In my last entry, I discussed humanity’s quickening acceleration from a society of farmers into some of the first civilizations that the world has ever known. They centred around many of the world’s greatest rivers, including the Nile, where people fled to after the desertification of the Sahara, allowing the Naqada culture to thrive, eventually encompassing what would become Ancient Egypt; the Tigris and Euphrates, home to Ancient Mesopotamia, and the oldest cities in the world, where people from various walks of life came together to create a thriving community; the Indus, around which many large cities began to form, including Harappa, an advanced community which is home to the earliest known writing in the region; and the Yellow and Yangtze, where Chinese culture developed, bringing with it many traditions and customs that are still very much in practice today.
These civilizations were the first the world had ever seen, and it was still just the beginning. Writing was being developed in each of these societies, allowing more to be unearthed about the individual people, from the merchants involved in trade between communities, to the warriors concerned with protecting their homes and families, and to the leaders of the empires and dynasties themselves. Furthermore, creation theories, religious doctrines, and various other theologies were coming into existence, in what would be a time saturated with the making of legends.
In Ancient Egypt, a variety of creation myths existed among the different communities present before unification. They all tend to tell the story of a world covered in water, an eternal sea of chaos. And from the sea, the land of Egypt arose from where before there had been nothing, and out of the land came the sun. The sun, often representative of the god Ra, rises above giving both light and warmth to the land and the people who call it home. Ra also becomes the first king of these people, bringing stability to the land, flooding the Nile annually to allow the crops to grow, and protecting the people from the chaos represented from the demons of the desert beyond. Another common myth, and perhaps the most famous, is the one of Osiris. Killed by his brother Set in order to take over the throne, Osiris was cut into several pieces and spread across Egypt. At this point Osiris’ sister and consort, Isis, found all but one of these pieces, replacing the missing penis with a golden phallus. She then breathes life back into him for a short time, conceiving a son with him before he is sent to the underworld to become the ruler there. Their son, Horus, eventually comes of age and challenges Set for the throne that is rightfully his.
And after a long battle between them, several accounts conclude that their realm was divided in two, becoming what was known as Upper and Lower Egypt, generations before they were reunited by Narmer. All subsequent pharaohs were said to be descended from the gods, particularly Osiris and Horus, and consequently have the highest authority in the land, as head of the army, the priesthood, and the law. And upon death, they would be honoured with a special tomb to spend the rest of eternity within, known as a mastaba. These were rectangular structures with flattened rooves that were constructed with mud brick.
Across the sea from Egypt, civilization began to arise in the Cyclades Islands within the Aegean Sea separating the modern nations of Greece and Turkey. By 3000 BCE, people were using tin and copper to make bronze, and were also becoming experts at carving stone. On the islands of Paros and Naxos, figures of women, some of which were life-sized, were constructed from stone and ruled smooth with emery native to the region. Over fourteen hundred of these figures are known, and it has been suggested that they were meant to represent the many goddesses that were believed to look over and protect the deceased. Mainly a seafaring people, the Cycladic culture involved a network centred around the island of Delos, connecting the various islands, each adding their own local commodities to the civilization. Naxos as previously mentioned had a good supply of emery which was used for smoothing stone, while Milos was in possession of the obsidian rock that was used in making knives and scraping tools.
The first literate civilization in Europe were the Minoans of the Greek island of Crete, who were in possession of clay tablets with writings that can be dated to at least 3000 BCE. They were also crafting tools and weapons made from bronze by this time, in addition to houses and royal palaces built from mud bricks. Their religion was important to them, with the most prominent figure being the mother goddess, who was seen as a symbol of fertility. However the Minoans had no great temples to honour her, instead leaving special rooms in their palaces and homes. They also did some extensive trading, with evidence of their pottery being found among the Cyclades all the way to Egypt and Phoenicia.
