Chapter 10: Some Civilizations of Note
A man awoke on the banks of the Indus river. With deep brown skin; short black hair that hugged his head, chin, and neck; wide brown eyes and a well-built muscular frame, he looked around. He wore a simple tunic that draped around one shoulder, the color indescribable. He began to walk down the river, eventually reaching a farm of sorts. He noticed the crops were bountiful, and that the year's monsoon had brought surplus to the land. Farmers harvested their bumper crops and took them inland, to parts unknown to him. He would guess cities, gatherings of people under great stone fortifications. He would guess right.
He hitched a ride on a donkey cart with a farmer, arriving at a city fortified with great stone walls. They were not for protecting against conflict, but for protecting against the great floods of the Indus river. Inside dark-skinned people went about their daily lives; potters selling various jars and vases, governors managing the recent influx of grain, traders taking items to be sold further downstream, perhaps at another city. This city had a name. A name written in a script that adorned the walls of the shops and the seals on the governors' tablets. The farmer dropped the man off at a massive granary, where he was to deposit his surplus crop. The man wandered into the city, watching the people go about their lives. He may have had a conversation with the governors. He could have gone to the great bath in the center of the city, and bathed in water freshly pumped from the Indus. He might have perused the various shops in the citadel's central square, or conversed with the priests about the gods.
Eventually he made his way to the port. Ships sat at the harbor, small but sturdy ships that could cross oceans. They were manned by experienced traders, carting spices and tools onto their ships to be carried down the coasts. Some ships dared to go further than the coasts, farther west to lands yet undiscovered. One of those ships had returned. The captain spoke of a faraway land filled with strange people of lighter skin. These people had also built great stone cities, and had things that the people living on the Indus could never even imagine. Great things, like stepped monuments that stretched into the sky, and a delicious drink brewed from grains. Horrible things, like weapons carved from a shining brown metal that could disembowel a man with a flick of the wrist. But they also didn't have things, things that the people of the Indus did have. They wanted to trade. There was one city, on the coasts, like this one, that had prosperity and wealth that it wished to share, but it had no sailing ships. The man was intrigued. Perhaps more men could go to this faraway land, and exchange their spices for the riches of this coastal city. More men would go, and relations would be established. The man would never see the faraway land for himself, but they knew of each other, and that was enough.
The man would walk back into the city, and then back to the river. This was not the only city, he knew. There were many more. There were two that ascended beyond the others, two who's glory and majesty stood unparalleled. They dominated the Indus, spreading their influence south to the coast where he was and north deep into the jungle until they were stopped by the mountains that closed these lands off from the rest of the world. They were a civilization. He was the civilization. He had a name.
But we do not know his name any longer. The Sumerians called him Meluhha. The British scholars could not decipher his language, and thus he was called the Indus Valley Civilization. His name and culture are lost to time.
The isle of Crete, in the center of the Aegean. Undisturbed by the political disturbances in the Middle East, a new civilization emerged. Tall, fair skinned, blue-eyed and with wavy black hair, he stood at the gates of Knossos, a small city towards the island's coasts. His simple white tunic fell loosely over his skin, and he looked scant a day over nineteen. It was the year 2500 BC, and the island was finally starting to show some sign of civilization. The local lords had gained power thanks to the recent prosperity granted to the island from agriculture, and had asserted their dominance over the city. Bureaucracy was being put in place, and law codes being established. In Knossos, small dwellings were being established for the new rulers, but they were nothing compared to the huge palaces that will eventually dominate the Cretan landscape. However, those palaces laid far in the future. For now, the man walked through the small city to survey the agriculture going on in the farms outside. Satisfied, he made his way to the ports, where a small ship returned from forays out into the northern Aegean.
"How was your journey?" he greeted the sailor, observing the stranger who rode with him on the ship. He was a young boy, looking about fourteen. His hair was short, black, and curly; and his skin was fair like the man's. His dark eyes brimmed with curiosity and childlike wonder.
"Well enough," the sailor replied, "found some islands north of here, and some people living on them. They're like us, but with a few more ships to get around." The nation nodded in response, recognizing the young boy on the sailor's ship to be the representative of these people. They exchanged names, and the man showed him around the island. Eventually they returned to Knossos.
