Important and Interesting Facts about Bronze Age Civilizations-Everything You Should Know about

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Updated December 20, 2022

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Important Facts on Bronze Age Civilization

The Bronze Age is the period of human Civilization between the Stone Age and the Iron Age, terms referring to the material with which tools and weapons were made, in some areas proto-writing, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second principal period of the three-age Stone-Bronze-Iron system, as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, for classifying and studying ancient societies. It lasted from about 2000 BC until 800 BC.

Civilization during the period down to 500 A.D. is defined to be in the Bronze Age just because Bronze was either produced by melting its own copper and alloying with different metals (commonly tin), or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Various metals available during the period but Bronze was more durable and harder among them and that allowed Bronze Age civilizations to gain a technological advantage.

The above is all about Bronze age but when we talk about Bronze Age Civilization there were many greatest Civilization that existed during Bronze age. These were Mesopotamian Civilization, Indus Valley Civilization, Chinese Civilization, European Civilization, Mycenaean Civilization, Egyptian Civilization etc.

Important Facts on 5 Greatest Bronze age Civilizations

Here are Some Important and Interesting Facts about Bronze Age Civilizations, regarding 5 Greatest Civilizations of Bronze age, their Period of Existence, Contribution, Specifications and so on. These Facts will Add Some Value to Your Ancient World Section.

Mesopotamian Civilization

1. It is the oldest civilization of the World.

2. Mesopotamia means “land between the rivers”. Mesopotamia is the land between the Tigris & Euphrates rivers.

3. Mesopotamia comprises four regions: Sumer (Southernmost region), Babylonia & Akkad (middle region) and Assyria (Northernmost region).

4. Hammurabi (C.2100BC), the Greatest Baylonian ruler, united the whole of what is now called Iraq into a single Kingdom. Hammurabi gave his people a code of laws. His code covered every aspects of life. His code based on the law of ‘eye for eye’ and ‘tooth for tooth’ i.e. the law of ‘tit for tat’.

6. Hitties, who came from Asia minor (now turkey) and destroyed the Babylonian Kingdom, were the first to make regular use of horses for war chariots and to make iron implements.

7. The potter’s wheel was perhaps first used in Mesopotamia.

8. The Mesopotamians also seem to have been the first to make glass ware.

9. The Sumerians were the first to evolve a proper system of writing. This system is called cuneiform. The cuneiform script was deciphered by Henry Rawlinson.

10. the Mesopotamian system of counting is known as sexagesimal because the Mesopotamian people counted by sixties as we count by tens (decimal system). Their sexagesimal system is no longer in use but we still use it as the basis of division of time into minutes & seconds and of circle into 360 degrees.

11. In Geometry, the Mesopotamians had discovered what was later called the Pythagoras theorem.

12. In astronomy, the Mesopotamians made astonishing progress. They could calculate the length of the day and the night. They divided the whole day into 24 hours. They divided the sky into 12 parts, each assigned a name. This has come down to us as the 12 signs of the Zodiac or rashis as we call them in India. Another remarkable achievement of the Mesopotamians was the invention of a lunar calendar, based on the moon.

Indus Valley Civilization

13. The Harappan Civilization extended over a bigger area than any of the contemporary civilization.

Note: For details, read the article ‘Important and interesting facts about Indus Valley civilization‘

Egyptian Civilization

14. Egypt is called the “Gift of Nile”.

15. Historian divide the history of Egypt into three periods: The Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom & the New Kingdom.

16. The Old Kingdom is also called the ‘Age of the Pyramids’.

17. The Egyptians were the worshipper of the nature and the sun was their most important god.

18. the Egyptians believed that after death both the body & the soul live while other people believed that only the soul lives and body perishes. So, Egyptians took great care in preserving the body of the dead. The body was embalmed in spices and then wrapped in strips of fine linen. Such a preserved body is called a mummy. The mummy was put in a wooden box and buried.

19. The Pyramids and the sphinx are the two specimens of the Egyptian architectural excellence.

20. The Pyramids were the tombs of Kings and they contained the mummies of these monarchs. The most imposing of all is the Great Pyramids at Gizeh in cairo, built by the king cheops (Khufu) of the old Kingdom. The Great Pyramid is one of seven wonders of the ancient world.

21. The Sphinx is a mythological animal with the body of a lion and the head of a man. Each Sphinx was carved out of a single solid stone.

