Chinese, Mandarin

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Persian, Dari

Persian, Western

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

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Fula

Romanian

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Chinese, Gan

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Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

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Chittagonian

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Assamese

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Somali

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Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek, Modern

Chewa

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Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

World History 1

<OpenstaxParagraph>
	Archaeological work has revealed that a considerable amount of trade flowed between Mesopotamia and the Indus valley. <OpenstaxTerm>Cuneiform</OpenstaxTerm> tablets from Mesopotamia refer to the Indus valley as <OpenstaxEm>Meluhha</OpenstaxEm> and document that precious stones such as lapis lazuli and carnelian, as well as marine shells from the Indian Ocean, were imported from there. Merchants traveled by sea across the Indian Ocean and by land over the Iranian plateau (<a href="#fig-00003">Figure 3.26</a>).
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxFigure id="fig-00003" src="https://openstax.org/apps/archive/20240226.174525/resources/ceb398f0d216f1c77d110f3621778bbcfcb87ac8" alt="A map with three sections of land. In the southwest, Egypt and Nubia are labelled with the cities of Memphis and Thebes located on blue waterways. In the northwest, Crete is labelled with the city of Troy labelled to the north and Tyre labelled to the east. In the middle of the map, the Hittite Empire is labelled and highlighted in a green oval. To the southeast, the Mitanni State is highlighted in a rough square of orange. Heading southeast, Assyria is labelled and highlighted in a green oval. The cities of Ninevah and Assur are labelled within. To the south, Babylonia is labelled and highlighted in a purple oval. The cities of Babylon, Susa, and Ur are located within. A label for Sumer is located in the south of this purple area. In the far east of the map, Indus is labelled. A red line with arrows at both ends runs from Babylonia to Indus and back. A purple double arrowed dashed line runs in the water from Indus to the city of Ur and back." mediaType="image/jpg" width="700" height="500" />
<OpenstaxFigureText width="700">
	Figure 3.26 From the work of archaeologists, we know that significant trade took place between the inhabitants of the Indus River valley and their contemporaries in Mesopotamia. (attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY 4.0 license)
</OpenstaxFigureText>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	The influence of Mesopotamia on the Indus valley culture is evident in the use of seals. The Indus valley seals were inscribed with depictions of human figures and animals such as bulls and goats, likely totems for families or lineages, and brief inscriptions that likely indicate names, titles, or occupations. Merchants marked ownership of goods by making an impression of the seal on the soft clay that covered the mouth of the jar or other vessel that held the objects, or on clay tags attached to sacks of grain (<a href="#fig-00004">Figure 3.27</a>). A similar practice occurred in contemporary Mesopotamia, where the seal was in the shape of a cylinder that could be rolled to leave an impression. Archaeologists have found seals from the Indus valley in ancient Sumerian cities such as <OpenstaxTerm>Ur</OpenstaxTerm>.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxFigure id="fig-00004" src="https://openstax.org/apps/archive/20240226.174525/resources/db2df0ae0607487bc84c8d1c0d444f8ed15687f8" alt="A picture of two square objects is shown on a grayish-blue background. The one on the left is white and smaller, while the one of the right is a bit bigger and a cream color. The images on the square on the right are raised from the back. They show a horse-type creature with ornamental reins around its neck and a long, pointy horn extending out its head. Above the animal are four shapes – a diamond with a v-shape inside, a triangle with lines inside, and a line, while the fourth shape is indistinguishable. Below the head of the animal is a long stick with a square at the top and a half-circle below. Both shapes have lines on them. The square at the left is an impression of the first square, showing everything backward and inside the stone as opposed to sticking out as in the other square." mediaType="image/jpg" width="1100" height="621" />
<OpenstaxFigureText width="1100">
	Figure 3.27 On the left is a seal from the Indus valley civilization, and on the right is a modern clay impression made from it. Such seals typically showed animals and a script that remains to be deciphered. (credit: modification of work &quot;Stamp seal and modern impression: unicorn and incense burner (?)&quot; by Dodge Fund, 1949/The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Public Domain)
