Preview

HST103A/104A: World History | Unit 1 | Lesson 9: Looking at Civilizations

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
467 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
HST103A/104A: World History | Unit 1 | Lesson 9: Looking at Civilizations
Graded Assignment
Comparing Civilizations
Complete and submit this assignment by the due date to receive full credit.
(50 points)
1. Choose two categories from the River Valley Civilizations sheet. Then, write an essay comparing and contrasting the four civilizations in those two categories. For example, you could choose to compare and contrast the governments and the writing systems of the four civilizations.
Provide specific information in your essay. Be sure to explain both how the civilizations were alike, and how they were different, in those categories. You can use the River Valley Civilizations sheet as a reference.
Answer:
The four River Valley Civilizations were alike in some ways but they were very different to. The writing system is one of the many ways to tell how all four civilizations are different from each other. In Sumer, they had a writing system with the purpose to spread information & culture. Where in Egypt they created pictograms & it was a very simple form of writing. Later they evolved & created hieroglyphics. India, had the most complex writing system out of all four civilizations. China, in my opinion had a weird way of writing, they wrote on what they called dragon bones. In the late 1800’s two scholars found out the bones had scratches which had a big part in decoding ancient writing. In the four examples they had very different purposes for writing, even though we don’t know how to decode ancient India's writing I think that there writing system was somewhat like the Egyptians because they were really powerful like the Egyptians. Since the dawn of time, technology has been present and has always been a major factor of civilization. The Sumerians invented a material that has forever changed the world; Bronze thus the Sumerians marked the Bronze Age. I believe that this invention caused the Sumerians to become much more powerful but also be a target for many people. Many wars were caused over time for resources like bronze for

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    This form of writing was called cuneiform. The writings were written on sundried clay tablets. Writing brought about record-keeping and also posed as a new job for some people. Scribes were record keepers and probably some of the only people who weren’t alliterate. Besides writing, Mesopotamians also majored in math and sciences by using a mathematical system and constellations.…

    • 2240 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mesopotamia, China, Egypt, and India were all river valley civilizations, meaning they arose in the valleys of major rivers. Mesopotamia arose on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; china on the Yellow river; Egypt on the Nile river; and India on the Indus river. Irrigation systems were built to control water for farming. All four civilizations were governed by kings who derived their authority form the gods(either they claimed to be a god themselves or they claimed to by appointed by the gods). All were polytheistic and their gods were usually tied to nature. All had hieroglyphic writing systems. The Indus valley civilizations writing system has yet to be deciphered so researchers know little about the civilization. All were a patriarchal society were the eldest male in the extended family had the greatest authority. They all also developed metallurgical skills and made important cultural achievements. In Mesopotamia, the wheel, the sundial, number system based on 60, construction, irrigation systems, mathematics and astronomy, and a writing system; in China, paper, wheelbarrow, watermills, construction, writing system, and irrigation systems. In India, construction, writing system, and irrigation system; in Egypt, writing system, irrigation system, calendar based on 365 days, construction, and a form of papyrus.…

    • 6675 Words
    • 27 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mesopotamia and Egypt are both similar because they both have their own form of writing. The Sumerian form of writing was called cuneiform and consisted of pictures that represented letters. It was written on clay tablets with a tool called a stylus. Hieroglyphics (sacred inscriptions) were pictures that represented letters and words or sounds. It was written on papyrus using inks and pens, made out of plants that contained ink inside of them. Both of these forms of writing were used to keep records, document different buildings and structures. In the Mesopotamian and…

    • 672 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ap World History Dbq

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Let’s begin with cuneiform. The ancient Sumerians invented cuneiform, which made it possible for change to be made in the future. Cuneiform, being the first written language, was invented over 5000 years ago (Doc. 1). Many Sumerians used this process of writing to keep records, document business transactions, and pass new ideas from generation to generation (Doc. 1). In other words, the early Sumerians were the first to use language in a permanent way. Writing on clay tablets took up much more work than most would think. You had to go to school to learn how to be a scribe, meaning only children of the highest people in Sumer could become scribes (OI). Cuneiform, other that for the reasons listed…

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Firstly, one of the major similarities would be the way both empires fell. They were both very powerful and ruled large portions of the world. The main reason of their decline was their leaders being weak and not being able to support and lead them. Individuals who solely wanted power hurt both empires. They were both hurt by the frequent attacks from various tribes, and they were too spread out to regenerate what they had lost because they didn’t have as much control in some places as they did in others. You could say that the main reason of their downfall was their lack of leadership, and that lack of leadership is what still kills societies today.…

