School Writing

Civilization Essay

A civilization is like a batch of brownies. You have the ingredients, and the steps to making a civilization. Just like here in Syracuse NY. Every civilization has different characteristics. Yet, they all have the same basics. Some of these basics include government, religion, and writing and language. As ninth grade students, we were tasked to study different civilizations in nomadic life. These included Indus Valley, Ancient Egypt, etc. The topic being addressed is the government, writing and language system, and religion. Is there a way to review the next three sentences and find a way to concisely state that your chosen characteristics are important because....Every ingredient is important to civilization. Some more then others, but every piece is important. The most important top three is: writing and language system, religion, in government. These as the most important because if there was no government of the sort, the civilization would fall apart. If there was no language, there would be no way to communicate. And every civilization has some sort of belief whether it be Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, etc.

Out of all the characteristics of government is the most important. With the government, things are kept in better order then they would be without. Without government, there would be no laws, and people could get away with murder, stealing etc. The government of the Indus valley had was a Theocracy government. The government was run by a priest, so the government was mixed in with the religion. Karma, in Indus Valley, meant that you were a good person and that you did your duty. They had universal laws, social laws, personal laws, and human laws. This government is still in the world today in Iran. And the Indus Valley does not have any court of law. Every civilization has a government. The United States has a government that controls the entire government. Then this government allows a governor for each state, causing some more laws that only apply to that state. And finally, this allows mayors of towns and cities. This government has three layers of important office people around the world, there are many other governments. Here in Cortland, the government is not connected by religion, for we live in a free country. However, it is possible, that there are many other countries in the world, that has a government connected to the countries religion. Government is very important to the society of every civilization in the past and current time. Without it, a town or city can not thrive, and things will fall apart.

Religion another important ingredient in a civilization. Every civilization believes in some sort of religion. Whether it's Christianity, atheism, Judaism, etc. Everywhere, someone believes something. In the Indus River civilization, People say not much is known about the Indus river valley civilization, but much more is known then people think. Not only is this religion connected to the government, but it is said to be the foundation of Hinduism. Why? The people of the Indus Valley had god-like figures in paintings or pottery. Not only that, but they believed in fertility symbols in pointed and round stones. They would also do yoga or something similar- and meditation. There was an ancient bath called the Great Bath of Mohenjodaro. This was located in temples of ancient rituals. Not only those unknown rituals, but they would cremate the dead, so they could offer them to their afterlife. They had very important objects to them as well. These objects included amulets and items used in rituals. And finally, some of the figures known to these ancient people was the godfather, lord of animals, a tiger, which represented evil. The chimera, goat, lion, snake creature that can or may not, have bat wings. This creature was known as the guardian. They also believed in spirits and demons. This relates to our current day for many reasons. Not only does this include characteristics of the religion of Hinduism, but Christianity, Buddhism, and many other religions. Such as Christianity uses sacred baths or lakes for baptism. There is also animal figures for symbols of good and evil. In Christianity, this would include the snake for evil, and the lion and the lamb for guardians, symbolizing God. They too believe in spirits, demons and such. Now how is this similar to Buddhism? I don't really know much about Buddhism, but I do know that they practice in yoga and meditation, and they believe the moon is some sort of god from what I know of. And finally, most religions, if not all, tend to think of, or create god-like figures, and believe in the afterlife. When people don't have a religion, they don't have much to live for. Sure they have kids and a family, but that sounds a little boring right? You have to believe in something because otherwise, we're just practicing here to reproduce. Live 100 years or so, and die. And those who do believe in something like that may have a fulfilling life, but they missed the point. There's something more. It's unknown.

And finally, the third most important ingredient to civilization is reading and writing and language of speaking. If there was no reading/writing/speaking system, no one would know how to do things, how to communicate. This is why this is very important. The Indus River civilization had an interesting writing system to say the least, not including complicated They wrote on soft clay with pointed sticks. However, when they wrote on metal or stones, they would just use a sharp object or tool to carve into. The text was written right to left, down, left to right, down, repeat, over and over again until the writing of the sort was complete. Things they kept records of was the government, religion, trade. Most of the writing was also in pictures, and there are still 400 unknown characters in the Indus River's writing system. Now think of today, There are so many different languages in the world, and the most common is Spanish. If people in the town spoke different unknown languages, how would we communicate? How would we keep records? This is why this is important! Using a bible reference, think of the tower of Babel. A tower so tall, that people someday hopped that they would reach into the heavens and meet God. But that didn't happen. Because, God knew that these people were capable of doing this, but not far enough to meet him. Why change the languages? Because they were idolizing this project. He also wanted people to spread out into the corners of the earth. This was before the earth broke up into different continents. Everyone spoke many languages, and so, God made them speak in tongues they had never heard of before. And so only the people who could understand each other, and went away and created their own towns, that slowly, and eventually brought us to where we are here today. This is why this topic, is very important. Without everyone learning how to keep track of records, and how to read write and speak, none of this would be possible today. Maybe.

The most important three key ingredients of a civilization to our religion, government, and a language system. These are important because everyone has to have some sort of religion, Without a government, people would do very bad things to the world, worse than they are today. And without a language system, no one would be able to communicate. The government controls what people do, and they have laws in place to protect people or things important to that society. The religion of the Indus Valley is connected to many different religions today, other than Hinduism, and without a language system, nothing would get done, and things would fall apart. Without these three basic pieces of a civilization, society would crumble, If you were building a building with all these people who don't speak your language is hard enough. Now add killings and you're short-handed. And as for religion, It is important to add something else to your life to spice it up a bit.

Work cited:

"Indus River Valley Record Keeping." Indus River Valley Record Keeping. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2016.

"Government." Indus River Valley. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2016

"Indus valley civilization." Britannica School, Encyclopædia Britannica, 19 Sep. 2016. . Accessed 6 Dec. 2016.