Study Guide for World Hisotry: Ancient Civilizations

Civilization Name	Summerian
Description	Sumer (or Šumer) was one of the early civilizations of the Ancient Near East, located in the southern part of Mesopotamia (south-eastern Iraq) from the time of the earliest records in the mid-fourth millennium B.C.E. until the rise of Babylonia in the late third millennium B.C.E. The term "Sumerian" applies to all speakers of the Sumerian language. Sumer together with Ancient Egypt and the Indus Valley Civilization is considered the first settled society in the world to have manifested all the features needed to qualify fully as a "civilization." The development of the City State as an organized social and political settlement enabled art and commerce, writing and architectures, including the building of Temples (ziggurats) to flourish. The history of Sumeria dates back to the beginning of writing and also of law, which the Sumerian are credited with inventing.  And was essential for maintaining order within the City-States. City-States for centuries used variations of Sumerian Law, which established set penalties for particular offenses. This represents recognition that societies cannot function without respect for life and property and shared values. More and more people became aware of belonging to the same world as a result of Sumeria's contribution to the human story. Treaties from Sumeria indicate a preference for trade and commerce.
Date Founded	4000 B.C.
Founded by	Patesi/Priest king
Location in Current	Iraq
Government Type	Bureaucracy
Political Descriptions	The Sumerian government was principally a bureaucracy. The monarchy effectively held power over great areas of land and diverse peoples by having a large and efficient "middle management." This middle management, which consisted largely of priests, bore all the responsibility of surveying and distributing land as well as distributing crops.
Society	1. Patesi  2. Soldiers 3. Farmers 4. Slaves
Religion	Polytheistic/Henotheistic
Contributions	the wheel, cuneiform, arithmetic and geometry, irrigation systems, sumerian boats, lunisolar calendar, bronze, leather, saws, chisels, hammers, braces, bits, nails, pins, rings, hoes, axes, knives, lance points, arrowheads, swords, glue, daggers, water skins, bags, harnesses, armor, quivers, scabbards, boots, sandal (footwear), harpoons, and beer
In Education	schooling was associated with the priesthood and took place in temples
In Arts	Painting and sculpture
In Sciences	Astronomy, chemical substances and symptoms of diseases (written on tablets)
Inventions	Wheel, sail, and plow
Sources	New world encyclopedia, macro history and world timeline, world history- patterns of interaction,  Richards tropical encyclopedia, world history

Civilization Name	Akkadian
Description	About 3000 B.C. the nomadic Akkadians, a semitic people from the Arabian desert entered the Tigris-Euphrates valley. About 2350 B.C., a conqueror named Sargon defeated the city-states of Sumer. He united the Akkadian and Sumer under his reign, his empire was known by its neighbouring countries. His empire was the first empire in the world.
Date Founded	2350 B.C.
Founded by	Sargon
Location in Current	Iraq
Government Type	Centralized monarchy
Political Descriptions	The kings maintained power by installing their sons as governors over the major cities.
Society	1. king 2. Priest 3. Soldiers 4. Farmers 5. Artisans 6. Slaves
Religion	Polytheistic/Henotheistic
Contributions	Akkadian language, the first map
In Education	Their school is called Edduba or “tablet house”, its purpose is training the scribes necessary to satisfy the economic and administrative needs of the land, primarily, of course, those of the temple and palace.
In Arts	Sculpture
In Sciences	Astronomy
Inventions	Abacus
Sources	Maps of world,http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/akkadian.html,world history- patterns of interaction,  Richards tropical encyclopedia, world history

