Ancient Civilisations — Class 9 Social Science (Samacheer Kalvi)

TN State Board (Samacheer Kalvi) Class 9 Social Science, History — Chapter 2. How the world's earliest civilisations developed along rivers — Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, and the Indus Valley.

1. About this lesson

This chapter introduces the four great river valley civilisations: Egypt (Nile), Mesopotamia (Tigris-Euphrates), China (Hwang-Ho/Yangtze), and the Indus Valley (Harappan) civilisation. You learn about their writing systems, monuments, laws, and contributions that shaped human history.

2. What is civilisation?

• Civilisation means an advanced, organized way of life — an adaptation to particular environmental and cultural contexts.
• As civilisations began to take shape, huge buildings were built, the art of writing developed, and science and technology contributed to the betterment of society.
• During the time of these early civilisations, South India witnessed the emergence of Neolithic agro-pastoral communities and the Microlithic hunter-gatherer way of life.

The four early civilisations

3. Egyptian Civilisation — "The Gift of the Nile"

• Egypt was called the 'Gift of Nile' by the Greek historian Herodotus because the civilisation depended solely upon the flow of the Nile River.
• Pharaoh: The Egyptian king.
• Viziers: High officials who administered territories under the Pharaohs.
• The Egyptians believed in life after death and preserved dead bodies through mummification (the art of preserving the dead body). The preserved body was placed in a sarcophagus (stone coffin).
• Amon (or Amun) was considered the king of gods in ancient Egypt.

Egyptian Art and Architecture

• The Pyramids are massive monuments, built as tombs of mourning to the Pharaohs.
• The Great Sphinx of Giza is a massive limestone image of a lion with a human head (in Egypt, NOT Mesopotamia).
• Numerous sculptures, paintings, and carvings attest to Egyptian artistic skills.

Egyptian Writing — Hieroglyphics

• Egyptian writing is known as Hieroglyphics.
• It used a pictogram-based system (pictures representing words/sounds).
• Hieratic was a simpler form of writing used for common purposes.
• The script was deciphered by French scholar Francois Champollion using the Rosetta Stone — a trilingual inscription in Hieroglyphic, Demotic, and Greek. The Rosetta Stone was taken to France by Napoleon and later to England; it is on display at the British Museum, London.
• Papyrus is a kind of grass/reed used to make paper-like writing material in ancient Egypt.
• The Egyptians devised a solar calendar system (365 days).

4. Mesopotamian Civilisation — Land Between Rivers

• Mesopotamia means "land between two rivers" — the Tigris and Euphrates.
• The Mesopotamians devised a lunar calendar system (NOT solar).

Chronological order of Mesopotamian civilisations

The oldest civilisation in Mesopotamia belonged to the Sumerians, NOT the Akkadians.

Writing — Cuneiform

• Cuneiform is the Sumerian writing system. The letters are wedge-shaped — hence "cuneiform" (from Latin 'cuneus' = wedge).
• Evolving around 3000 BCE, it is one of the earliest scripts in the world.
• They wrote on clay tablets — used for commercial transactions, letters, and stories.
• The Epic of Gilgamesh was originally written on twelve clay tablets in Cuneiform. It is the oldest written story on Earth.

Monuments — Ziggurats

• Ziggurats were pyramid-shaped monuments in ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq).
• Fortified Sumerian cities had Ziggurat temples at their centre.
• One of the most famous Ziggurats is in the city of Ur.
• The fortified Sumerian cities had temples (NOT the Harappan cities — Harappan cities had the Great Bath, not temples).

Hammurabi's Code — The Great Lawmaker

• Hammurabi, the king of Babylon, was a great lawmaker.
• His code has 282 provisions covering family rights, trade, slavery, taxes, and wages.
• It is carved on a stone showing Hammurabi receiving the code from the Sun god Shamash.
• It uses retributive principles: "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth."

Mesopotamian-Indus Connection

• The Assyrians of Mesopotamian civilisation were contemporaries of the Indus civilisation.
• Documents of an Assyrian ruler refer to ships from 'Meluhha' — considered to refer to the Indus region.

The Potter's Wheel

• The invention of the potter's wheel is credited to the Sumerians (Mesopotamia), NOT the Egyptians.

5. Chinese Civilisation

• Chinese civilisation developed along the Hwang-Ho (Yellow River) and Yangtze River.
• The Hwang-Ho is known as the "Sorrow of China" due to its devastating floods.

