Civilizations of the Far East (China)

 Society : Chinese society was patriarchal. The nucleus of social life was the
family and every child knew that within it their obligation was to serve their
parents. The social classes were very differentiated. The prestige of each
inhabitant derived from the class to which they belonged. Its social organization
was characterized by acceptance of the established order, worship of ancestors
and attachment to traditions.

 The emperor was the supreme lord. The Chinese thought he was sent from heaven.
He had to govern fairly, and ensure the peace, order and well-being of the people.
He was surrounded by an aristocracy of nobles, who were generally his relatives.

 The Mandarins set taxes, administered justice, supervised public works, and
stored food. They were the administrators. They had to be well educated and of
excellent character. They were rigorously selected and prepared in civil
administration schools.
 The merchants and artisans were made up of few people. The artisans were true
artists, there were potters, stone sculptors and silk weavers.

 The peasants were dedicated to cultivating the land. They formed the largest
social class. Agriculture was the first economic activity. Rice, soybeans and millet
- a type of cereal - were grown; as well as mulberry, whose leaves feed the
silkworm.

 Slaves were prisoners of war or people who did not pay their debts.
Chinese culture: The Chinese were not only expert craftsmen, they also developed
great techniques and inventions, some of which changed the world; such is the
case of paper, ink, the compass and gunpowder.
Calligraphy was ranked among the arts. The aesthetic, artistic and cultural value
was recognized in writing. Chinese writing is ideographic and composed of many
separate symbols or characters; each one alone is equivalent to an idea.
Other

INDIAN CULTURE

India was born from the meeting of two cultures: the one located in the Indus Valley
Whose peak was in the years 2500 and 1800 BC. c, and the Aryans, an Indo-European
people who colonized northern India from approximately 1500 BC

The Aryans imposed their language, Sanskrit their religion (base of Hinduism) and the
hierarchical organization of society in caste.

Later, India was invaded by the Persians (century BC) and Alexander the Great (327 and
325 BC) and was part of the Mauyara empires.

Later, India was under Muslim hegemony for five and a half centuries.

Culture and society religion

Indian society is strongly conditioned by religious beliefs

It is divided into castes
It is governed by Hinduism or Brahmanism: whose sacred books are the Vedas and
Buddhism (founded by Siddhartha Gautama and Buddha) believes in the reincarnation
of souls to purify themselves until they are finally pure and absorbed by the soul of the
universe.

Contributions

monumental architecture
Chess
Mathematics: invention of numbers, algebra and trigonometry.

CULTURES OF THE NEAR EAST

Cultures of the Near East:
The following cultures developed in the geographical territory of the Near East
● Egyptian Culture
● Chaldean-Assyrian Culture
● Phoenician and Hebrew Culture
● Persian Culture

Egyptian culture

Geographic Aspect: Egyptian civilization is the result of several factors, including.

Geographic and human.
Characterized by: geographical isolation, the organization of a strong and centralized
government, a polytheistic religion for the people and intellectual monotheism.
a) Limits:
● North: The Mediterranean Sea
●South: The Nubian Desert (Ethiopia)
●East: The Isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea
●West: The Libyan Desert
b) Regions:
●Upper Egypt: or valley, from the mountains of Ethiopia and the first

Geographic location

The Egyptian civilization developed around the Nile River for almost its entire
length, northeast of Africa. In its extension two regions can be distinguished: Upper
Egypt to the south and Lower Egypt to the north.

Historical Summary:

The emergence of Egyptian civilization began around the fourth millennium BC,
reaching a high degree of development that is still visible in the pyramids and other
large-scale constructions. Initially, the territory was occupied by various tribes that
gradually formed two kingdoms that, due to their location, have been called "Lower"
and "Upper" Egypt. Only around 3000 BC. C. Both kingdoms were united under the
rule of King Menes, who established a capital in Memphis.

Organization and Society:

Egyptian society was a hierarchical society: royal dynasty (governor of the country's
activities); clergy (religious worship, social and economic prestige); scribes (educated
men, administrative functions); officers (army and fleet); soldiers (foreigners and
mercenaries); artisans (lower stratum, precarious living conditions); peasants (larger
group, they were attached to the land); slaves (property of the pharaoh).

The pharaoh is considered a deity, endowed with magical forces. To ensure the
continuity of the political system, a hereditary monarchy is established. The pharaoh
enjoys absolute power over his subjects: high priest, legislator, head of the
administration, commander of the armed forces and regulator of the country's
economy, but his first duty is religious obligations.

Religion
They worshiped everything that seemed extraordinary to them in nature, especially
the sun (Ra). The Nile River was also worshiped as a god. They believed in the
existence of a life after death (mummification).

MESOPOTAMIA

The cultures of Mesopotamia were pioneers in many branches of knowledge; They

developed writing that was called cuneiform, initially pictographic and later phonetic;
in the field of law, they created the first codes of laws; In architecture, they
developed important advances such as the vault and the dome, created a calendar of
12 months and 360 days and invented the sexagesimal numbering system.

Its remains, although perhaps there are still many to be discovered, show a culture
that exerted a powerful influence on other civilizations of the time and therefore
the development of Western culture.