Civilization Name	Babylonian
Description	In about 2000 B.C., nomadic warriors known as amorites, another semitic groups, invaded Mesopotamia. Within a short time, the Amorites overwhelmed the Sumerians and established their capital at Babylon, on the Euphrates river the Babylonian empire reached its peak during the reign of Hammurabi.
Date Founded	1792 B.C.
Founded by	Hammurabi
Location in Current	Iraq
Government Type	Monarchy
Political Descriptions	Their government was centered on one ruler. Whoever the ruler was at different times placed various other trusted rulers in charge of smaller cities or states to prevent rebellions against the set laws.
Society	1. The nobles (king, priest & rich landlord) 2. The freemen (farmers, merchants & artisans) 3. slaves
Religion	Polytheistic/Henotheistic (war god is Marduk)
Contributions	Banking system, Epic of Gilgamesh, code of Hammurabi, sundial, sexagesimal system
In Education	Same with the Akkadians, their school is called Edduba or “tablet house”, its purpose is training the scribes necessary to satisfy the economic and administrative needs of the land, primarily, of course, those of the temple and palace.
In Arts	Sculpture, painting, arch, dome, vault, ziggurat
In Sciences	Astrology, astronomy, calendar system, use of water or sun clock, sexagesimal system
Inventions	Clay tablets, soap-like material
Sources	http://listverse.com/2009/06/07/10-more-ancient-inventions-you-think-are-modern/, http://ancientbabylon.blogspot.com/p/government.html world history- patterns of interaction,  Richards tropical encyclopedia, world history

Civilization Name	Hittite
Description	The Hittites were an Ancient Anatolian people who established an empire atHattusa in north-central Anatolia around the 18th century BC. This empire reached its height during the mid-14th century BC under Suppiluliuma I, when it encompassed an area that included most of Asia Minor as well as parts of the northern Levant and Upper Mesopotamia. After c. 1180 BC, the empire came to an end during the Bronze Age collapse, splintering into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some of which survived until the 8th century BC.
Date Founded	1400 B.C.
Founded by	Shubbiluliuma
Location in Current	Turkey
Government Type	Monarchy
Political Descriptions	The Hittite governance was totally dominated by the king, who was also the supremepriest, military commander and chief judge. Still the king was defined as "first among equals", suggesting that the Hittite society was less authoritarian than many others of its time.
Society	1. The nobles (king, priest & rich landlord) 2. The freemen (farmers, merchants & artisans) 3. slaves
Religion	Polytheistic/Henotheistic
Contributions	Use of iron, the horse drawn war chariot
In Education	They train their sons and daughters to their profession, as long as the profession stays in the family the education could be said to cost nothing. But if someone wanted his or her son to be trained in a certain profession by someone else, something had to be paid. Apparently this happened so often that the state felt the need to formulate general rules and to set a fixed price, although this may have applied to these cases only where the training was done by a state-employed professional.
In Arts	They used stone and brick as well as wooden columns to erect their houses and temples.
In Sciences	They learned how to extract or to pull out iron from its ore.
Inventions	Horse drawn war chariot
Sources	http://looklex.com/e.o/hittites.htm, http://fathom.lib.uchicago.edu/1/777777122468/ world history- patterns of interaction,  Richards tropical encyclopedia, world history

  

Civilization Name	Assysrian
Description	The Assyrians, a semitic people, settled in the region north of Babylonia about 2900 B.C. They built their capital on the bank of the Tigris river and called it Ashur after their war god, Ashur.
Date Founded	1114 B.C.
Founded by	Tiglath-Pileser I
Location in Current	Iraq
Government Type	Monarchy
Political Descriptions	The Assyrians' predecessors who elected their kings in a democratic way, ancient Assyrians had a centralized despotic monarchy with imperial ambitions. This type of government was consistent during all periods of the Assyrian history, which lasted from approximately 1813 B.C. till 612 B.C., when the Empire centralized in modern-day Iraq finally fell.
Society	1. The nobles (king, priest, military& rich landlord) 2. The freemen (farmers, merchants & artisans) 3. Slaves
Religion	Polytheistic/Henotheistic (war god is Ashur)
Contributions	Had the oldest known library in the world, developed triple arches
In Education	Education was applied to the upper classes, mainly to the priests and scribes. Schools were attached to the temples. Only boys went to school.
In Arts	Sculpture
In Sciences	The division of circle into 360 degrees, invented longitude and latitude
Inventions	The notable inventions of the Assyrians included excavations, which were used to undermine city walls (siege), battering rams to knock down walls, the concept of a corps of engineers, who would help to bridge rivers, as well as other engineering tasks.
Sources	http://cavmashag785.weebly.com/assyrian-education.html, http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Assyrians.html world history- patterns of interaction,  Richards tropical encyclopedia, world history