</OpenstaxFigureText>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	The script that appears on many of the seals is unique to the people of the Indus valley civilization, and scholars have yet to decipher it. It seems to consist of phonograms, signs for the sounds of syllables, and there appear to be about four hundred such signs. Many speculate that the language written in this script may be related to the Dravidian languages still spoken across southern India today. It may also be similar to the script invented by the Elamites of southwestern Iran. Unlike the case in Mesopotamia and Egypt, archaeologists have not uncovered clay tablets or papyrus rolls in the Indus valley.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxNote>
	<OpenstaxNoteTitle> The Past Meets the Present </OpenstaxNoteTitle> <OpenstaxH3> Deciphering Indus Valley Script </OpenstaxH3>
	<OpenstaxParagraph>
		One of the great mysteries surrounding Indus valley script is what exactly it represents. Was it a means of capturing spoken language, or did the marks simply indicate whether taxes had been paid on an item or signify the quality of a particular good (in the same way we use stars to rate products and services online today)?
	</OpenstaxParagraph>
	<OpenstaxParagraph>
		Rajesh Rao, a professor of computer science at the University of Washington who became fascinated with the Indus valley civilization as a child in India, created a computer program to help him answer this question by measuring conditional entropy in Indus valley writing. Conditional entropy measures the degree of randomness in a sequence. In a system of writing that encodes language, there is a fairly low level of randomness. Letters appear frequently in some combinations and rarely or never in others. For example, in the English language, the letter <OpenstaxEm>q</OpenstaxEm> is usually followed by the letter <OpenstaxEm>u</OpenstaxEm> and never by the letter <OpenstaxEm>k</OpenstaxEm>. At the beginning of a word, the letter <OpenstaxEm>h</OpenstaxEm> is never followed by a consonant.
	</OpenstaxParagraph>
	<OpenstaxParagraph>
		Rao tested the conditional entropy of the Indus valley script along with that of several natural languages including English, artificial languages such as those written for computers, and other sequences not related to language such as human DNA sequences. He discovered that the Indus valley script has a degree of randomness similar to that of natural languages, leading him to the conclusion that the symbols do represent a language and are not simply marks of quality or signs that something has been taxed. He also concluded that the rate of conditional entropy in Indus valley writing resembled that of Old Tamil, an earlier form of the Tamil language currently spoken in southern India that belongs to the Dravidian language family. This idea angered many Indians, especially those who speak Hindi, a language derived from Sanskrit that is the first language of many people in northern India. This issue is both historical and modern. If the language of the ancient Indus valley was Dravidian in origin, it calls into question the ancestry of the people who lived there, and given the evolution of the caste system, it raises questions about social identities that have existed for centuries. The issue remains in question, and the controversy about ancestral origins is far more complex than the single issue of language.
	</OpenstaxParagraph>
	<OpenstaxUl>
		<OpenstaxLi>
			Why do you think the origin of language matters so much to the people of India?
		</OpenstaxLi>
		<OpenstaxLi>
			If Indus valley writing were deciphered, what could historians learn about the culture that we cannot currently know?
		</OpenstaxLi>
		<OpenstaxLi>
			In what other ways could computers help historians learn about the past?
		</OpenstaxLi>
	</OpenstaxUl>
</OpenstaxNote>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	Bronze technology probably also entered the Indus River valley by the third millennium BCE through trade with <OpenstaxTerm>Mesopotamia</OpenstaxTerm>. Merchants from the Indus valley may even have exported tin from Afghanistan to Mesopotamia, since this metal was in demand for the manufacture of bronze.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	Notwithstanding the many obvious Mesopotamian influences and trading connections, the people of the Indus valley civilization developed their own unique culture. Their distinctive religion may have shaped later cultures in India. For example, clay figurines from the Indus valley that are believed to depict deities are often interpreted as portraying a goddess whose female attributes are similar to those of the Hindu goddess Durga, consort of the god Shiva. Some seals depict a horned three-faced figure surrounded by animals, which closely resembles the Hindu deity <OpenstaxTerm>Shiva</OpenstaxTerm> when represented as the Lord of the Animals (<a href="#fig-00005">Figure 3.28</a>). Archaeologists have also found stones molded into shapes that resemble <OpenstaxEm>lingams</OpenstaxEm> and <OpenstaxEm>yonis</OpenstaxEm>, which are representations of male and female sexual organs associated with the worship of Shiva. The people of the Indus valley buried their dead with modest grave goods such as clay pots, which suggests a belief in an afterlife. However, there is no evidence of temples or monumental tombs such as the Egyptian pyramids or the royal tombs of Ur in Mesopotamia.