On the mainland of Anatolia in modern Turkey, the city of Troy was founded by 3000 BCE. Originally starting out as a small fortified citadel, only used by local farmers when facing danger, it eventually grew considerably larger and wealthier as time progressed. As a crossroads between Asia and Europe, in addition to its vicinity to both the Black and Aegean Seas, it became an important hub for trade. Over time the community grew in size and wealth, thanks to the extensive trading that was taking place. Furthermore, with its positioning at the entrance to the Hellespont Strait, Troy was able to control marine traffic in the area, making it a key strategic location to surrounding civilizations.
The Phoenicians’ homeland was the coast of today’s Syria, Lebanon, and Israel, and they consisted of merchants, navigators, and skilled boat builders. They were building many great cities at this time, including Ugarit and Byblos, the latter of which became a very important trading port in the region where they would sell their cedar trees and other commodities in exchange for Egyptian gold and Minoan pottery. Calling themselves Canaanites, they became known by their more popular name as a result of their trade of a reddish purple(or “phoinix”) dye used in making clothing. In addition to this they also loved learning, and are responsible for inventing the alphabet that was soon adopted by the Greeks and became the basis for many other European languages in following centuries.
A little further east in Sumer, rather than being a unified civilization the land was dotted with a variety of city states. Each of these cities had their own patron deities, gods and goddesses which numbered in the hundreds. Of these Nammu is said to be the creator goddess, who made both the earth and the sky, subsequently giving them to the god An and the goddess Ki. Then when these two had a son named Enlil, he was made the god of wind, and thus the messenger between the realms of his parents. More gods would appear over time, bringing life to the world and the people who called it home. Most of these people would lead lives dedicated to the gods, with some exceptional humans becoming lugals, or great men. Each of the city states in Mesopotamia were run by these lugals, the heads of the warrior class who eventually became the first Sumerian kings. The most famous of these kings was Gilgamesh, who was made into a legendary figure by people of later times. Gilgamesh is credited with building a giant, six mile long wall around the city of Uruk. He was the fifth king to have ruled this city, during a period when the various city states were fighting for more power over one another.
Their influence spread as far as modern Iran, where the Elam civilization was born. Centralized around it’s capital at Susa, it was similar to neighbouring Sumer in a number of ways, including agriculture and the construction of their own massive ziggurats. They were still rivals to the Sumerians however, and there were several conflicts between the two neighbours. This escalated until 2700 BCE when Elam was conquered by Enmebatagesi of Kish, one of the Sumerian city states. This was the beginning of greater Sumerian control in the region, as the Awan Dynasty began to rule over the Elamite people.
Along China’s Yellow River in modern Shandong province, the Longshan culture rose to prominence by approximately 3000 BCE. They were highly skilled in pottery, and utilized potters’ wheels in their design. Their black eggshell pottery was most stunning, being as thin of the shell of an egg while maintaining a bright and beautiful appearance. The Longshan proved better at agriculture than the Yangshao before them as they domesticated more animals, while they had both rice and millet cultivation clearly established. And further south along the Yangtze River the Liangzhu culture was also thriving, adding their jade and ivory creations to the relics of the area. They likewise possessed advanced agriculture, and also aquaculture of the nearby waterways.
It is at this time in Chinese history that the first known of the great rulers come into power. Over time their stories have been made the work of legends, to the point where their existence in actuality has come into question. For instance, much like the Egyptians, the Chinese speak of a world once engulfed in flood water, with the only survivors being the godlike Fu Xi and Nüwa. They were said by some sources to have been the ancestors of the Chinese people, and the first of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors of Ancient China, with Fu Xi beginning his reign circa 2800 BCE.
However Fu Xi has become more of a legend than a historical ruler, leaving Huangdi, or the Yellow Emperor of the subsequent century to have more basis in reality. Huangdi is said to be the founder of Chinese civilization, with credit often going to him for instigating writing, in addition to farming, during which he tamed several wild beasts to assist the people. He is also credited with clothing the people and introducing the Chinese calendar. By 2500 BCE Huangdi fought during the Battle of Banquan in modern Shanxi province, which is thought to be the earliest known large scale battle in Chinese history. It is said that he fought the forces of Yandi, or the Flame Emperor, coming out victorious. The two sides thus made an alliance, and their descendents became the Han people, the biggest ethnic group in China today.
