MMW 11 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Grid Plan, Rigveda, Harappa

• School: UCSD
• Department: Making of the Modern World
• Course: MMW 11
• Professor: Page Dubois

Document Summary

Celebration of eroticism: explicit rendering of eros, kama sutra. Different relationship to nature than other civilizations we have studied: value and interact with nature. South asian subcontinent, not just country of india. Many different climates: deserts, river valleys, mountains. Stretches to indian ocean: protected from invaders. No invasion from large armies: allowed trade with near east, china, southeast asia. Northwest past only want to get into this landscape: highway of invaders. Other end cultures of ancient near east. Contact, trade contact: trade especially in beginning. Rain, melting snow in north give water: potential for agriculture. Jungle, swamp had to be cleared away to farm. Gradual evolution of society from neolithic period. By 5,000 bce crops (barley, wheat), domestication of cattle/sheep/goats. Big cities surrounded by farmland: resembling mesopotamia. Trade with mesopotamia going back to 3rd millennium bce: similarities between priests and/or divinities between cultures. Cultural unity among cities: bricks all of same shape and size.