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Spread of Civilization

3000-1450 BC
Civilization spreads to rain watered
lands
• Ideas spread by trade and war.
• Plow enabled farming away from rivers.
• High culture spread across Europe
megalith religion- built Stonehenge in
England.
• Minoan Civilization (3000- 1400 BC) on
Crete and other Mediterranean Islands.
Spread of Civilization

Farming Nomads
Farming
Goats/horses

Mesopotamia
Iran

Nomads
Egypt Goats/ sheep

Persian Gulf

Nubia
Spread of Ideas
• By 2000 BC Mesopotamia was ringed by new
civilizations or developing civilizations like the
Hatti in Asia Minor and Canaanites in what is
today Syria, Lebanon and Israel.
• To develop civilization people needed to
produce a surplus of food and a way to transfer
the food surplus from the farmers to specialists.
• Not having to spend most of their time working in
the fields, specialists could develop skills
needed to produce writing, art, architecture,
religion and government.
Northern Europe
• First settlers were hunter-gatherers migrating out
of Africa.
• Knowledge of farming spread from Fertile
Crescent to Europe.
• Complex civilizations slower to develop in
Europe than in Fertile Crescent because plentiful
rainfall made large-scale irrigation projects
unnecessary.
• European farming communities remained small
for a long time before complex urban civilizations
developed.
• Megalith stones set up during Neolithic period in
Europe beginning about 4500 BC.
Carnac stones, Brittany France (Standing Stones)
Dolman, Ireland
“Megaliths”

Two views of Stonehenge


Salisbury Plain
England
Built about 1650 B.C.
The Pastoralists
• Some peoples only adopted some aspects of
civilization.
• Some cared for domesticated animals but did
not settle down and plant crops. They were often
nomads.
• Pastoralists: like hunters lived off plant eating
animals could be shepherds or cattle herders.
• Pastoralists required larger “Carrying Capacity”
than farmers. Needed more land to feed
themselves. Usually very war like. Fought over
best pasture land.
Some people left civilization to become pastoralists

Abraham and his family left Sumerian city of Ur about 1900 BC.
The Family of Abraham
• Abraham’s wife was Sarah
• Sons Isaac and Ishmael
• Jacob was son of Isaac (Also known as
Israel)
• Jacob had 12 sons.
• Joseph sold as slave by his brothers.
• Family settles in Egypt (c1850 BC)
Out on the Steppes
• Horse herders of steppe learned to use wheel and
developed light chariot.
• Combined chariot with composite bow and bronze
weapons and became deadly fighters.
• Rivalry between farmers and herdsmen: nomads
superior fighters but many more farmers.
• Chariot barbarians swarmed out of steppes (1700- 1400
BC) and over ran the civilized lands.
• Conquered civilizations in Mesopotamia (Kassites) ,
Egypt (Hyksos), Indus Valley (Aryans) and Yellow River
(Shang)
• Many invaders spoke Indo European Languages the
same as we do.
The Eurasian Steppe
EUROPE Siberia

Northern Forests

THE STEPPE
Asia
Minor
ASIA
Egypt THE STEPPE THE STEPPE

Mesopotamia

IRAN Himalaya
ARABIA Mountains
China

Indus
Valley

Where horses were first domesticated.


A Deadly Combination
Large Horse breeds not yet developed
Most horses like large ponies, to small to
carry a large man especially if he was wearing
bronze armor.

Light Chariot and Composite Bow.


Chariots carried a driver and a shooter.
The Indo European Invaders
Shang

Celts
Scythians

Latins

Hittites
Myceneans

Aryans
Persians
1700-1400 BC
Anatolia
• Northern Asia Minor (now Turkey)
• Imported ideas from Mesopotamia; like
Cuneiform writing.
• Civilization began during the 19th and 20th
centuries BC.
• Several different ethnic (language) groups
together known as the Hatti.
• Indo-Europeans arrived and took over about
1700 BC. Became one people known as the
Hittites.
• Hittite leaders then organized projects to mine
metals and cut timber to trade with other
Civilizations.
Hittite
Empire >

Empire of
Hammurabi >

Egypt

Hittite and Babylonian Empires about 1760 BC


The Aegean Sea Region
• New crops, olives and
grapes introduced by
farmer tribes about
5000 BC.
• Minoan civilization
centered in Crete
controlled islands of
Aegean from 2100-
arround 1500 BC.
The Minoans
• Minoans named for their ruler, King Minos.
• Lived mainly on island of Crete (south of Greece in
eastern Mediterranean Sea) many think the Minoans
represent the legend of Atlantis
• Because of their island location, they had easy access
to trade by sea. Became traders with networks around
the Aegean Sea.
• Seem to have been more peaceful than most. Few
fortifications in their ruins. No images of war in their art.
May have relied on a strong navy for protection.
• Civilization influenced most by geographical position &
trade with Egyptian empire & Mesopotamian lands.
• Decline of Minoan civilization: Earthquakes & tidal
waves, followed by attacks from Greece.
Palace of Minos, Knossos Crete c.1500 B.C.
Queen’s Room Palace of Minos, Crete
Minoan Art Queen’s room

Wall painting

Vase
c.1500 B.C.
Snake
. Goddess,
Crete
c.1600 B.C

Harvester Vase
c. 1500 B.C.

Aside from images of bulls, the only


Obvious deity from ancient Crete is the
Snake Goddess, holding two snakes
Minoan Bull

Minoan
double axe
“labrys”

Labyrinth means Hall of the Double Axe. Palace was huge with many
winding halls and passageways where people could get lost.. Labyrinth
legend. – minotaur in maze beneath Knossos palace killed by hero Theseus.
Fresco wall painting of bull leapers Knossos c. 1500 B.C.

In legend young men and women were sacrificed to the Minotaur.

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