Hum 360

HUMANITIES 360

MIDTERM

2017

(10 @ 3 points each)

1. Describe the significance of natural boundaries and issues related to geographical areas, which are devoid of them.

-Iron technology encouraged the rise of large and powerful empires. Cheaper and stronger weapons meant larger, more efficient armies: war was no longer the monopoly of the elite. Equipped with iron weapons, the Assyrians (ca. 750–600 b.c.e.), Chaldeans (ca. 600–540 b.c.e.), and Persians (ca. 550–330 b.c.e.) followed one another in conquering vast portions of Mesopotamia. Each of these empires grew in size and authority by imposing military control over territories outside their own natural boundaries—a practice known as imperialism.

2. As humans began to become “civilized” which three “adaptive mechanisms” were crucial to that development? Why?

-Language, ability to create new technology, The ability to form long-lasting social bonds. It is important because it’s a foundation to all human communities.

3. Aside from being less nomadic, how did populations change during the Neolithic (new stone culture) Period of 8000-4000 B.C.E.?

-Gradually, over a period of centuries, as hunters, gatherers, and herdsmen became farmers and food producers, the dynamic Neolithic culture emerged. Food production freed people from a nomadic way of life. They gradually settled permanent farm communities, raising high-protein crops such as wheat and barley in Asia, rice in China, and maize in the Americas. They raised goats, pigs, cattle, and sheep that provided regular sources of food and valuable by-products, such as wool and leather. The transition from the hunting-gathering phase of human subsistence to the agricultural-herding phase was a revolutionary development in human social organization, because it marked the shift from a nomadic to a sedentary way of life.

4. Metallurgy: Asia Minor (4000 B.C.E.) played what role/roles in human development?

-Metallurgy, which was first practiced around Asia Minor in about 4000 b.c.e., afforded humans a significant extension of control over nature by providing them with harder and more durable tools and weapons.

5. Archaeological excavations provide later generations with evidence of…?

- Past History. Preservation of materials can be used by future generations of archaeologist.

6. Early civilizations believed in “animism” related to nature. Why? What is this belief?

Like their prehistoric ancestors, the inhabitants of the earliest civilizations lived in intimate association with nature. They looked upon the forces of nature—sun, wind, and rain—as vital and alive, indeed, as inhabited by living spirits—a belief known as animism. In ancient belief systems, the living spirits of nature assumed human qualities and characteristics. They might be vengeful or conciliatory, ugly or beautiful, fickle or reliable. They might become a family of super humans—gods and goddesses who very much resembled humans in their physical features and personalities, but whose superior strength and intelligence far exceeded that of human beings. The gods were also immortal, which made them the envy of ordinary humans. The enactment of rituals honoring one or more of the gods accompanied seasonal celebrations, and almost every other significant communal event. In the early history of civilization, goddesses seem to have outnumbered gods, and local deities reigned supreme within their own districts. By means of specially appointed priests and priestesses, who mediated between human and divine realms, ancient people forged contractual relationships with their gods: in return for divine benefits, they lived as they believed the gods would wish.

7. Multi-ethnic empires (as the Amorites controlled Sumerian cities) with diversity in language, culture, and traditions, leads to the development of what three “processes”?

-politics, economics, the law

8. Hammurabi’s significance was…?

-Hammurabi was one of the intermediary between world of humans and world of gods.

9. What are the issues related to unwritten VS written laws?

-written law necessarily restricted individual freedom, it safeguarded the basic values of the community. Written law represented a landmark advance in the development of human rights in that it protected the individual from the capricious decisions of monarchs. Unwritten

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