Writing and Inventions

• The Chinese developed the Pictographic writing system (NOT Hieroglyphic — that's Egyptian).
• The earliest signs to denote words through pictures are called Pictographic.
• Chinese inventions: gunpowder, paper, printing, compass, and silk.
• Wu-Ti (a Han emperor) is associated with expanding China — but it was Shi Huangdi (Qin dynasty) who constructed the Great Wall of China.

Philosophy and Literature

According to traditions, Lao Tze was the master archive keeper of Chou state (NOT Mencius as the founder of Taoism — that is a common mistake).

Key Chinese texts

• The Spring and Autumn Annals: Official chronicle of the state.
• The Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine: China's earliest written book on medicine, codified during the Han Dynasty.

6. Indus Valley (Harappan) Civilisation

The Indus civilisation covers over 1.5 million square kilometres across India and Pakistan.

What the Harappans DID NOT have

• The Harappans did not have knowledge of horse and iron.
• The Harappan cities had the Great Bath (at Mohenjo-Daro), not temples like Mesopotamian Ziggurats.

Key features by category

Planned Towns:

• Fortification, well-planned streets, lanes, and drainage systems.
• Used baked and unbaked bricks and stones.
• A civic authority probably controlled town planning.

Agriculture:

• Cultivated wheat, barley, and various millets.
• Practised pastoralism — reared cattle, sheep, and goats.

Metal, Tools, and Weapons:

• Used chert blades, copper objects, bone and ivory tools.
• Bronze tools: points, chisels, needles, fishhooks, razors, weighing pans, mirrors, antimony rods.
• The Dancing Girl bronze statue is suggestive of the lost-wax process known to the Indus people.

Textiles and Ornaments:

• Knowledge of cotton and silk textiles.
• Carnelian, copper, and gold ornaments. Faience, stoneware, and shell bangles.

Trade:

• The mention of 'Meluhha' in Cuneiform inscriptions refers to the Indus region.

Weights and Measures:

• Developed a proper system of weights and measures for commercial transactions.

Seals:

• Found in steatite, copper, terracotta, and ivory — probably used for trade.

Arts and Amusement:

• Terracotta figurines and paintings on pottery suggest artistic skills.
• Toy carts, rattles, wheels, tops, marbles, and hopscotches in terracotta.

Religion:

• Close relationship with nature. Worshipped pipal trees.
• Terracotta figures resembling the Mother Goddess.

7. Key comparison — Writing Systems

8. Worked examples

Example 1. Which writing system is wedge-shaped and used on clay tablets? Cuneiform, the Sumerian writing system.

Example 2. Name the oldest written story on Earth. The Epic of Gilgamesh, written in Cuneiform on twelve clay tablets.

Example 3. What did the Harappans NOT have knowledge of? Horse and Iron.

Example 4. Who deciphered Egyptian Hieroglyphics and using what? Francois Champollion, using the Rosetta Stone.

Example 5. Correct chronological order of Mesopotamian civilisations? Sumerians → Akkadians → Babylonians → Assyrians.

9. Book-back questions (Samacheer Kalvi)

I. Choose the correct answer

1. The earliest signs to denote words through pictures — (a) Logographic / (b) Pictographic / (c) Ideographic / (d) Stratigraphic. Ans: (b) Pictographic.

2. The preservation process of dead body in ancient Egypt — (a) Sarcophagus / (b) Hyksos / (c) Mummification / (d) Polytheism. Ans: (c) Mummification.

3. The Sumerian system of writing — (a) Pictographic / (b) Hieroglyphic / (c) Sonogram / (d) Cuneiform. Ans: (d) Cuneiform.

4. The Harappans did not have the knowledge of — (a) Gold and Elephant / (b) Horse and Iron / (c) Sheep and Silver / (d) Ox and Platinum. Ans: (b) Horse and Iron.

5. The Bronze image suggestive of the lost-wax process known to the Indus people — (a) Jar / (b) Priest king / (c) Dancing girl / (d) Bird. Ans: (c) Dancing girl.

6. (i) The oldest civilisation in Mesopotamia belonged to the Akkadians. (ii) The Chinese developed the Hieroglyphic system. (iii) Euphrates and Tigris drain into the Mannar Gulf. (iv) Hammurabi was a great law maker. — (a) (i) correct / (b) (i) and (ii) correct / (c) (iii) correct / (d) (iv) is correct. Ans: (d). (i-wrong: oldest is Sumerians; ii-wrong: Chinese is Pictographic; iii-wrong: they drain into Persian Gulf.)

