1. religion
1.1. Sumerian
1.1.1. Before kingship in Sumer, the city-states were effectively ruled by theocratic priests and religious officials. Later, this role was supplanted by kings, but priests continued to exert great influence on Sumerian society.
1.1.2. Sumerian temples were one-room structures, sometimes built on elevated platforms. Towards the end of Sumerian civilization, these temples developed into ziggurats--tall, pyramidal structures with sanctuaries at the tops.
1.1.3. The Sumerian religion was polytheistic; they worshiped more than one god/goddess. The Sumerians believed that they were put on earth to serve and take care of the gods. If the gods weren’t happy, they became cranky and took it out on the people .
1.1.4. The Sumerians regarded their divinities as responsible for all matters pertaining to the natural and social orders.
1.2. Shang/Zhou
1.2.1. Shang dynasty was polytheistic, meaning the people worshipped many gods. This bronze sculpture of a human head with gold leaf is typical of the bronze artwork created during the Shang dynasty. Ancestor worship was also very important to the Shang.
1.2.2. It was thought that the success of crops and the health and well being of people were based on the happiness of dead ancestors. If the ancestors of a family were pleased, life for that family would be prosperous. If the spirits were not pleased however, great tragedies could occur.
1.2.3. he god worshipped by everyone during the Shang dynasty was Shang Ti, the "lord on high." Shang Ti was believed to be the link between people and heavenly beings. The souls of ancestors, it was thought, visited with Shang Ti and received their instructions from him. It was therefore very important to make sure that Shang Ti was happy. This was done with various rituals and prayers, offerings, and sometimes even human sacrifices.
1.2.4. The people of the Shang dynasty worshipped the “Shang Di,” he was supreme god who ruled over lesser gods of the sun, the moon, the wind, the rain, and other natural forces and places
1.2.5. Accompanying the important burials were the bodies of a hundred or more servants or slaves sacrificed, presumably to attend to the wishes of the deceased in the afterlife. Along with the dead servants were finely worked bronzes, pottery, jade and other grave goods.
2. government & leaders
2.1. sumerians
2.1.1. The ancient Mesopotamia's created a government that was a combination of monarchy and democracy. The kingdoms of Sumer were organized into city-states and the Kings ruled each city-states for the gods. They were assisted by priests, scribes, and nobles.
2.1.2. Priests controlled these city-states. They had comntrol pver the canals for irigation and on trade plus were the servants of the gods. That gave them power over the others and allowed them to rule.
2.1.3. As Sumr became more powerful, and the cities gained more and more wealth they shifted to a different form of government where instead of each city being ruled by a different priest, you had one guy in control of multiple cities. Here you start to see a shift from the independant cities to a unified nation
2.1.4. the first known set of written laws. These laws are known as the "code" of Ur-Nammu. By 2400 B.C. laws were common on Sumerian society. These laws were designed to protect the weak, poor, widows, and orphans against the rich.
2.2. shang/zhou
2.2.1. Legalism is a philosophy of ruling based on the idea that people are best controlled by fear. It promoted strict laws and harsh punishment, and encouraged people to report the wrong-doing of others. Legalism is based on a hierarchy and laws, in a mirror of Confucianism without the emphasis on humane and moral behavior.
2.2.2. the government of the Zhou was based on the feudal system. The emperor divided the land into fiefs that were usually ruled by his relatives. The nobles who ruled the fiefs basically owned the farmers who worked their lands.
2.2.3. The early leaders of the Zhou Dynasty introduced the idea of the "Mandate of Heaven". This concept taught that the leaders gained their authority to rule from the gods. They believed that when the Zhou overthrew the Shang Dynasty, this was because the Shang had become tyrants and the gods allowed them to fall.
2.2.4. the Zhou king made alliances with the most powerful families in China, and promised to give them land and protection from their enemies. In return, the powerful families would manage the land, control the local populations, and collect taxes from the king. The aristocrats would also raise armies from the local population if called upon by the king.
3. geography&agriculture
3.1. sumerians
3.1.1. The Sumerians knew that they had to control the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. In the spring the rivers flooded, and when they receded and left natural levees behind. The Sumerians built the levees higher and used them to keep back the flood waters.
3.1.2. In the summer, when the land was dry, the Sumerians poked holes in the levees. The river water ran through the holes and made irrigation channel in the soil. An irrigation system took which took planning in draining the marshes for agriculture.
3.1.3. Wheat, barley, sheep, and cattle were foremost among the species cultivated and raised for the first time on a grand scale.