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxFigure id="fig-00005" src="https://openstax.org/apps/archive/20240226.174525/resources/c1551603599c68c09f7b18969a70cad90ba39582" alt="Two pictures are shown on a dark black background. (a) The first picture shows a caramel-colored stone carving with a large piece missing from the bottom right. The middle of the stone shows a man facing forward with a rectangular face, large nose, and almond shaped eyes. A face is also shown on either side of his head. He wears a large hat with round horns on both sides. He wears clothing with stripes all over and is sitting on a footed platform. There is a goat-type creature under the platform with two horns. Various animals can be seen around his head (two horned animals on the left, snake and fish type animals above his head and an elephant and tiger type animals on the right). A small carving of a person is seen to the far right. (b) This stone carving is colored off white and shows a person’s head and chest. They have full lips, closed eyes, and a highly etched tall headdress on their head. There is another head on either side of their head that appears similar. Rows of necklaces hang from their neck and there are some carvings seen on the bottom right of their chest. The background shows darker colored stone and black above the head." mediaType="image/jpg" width="1200" height="653" />
<OpenstaxFigureText width="1200">
	Figure 3.28 Historians speculate that the religion of the Indus valley might have influenced later Indian cultures. For example, a seal from 2600–1900 BCE discovered at Mohenjo-Daro (a) shows a seated figure with three faces surrounded by animals. A much later sixth-century CE portrayal of Shiva from the Elephanta Caves in western India (b) shows the Hindu god seated, also with three faces and surrounded by animals. (credit a: modification of work &quot;Shiva Pashupati&quot; by Unknown/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain; credit b: modification of work &quot;Elephanta Caves&quot; by Christian Haugen/Flickr, CC BY 2.0)
</OpenstaxFigureText>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	The artisans of the Indus valley created unique sculptures in clay, stone, and bronze. One of the more spectacular stone works from <OpenstaxTerm>Mohenjo-Daro</OpenstaxTerm> depicts a serene bearded man who may be a priest or leader in the community. A tiny bronze figure appears to represent a young woman dancing (<a href="#fig-00006">Figure 3.29</a>). Her bracelets and necklaces indicate that the people of this culture employed artisans to manufacture such adornment, which may have indicated high social status. Artisans of the Indus valley were also very busy manufacturing pottery and seals. Their artistic designs influenced artisans in neighboring cultures over a wide area, from the upper Ganges River valley in what is today northwestern India to Baluchistan in western Pakistan and southeastern Iran.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxFigure id="fig-00006" src="https://openstax.org/apps/archive/20240226.174525/resources/c06dbc37d68459e1c3250d86907df3089b2e00ff" alt="A picture of a black statue of a lady on an off-white platform is seen. Her shadow reflects behind her on a white background. The statue has long hair in a low ponytail with closed eyes and a half-smile on her face. She wears a necklace with three oval objects hanging in front. Her right hand rests on her hip and her left arm hangs down with her fist resting above her bent left knee. Bangles adorn both her arms. Her feet are missing and her right leg is anchored to the platform below while the left leg is resting in the air." mediaType="image/jpg" width="500" height="779" />
<OpenstaxFigureText width="500">
	Figure 3.29 This four-inch-tall bronze statue of a young woman discovered at Mohenjo-Daro and dated to circa 2300–1750 BCE could depict a goddess or a woman of the elite class who is dancing. If she is dancing, we can also conclude that music and dance may have been incorporated into social and religious rituals. (credit: modification of work &quot;Bronze ‘Dancing Girl,’ Mohenjo-daro, c. 2500 BC&quot; by Gary Todd/Flickr, Public Domain)
</OpenstaxFigureText>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	Merchants from the Indus valley were undoubtedly active in exchanging such wares in these regions. In the absence of coinage, they used a common system of stone cubical weights to assess goods in commercial exchanges that required barter. The cities of the Indus valley could have also used these weights to assess taxes in kind that they collected for their granaries.
</OpenstaxParagraph>