7. (i) Yangtze River is known as Sorrow of China. (ii) Wu-Ti constructed the Great Wall. (iii) Chinese invented gunpowder. (iv) Mencius was the founder of Taoism. — (a) (i) correct / (b) (ii) correct / (c) (iii) is correct / (d) (iii) and (iv) correct. Ans: (c). (i-wrong: Hwang-Ho is Sorrow of China; ii-wrong: Shi Huangdi built the Great Wall; iv-wrong: Lao Tze founded Taoism.)

8. Correct chronological order of Mesopotamian civilisations — (a) Sumerians-Assyrians-Akkadians-Babylonians / (b) Babylonians-Sumerians-Assyrians-Akkadians / (c) Sumerians-Akkadians-Babylonians-Assyrians / (d) Babylonians-Assyrians-Akkadians-Sumerians. Ans: (c).

9. Assertion (A): Assyrians of Mesopotamia were contemporaries of Indus civilisation. Reason (R): Documents of an Assyrian ruler refer to ships from Meluhha. — (a) A and R are correct and A explains R / (b) A and R correct but A doesn't explain R / (c) A incorrect but R correct / (d) Both incorrect. Ans: (a).

II. Fill in the blanks

10. The Great Sphinx of Giza is a massive limestone image of a lion with a human head.
11. The early form of writing of the Egyptians is known as Hieroglyphics.
12. Hammurabi's Code of Law specifies the laws related to various crimes in ancient Babylonia.
13. Lao Tze was the master archive keeper of Chou state, according to traditions.
14. The terracotta figurines and paintings on the pottery suggest the artistic skills of the Harappans.

III. Find out the correct statement

15. (a) The Great Bath at Harappa is well-built with several adjacent rooms → Correct but the Great Bath is at Mohenjo-Daro, not Harappa. (b) The cuneiform inscriptions relate to the Epic of Gilgamesh → Correct (written on 12 clay tablets). (c) The terracotta figurines and dancing girls made of copper suggest artistic skills of Egyptians → Wrong. These are from the Harappan/Indus civilisation; the Dancing Girl is bronze, not copper. (d) The Mesopotamians devised a Solar calendar system → Wrong. The Mesopotamians devised a lunar calendar; the Egyptians devised the solar calendar.

16. (a) Amon was considered the king of god in ancient Egypt → Correct. (b) The fortified Harappan city had temples → Wrong. Fortified Sumerian cities had temples (Ziggurats); Harappan cities had the Great Bath. (c) The Great Sphinx is a pyramid-shaped monument in ancient Mesopotamia → Wrong. The Great Sphinx of Giza is in Egypt, it is a lion with a human head. (d) The invention of the potter's wheel is credited to the Egyptians → Wrong. Credited to the Sumerians (Mesopotamia).

IV. Match the following

V. Answer briefly

17. The Egyptians excelled in art and architecture. Illustrate.

    • Their writing (Hieroglyphics) is also a form of art.
    • Numerous sculptures, paintings, and carvings.
    • Pyramids — massive monuments built as tombs of mourning to Pharaohs.
    • The Great Sphinx of Giza — limestone lion with a human head.

18. State the salient features of the Ziggurats.

    • Pyramid-shaped monuments in ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq).
    • The most famous is in the city of Ur.
    • Fortified Sumerian cities had Ziggurat temples at their centre.

19. Hammurabi Code is an important legal document. Explain.

    • Specifies laws related to various crimes.
    • 282 provisions: family rights, trade, slavery, taxes, wages.
    • Carved on a stone showing Hammurabi receiving it from Sun god Shamash.
    • Based on retributive principles: "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

VI. Answer all questions under each caption

20. Early Civilisations

    • (a) Civilisation = an advanced, organized way of life adapted to environmental and cultural contexts.
    • (b) Important early civilisations: Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Chinese, and Indus.
    • (c) South India witnessed Neolithic agro-pastoral communities and Microlithic hunter-gatherers.
    • (d) As civilisations took shape: huge buildings, writing developed, science and technology advanced.