3.1.4. located in Mesopotamia, in the fertile Cresent. Mesopotamia comes from Greek meaning "land between rivers". The rivers being the Tigris and Euphrates, both very infulential in the shaping of the earths oldest known civilization. Mesopotamia is divided into two parts: upper mesopotamia and sumer.
3.2. shang/zhou
3.2.1. was built along the two main rivers—first the Yellow River (Huang He) in the north, and later the Yangtze in the south.
3.2.2. In the settlements along the Yellow River, people grew millet in the rich, easily worked loess soil. In the south, people grew rice along the Yangtze river, ate a good deal of fish, together with vegetables, especially water plants such as water chestnuts and lotus. Along with dogs, pigs and cattle, people in the south had water buffalos to help work the soil.
3.2.3. By the heavy use of human labor, the same area of land in the south could grow about twice as much food as in the north.
3.2.4. All farming lands were owned by nobles, who then gave their land to their serfs,
4. social structure & family life
4.1. sumerians
4.1.1. The bulk of the people of the community were considered to be the servant-slaves of the god of the temple.
4.1.2. the first known set of written laws. These laws are known as the "code" of Ur-Nammu. By 2400 B.C. laws were common on Sumerian society. These laws were designed to protect the weak, poor, widows, and orphans against the rich.
4.1.3. Sumerian society adhered to a caste system comprised of three classes: amelu, mushkinu, and slaves. The amelu were the at the top rung of the caste system. Government officials, professional soldiers, and priests were found in this class. Under the amelu were the mushkinu, the middle class of Sumerian society. The mushkinu were comprised of shopkeepers, farmers, merchants, and laborers. The mushkinu were the largest of the three classes. A large disparity existed between the rich and the poor, but even the poor owned their own land and livestock.
4.1.4. The husband held the power in the family. A husband could initiate a divorce with very little reason. He also had the right to take on a second wife if his first was not able to bear a child. Children were generally loved and cared for, but children could be sold into slavery to repay a debt.
4.2. shang/zhou
4.2.1. Family was extremely important, as one’s ancestors would give help and guidance to dutiful descendants, and one would someday be receiving offerings from one’s own sons and grandsons.
4.2.2. The present family was seen as a point in a line extending both directions: into the past as one appealed to one’s ancestors for help and guidance and into the future as one received the proper rituals and offerings from one’s descendents.
4.2.3. While Confucius believed in promotion based on merit, only the males of the aristocracy would have had the chance to have an education, and therefore the opportunity to prove their merit by their writing.
4.2.4. The social structure of the Confucian beliefs starts with emperors above all, with scholars following at a close second, farmers before merchants, and merchants before slaves and women. This is atypical because a typical social hierarchy (TPS), begins with the emperor as well, but follows with merchants, then scholars and farmers, and again, slaves last. Maybe they were able to maintain a strong government for so long due to their unique social structure.
5. Economy&Trade
5.1. sumerian
5.1.1. Large institutions kept their accounts in barley and silver, often with a fixed rate between them. The obligations, loans and prices in general were usually denominated in one of them.
5.1.2. Commercial credit and agricultural consumer loans were the main types of loans. The trade credit was usually extended by temples in order to finance trade expeditions and was nominated in silver.
5.1.3. Periodically, rulers signed "clean slate" decrees that cancelled all the rural (but not commercial) debt and allowed bondservants to return to their homes. Customarily, rulers did it at the beginning of the first full year of their reign, but they could also be proclaimed at times of military conflict or crop failure. The first known ones were made by Enmetena and Urukagina of Lagash in 2400-2350 BC. According to Hudson, the purpose of these decrees was to prevent debts mounting to a degree that they threatened the fighting force, which could happen if peasants lost the subsistence land or became bondservants due to the inability to repay the debt.
5.1.4. The Epic of Gilgamesh refers to trade with far lands for goods such as wood that were scarce in Mesopotamia. In particular, cedar from Lebanon was prized. The finding of resin in the tomb of Queen Puabi at Ur, indicates it was traded from as far away as Mozambique.
5.2. shang/zhou
5.2.1. an economy based on peasant farming; written language with characters, not an alphabet; silk, jade and bronze.
5.2.2. Like most societies that developed during this period, China under the Zhou Dynasty had an economy centered on agricultural production. One of the greatest accomplishments of the Zhou was to increase that production by settling farmers in lands near the Yangzi River. Peasants grew rice and wheat, which could support an increased population. An increased population led to a greater need for food and a greater number of workers, which meant increased agricultural production.
