PartTwo

Part Two - Chapters 3-5
__ID Terms and Important Concepts__
 * Chapter 3 (pp. 62-91):**
 * 1) Horizontal vs. Vertical organization of society
 * 2) Aspero settlement (P/S/E overview)
 * 3) C. and E. European settlements (Tisza, Varna, Sredny Stog) --> Why does Armesto choose to include these civs. in his discussion of ARVCs?
 * 4) Four major ARVCs - Nile; Indus and Saraswati; Mesopotamia; Yellow
 * Nile -- role of irrigation, flooding, connection to religious beliefs, creation of "everyday abundance," surplus and its effects
 * Indus and Saraswati -- Harappan society, flooding cycles, cultural products (coins, artwork, etc.) and what it reflects
 * Mesopotamia -- flooding cycle, effects of belief systems, effects on crops.
 * Yellow -- flooding cycle, irrigation techniques, types of crops and cultivation techniques.
 * 1) "Civilization" vs. the Ecology of Civilization
 * 2) Early cities and societal structures in ARVCs (e.g. Sumer, Ur, Panlongcheng, Curled Dragon Town, Mohenjo Daro, Harappa)
 * 3) Labor specialization in ARVC cities
 * 4) Connection between increased agriculture and political developments?
 * 5) Methods for surplus storage
 * 6) Egyptian beliefs toward the afterlife --> factors that influenced and changed these views?
 * 7) Mesopotamian law codes; Code of Hammurabi
 * 8) Oracles, Augurers --> connection to religion and politics
 * 9) //[|Epic of Gilgamesh] --//> reflections on attitudes toward leadership
 * 10) Shang Dynasty and early Chinese state structure; diviners and oracle bones; religious function of kings (in lieu of shaman)
 * 11) Wu Ding
 * 12) Harappan city planning --> connection to social structure?
 * 13) Challenges of interpreting and analyzing Harappan civilization?
 * 14) Process of unification in ARVCs
 * Political functions of the Nile River; link to unification?
 * Challenges of Mesopotamian geography to unification?
 * Sargon of Akkad
 * Shang civilization --> link between its power and geography?
 * Mandate of Heaven --> diffusion of this concept?
 * 1) Cuneiform/logograms

__Blogging Prompts and Critical Questions__
 * 1) How did the development of agriculture intensify cultural differences? What examples are some of the most illustrative of this dynamic?
 * 2) What challenges face historians and other scholars in attempting to study and characterize early human settlements?
 * 3) How did horizontally organized societies operate differently from vertically organized societies? Which of these types existed most frequently among ancient river valley civilizations (ARVCs) and why did this tend to be the case?
 * 4) Why does Armesto choose to focus on how historians have traditionally employed the concept of "civilization"? How does his attitude about this concept shape the way in which he addresses this period of human history?
 * 5) What common patterns and connections are evident among early civilization?
 * 6) What common patterns and connections are evident among the ARVCs? How does geography shape societal, political, and/or economic dynamics in similar ways in all of these ARVCs?
 * 7) How did surplus and the development of job specialization change gender roles in ARVC cities?
 * 8) How did political structures influence religious beliefs? What specific examples help illustrate the dynamic relationship between these factors?
 * 9) How did ARVCs expand and acquire more territory and political influence? What similarities and differences exist in the processes that these civilizations undertook in their growth processes?
 * Compare and Contrast the role played by geography in the unification and political trajectories of the four ARVCs.
 * 1) What role has the existence of writing played in historians' traditional interpretation and evaluation of the ARVCs?
 * 2) Why does Armesto challenge this traditional interpretation of writing's role in ARVCs? What evidence does he draw on to challenge these traditional assumptions?

__ID Terms and Important Concepts__
 * Chapter 4 (pp. 92-119):**
 * 1) Hittite Kingdom (P/S/E profile)
 * Military developments --> use of iron?
 * Economic surpluses
 * Political structure
 * Religious attitudes --> connection to sexual mores?
 * Gender roles and attitudes
 * 1) Cretan (Minoan) Civilization (P/S/E profile)
 * Knossos/Zakros --> signif. as palace centers?
 * 1) Mycenaean Civilization (P/S/E profile)
 * 2) Egyptian Civilization in second millennium BCE (2000-1000 BCE)
 * Hyksos
 * Sea Peoples
 * Ramses III
 * 1) Harappan Civilization (P/S/E profile and sources of decline)
 * //Rig Veda//
 * 1) Shang Dynasty/state (changes ~1100 BCE?)
 * 2) Zhou Dynasty/state (P/S/E profile)
 * Mandate of Heaven
 * 1) Andean Civilizations (P/S/E profiles)
 * El Niño --> role in the civilizations' stability?
 * Chavín de Huantar --> cultural and artistic achievements?
 * 1) Mesoamerican Civilizations (P/S/E profile)
 * Olmec Civilization --> sources of growth and expansion
 * Influence of Olmec Civ. on later Mesoamerican peoples?
 * 1) Nubia --> relationship and connection to Egypt?

