  different from Mesopotamia
• Nile state more important than cities
• Lack of evidence about Indus valley civilization

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Egypt The Gift of the Nile

• Nile naturally irrigated cropland with
  predictable, annual flooding
• Adjacent deserts protected Egypt from invasion
• Waterfalls hindered invasion from the south
• Stability meant long-term indigenous government

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• Man-made irrigation

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Ancient Egyptian History
Periods Time Frame
Nile Culture Begins 3900 B. C. E.
Archaic 3100 2650 B. C. E.
Old Kingdom 2650 2134 B. C. E.
Middle Kingdom 2040 1640 B. C. E.
New Kingdom 1550 1070 B. C. E.
Late Period 750 332 B. C. E.
Greek Ptolemaic Era 332 30 B. C. E.
Roman Period 30 B. C. E. 395 C. E.
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Earliest Egypt Before the Kings

• Agriculture sustained life
• Saharan drought led to more Nile settlement
• String of villages along Nile by 3600 B.C.E.

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The Growth of Cities - c. 3300 BCE

• Egypt had no independent city-states
• Egyptians lived in network of riverbank villages
  interspersed with larger towns that may have
  become administrative cities (nomes)

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Unification and the Rule of Kings

• 3100 B.C.E peoples along the Nile were unified
• Menes often seen as first king
• Kings came to be seen as divine
• Kings balanced nature and invited Nile to flood

Im Menes. They call me
The Unifier!
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Annual flooding of the Nile

• PredictableLeft behind fertile soil

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Gods and the Unification of Egypt

• Osiris the god of order and virtue
• Seth the god of disorder and evil
• Seth cut Osiris into fourteen pieces and
  scattered him across Egypt
• Isiss collection of pieces symbolizes
  unification of Egypt

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• Isis conceived son Horus with a
  briefly-revivified Osiris
• Horus defeated Seth in battle and made father
  Osiris divine and in charge of underworld

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• Horus was first Egyptian god to be worshipped
  nationally
• Belief in afterlife led to practice of
  mummification

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Scenes of Ancient EgyptianDaily Life
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Making Ancient Egyptian Beer
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Making Ancient Egyptian Wine
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An Egyptian Womans Must-Haves
Mirror
Perfume
Whigs
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Egyptian Social Hierarchy
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Some Famous Egyptian Pharaohs
Tutankhamon1336-1327 B. C. E.
Thutmose III1504-1450 B. C. E.
Ramses II1279-1212 B. C. E.
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Egyptian Nobility
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• Pyramids and Fortresses
• Large pyramids of Khufu, Khefren, and Menkaure in
  Fourth Dynasty (2575-2465 B.C.E.)
• Pyramids reflected Egyptian strength
• Power extended to fortress at first cataract of
  the Nile

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Preparations for the Underworld
Priests protected your KA, or soul-spirit
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Materials Used in Mummification
1. Linen
6. Natron2. Sawdust
7. Onion3. Lichen
8. Nile Mud4. Beeswax
9. Linen Pads5. Resin
10. Frankinsense
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Preparation for the Afterlife
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Egyptian Mummies
Seti I1291-1278 B. C. E.
Queen Tiye, wife of Amenhotep II1210-1200 B. C.
E.
Ramses II1279-1212 B. C. E.
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Stepped Pyramid at Saqqara
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Bent Pyramid of King Sneferu
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Giza Pyramid Complex
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Plan of the Great Pyramid of Khufu
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Egyptian Priestly Class
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Egyptian Scribe
Writing emerged at same time as in Sumer
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Papyrus ? Paper
Hieratic Scroll Piece
Papyrus Plant
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Egyptian Math Draftsmenship

1 10 100 1000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000
What number is this?
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Hieroglyphic Cartouche
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The Rosetta Stone
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Indus Valley
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Indus Valley

• The Harappan culture existed along the Indus
  River in what is present day Pakistan.
• It was named after the city of Harappa. Harappa
  and the city of Mohenjo-Daro were important
  centers of the Indus valley civilization.
• This Indus Valley civilization flourished
  around 4000-1000 B.C.

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Harappa
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Harappan Civilization

• By 2500 BCE, communities had been turned into
  urban centers (integration).
• So far, six such urban centers have been
  discovered, including Harappa, Mohenjo Daro and
  Dicki in Pakistan, along with three others in
  India.
• Irrigation used to increase crop production and
  mud brick structures.

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Geography

• Mountains of the Himalaya and Hindu Kush provide
  a continuous source of water
• These mountain ranges also provided important
  timber, animal products, and minerals, gold,
  silver, tin and semiprecious stones that were
  traded throughout the Indus Valley.

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Coast

• These coastal settlements were involved in
  fishing and trading, using the monsoon winds to
  travel back and forth to Oman and the Persian
  Gulf region.

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Major Cities Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa

• The cities are well known for their impressive,
  organized and regular layout.
• They have well laid our plumbing and drainage
  system, including indoor toilets.
• Over one thousand other towns and villages also
  existed in this region.

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The similarities in plan and construction between
Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa indicate that they were
part of a unified government with extreme
organization.
Remains of palaces or temples in the cities have
not been found.
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The Great Bath

• The "great bath" is the earliest public water
  tank.

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Streets

• At Mohenjo-Daro narrow streets and alleyways are
  off of the major streets, leading into more
  private neighborhoods.
• Many of the brick houses were two stories high,
  with thick walls and high ceilings to keep the
  rooms cool in the hot summer months.

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Gateway
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Language

• The Indus (Harappan) people used a pictographic
  script.

• Some 3500 specimens of this script survive
• Writing has not been deciphered

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Ancient Indus
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Economy-Trade

• The Harappan civilization was mainly urban and
  mercantile.
• Inhabitants of the Indus valley traded with
  Mesopotamia, southern India, Afghanistan, and
  Persia for gold, silver, copper, and turquoise.
• Irrigation First to cultivate cotton

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Collapse

• Possible Theories
• intense flooding
• decrease in precipitation
• decreased river flow
• Aryan invasion (doubtful)

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The Spread of Aryan Settlement

• Aryans are named for their use of Sanskrit and
  other languages included in the Indo-Aryan family
  of languages
• Arrived in waves from either central Asia or the
  Iranian plateau, mixed with local people and
  moved eastward to the Ganges by 1000 B.C.E.
• MIGRATION AND DIFFUSION

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Indus Valley and Its Mysteries

• Legacies of the Harappan Civilization
• Was succeed by and blended with the Aryan
  civilization
• Aryans have extensive literary legacy but
  virtually no artifacts
• Aryans learned farming from Harappans
• Caste system used to control Harappans?

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Civilization?

• Criticism of calling it a civilization because
  even though the culture is fairly homogenous,
  there is a lack of elite (such as high status
  burials).
• Thus, some researchers argue that it was actually
  more of a chiefdom, rather than a state-level
  society.