Ancient Civilizations And Early Man example essay topic

works cited: Bibliography Benton, Jen etta Re bold and Robert DiYammi. 1998 Arts and Culture, An Introduction To The Humanities. New Jersey. Pretence Hall Best, Nicholas. 1984 Quest For The Past. USA: Readers Digest Association Boardman, John.

The Cambridge Ancient History. 1982. New York. Cambridge University Press Briggs, Asa. 1992 Everyday Life Through The Ages. Berkeley Square, London Readers Digest Diamond, Jared.

1992 The Third Chimpanzee. New York. Harper Collins Edwards, Mike. "Indus Civilization" National Geographic Vol 197, No 6, June 2000, page 126 From kin, David.

1998 The Way Of The World. New York Alfred A. KnophKramer, Samuel. 1971 Cradle Of Civilization. Morristown, New Jersey. Time Life Books Mills, Dorothy. 1951 The Book Of The Ancient World.

New York. G.P. Putnam's Sons Civilization And Early Cultures, An Analogy Early civilizations are credited with introducing government, art, and religion, among other things to the modern world. Does the credit actually belong to the people who created these early civilizations or to those that came before? The final product may be considered greater and certainly more polished than the product created by early man. All things found in an ancient civilization were actually brought to them by the collective memories of the people that came before. Little is known about human life during the Paleolithic Period, 35,000 to 10,000 BC.

Cave paintings and a few clay statuettes are the sum total of what has survived the years for modern archeologists to study. (Arts and Culture, An Introduction to the Humanities, p. 14, 15) Anything made of wood or bone has long since turned to dust. (Everyday Life Through The Ages, p 13) Burial sites that have been discovered recently allow us to peek into the remote past. These discoveries support the idea of an awareness of and homage paid to the spirits and natural forces that shaped the world that these prehistoric people lived in. Several remote tribes have been discovered this century. Prior to their discovery, these remote tribes, some numbering in the many thousands, believed that they were the only people on the earth.

(The Third Chimpanzee, p 223) We can relate the life styles of these remote people, who have lived many thousands of years cut off from the rest of civilization, to our ancestors who lived in prehistoric times. Humans all over the world, since the beginning of recorded times have followed along the same path. That is the path of creativity, worship, and organization. Many of the things we attribute to early civilizations had its beginnings in our common prehistoric past.

Ancient civilizations and early man are alike in many ways, some of them being, religion, government and organization. God-kings, that is kings who took on the mantle of a God, ruled early civilizations. They were worshipped by the masses, and acted as intermediary between the forces that controlled nature and the human subjects that lived on earth. Early man also had an intermediary to act as go-between on behalf of the people. He or she was a shaman, or priest.

This person was someone who was counted on to advise the chief of the tribe or community on matters relating to the "Gods". (The Third Chimpanzee, p 287) Every force of nature was a mystery to early man, as it was to those that lived in the first, early civilizations, and therefore a belief developed that those forces needed to be controlled. These questions that have troubled mankind from its earliest days: Who are we? Where are we? How did we get here?

They have all been answered through the ages in one way or another. (The Book Of The Ancient World, p 8) Cave paintings in Lascaux, France that date to 17,000 BC, have been found that show graphic presentations of animals. Spearheads have been driven into some of these animal representations. These rites by early man were held to either bring success to the hunt, or to thank the Gods for their success at a recent hunt. We see that animal worship made its way into early civilizations also. Animal representations have been found in tombs from the earliest days of civilized Mesopotamia.

Animal representations are present also in religious symbols from the earliest civilizations. Early man had to live in harmony with nature. Civilized man, took this harmonious coexistence one step further, and incorporated animals into their worship of Gods. An early example of this is demonstrated on the Palette of Namer, the Egyptian king who is credited with beginning Egyptian history. On it, Hathor, the cow-headed goddess who protects the city of the dead is present. Also present is a hawk or falcon, symbol of the god Horus.

Another example of animal worship in ancient Egypt was the "family God", Bes. His job was to protect the family, and was found in many homes. On judgment day, an Egyptian believed he will face the Jackal Judge. A heart heavy with sin will tip the scales and a terrible monster will devour the sinner. If someone lived a virtuous life, the scales will balance, and the person will have eternal bliss. (Arts and Culture, An Introduction to The Humanities, p 8 Fertility and a renewal of things, birth of people and animals, the seasons, and of vegetation used for food sources were also very important to early man, as it was to early-civilized man.

What is believed to be a fertility figure, the Venus of Willendorf, was found that dates to 30,000 years ago. (Quest For The Past, p 12) Also, the cave paintings represent what is thought to be a "mother earth" theory. That is, by painting the animals so close to the center, or womb of the earth, more animals will be born. (Everyday Life Through The Ages, p 17) Early civilizations also focused on fertility, and created Gods to ensure continued fertility of the population. In early Mesopotamia, the Summariansworshipped Ninhursag, or Mother Earth.

She was the source of all life, and from her came the birth of plants. Daily sacrifices were also made to the Gods in temples in every major city in Mesopotamia. The most important of these was a spring ritual called the New Year Holiday. After several days of ceremony, a "Sacred Marriage" took place between the King, who took the role of Dumuzi, an early ruler of the town Erech.

A high priestess would take the roll of Inanna, who was the principle deity of Erech. This ritual re-enactment of the original ceremony, according to legend, will ensure the fertility of the land, and the king's long life. (Cradle Of Civilization, p 106) Gods of fertility are seen throughout the early civilizations. Eros, the God of love and Aphrodite, the Goddess of love, were worshipped by the Greeks, the Snake Goddess by the Minoan's, and Cupid and Venus, by the Romans.

The concept of a life after death has been with mankind at least since we d welled in caves. Archeologist's have uncovered evidence in cave d we...