21. Features of Egyptian Civilisation

    • (a) Egypt called 'Gift of Nile' by Herodotus — civilisation depended on the Nile.
    • (b) Pharaoh = Egyptian king; Viziers = high officials administering territories.
    • (c) Pyramids = massive tombs of mourning to the Pharaohs.
    • (d) Mummification = the art of preserving the dead body (Egyptians believed in life after death).

VII. Answer in detail

22. Define Hieroglyphics and Cuneiform with their main features.

    • Hieroglyphics: Egyptian pictogram-based writing used on seals and objects. Hieratic form for common use. Deciphered by Francois Champollion using the Rosetta Stone (trilingual: Hieroglyphic, Demotic, Greek). Now in the British Museum, London.
    • Cuneiform: Sumerian wedge-shaped writing (~3000 BCE), one of the earliest scripts. Written on clay tablets for commerce, letters, stories. The Epic of Gilgamesh written in Cuneiform.

23. To what extent is Chinese influence reflected in philosophy and literature?

    • Lao Tze: founder of Taoism; master archive keeper of Chou; desire = root of all evils.
    • Confucius: political reformer; cultivation of personal → family → national life.
    • Mencius: philosopher who travelled and counselled rulers.
    • Sun-Tzu: "The Art of War".
    • Texts: Spring and Autumn Annals (official chronicle); Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine (codified during Han Dynasty).

24. Write about the hidden treasure of Indus civilisation.

    • Planned towns: fortification, streets, drainage; baked/unbaked bricks.
    • Agriculture: wheat, barley, millets; pastoralism — cattle, sheep, goats.
    • Metals: chert blades, copper, bronze tools. Dancing Girl bronze (lost-wax process).
    • Textiles: cotton and silk. Ornaments: carnelian, copper, gold.
    • Trade: 'Meluhha' in Cuneiform texts refers to Indus.
    • Weights and measures, seals (steatite, copper, terracotta, ivory).
    • Arts: terracotta figurines, toy carts, rattles. Religion: pipal tree worship, Mother Goddess.

10. Common mistakes

• Mistake: Oldest Mesopotamian civilisation = Akkadians. Fix: Sumerians are the oldest. Order: Sumerians → Akkadians → Babylonians → Assyrians.
• Mistake: Chinese writing = Hieroglyphics. Fix: Chinese = Pictographic. Hieroglyphics is Egyptian.
• Mistake: Egyptians invented the potter's wheel. Fix: The Sumerians (Mesopotamia) invented the potter's wheel.
• Mistake: The Great Sphinx is in Mesopotamia. Fix: The Great Sphinx of Giza is in Egypt.
• Mistake: Harappans knew horses and iron. Fix: Harappans did NOT have knowledge of horse and iron.
• Mistake: Wu-Ti built the Great Wall of China. Fix: Shi Huangdi (Qin dynasty) constructed the Great Wall.
• Mistake: Hwang-Ho = Yangtze is the Sorrow of China. Fix: The Hwang-Ho (Yellow River) is called "Sorrow of China."
• Mistake: Mencius founded Taoism. Fix: Lao Tze founded Taoism. Mencius was another philosopher.
• Mistake: Mesopotamian solar calendar. Fix: Mesopotamians used a lunar calendar. Egyptians had the solar calendar.
• Mistake: Harappan cities had temples. Fix: Sumerian cities had temples (Ziggurats). Harappan cities had the Great Bath at Mohenjo-Daro.

11. Quick revision

• History Ch 2 · Ancient Civilisations — 4 river valley civilisations.
• Egypt (Nile): Pharaohs, Pyramids, Sphinx, Mummification, Hieroglyphics, Solar calendar. Rosetta Stone deciphered by Champollion.
• Mesopotamia (Tigris-Euphrates): Sumerians→Akkadians→Babylonians→Assyrians. Cuneiform (wedge-shaped, clay tablets). Ziggurats. Hammurabi's Code (282 laws, "eye for an eye"). Epic of Gilgamesh. Lunar calendar.
• China (Hwang-Ho/Yangtze): Pictographic writing. Hwang-Ho = "Sorrow of China". Gunpowder, paper. Lao Tze (Taoism), Confucius, Sun-Tzu. Great Wall by Shi Huangdi.
• Indus Valley: Planned towns, Great Bath (Mohenjo-Daro). NO knowledge of horse & iron. Bronze Dancing Girl (lost-wax). Terracotta art. Seals. 'Meluhha' in Mesopotamian records.