3.4.2 Trade, Writing, and Religion

1 Understanding the Past

1.1 Developing a Global Perspective

1.1.1 World History as Preparation for Life after College

1.1.2 World History and Global Citizenship

1.1.3 Features of This Textbook

1.2 Primary Sources

1.2.1 Learning to Evaluate Documents and Images

1.2.2 Documentary Sources: Competing Narratives

1.2.3 Textual Sources: The Importance of Language

1.2.4 Hidden in History

1.3 Causation and Interpretation in History

1.3.1 Levels of Causation

1.3.2 Interpretation in History

2 Early Humans

2.1 Early Human Evolution and Migration

2.1.1 Human Evolution

2.1.2 Why Did Humans Move and Where Did They Go?

2.1.3 Early Human Technologies

2.2 People in the Paleolithic Age

2.2.1 Ice, Ice, and More Ice

2.2.2 Life in the Paleolithic Age

2.2.3 Diverse Paleolithic Peoples

2.3 The Neolithic Revolution

2.3.1 The Development of Agriculture

2.3.2 How Farming Changed the Human Experience

2.3.3 Neolithic Peoples

3 Early Civilizations and Urban Societies

3.1 Early Civilizations

3.1.1 Attributes of Early Civilizations

3.1.2 The First Urban Societies

3.2 Ancient Mesopotamia

3.2.1 The Rise and Eclipse of Sumer

3.2.2 The Rise of the World’s First Empire

3.2.3 Later Empires in Mesopotamia

3.2.4 Society and Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia

3.3 Ancient Egypt

3.3.1 The Origins of Ancient Egypt

3.3.2 The Age of Pyramid Building

3.3.3 A Second Age of Egyptian Greatness

3.4 The Indus Valley Civilization

3.4.1 The Origins of the Indus Valley Civilization

3.4.3 The Era of Decline

4 The Near East

4.1 From Old Babylon to the Medes

4.1.1 Power Politics in the Near East

4.1.2 Foreign Affairs and Trade

4.1.3 Daily Life and the Family in the Near East

4.2 Egypt’s New Kingdom

4.2.1 The Hyksos in Egypt

4.2.2 The Pharaohs of the New Kingdom

4.2.3 Egypt’s Foreign Policy

4.3 The Persian Empire

4.3.1 The Rise of Persia

4.3.2 Darius I and the Reorganization of the Empire

4.3.3 Persian Culture and Daily Life

4.4 The Hebrews

4.4.1 The History of the Hebrews

4.4.2 The Culture of the Hebrews

5 Asia in Ancient Times

5.1 Ancient China

5.1.1 Prehistoric China

5.1.2 Early Dynastic China

5.1.3 The Zhou Dynasty

5.1.4 The Warring States Era and Qin Unification

5.2 The Steppes

5.2.1 The Nomadic Culture of the Steppes

5.2.2 Tribes, Confederations, and Settled Neighbors

5.3 Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia

5.3.1 Ancient Korea

5.3.2 Ancient Japan

5.4 Vedic India to the Fall of the Maurya Empire

5.4.1 Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro

5.4.2 The Aryans and Brahmanism

5.4.3 Buddhism

5.4.4 The Mauryan Empire

5.4.5 The Gupta Dynasty

6 Mediterranean Peoples

6.1 Early Mediterranean Peoples

6.1.1 The Late Bronze Age World

6.1.2 Phoenicians, Greeks, and Etruscans

6.2 Ancient Greece

6.2.1 Archaic Greece

6.2.2 Sparta and Athens

6.2.3 Classical Greece

6.3 The Hellenistic Era

6.3.1 The Kingdom of Macedon

6.3.2 Hellenistic Culture

6.4 The Roman Republic

6.4.1 The Foundation and Function of the Roman Republic

6.4.2 The Expansion of the Roman Republic

6.5 The Age of Augustus

6.5.1 The First Triumvirate

6.5.2 From Republic to Principate

7 Experiencing the Roman Empire

7.1 The Daily Life of a Roman Family

7.1.1 The Structure of Roman Families

7.1.2 A Day in the Life of a Roman Family

7.1.3 What Family Meant in Rome

7.2 Slavery in the Roman Empire