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mesopotamia and Egypt had similar writing systems. Both Ancient civilizations used writing for recording data. Writing was also used to represent actual things and objects. Mesopotamian writing was called Cuneiform. Cuneiform were pictographs. Egyptian writing was called Hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphs were also pictograms. Cuneiform was done on clay tablets, and Hieroglyphs was done on papyrus. Mesopotamian and Egyptian writing systems were similar because of the purpose of the use, and the pictogram writing style.…

    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    World History Unit One

    • 2199 Words
    • 9 Pages

    We spend our daily lives living in a civilization, an advanced state of society with a high level of culture, science, industry and government. Living in today's society has set our way of life apart from the way of life from the early and advancing civilizations. Today it's effortless to get wrapped up in our society and take for granted who and what got us to this point in time. The Early civilizations and the advancements they made built a foundation to start living within larger and more complex communities. We have adapted and evolved many present day cultures, systems, and structures from the rise of civilizations. Mesopotamia, the Indus River Valley, the Assyrian people, rulers such as Hammurabi, civilizations such as Greece and Rome are utmost essential to our timeline because they are the cultural basis of where many civilizations, including ours have emerged from.…

    • 2199 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In order to completely understand the relationship between two events, comparing and contrasting is necessary. Through comparing similarities and differences it is easier to analyze why things developed and occurred the way they did. For example, in comparing Egypt and Mesopotamia it will be easier to achieve understanding of major aspects of their culture, the way other cultures impacted them, and their influence on the future. In addition to the similarities between the two cultures, the differences are what make them unique. Although Egypt and Mesopotamia both left stable heritage in their respective regions, due to geographic location their influences on politics, economy, and social relations differ.…

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    8) Antony and Cleopatra – Octavia’s wife, Cleopatra, had an affair with Mark Antony. They fell in love after the Battle of Philippi. Antony conquered land in the East with Cleopatra’s money. They had three children together. In 33 BCE, the civil breaks out; and in 31 BCE, the Battle of Actium begins. Antony kills himself in 30 BCE, eleven days later, Cleopatra kills herself.…

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mesopotamia, also known as the land between two rivers, became the grounds of many ancient civilizations that we know about today. Perhaps one of the most famous is Sumer. Sumer was a civilization that thrived off of the two river, the Tigris and the Euphrates. Using irrigation systems, the Sumerians used the floods of the rivers produced to grow crops and support the growing population. This civilization grew into an early form of a modern city, with things like business, jobs, currency, and social classes. How were the Sumerians able to keep track of money and payments and when floods happened without a writing system? Eventually, the Sumerians were able to create to world's earliest writing system to keep record of all this. Later, that system evolved and became what we…

    • 692 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    First are the differences. One difference between these civilizations is the religion. The Israelites have a very unique religion. Their religion is monotheistic. This religion is when you believe only in one god. This is now known as Judaism. The rest of the civilizations had a polytheistic religion. Polytheistic religion is the belief of many gods. The second difference is the writing. The writing for the Indus River Valley was pictographs. Pictographs were very hard to make and look like they took a lot of skill. The writing for the Israelites was Hieroglyphics. These writings were very hard to read and have not yet been figured out. The third difference of these civilizations was the art. The art for the Indus River Valley was bronze weapons, artwork, and silk.…

    • 354 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ancient Mesopotamia and the Indus River Valley civilization were two incredibly productive and successful empires. While Mesopotamian politics were slightly less focused on religion and more on other aspects, the two societies shared many social characteristics. They both had defined social hierarchies, as well as similar views on gender roles. These traits are helpful in explaining the similarities and differences between the two cultures.…

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Vipin

    • 308 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Compare the culture, state and social structure of two or more early civilizations: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus Valley.…

    • 308 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Early Civilian Matrix

    • 2502 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Early Civilizations Matrix Using your readings and outside sources, complete the following matrix. Be sure to address the following in your matrix Provide names, titles, dates, brief descriptions of important events, and other details, as necessary. Note the details of key political, socioeconomic, technological, artistic, musical, architectural, philosophical, and literary developments for each civilization listed in the table, which were evidenced in the humanities. Properly cite the sources you use in completing this matrix. CivilizationPoliticsSociety and EconomicsTechnologyArtMusicArchitecturePhilosophyLiteratureB-…

    • 2502 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    greek and romans

    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages

    4) Compare the main features of the social structure of the classical civilizations in the Mediterranean, China, and India.…

    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays