Ancient Civilizations Exhibit
Dallas Museum of Natural History
Ancient China
Writing
The Shang Dynasty developed a system of writing consisting of over 3,000 symbols. This writing system has remained in use for over 3,500 years. Each of these characters is made of two parts. One part tells its meaning and the other tells its pronunciation. Scribes usually wrote on bamboo strips that are very thin. For this reason, the characters are written vertically rather than horizontally.
Cities
Government
When a king died, hundreds of slaves and prisoners were often sacrificed and buried with him. People were also sacrificed in lower numbers when important events, such as the founding of a palace or temple, occurred.
Religion
Art
Ancient Mesopotamia
Tigris-Euphrates river system
Located near the modern day Iraq
Writing
Art
Religion (Polytheistic)
Believed that water was everywhere and that the universe was born from an enormous sea. Believed in an afterlife in which the dead go the the land below the Earth.
Goddess names Isthar depicted as a carving
Government
Social Structure
Low class- slaves,farmers, builders,workers, soldiers.
Some artists and craftsman
Middle- scribes, merchants, engineers, doctors
High- priests, viziers(official that served the king) and the king himself
Cities- (Sumner)Ur, Eridu, Bad-tibiria, Akkad, Larasa, Sippar
Ancient Egypt
The Old Kingdom (2700 BCE-2200 BCE):
-Pharaohs had absolute power and were considered gods on earth.
Government:
-The pharaoh was the supreme ruler of ancient egypt (can be compared to a dictator). The people of egypt viewed the pharaoh as half man and half god. He owned all of egypt, and citizens were forced to pay taxes, donate labor, and create art.
The Middle Kingdom (2100 BCE-1800 BCE):
-A full written language of hieroglyphs was used on the sacred monuments, while hieratic was used on papyrus documents. Middle Egyptian texts are extremely varied and comprise stories, historical narratives, letters, scientific treatises, and a large number of religious sources.
Social Structure:
-There was a very complex social structure that carried through ancient egypt, although there were few minor changes, from the bottom it went from slaves and servants, to the highest level pharaos.
The Social Structure of the Middle Kingdom
Writing of the Ancient Egyptians
The New Kingdom (1500 BCE-1000 BCE):
-This period is characterized by Egypt's military involvement and expansion in Syria and Palestine.High Priests and military leaders, people just under the social class of pharaos gained enormous power, which in the end challenged the pharaonic rule, and led to the collapse of the State and the division of the country.
-18th dynasty- Capital city in Thebes
-19th dynasty- Ramses 1 moved the capital city to Avaris a.k.a Pi-Ramesse
-20th dynasty-Capital city in Avaris
Art:
-Money poured into Egypt during this time due to foriegn ruling and alot of this money was used by the pharaohs to give thanks to the gods who had helped them in their success. Making magnificent buildings and statues, obelisks and temples gave pharaohs the opportunity to show off their wealth and generosity to their own people, as well as to visitors from other lands.
Ancient India
Harappans
Art
Cities
Writing
Aryans
The Aryans migrated to the region now known as India from 1500 BCE to 1300 BCE. They came from central Asia (present day Russia). The Aryans are credited for much of the Indian culture.