Ancient Wisdom. Ancient human had achieved a lot before start of civilizations In many places they had discovered:

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1 Use of skin Ancient Wisdom Ancient human had achieved a lot before start of civilizations In many places they had discovered: Use of fire Weaving wool, cotton and flax to make cloths Hunting animals and fish Growing grain, making bread and rice cakes o o o o o Sowing seeds in wild Clearing land Tilling soils Irrigation Fertilizing Making houses in caves Building houses and other structures from wood, stones, etc. Mining ores, smelting metals The earliest civilizations started in between 10,000 to 5500 years ago and written History began ~5000 years ago.

2 Many civilization had invented new ideas: Since civilizations started almost simultaneously in different parts, it is not easy to decide who was first. New ways of killing and torturing other human beings Discovered that threat of pain and death works o Often the means of ruling large no of people Empires and Kingdoms Egypt China Mesopotamia Persia Indus Valley Advantages: Gave Law to states Peace and Security But provided no security against rulers who often ruled by violence

3 Rulers needed some justification for their violence Priests joined the ruler Their job? Interpret the will of gods This was helpful to keep people in submission Hence priest got special place close to rulers Some other places they themselves became ruler Why did people accept their rulers? They also needed their share No choice Never imagined any alternative Divine order Everywhere a state of war existed between People of one place and another People and ruler The stronger did what they wish and weaker suffered what they had to Thucydides Although there were some example of kind rulers and people loved them (credits goes to religions/priests) Rules of force everywhere Is not this true even today?

4 Perhaps those were only possible ways to keep people calm and justify social differences: Strong force and Religion Also provided reason of existence and justification of kingdom as divine decree Egypt 3100/2900 BC to 30 BC Perhaps the oldest and longest Birth of Nile Agriculture based Mathematics 3,000 years of independence Thanks to their geographical position Finally invaded by Romans in 30 BC Other civilizations enjoyed isolations too but they could not survive that long. Why ancient Egypt civilization survived that long? Geographical position can not guarantee that long survival

5 Secrets of Ancient Egypt: 1) Fear and hate of change (avoided whenever possible) If it works, do not fix it Remarkably small progress in 3000 years Any change will be for worst Egyptian attitude towards life Still true in some form? Status quo 2) Hierarchy Deads people were everywhere Lived to die, spent all their fortune to prepare for death Ancient Egyptians were in love with death gods Dead people Kings (Pharaoh) People Disobeying Pharaoh means questioning every thing and making gods angry They will send flood => punishment to all people due to their sins The only way to stop flood was to keep gods happy giving Nile a beautiful young lady (almost every year)

6 3) No one should be idle Surplus was used for construction projects Pyramids (in span of 400 years) No slaves used No metal tools were available Obsidian a black volcano glass 4) Extremely conservative people Egyptian attitude To resist change Perhaps like most people Only surprise Almost all acted same way

7 Indus Valley Civilization 2500 BC Indus River Largest at their time Population was over 50, 000 Two major cities Mohenjo-Daro Mohenjo-Daro ended suddenly o Invasion of Aryans Human bodies were left abundant on streets Settlements in south survived and merged slowly into subsequent cultures of India Harappa River dry out Less likely since Harappa and other smaller settlements survived Earthquake Disease Principle are mostly still unknown but guessed from descendants

8 Hierarchy Cast system Philosophy to calm down people and justify difference in wealth, power and privileges Born from head of god Born from Shoulders Born from Stomach Born from foot Brahmans (Priest) Barons (Worriers) Commoners (Merchants) Sudars (Artisans) Least privileged, deprived majority Modern India has 1000 s of casts One is born as Sudar and can become Sudar by occupation You can t adopt certain occupations because of your cast. People are polluted if mixed with Sudar (no mirages across casts) Divine order You are born Sudar because you committed sins in your last birth. If you behave well within your cast, you will be born in upper class No argument

9 He burnt all the books, except related to Law, Horticulture and Herbal medicines Ancient China Initial settlements of human dated 350,000 years ago Ist dynasty is known to be in under Shang rule 1750 to 1111 BC Ended in 255 BC Shih Huang-ti: First sovereign empire who united China (221 to 206 BC) Built network of roads Completed Great wall of China (1500 miles in only 10 years) o A wall between civilized and barbarians from North Social organization o Abolished feudal system o Introduced bureaucracy based on Confucian philosophy Confucius ( BC): A philosopher and most famous teacher of Chines history

10 The empire collapsed after death of Shih Huang-ti but Chinese did not forget his principles even today Principles Merit (Only top positions were reserved for family members of rulers) Keep all the people employed Most knowledge is dangerous, except most practical

11 Mesopotamia Sumerians Akkadians Babylonians Assyrians Invention of writing Sumerians As early as 8000 BC Writings became coherent in 3500 BC 1200 characters Less than 1% literacy rate in Mesopotamia in their best time Babylonians are also credited for first use of zero They were finally conquered by Persians Cyrus the great (529 BC) Knowledge of writing was never lost Literacy was key to enter into higher class More true even today Today % of literacy has changed but principle is same

12 Lessons from Ancient Empires Most ancient kingdoms and empires arose of turmoil Established to maintain political and social order Most of the time, established by force o When threatened by sudden or painful death, most people remain quite (even today) as long as force remains The problems: How to keep order when force was not present, as it can not be at all places all the time? What is the justification of inequalities in the society?

13 Egyptian Solution Things may not be perfect but any change is likely to be worse Indian Solution All civilizations had adopted this to some extent Egyptian hierarchy principle Establishment of cast Social Inertia Kings are only link between people and inspirations (gods and dead people) An agreement that person s birth explains and justifies his position No argument Haves will always be haves If you do good and not violate cast system, you may be born in upper class in your next birth Even today we have upper and lower classes in our societies

14 Chines Solution Merit: Birth alone fits a man nothing Based upon learning and excellence in character Superiors are superiors because they deserve to be Exhibited by their knowledge of Confucian texts Exceptions were rulers and their family members Today merit is based upon high scores on different test. Nothing to do with Confucius but principle is same Mesopotamia Solution Literacy was test of superiority An entrée to powerful minority that controlled majority Only kings were exceptions Literacy is key to society s information system The biggest business today is information

15 Even this could not provide satisfying answers to inequalities Role of Religion Kings and empires were human being What if there is no such threat? They could force their order and people would obey as for as they are threatened Human beings need some philosophy of super natural force Some one is looking at you even when you are alone and you will be punished or rewarded for what you do All moral values stem from religions Mainly Two types of religions Monotheistic Judaism Christianity Islam Polytheistic Hinduism Pagans Religion also give some kind of reason of existing No religion preaches violence Buddhism actually don t believe in any God People have used it for their violence