"What a great city…" the boy whispered, awestruck, and the man can't help but to smile.
"I suppose it is," he remarked, turning to look upon the city, "you have nothing like this on your islands?" The boy shook his head, slightly embarrassed.
"We just have ships, and a few marble statues." he replied, "Honestly, I was kind of worried that you people would be hostile and I'd have no means to put up a fight." The man laughed, smiling at the boy sympathetically.
"Don't worry, then," he said assuredly, "my people aren't all too concerned with war with foreign powers. The local lords are too busy warring with each other." The boy smiled, and the man rested a hand on his shoulder. He liked this boy. He would keep him around.
"What a cute little city!" Deshret remarked, stepping off his boat with his brother Hedjet in tow, "Nothing like Inbi-Hedj or Waset, but cute!" Hedjet glared at his brother, huffing in response.
"Let's just get this over with, shall we?" he muttered, "I don't like spending time away from my homeland." Deshret half-ignored him, searching the island for inhabitants.
"If you want to be like that, stay on the boat," he replied, "I've got state business to take care off." Hedjet sighed and resigned himself to the boat, letting his brother foray further inland. I could leave him here, he pondered, but everyone would notice. Better to bide my time. Deshret, having reached Knossos, finally found what he was looking for.
"Who are you?" he asked the man and the boy, looking curiously upon their paled faces and curly hair. They looked upon him with equal curiosity, though from the man there was perhaps a degree of apprehension. They gave him their names, and to them he did the same.
"Why are you here?" the man asked, warily shielding the boy behind him.
"Well, you see, I got a visit from some lady a few decades ago talking about how there were other states out there that I could trade with," Deshret replied, "and I figured I'd try and find some to trade with! I had no idea there would be an island this far north though. And one with such a fledgling nation! Anyway, do you want to establish trade contact?" The man decided it couldn't hurt, and he began to trade with the land of Kemet. He befriended Deshret, and became increasingly prosperous. The days of the great palaces of Knossos drew nearer, and the boy watched in awe as the man grew more and more centralized and powerful. The man eventually established a presence on the boy's islands, to keep watch over him. Together, they ruled the Aegean and traded throughout it. It was a golden age.
This chapter was a bit vague, and that is completely intentional. Unlike the Ancient Sumerian and Egyptian Civilizations, we know pretty much next to nothing about the Indus Valley, Minoan, and Cycladic civilizations. The Indus Valley Civilization was centered aroudn two cities: Harappa and Mojendo-daro. These are not the original names of these cities, they were given after the fact by archaeologists upon the discovery of their ruins, so I chose to omit names from the chapter. Whatever the original inhabitants of these cities called them, it was probably not Harappa or Mojendo-daro. The Indus Valley Civilization was incredibly advanced for its time, possessing hydraulic plumbing systems and huge local baths. It also has the least monumental structures out of any ancient civilization, suggesting warfare was at a minimum. The Harappan people (as we have dubbed them) traded with the Sumerians, but even that is subject to debate, because we have no way of deciphering their script. Unlike Sumerian cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphics, there is simply no way to decipher the Indus Script. Thusly, most everything that could be known about this once-great civilization is not known.
The Minoan civilization is a bit less vague, but still pretty in the dark. Named Minoan after Minos (who may or may not have been a king of the civilization), this one evolved on the isle of Crete and eventually would develop great and intricate palaces, but not at the point in the timeline (about 2100 BC) that we are at now. Minoans would trade with Egyptians, because many Egyptians artifacts have been found on Crete dated to this period. To north of Crete, on the Cyclades islands, a smaller civilization would develop that essentially nothing is known about except for the fact that they traded around the Aegean, made marble statues, and were heavily influenced by the Minoans. These two will eventually be eclipsed by far greater, more dynamic nations; but for now we just get the man (Minoa) and the boy (Cyclades).
Feel free to leave corrections in the comments! Next post in two days; we'll be heading back to Sumer to catch up with Akkad, Uruk, Lagash and the others after the devastating campaigns of Naram-Sin.