Stanley Zhu

The Neolithic Revolution was the wide-scale transition of many human cultures from
hunter-gatherer lifestyles to sedentary agricultural lifestyles. This brought about wide-scale
change(s) in human lifestyle as cities, social hierarchies, and new occupations among other
things were established, namely in the Fertile Crescent, Indus River Valley, China, and Egypt.
The lives of the peoples living in these ancient civilizations greatly depended on the geography
of their region since nearby river(s) were necessary for the irrigation of crops, mountain ranges
provided natural defenses against invaders, and canals and walls were constructed if the natural
environment didn’t suit their needs.
Document 1 is an excerpt from The Epic of Gilgamesh. It states that “Gilgamesh built a
wall around his city to make it safe against attack. Its pinnacles shone like brass.” The author’s
purpose in this document is to entertain the reader but also to inform the reader of Gilgamesh and
what he was doing to the city. This document shows that to protect his city from potential outside
invaders, Gilgamesh needed to build walls because there were no natural defenses around the
city. Document 5 supports this claim.
Document 5 is a map of major Mesopotamian city-states and their geography. The
purpose of this document is to inform the reader of Mesopotamia, its city-states, and their
surrounding geography. As the map shows, the only natural defenses were the Caucasus
Mountains to the north, which would only have benefitted the northernmost city-states such as
Nineveh and Assyur. Those city-states would most likely have built walls to the south. However,
the city-state of Uruk, where Gilgamesh ruled, had no natural defenses. And except for the
Syrian and Assyrian deserts to the south, Uruk is surrounded by other city-states, all of which
could be potential invaders. Therefore, it supports the claim that these city states had to build
walls surrounding the city to protect themselves from invaders since they had no natural
defenses.
Document 2 is a Hymn to the Nile. The purpose of this document is to entertain the reader
and to praise the Nile River for flowing and allowing Egyptian agriculture and civilization to
exist. It states “Hail to thee, O Nile! Who manifests thyself over this land, and comes to give life
to Egypt! Watering the orchards created by Ra, to cause all the cattle to live, you give the earth
to drink, inexhaustible one!” This hymn describes how the Nile River provided water for their
crops and cattle, allowing for agriculture and for their city to develop. Without this river,
agriculture wouldn’t have been able to develop in Egypt and their civilization wouldn’t have
existed. Similarly, the Yellow River in China served a similar purpose.
Document 3 is an excerpt from The Legend of Yu, part of the Chinese Book of
Documents. The purpose of this document is to inform readers about Yu and his irrigation of the
Yellow River. It states that “I opened passages for the stream throughout the nine provinces, and
conducted them to the four seas. I deepened the channels and canals, …and in this way all the
people got grain to eat.” This shows that the Ancient Chinese relied heavily on the Yellow River
for agriculture and without it, their society wouldn’t be able to function, like the Nile River in
Egypt.
Stanley Zhu

Document 4 is an image of excavated walls and canals from Mohenjo-Daro, ruins of an

Indus River Valley city. The image shows walls, which helped to protect the city against
invaders, like the walls described in Document 1, and canals to help gather and transport water
for irrigation, like what Yu did in Document 3. These city-states relied on their natural resources
and the geography around them to survive.
Document 6 is an excerpt from “Military Architecture of Ancient Egypt”. This document
states that “For most of Egypt’s ancient history, it was a land of fortifications. To some extent,
all Egyptian ceremonial buildings, including temples and even funerary complexes, were
intended to function as bastions of order and harmony, requiring at least symbolic fortifications
to protect them from the surrounding chaos.” This shows that like the city-state of Uruk, Egypt
had no natural defenses but still needed to protect itself from outside invaders. However, Egypt
was much larger than Uruk and couldn’t simply build walls. Instead, all of their buildings were
intended to function as defenses in case of an invasion.
Document 7 is a collection of excerpts from the Rig Veda, a Hindu religious text. It states
that We through the Master of the Field, even as through a friend, obtain what nourishes our
oxen and steeds…Auspicious Sita, come though near: we venerate and worship thee that thou
mayst bless and prosper us and bring us fruits abundantly.” This shows that the peoples that
wrote this text practiced agriculture and therefore, must have been near a river, and had fertile
soil. They also relied on those two things to provide food for their civilization.
Another way that the lives of ancient peoples were shaped by the geography of their
region was the relative isolation of the Greek city-states compared to that of other civilizations at
the time. Since the land that the Greek nation occupied was very mountainous and consisted of
many islands, this made it difficult for the city-states to communicate with each other and thus,
they were relatively isolated from each other. The geography of their civilization limited the
amount of contact that the city-states could have with each other.
The lives of the ancient people were greatly, if not entirely dependent on their geography.
Rivers were necessary for irrigation and agriculture to take place, mountains provided protection
from potential invaders, and man-made structures, such as walls and canals were constructed if
the geography around them needed to be altered or wouldn’t provide them any benefit. Some
civilizations such as the Greek city-states were greatly limited by their geography. The
geography around a civilization determined whether they would survive and how successful they
would be if they did.