Rahim Yar Khan Campus

Department of Management Sciences

Title:

ancient civilization and its effect on modern soceity

Presented by: group 7 striver

Presented to: maam Farah Latif Naz

Subject:

sociology 06-02-2012

Date:

INDEX
Quotation Civilization. Cradle of civilization.. Ancient civilizations.. Mesopotamia Ancient Egypt Indus valley civilization Ancient Greece. Legacy of ancient civilization .

Quotation:
Events of the past, if not forgotten, are teachings about the future.

Civilization:
The word civilization derived from Latin civilis meaning citizen. Civilization is a controversial term used with many of its meanings. The first English writer to use this term was Adam Ferguson in his book an essay on the history of civil society. Civilization may be defined as a particular society at a particular place and time. However more compact definition could be a human society that has highly developed material and spiritual resources and a complex cultural, political, and legal organization; an advanced state in social development.

Cradle of civilization:
The term refers to sites of the emergence of civilization. As the cradle is a place or region in which anything is nurtured or sheltered in its earlier stage. The concept of a cradle of civilization has a focus where the inhabitants came to build cities, create writing systems, experimented in techniques for making pottery and using metals, domesticated animals, and developed the complex social structures involving class systems.

Now many scholars believe that civilizations arose independently at several locations in both hemispheres.

Ancient civilizations:
The Columbia Encyclopedia, in its article titled "Civilization," says that the earliest civilizations developed in the following parts of the world: "Mesopotamia Egypt, China, India, the central Andes, and Mesoamerica. However, we will focus on the most influencing or mysterious civilization of past.

Mesopotamia:
Mesopotamia is an ancient Greek word meaning land between the rivers. The term now refers to the area between the river Euphrates and Tigris River in Iraq. Probably the earliest civilization of the human being, As many scholars believe that Mesopotamia is the cradle of civilization, included Sumer, Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires. Mesopotamian civilization came into being existence due to the fertile soil with efficient system of irrigation that produces the constant supply of food. People started to settle themselves into a village shape community which evolved into the independent city. Due to rare communication and transportation means each city is a state of itself. Even the Akkadian and Babylonian unite all the cities into an empire. The peoples live in the mud houses. Their basic profession was farming however there were some craftsmen, laborers, merchants and government employees like governor tax collector or army etc. they develop an education system. Both men and women are learned to read and write. The importance of education shown by a Mesopotamian proverb, "he who would excel in the school of the scribes must rise with the dawn."

Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic. Mesopotamians believed that the world was a flat disc surrounded by a huge, holed space, and the universe was born from an enormous sea. The Mesopotamians built massive temples or ziggurats which housed the priestly class, the human representatives of the gods. The priests controlled the religious life of the community, the economy, land ownership, the employment of workers as well as the management of long distance trade. Ancient Mesopotamians had ceremonies each month. They also celebrate the memories of past events. They get together for the joy or for praying to god. They had some songs to praise the god and also some for the memories of their past victories.

Developments:
Mesopotamia civilization developed many of things that are known to us. The first written language composed of the pictographic symbols. Each symbol represents an identical word. They also develop the phonetic language i.e. the sounds associated with the alphabets. The first ever law codes to regulate the community was developed by a Mesopotamian emperor HAMMURABI. The code includes laws and punishments concerning to all the aspects of life. Mesopotamian is the source of the 60-minute hour, the 24hour day, and the 360-degree circle. They knows the methods of metal and copper-working, glass and lamp making, textile weaving, They develop the concept of dams, aqueduct, flood control, water storage, and irrigation. The Oud, a small, stringed musical instrument used by the Mesopotamians. Men herding horses and driving horse-drawn chariots.