__Blogging Prompts and Critical Questions__
 * 1) How does the Hittite Kingdom fit into the Conrad-Demarest model? Does it meet the criteria of an "Empire" according to Conrad and Demarest?
 * 2) How do Minoan (Cretan) and Mycenaean Civilizations differ from the way in which they have been portrayed traditionally in Western Civilizations (Europe and the United States)?
 * 3) How does Armesto revise the prior understanding and interpretation about the sources of instability throughout the Mediterranean during the second millennium BCE?
 * 4) How does Armesto's emphasis on the central role of climatic changes reshape our understanding of the causes of decline amongst these second millennium civilizations?
 * 5) How has the Zhou concept of the "Mandate of Heaven" shaped Chinese self-identity and the standard Western interpretation of Chinese culture?
 * 6) How do the American civilizations (Andean and Mesoamerican) compare against the Old World civilizations in terms of their culture, economic bases, and instability during the second millennium BCE?
 * 7) What common civilizational patterns defined the second millennium BCE throughout the globe?
 * 8) What key argument(s) does Armesto make about the development of civilizations in this chapter? What purpose does he try to achieve through this argument? How will we understand the course of civilization's development as a result of his argument?
 * Find textual evidence that reveals Armesto's own voice clearly --> e.g. where does it seem like he is editorializing?

__ID Terms and Important Concepts__
 * Chapter 5 (pp. 120-151):**
 * 1) Phoenicians
 * Byblos and Tyre
 * Geographical and environmental resources
 * Cultural contributions
 * 1) Carthage/Carthaginians
 * 2) Different writing systems --> advantages and effects of both?
 * Logographic
 * Phoenician
 * 1) Assyrian Empire (P/S/E profile)
 * King Tiglath-pilaser III
 * key ideologies and values
 * King Ashurbanipal
 * Sammurat, Naqia --> reflection of gender role in Assyrian society?
 * Sennacherib
 * 1) Babylon/Babylonians
 * Nabopolassar
 * Nebuchadnezzar II
 * 1) Greek in early first millennium BCE (P/S/E profile) (elsewhere described as Greek Dark Ages)
 * Significance of olive oil
 * Centrality of the Mediterranean Sea and trade
 * 1) Greek colonization and society
 * role of Greek religion in the colonization process?
 * culture of Greek colonies
 * Homer; //The Iliad// and //The Odyssey//
 * 1) Greek society
 * //ethne// and //poleis//
 * early democracy (or the lack thereof)
 * Gender roles and hierarchy
 * Revisions re: Greek values and concept of Greek "purity"
 * 1) Thracians
 * Horseback hero/god
 * Sitalkes
 * 1) Illyrians and Garamantes
 * 2) Etruscans
 * Caere
 * Gender roles and women's rights
 * 1) Decline of Zhou Dynasty (causes?)
 * King Li
 * Xuan
 * 1) Indian (South Asian) Culture
 * Ganges Valley
 * persistence of Harappan culture?
 * Upanishads
 * Hindu belief system --> Brahman; matter = illusion; cycle of reincarnation
 * Sri Lanka
 * 1) North American cultures
 * Dorset people
 * Poverty Point people
 * 1) African cultures
 * Nubian culture --> significant changes between 1000-500 BCE
 * role of hard-iron technology
 * diffusion of Bantu languages
 * Saba (state)

__Blogging Prompts and Critical Questions__ Chapter 5:
 * What are the key questions around which Armesto frames Chapter Five? Why does he think it is important to address these questions (see p. 122)?
 * How did the Phoenicians influence the settlement, growth, and culture of the Mediterranean region?
 * How does the Assyrian Empire fit into the Conrad-Demarest model?
 * What long-term effects did the rivalry between the Assyrians and Babylonians have in the Fertile Crescent region?
 * How did Greece's geographic situation in the Mediterranean shape its internal development and colonization throughout the region?
 * How have recent reinterpretations changed the way in which we understand and evaluate Greek culture?
 * Why does Armesto consider an understanding of the Thracians, Illyrians, Garamantes, Etruscans, and others vital to the history of the Mediterranean? How does his revised interpretation, which includes these groups, differ from other histories of Western Civilization?
 * How does the Zhou Dynasty fit Conrad-Demarest's model of empire?
 * How are the developments in the Indian subcontinent (South Asia) during the early first millennium BCE distinctively different from those of the Mediterranean, the Americas, or Africa?
 * What are the two primary model of recovery development in the second millennium BCE that Armesto presents?

__Related links and resources__ > media type="custom" key="4246157"
 * [|Link to Armesto's Ch. 3 Review Questions, etc. via Prentice Hall]
 * [|Link to Armesto's Ch. 4 Review Questions, etc. via Prentice Hall]
 * [|Link to Armesto's Ch. 5 Review Questions, etc. via Prentice Hall]
 * Conrad-Demarest Model Reading [[file:conrad-demarest.pdf]]
 * Primary Source - [|Creation according to the Upanishads]
 * Primary Source - [|Moment of death according to the Upanishads]
 * Jared Diamond on "Why Societies Collapse"

__Potential assignment breakdown__ Chapter 3:
 * Four days - 62-70, 70-76, 76-83, 83-91
 * Three days - 62-72, 72-81, 81-91

Chapter 4:
 * Four days - 92-100, 100-106, 106-111, 111-118
 * Three days - 92-100, 100-108, 108-118

Chapter 5:
 * Four days - 120-129, 129-137, 137-141, 141-150
 * Three days - 120-129, 129-137, 137-150