Calculation flourished in Mesopotamia through a decimal and sexagesimal system,

whose first application was in commerce. In addition to addition and subtraction, they
knew multiplication and division and, from the 2nd millennium BC. C. they developed
mathematics that allowed solving equations of up to the third degree. They also knew
an approximate value of the number π, the root and the power, and were able to
calculate volumes and surfaces of the main geometric figures.[11]

The astronomical evolution flourished in the same way. The Sumerians knew how to
distinguish between planets – mobile objects – and stars. But it was the Babylonians
who developed this field the most, being able to foresee astronomical phenomena in
advance. This knowledge of astronomy led them to adopt a precise lunar calendar,
which included an additional month that adjusted it to the solar one.

Medical treatises and lists on geology have also been found, in which the different
materials were classified.

Phoenician culture

The Phoenician religion was polytheistic . Each city had its god and lord, Baal. This
was called Melkart in Tyre, Adonis in Byblos, Amun in Carthage. The supreme goddess
Astarte was frequently united to the Baal of different cities.

An invention that demonstrates the practical genius of this people was the alphabet .
The writings used until then - cuneiform writing and Egyptian hieroglyphs - were
highly complex and did not allow for detailed accounting or regular commercial
correspondence. The Phoenicians created an alphabet of 22 consonant signs, which
simplified and facilitated written registration. They all corresponded to simple sounds
emitted by the human voice.

This alphabet began to spread approximately around the 14th century BC. of C. It
served as the basis of the Greek alphabet, who added vowels to it.

The invention of the alphabet has had enormous consequences on the development of
culture and thought.

The Hebrews

Group of tribes of Semitic race that, according to tradition, emigrated from

Mesopotamia to Palestine (the lands of Canaan) during the 2nd millennium BC
However, some scholars take its origin to the desert of the Sinai Peninsula. The
Hebrews moved to Egypt, where they were enslaved. When, around 1250 BC, they
gained their freedom thanks to Moses, they traveled through the desert and under
their leader Joshua, conquered and settled in Palestine (Canaan).

The Hebrew people were made up of nomadic shepherds, of Semitic origin and of
patriarchal organization. In its origins, its geographical setting was the territories of
Chaldea, in southern Mesopotamia, and the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula.

This small town came to settle on the banks of the Jordan River - in Canaan later
called Palestine - after a long journey from the lands of Mesopotamia. In general, the
territory was poor for agriculture, but it was an obligatory route for many of the
caravans that traveled between Mesopotamia and Egypt. For this reason, from the
beginning of their lives, the Hebrews were linked to commerce.

Dispersion

During the last centuries preceding the Christian era, numerous Jews spread
throughout the Mediterranean countries, where they formed compact groups; This is
usually called the Diaspora or dispersion.

The unwavering hope that the Hebrews maintained in the coming of a Messiah, Savior,
helped them to tolerate and endure great calamities and hardships, invasions,
conquests and captivities. This messianic hope has allowed them to maintain their
religious life and a feeling of national unity to this day. Christianity derived from
Judaism.

Mediterranean culture Rome and Greece

. Rome was founded in 753 BC From very early on he conquered territories that led
him, first to take over the Italian peninsula and, later, the lands surrounding the
Mediterranean, from Great Britain to the Rhine and Danube rivers, the Balkan
peninsula, Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt, and all of North Africa to the Sahara.
Over many centuries it dominated the large surrounding areas of the Mediterranean,
assimilating Greek culture to the set of territories integrated into its empire.
the Roman legacy: Rome provided a mother language from which several languages
derived and which was used as an international language of culture until the 18th
century, a concept of citizenship broader than that of the Greeks, the creation of
institutions. I provide urban planning, the calendar, traditional communications
between different territories and large public engineering works, roads, bridges,
reservoirs... I create the Western law that has inspired European laws from the
Middle Ages to the present day and I try structure an educational system. They were
also continuators of Greek culture.

Griechenland

The Greeks were a people of Indo-European origin who, around the year 2,000 BC
and coming from central Europe, they arrived to the Balkan Peninsula
where they settled and ended up imposing their language on the ancient settlers.
Greek civilization developed in the eastern Mediterranean from 1500 to 146 BC, when
Greece was incorporated into the Roman Empire.
The ancient city was made up of independent and almost always rival city-states
(poleis). The cities that stand out are Athens and Sparta.
In Sparta, the need to subdue the Messenian population forced the Spartans to close
borders and organize their city with a military camp.
Power was exercised absolutely by the ephors, a council of five elders. The other
citizens dedicated part of their lives to training and practicing war.
Athens, on the other hand, was always a hospitable and open city. The Athenians had
a political regime, which they called democracy, in which all decisions were made by
direct vote.

Glossary

Antiquity : Past historical period, far removed from the present: the concept of
classical antiquity applies above all to ancient Greece and Rome.

Chastity : Renunciation of all sexual pleasure : the majority of religious people have
taken a vow of chastity:
Civilization: Set of customs, ideas, beliefs, culture and scientific and technical
knowledge that characterize a human group, such as a people or a race, at a moment in
its evolution.

Culture: Set of knowledge, ideas, traditions and customs that characterize a people
or an era.

Education : Training aimed at developing the intellectual and moral capacity of people

History: Discipline that studies facts and events related to the past of humanity,
whether public and political related to people, or those that affect their institutions,
sciences, arts or any of their activities.

Holistic: It is the study of the whole, relating it to its parts but without separating it
from the whole. It is the philosophy of the whole

Hinduism : Religion of the Hindus, originating in India approximately from the 17th
century onwards. xv a. C.; It is polytheistic, believes in reincarnation and is socially
organized in a hierarchical caste system: Hinduism is the majority religion in India.