Further south in Vietnam, after over a millennium of rice cultivation, a civilization based around it began forming along the bank of the Hồng, or Red River. There were several smaller territories in the region, but that all changed in 2879 BCE when Lộc Tục began uniting the various nations. This was in order to bring more people together to extract more labour and ability in getting water to the many rice fields, and also to better defend the now unified territory. This was birth of the Hồng Bàng Dynasty, in what would be the start of a new nation known as Xích Quỷ, consisting of much of modern Vietnam in addition to regions of several modern Chinese provinces. Lộc Tục, or Kinh Dương Vương as he was now called, was the first king of the dynasty, and is today considered the founding father of Vietnam.
By about 2793 his son Lạc Long Quân took over the rule of Xích Quỷ, leaving behind a reign which can only be described as legendary. There exist stories from this time of him slaying massive beasts that threatened the livelihoods of his people, including the mythical nine-tailed fox. He was said to be descended from dragons, while his wife descended from fairies, and together they would become the parents of one hundred sons. However, due to the inner conflicts between the two ancestries, it was agreed that husband and wife would separate into opposite parts of the land, each bringing along fifty sons. He went into the rivers of the lowlands while she headed to the mountains of the highlands, expanding their kingdom while the eldest son Hung Lang would rule from the capital.
To the other side of the world in Britain, construction of Stonehenge, the best known example of a megalith structure, began in England circa 2950 BCE. It consists of a centre altar stone, surrounded by two horseshoe arrangements of stone, which itself is surrounded by an outer ring of stones. Bluestone and sarsen were both used in this construction, though the fact that neither is found locally meant that they were transported there in a time before the wheel. There is evidence to suggest that the stones were taken from the Preseli Hills in modern Wales, over thirty kilometres from the Stonehenge site. Part of the journey may have been taken by sea, but nonetheless the Ancient Britons had to transport approximately one hundred fifty stones across such an expanse. Besides Stonehenge, another famous megalith in the area is Avebury, containing three large stone circles that were constructed circa 2600 BCE.
In Egypt, the mastabas built to give their pharaohs a safe passage into the afterlife would become the precursors to the first pyramids, which began to arise during Egypt’s Third Dynasty. Built by about 2700 BCE, the Pyramid of Djoser was designed as a final resting place for the pharaoh of the same name, and it consisted of a series of incrementally smaller mastabas built atop one another. Found in the ancient burial site of Saqqara, it is the oldest known structure in history to have been constructed with worked stone, and its design would inspire the creations of the subsequent dynasty.
The first true pyramids, those with flattened sides all around, arose in the Old Kingdom, which began in about 2650 BCE. The pharaoh Snefru built the first three of these, the Bent, Red, and Meidum Pyramids. The labour required for these structures must have been immense, alluding to the pharaoh’s pushing into foreign lands to get both workers and building materials. Modeling his pyramids off the earlier Djoser Pyramid, Snefru’s own designs would become the new standard for pyramid construction. However he was only outdone by one pharaoh, his son and successor Khufu, who oversaw the construction of the largest, in addition to the most well known, pyramid ever made, by about 2550 BCE. This was the Great Pyramid of Giza, one hundred forty-six metres tall, and built using roughly two million large limestone blocks. And surrounding the pyramid were several mastabas, intended for high ranking members of the royal court. The entire project must have required massive organization and effort from all over the kingdom and perhaps even beyond, possibly during the flood season when people could not work at home. Roughly eighty-four thousand of these workers constructed this pyramid in a span of twenty years, to create the last remaining wonder of the ancient world.
The Indus Valley Civilization was spreading from its roots in the modern Punjab region along the Indus River-in addition to a second that is today dried up-and into southern Pakistan and India. Initially they were only a group of farming villages founded by the people who had already been living there for millenia, but over time agriculture had allowed people to spend more time on less essential activities, and thus different trades began to emerge. Ceramic pots and tools crafted from copper have been found in the area, in addition to faience crafted from partially melted sand. Jewelry consisting of lapis lazuli and turquoise stones was being produced, and this was often buried with the dead.
