IRANIAN CIVILIZATION.

  In the middle of the 6^th century BC, a powerful empire – Achaemenid Empire – arose in Iran (PERSIA). The founder of this empire was Cyrus with his capital at Pasargadae.

·         He was succeeded by Darius I (522 BC- 486 BC). The empire reached its greatest extent under him and covered entire Iran, Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, Asia Minor and north-western India. He built a new capital at Persepolis.

·         Darius I and his successors were involved in wars with the g reek states. They were defeated by Greeks. Alexander dealt the empire a final blow during the reign of Darius III.

·         In the 3^rd century AD, new and powerful empire – Sassanid Empire – arose in Iran. This empire which was founded by ardashir in 226 AD held sway in Iran up to the middle of the 7^th century AD.

·         The Arabs, who emerged as a strong power after the rise of Islam, conquered Iran sin 651 AD.

·         The achaemenids had introduced the use of money – coins of gold and silver – on a large scale throughout the empire.

·         Iran in ancient times produced a number of famous sailors and explorers. One of them, Scylla, undertook a voyage from the mouth of Indus to Egypt on orders of Darius.

·         The main religion of the ancient Iranians was Zoroastrianism. This religion was founded but Zarathustra or xoraaster (625 BC -551BC) as the Greeks called him in 7^th century BC. The teachings of Zarathustra are recorded in the send vista, the holy book of parses. Zarathustra said that the world consists of two forces, good and evil. The god, aura Mazda pep resents the forces of good, and airman, the forces of evil. The sun and fire came to be worshipped as visible symbols of aura Mazda, who represents light. Both Judaism and Christianity indebted to Zoroastrianism.

·         During the Achaemenid Empire the official language was Aramaic. The Sassanid’s revised Old Persian and made it the official language of their empire. But then a new script called Pahlavi had also developed. The best known ancient literature of Iran is the send vista, which contains the work of Zarathustra.

EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION

EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION

·         Egypt is called the ‘gift of the Nile’.

·         Historians divide the history of Egypt into three periods : the old kingdom, the middle kingdom and the new kingdom.

·         The old kingdom is also called the ‘age of the pyramids’

·         The Egyptian king was called the pharaoh.

·          The Egyptians were the worshipper of the nature and the sun was their most important god.

·         The Egyptians believed that after death both the body and the soul live while other people believed that only the soul lives and body perishes. Body was embalmed in spices and then wrapped in strips of fine line. Such preserved body is called a mummy. The mummy was put in a wooden box and buried. The pyramids and the sphinx are the two specimens of egyptianarchitectural excellence.

·         The pyramids were the tombs of kings and they contained the mummies of these monarchs. The most imposing of all is the great pyramid at give in Cairo, built by the king cheeps (Khufu) of the old kingdom the great pyramid is one 9ofseven wonders of the ancient world.

·         The sphinx is a mythological animal with the body of a lion and the head of a man. each sphinx was carved out of a single solid stone

·         The Egyptian script, known as hieroglyphic, was deciphered by Champollion.

·          The Egyptians developed a decimal system of numeration.

·          The crowning achievement of the Egyptians was the solar calendar.

  HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION.

      The Harappan civilization extended over a bigger area than any of the contemporary civilization.

NOTE

For details, see Indus civilization.

CHINESE CIVILIZATION.

WORLD HISTORY

WORLD HISTORY

          Ancient world: down to 500 AD

          Bronze Age civilizations

SI. NO	NAME OF THE CIVILIZATION	MODERN AREA	RIVER VALLEY
1	Mesopotamian civilization(4000 BC -6th cen. BC)	Iraq	Tigris and Euphrates
2	Egyptian civilization	Egypt	Nile
3	Harappan civilization (2500 BC – 1750BC)	India and Pakistan	Indus
4	Chinese civilization (1765 BC – 250 BC )	China	Hwang – ho

    Mesopotamian civilization: the oldest civilization of the world

·         Mesopotamia means ‘land between the rivers’. Mesopotamia is the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

·         Mesopotamia comprises four regions: summer (southernmost region ), Babylonia and Akkad (middle region ) and Assyria (northernmost region.)

·         Hammurabi (C.2100 BC), the greatest Babylonian ruler united the whole of what is now called Iraq into a single kingdom. Hammurabi gave his people a code of laws. His code covered every aspect of life. His code was based on the law of ‘eye for eye’ and Assyria (northernmost region).

·         Hammurabi (C.2100 BC), the greatest Babylonian ruler, united the whole of what is now called Iraq into a single kingdom, Hammurabi gave his people a code flaw. his code covered every aspect of life. His code was based on the law of ‘eye for eye’ and ‘tooth’ i.e., the law of ‘tit for tat’.