Cultural Makeup of Ancient Civilizations
1. What forces contributed to the cultural makeup of early civilizations? There were many forces which contributed to the cultural makeup of early civilizations. These forces included the weather and the landscape which early civilizations faced in their regions. The ways in which they acquired food and formulated communication also impacted their culture. The formulation of a system of religion would be the key factor in the creation of a unique cultural identity. Indeed, the religious identification of a population would not be able to be separated from the group's cultural identity. Additionally, the scientific progressions of a population would have a strong impact on the cultural makeup of that society. For example, the tools that a population were able to construct would determine many of the possible living arrangements within a population. Cultures which thrived more on hunting for example would learn to construct homes of skin and clothing out of the material which would, in turn, allow them to better survive in the elements and further progress historically.
2. What social issues arose because of this cultural makeup? The cultural makeup impacted communication and the ways in which ancient tribes and communities were formulated. The ways in which people acquired food would determine whether they were nomadic or whether they could settle in one place for longer periods. Obviously, if a tribe were not nomadic, they
All the way from the start of civilization through to the Early Christianity there has been a pantheon of; destruction, recognition, wars, cultural diffusion, religious breakthroughs, laws that have been established, kings and queens crowned and dethroned. The Mesopotamian Civilization it was the land between two rivers the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers that civilization first began.
Culture is one of the most relevant elements that can define not only a society but also a country’s cumulative beliefs and system. Often noted as the origins of a country, culture is definitive in the sense that it harbors all the elements that can provide justification on the traditions and norms set by the society for its members. More often than not, the society members follow norms in order to create a harmonious community, and the beliefs and the traditions serve as the poles or grounding rules for each member to follow. Culture is very dynamic in the way that it can change over a variety of foreign influences but what is permanent about it is that original elements about it often lingers with the influences, therefore making it multi-faceted and broad. More importantly, culture serves as an individual and unique trait each society has, and therefore sets it apart from other countries and other societies.
During the years of 3500 BC to 2500 BC, the geography of a land often impacted a civilizations development in great measures. Depending on the resources available or the detriments present due to certain topographical characteristics like rivers or deserts, a civilization could flourish or collapse. By studying the geographic features of growing societies like the Nile, Euphrates, and Tigris Rivers as well as the Mediterranean Sea of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the link between developing cultures and geography will be examined through sources, including Egypt: Ancient Culture, Modern Land edited by Jaromir Malek and Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization by Paul Kriwaczek. To determine the extent
civilization in the region at the time. They had developed political, religious, and social systems
It is evident that every culture is affected by the environment in which said culture evolves. Whether these effects can be observed in the gods differing societies worship, or by the way in which resources are accumulated, the reasons are all the same. How each society and culture interacts with its environment dictates its development and growth. There is no more evident an example of this than the Chesapeake Bay area, pre, mid, and post colonization, using the colony of Jamestown as an model for contact interactions between two distinct cultures, and how these relations can be dictated by the environment.
Defining the meaning of culture is paramount to understanding how it can affect and shape a nation. Culture is defined by a set of customs, skills, courtesies, habits and lifestyle choices that develop as a result of a person’s environment. There are several characteristics that make up a nation 's culture, and set it apart from others. Geographical location greatly influences culture because it can determine profession, diet, as well as interaction with other individuals. Key infrastructure helps define a citizen’s access to resources such as clean drinking water, medicine, and trade items from other areas. Weather can take a monstrous toll on civilized nations, preventing them from expanding or limiting agricultural growth. Lines of communication throughout a nation are critical to ensuring that borders are maintained and cities well governed. Military conflicts often times determine government influence and can even destroy a nation’s way of life. Most notably
In 1950, V Gordon Childe drew up a list of traits of to what he considered to be the common characteristics of early civilizations. According to Fagan & Scarre, a recent archaeologist Charles Redman divided Childe’s list into primary and secondary characteristics. The primary characteristics included cities and states, together with full-time specialization of labor, concentration of surplus, and a class-structured society. For the secondary, the characteristics included symptoms or by-products of these major economic and organizational changes: monumental public works, long-distance trade, standardized monumental artworks, writing, and the sciences (arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy)(Scarre and Fagan 2003). One of the most common characteristics involve was a large, dense population living in a city. This essay well state and describe two early cities in Mesopotamia and explore the layouts and characteristics of these two cities. Also, whether each city is unique or share common characteristics with each other. The two cities are Maskan-shapir and Ur.
Most people believe that all ancient civilizations were the same: they all lived with a steadfast loyalty to their one and only king that ruled all of the lands, civilizations only achievements were monumental buildings, and they vacuously attacked neighboring societies to gain more land for millennia. While some of this knowledge is true to an extent, civilizations accomplished an abundance more than some realize. Some fail to register that early civilizations are unique from each other. Egypt and Mesopotamia were two distinct civilizations. Despite similarities such as both being river civilizations, Egypt and Mesopotamia contrasted with each other in the areas of, type of ruling, religion, and
The impact that pastoral nomads and transhumant herders can still be seen today. They had a huge impact in Egyptian, Mesopotamia, and the Indus Valley civilizations. Some of the impacts were things such as culture, agriculture, religion, social classes/hierarchies, gender roles, and specialization of labor. Throughout all of these influences, it is seen that none of these societies were isolated from each other.
Geography and the environment play a monumental role in the establishment and success of a nearly every civilization. For example, rivers bring water and allow for agricultural development, while mountains or deserts provide for protection and create a barrier. Many things, such as the aforementioned deserts and mountains, can offer both positive and negative influences on the society in question. The climate and amount of rainfall is directly related to the success or failure of crop growing, and thus related to the amount of time spent on simply surviving. Civilizations that are able to spend less time on subsistence farming are able to redirect that energy towards the establishment of arts, culture, religion, and science. Where a
The cultures of diverse populations united them to form civilizations. The cultures made a unified religion, language, and technology. Most of the early civilizations had tribal beliefs, or other polytheistic religions, as the dominant religions. Monotheistic religion wouldn’t be introduced into the world until later. Languages formed amongst these civilizations in order to effectively communicate to each other.
Rather, the cultural identity of a society expresses its fundamental self-understanding that constitutes the values of the people. In establishing religions people were looking for constitutional values. Religion became a cultural value to certain societies. For example, look at the Western political culture. It has been shaped by Greek philosophy, Roman law, feudalism, and the Renaissance. Western culture also has been shaped a great deal by Christianity, Judaism and by Islam.
Culture is one of the major influences on our lives and social interactions; culture is associated with our characteristics of religion, societal norms of behavior; moreover, culture is always changing and the influence increases. With every religion there are traditions and cultures that are a form of art as it involves many characteristics’ of individuals and their beliefs, values, and perspective, for this reason, there are various dynamics in terms of how culture is involved and the influence of our actions, such as media, peers, family, and socializations. Culture is a factor of social environment and what is modeled to us in our early years of development.
As previously stated a cultural system must be rooted in a biological activity among compatible intelligent life forms. Biological advances have been pass down through evolution lines meaning culture has advanced with human progression. This ties into the primary message system known as interaction. In interaction the ability to interact with your surrounding in regards to biological activity is essential to progression as it leads to
Culture is not only a reflection of current social phenomena, but also is a long period of accumulation and the formation of the creation and development of the historical heritage, such as religions, beliefs, lifestyles, values, and so on. Therefore, different cultural backgrounds will