5.2.3. Whilst much local trade still used a barter system, the Zhou only recognised Bronze as currency (Not necessarily coins as we know them today). The earlier Cowery were not used, and this subsequently indicates that their version of China remained ‘Closed’ to external markets and most international trade.
5.2.4. Like most societies that developed during this period, China under the Zhou Dynasty had an economy centered on agricultural production. One of the greatest accomplishments of the Zhou was to increase that production by settling farmers in lands near the Yangzi River
5.2.5. From 1046-771 B.C.E., small cities began to develop close to the fortresses that were controlled by the local aristocratic lords. Peasant farmers and artisans exchanged some goods, including tools, agricultural goods, and jade. More goods moved from place to place as a result of taxation or gifts to the nobles than from organized trade.
6. science& technlogy
6.1. sumerians
6.1.1. The Sumerians were among the first astronomers, mapping the stars into sets of constellations, many of which survived in the zodiac and were also recognized by the ancient Greeks.
6.1.2. Examples of Sumerian technology include: the wheel, cuneiform script, arithmetic and geometry, irrigation systems, Sumerian boats, lunisolar calendar, bronze, leather, saws, chisels, hammers, braces, bits, nails, pins, rings, hoes, axes, knives, lancepoints, arrowheads, swords, glue, daggers, waterskins, bags, harnesses, armor, quivers, war chariots, scabbards, boots, sandals, harpoons and beer.
6.1.3. Sumerians had three main types of boats: clinker-built sailboats stitched together with hair, featuring bitumen waterproofing skin boats constructed from animal skins and reeds wooden-oared ships, sometimes pulled upstream by people and animals walking along the nearby banks
6.1.4. They also invented the calendar. By studying the phases of the Moon, Sumerians created the first calendar. It had 12 lunar months and was the predecessor for both the Jewish and Greek calendars. A Lunar calendar that is more accurate then the Gregorian Calendar we use today. The Babylonian calendar was a lunisolar calendar with years consisting of 12 lunar months, each beginning when a new crescent moon was first sighted low on the western horizon at sunset, plus an intercalary month inserted as needed by decree. T
6.2. shang/zhou
6.2.1. Several technological advances occurred in China during this period. One was the invention of cast iron. This enabled strong and durable iron tools and weapons to be manufactured. Other important innovations included crop rotation which allowed more efficient use of the land and the addition of soybeans as a major crop.
6.2.2. The Zhou were the first to gather silk from silkworms by feeding them mulberry leaves. It became China's largest industry and biggest export.
6.2.3. Iron tools eventually beat bronze weapons because they were cheaper and better for war. Iron became widespread and an important feature to everyday life
6.2.4. The Zhou dynasty used chariots for war purposes. It could carry up to 3 people.
6.2.5. chopsticks, an improved irrigation system, the perfection of the calendar, new ploughing methods, music, the use of fertilizer, the perfection of bronze-casting, and the crossbow.
7. Arts&Education
7.1. sumerian
7.1.1. while proven to not be the oldest example of writing on earth, is considered to be a great milestone in the development of humanity's ability to not only create historical records but also in creating pieces of literature, both in the form of poetic epics and stories as well as prayers and laws.
7.1.2. The Sumerian language is generally regarded as a language isolate in linguistics because it belongs to no known language family; Akkadian, by contrast, belongs to the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages.
7.1.3. The Sumerians developed a complex system of metrology c. 4000 BC. This advanced metrology resulted in the creation of arithmetic, geometry, and algebra. From c. 2600 BC onwards, the Sumerians wrote multiplication tables on clay tablets and dealt with geometrical exercises and division problems.
7.1.4. Sumerian potters decorated pots with cedar oil paints. The potters used a bow drill to produce the fire needed for baking the pottery. Sumerian masons and jewelers knew and made use of alabaster (calcite), ivory, iron, gold, silver, carnelian, and lapis lazuli.[58]
7.2. shang/zhou
7.2.1. It is unclear if these pictographs were a complete written language, capable of narrative, or if these pictographs represented only names, abstract ideas and objects. In either case, they evolved into the modern written Chinese language.
7.2.2. Jade was shaped and polished by sand to form beads and jewelry, requiring many hours of skilled and careful work.
7.2.3. The bronze pieces speak of a society where royalty could command labor from many workers, from miners to skilled sculptors, and the people to feed the many artisans, to produce art works for them.
7.2.4. A number of things associated with classical Chinese civilization were already evident in the Shang—ancestor worship, an extremely high level of craftsmanship, requiring both artistry and great technical skill; a highly stratified society; the ability to requisition massive amount of labor for military and civil projects; divination, especially that done by the ruler himself;