World History up to 1500: Early Civilizations and Urban Societies Q&A

Question: In what ways did the nomadic and seminomadic peoples beyond the borders of early civilizations contribute to these civilizations?
Answer: Nomadic and seminomadic peoples provided and served as vehicles for the exchange of knowledge and culture. Their movement also helped to connect large cities in different areas.

Question: What was the Legend of Sargon, and how does it explain Sargon of Akkad’s rise to power?
Answer: The Legend of Sargon claimed to be an autobiography of Sargon. It tells the story of his life as a young hero, born in humble circumstances and rising on his own merits to become a great leader. It explains how his unwed mother put him in a basket and cast it on the Euphrates River. A farmer found and raised him, and the goddess Ishtar loved Sargon and elevated him from a commoner to a great king and conqueror.

Question: How were gods honored and served in the Sumerian religion?
Answer: People in Mesopotamia believed human beings were created to serve the gods. They were expected to supply the gods with food through the sacrifice of sheep and cattle in religious rituals and to honor them with temples, religious songs or hymns, and expensive gifts.

Question: What do ancient sources and modern analyses suggest about the labor required to build the large pyramids of the Old Kingdom?
Answer: The ancient Greek historian Herodotus claimed that the pyramid of Khufu took 100,000 workers a total of twenty years to build. But modern archaeologists estimate that the number was closer to around twenty thousand.

Question: What evidence suggests that the walled citadel areas in Indus valley cities may have been used for religious purposes?
Answer: Public baths in the citadel complex at sites like Mohenjo-Daro and what are apparently multistory residences built around an open courtyard suggest that ritual specialists, perhaps priests, lived and performed religious functions in the citadels. They may have bathed in the large baths and congregated in the hall.]

Question: What are some of the theories about the decline of the Indus valley civilization?
Answer: One common theory is that the decline was related to climate change that reduced the amount of water in the rivers or even changed their course. Another theory suggests that centuries of environmental degradation caused by urbanization and large population growth made the land unsuitable to human populations. Still other theories point to the possibility of tectonic activity changing the course of the rivers or even epidemic disease that decimated the population. Finally, there is a theory that the violent arrival of Indo-European speakers calling themselves Aryans led to the decline.