Egypt civilization:
Egypt the gift of river Nile is also considered as one of the earliest civilization. The fertile floodplain of the Nile gave humans the opportunity to develop a settled agricultural economy and a more sophisticated, centralized society. The Egypt was united from Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt to a territory lead by almost 30 dynasties. The king was the supreme leader of the country the commander in chief of the military and also the highest level spiritual leader. Under him was the vizier with many of the religious and bureaucratic officials. These bureaucratic officers collects the tax coordinate irrigation projects to improve the crop yield, drafted peasants to work on construction and established a justice system to maintain peace and order. Most Egyptians were farmer. However the rich agricultural economy allows them to use their potential in other fields of life like architecture music art science and mathematics. They made many innovations discoveries in these fields especially the construction and architecture. They develop many of the musical instruments and mathematical and astrological methods. Their houses were made up of mud bricks usually. A complete concept of family with mother father and Childs exist in the Egyptian civilization. Father is responsible for the food while mother nourish the Childs in the house. The ancient Egyptian society is highly stratified into different classes like the royal family, elite class bureaucratic officials, scribes, artisan scientist, farmers and slaves. The education was limited to Childs of elite class scribes and bureaucratic. The Egyptian religions were also polytheistic however the concept of monotheistic is also found there. They believe strongly on the concept of divine and the afterlife. Their society was religion dominant. All the people build and furnished their tomb and establish a mortuary cult to guarantee perpetual care and offerings.

Their dead body was mummified and preserved in the tomb which depicts their belief on the afterlife.

Indus valley civilization:

The Indus Valley Civilization, also known as Harappas culture, is among the world's earliest civilizations, contemporary to the Bronze Age civilizations of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. The Indus civilization grew out of the culture's technological base, as well as its geographic expansion into the alluvial plains of what are now the provinces of Sindh and Punjab in contemporary Pakistan and Northern India. It was discovered by RD banerjee in 1920. Indus valley is a mysterious civilization with many of their aspects is still hidden. The Archeologists could not find much of the answers they needed. Their writing system is still not deciphered. Its means of subsistence and the causes for its sudden disappearance are still to answer. We dont know what they call themselves. However the Indus valley civilization is known as the largest of ancient civilization as it covered almost 1260,000 km. The ruins of Harappa Mohenjo-Daro Lothal Dholavira Kalibanga and Rakhigarhi remind the preceding glory, dignity, advancement and maturation of a great civilization. It tells a sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture of the Indus civilization. The cities were not evolved rather they built through a municipal and town planning knowledge. The houses with one or two stories were built of baked mud bricks and they were often identical. The streets of major cities such as Mohenjo-Daro or Harappa were laid out in a perfect grid pattern. The houses were protected from noise, odors, and thieves. The world first drainage and sewage system was used in cities throughout the Indus valley. Dockyards granaries warehouses brick platforms and protective walls depict the architectural advancement of Indus valley. Most people in cities use the trade as occupation. The artifacts widely spread in the Afghanistan, Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt and Greece identified their success in trade. However many people grew crops in the fields to support the large developed cities. The religion of Hinduism probably has its roots in the Indus Valley civilization. Hindus and

Indus people both worship a 'mother goddess' Parvati and both regard the cow as sacred. Hindus and Indus people both bathe in the River for religious purposes and consider rivers holy. They perform dances in front of gods and music found as the divine character in Indus valley. Many musical instruments or musical art had developed in the Indus valley. It was the birthplace of the Indian musical raga (metre) and sawaras (rhymes). The drama and poetry of literature were also developed in the Indus valley. The Indus valley civilization introduces many of the methods and techniques of science and medicine. The first dentistry cure founds in the Indus valley. A mysterious evidence of the nuclear footprint also found in the Harappas man which is more than the Hiroshimas nuclear footprint.