By 2600 BCE the first large cities arose in the region, with populations of up to fifty thousand people in the largest of these, Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. These communities needed to be protected from the floodwaters of the nearby rivers, and were thus either surrounded by large walls or built upon platforms. The plentiful supply of water was used for irrigation, and ports were built along the sea allowing for trade with further regions. There was an elaborate drainage system for sewage material, with a public well present on each city block, illustrating a feat of engineering that has not been matched until modern times. These new advancements in the local societies allowed for people to begin accumulating wealth, and people began to become separated in terms of class with the appearance of new, richer neighbourhoods. The cities became the home of craftspeople who did not participate in agriculture directly, instead making a living off of their art. Necklaces made of long carnelian beads took about a year to make, and were thus extremely valuable, being traded as far astray as ancient Sumer. For those who did practise agriculture, wheat and barley were the main crops, with sesame, rice, cotton, and legumes also being common, and the sheep, zebu, and water buffalo being used for both their meat and milk.
In North America, most people remained nomadic hunter gatherers, migrating across the land on a seasonal basis. The megafauna were now long extinct, and people from one end of the continent to the other were developing different lifestyles in order to adapt to their surroundings. New tools were created, including baskets and nets, and thanks to far-reaching trade networks they were able to spread just as far as the people. Further south in the Caribbean, the Ortoiroid people were continuing to colonize the Lesser Antilles, soon reaching the island of Puerto Rico. And in South America, the Norte Chico of modern Peru, a seemingly peaceful people who had no weapons and thus no need for violence, developed the first civilization to be found in the western hemisphere. They were unique among their contemporary civilizations in their non-violent ways, but also in that they had yet to create any form of pottery, instead using locally grown gourds. Nonetheless they possessed great building prowess, such as in the ruins of Caral, where several buildings, including six pyramids built in roughly the same manner of the mounds found in North America. These pyramids, dated to roughly 2600 BCE, were built by filling bags with rocks and assembling them into the structures that still remain standing to this day.
Civilizations were now appearing across the world, with each of them developing their own unique culture. And with the possible exception of the Norte Chico, they each became forced to look beyond their borders to their friends, or potential enemies, in other lands. This had already become prevalent in Mesopotamia with the various city states building up their borders as the less protected communities simply ceased to exist. And the nomadic peoples of central Asia were becoming a threat to several regions, especially those in the drying up Indus River Valley. In Greece and Egypt as well, defences had to be built up to protect the regions from enemies abroad. Though as some found out, the enemy from within can be just as deadly.
To be continued in Part 5: The Enemy From Within
Figure 1: Kheops-Pyramid by Nina-no CC BY-SA
Figure 2: Abydos Tempelrelief Sethos I. 36 by Olaf Tausch CC BY
Figure 3: Mastaba-faraoun 3 by Jon Bodsworth CC0
Figure 4: Cycladic female figurine 2 by Mountain CC0
Figure 5: Ruins of Troy by David Spender CC BY
Figure 6: CMOC Treasures of Ancient China exhibit – black pottery goblet by Editor at Large CC BY-SA
Figure 7: NuwaFuxi1 by Miuki CC0
Figure 8: Yellow Emperor by 社会历史博物馆 CC0
Figure 9: Stonehenge by thegarethwiscombe CC BY
Figure 10: Pyramid of Djoser by Gary Ku CC BY-SA
Figure 11: Egypt.Dashur.RedPyramid.01 by Hajor CC BY-SA
Figure 12: WLA brooklynmuseum Harappa Fragment of Large Deep Vessel by luluinnyc CC BY
Figure 13: Mohenjodaro Sindh by M.Imran CC SA
Figure 14: PeruCaral01 by Håkan Svensson Xauxa CC BY-SA
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