Ancient Greece civilization:

Due to the enduring influence of its ideas, ancient Greece is known as the cradle of Western civilization. There history comprises of almost 3000 years ago, however our focus will be on the Greece classical age (480-323) BC in which Greeks reached their highest prosperity and produced amazing cultural accomplishments. The Greece is a mountainous region and there cities are located in the valleys or coastal plains. In ancient time these cities acts as individual states based on the concept of shared social and political rights of citizen such as Athens Sparta and Thebes. These states guaranteed a share identity, rights and responsibilities to the citizen. City states typically consisted of an urban centre where people lived in low apartment buildings or single family homes depending on their wealth. Dwellings, public buildings and temples were situated around the agora, where people gathered for conversation and to buy food and crafts at daily market. The farms and farm houses were spread around the city state where farmer yield the crops. The farmers had to work hard on terracing the rocky hillsides to create as much crop area as possible. Their economy was based on the agriculture and trade. The city states situated on the coastal areas generate the revenue also by using the harbor.

Politically city states possess the monarchy but in classical age the Athens developed a new kind of government i.e. democracy in which all citizens (male) had equal rights and privileges in the assembly. Women had some limited rights and respect in the ancient Greek society. The Greek religion was also polytheistic. They believe on 12 gods or goddesses in which Zeus considered as the supreme power. City-state had centrally located temples of particular gods where priests and priestesses entered to take care of the gods statue. Socially they are classified into different classes depending upon their wealth. People could change their classes if they made more money. Only wealthy families could afford the teacher and their childs education. Boys learned to read write and quote literature they also learned the singing on musical instruments and get trained as athlete for military service. There are city states In the Greek but no doubt they were one people they had same religion, tradition, of language, customs, culture and international festival such as Olympic Games. In festivals gods were honored with competitions in music dance drama and poetry. The Greeks developed and innovate many of the ideas in literature philosophy mathematics architecture music and astronomy. Now we will tell you about a pioneer person of the ancient Greek.

Alexander the Great:

Alexander led the most astonishing military campaign in ancient history by conquering Persian Empire which spreads all the lands from present-day Turkey to Egypt from Iran to Afghanistan and also in the India. His greatness consisted of his ability to motivate his men to follow him into hostile, unknown regions.

Legacy of ancient civilization:

Throughout the history, ancient civilization developed many unique and fascinating ideas that only made mark in history, but

influenced society today. These civilizations confined the beliefs of both scholars and the public. Many of the fascinating and ingenious ideas that were developed throughout that time, including their distinct social classes, their exceptional government systems, and their strong belief in religion, influenced today's society. Science, Art, Philosophy, Language, Literature, Beliefs, Values, Sculptures, Theatre, Architecture, Engineering techniques, War strategy, Rules, Laws and constitutions all were due to the legacy of the ancient civilizations to the modern society. Moreover the ancient monuments their cultural depicters highly attract the tourists from all over the world which not only a big source of the government revenue but also a strong element to build the strong relations among the nations.

Reference Page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Ancients_Did_for_Us http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090217100959AAto1hs http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080819181157AA1eXk8 http://www.bookrags.com/essay-2005/6/8/162433/5605 http://www.mindmeister.com/30587774/the-impact-of-ancient-greece-on-the-modern-world http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Amvu9yd5J8zeboi7OXCglGgjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20071117 212932AAMm7Ci http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AhwUQY0vaqQ4Kb26INBfptYjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=2008092 0163404AA2bNJx http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/cm/v17/n2/ancient-civilizations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acropolis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_china http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/chinadynasties/a/ChinesePeriods.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_egypt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_greece http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_ancient_India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_valley_civilization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anceint_rome http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/ancient-greeks-impact-western-society http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Age_India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cradle_of_civilization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_civilization

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/egypt_importance_01.shtml http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_Valley_Civilization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia http://history-world.org/mesopotamia_a_place_to_start.htm http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture1b.html http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture2b.html http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture3b.html http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture4b.html http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AiPB8d06qDG00oAPdG0PWCQjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=200703 06092424AALWtTq http://www.worldhistoryonline.org/ancient-history/indus-valley-civilization-and-the-vedic-period.html http://www.harappa.com/har/indus-saraswati.html http://www.crystalinks.com/induscivilization.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_valley_civilization