22. The Egyptian script, known as hieroglyphic, was deciphered by Champollion.

23. The Egyptian developed a decimal system of numeration.

24. The crowning achievement of the Egyptians was the solar calendar.

Chinese Civilization

25. The earliest Chinese civilization ids the Shang Civilization.

26. The Shang Dynasty was overthrown by Chou dynasty.

27. The Chinese script is a pictographic script. It is remarkable that the Chinese script has changed very little since the earliest time.

28. The Chinese calendar (Solar-lunar calendar) was a combination of Solar and Lunar calendar. The Chinese were the first to calculate the length of the year as 365 ¼ days.

29. In 3rd century B.C, the Chin dynasty became important. To keep out invaders from the north, he began construction of a wall known as the Great Wall.

30. The Han dynasty followed the Chin dynasty in 202 BC and the Han emperors ruled China for almost 400 years.

31. The political practices of the Han rulers ere greatly influenced by the teachings of Confucius. During Han rule, to quality for appointment, the young-men had to pass through elaborate system of examination before they were chosen. Such ‘scholar-officials’ came to be known as mandarins. The Chinese was the first civilization in the history to have a system of selecting public officials on the basis of education and competitive examination.

32. Under the Hans, silk was a principal item of export.

33. Two main roads were across the Great Wall to carry on trade with the west.

34. Two major religions of ancient China are Taoism (based on the Teachings of Lao-tse: b. 604 BC) and Confucianism (based on the teachings of Confucius: 551 BC). Confucius was a contemporary of Mahavira & Buddha.

35. Buddhism was brought into China by Indian during the Han rule.

36. The Great Wall is a mighty monument to the building skill of ancient China. This wall, built of stone and earth to a height of 6 meters and extending over 2400 km.

37. The Chinese script was standardized by the chin ruler. The Chinese script spread to other countries also. It influenced the Japanese, Korean & Vietnamese scripts.

38. In the 1st century AD, paper was invented in China. The invention of paper and its importance in spreading knowledge within the outside china make it one of the greatest contributions of China to the world.

39. Some of the first historical works in the world were written in China. Each dynasty compiled its own history. The pattern of these histories was set by Ssu-ma Chien (1st or 2nd cent. BC) and is commonly remembered as the ‘Herodotus of China’.

40. The water clock, abacus and umbrella were invented by Chinese.

41. In the 2nd cent. AD, Chinese invented a seismograph.

Mycenaean Civilization/ Greek Civilization

42. The eally Greeks (Hellens), like the Aryans in India, lived in tribes, each composed of a number of families under a leader. A group of a tribes had a king.

43. The main occupation are agriculture are agriculture and herding.

44. The early Greeks had many gods whom they imagined to be like human beings, though more powerful and immortal. Zeus was the god of the sky and hence caused thunder. Poseidon, god of the sea, raised storms that sank ships.

45. Apollo, the sun god, could reveal the future. Athena, was the goddess of victory and patroness of the arts. Dionysus was the god of wine and there were many others. The Greeks thought their gods lived on Mount Olympus.

46. Around 800 BC, groups of Greek villages began joining into larger units to form city-states. At the highest point of city-state, an acropolis or citadel was built for defence and city spread out around the acropolis. Such cities were Sparta, Athens, Macedonia, Corinth, Thebes and others. Sparta & Athens were two most important city-states.6.

47. The Spartans’ main occupation main concern was with militarism and war so much so that the word ‘Spartan’ is often used to mean militaristic.

48. Spartans were fine soldiers but they contributed little else to Greek culture.

49. The city-state of Athens developed along lines quite different from Sparta. The territories it ruled had been occupied gradually and peacefully and militarism had not developed. Athens had excellent harbours and minerals deposits. Athenians built a prospective trade and culture. Pericles (469 BC- 429 BC) was the most important ruler of Athens.

50. In the Battle of Marathon (490 BC), the Greek defeated the Iranian (Persian) King Darius I at Marathon near Athens.

51. The Peloponnesian war, between Sparta and Athens from 431 BC to 404 BC, ended in tragedy for Athens.

52. Philip of Macedonia conquered most of states in the year following Athens’ defeat.

53. Then his son, Alexander, set out at the age of 20 to conquer the world.

54. During the 13 years (336 BC- 323 BC), he compelled all Greece to accept his leadership and conquered the Achaemenid empire. This brought him to borders of India where he defeated king Porus on the Jhelum in 326 BC. He sailed down the Indus and then returned to Mesopotamia where he died of fever in 323 BC at the age of 32.

55. Alexander’s conquests brought many important changes to the world. Trade between Europe and Asia was developed. Many new cities were founded.

56. In 2nd Century BC, the Roman empire started expanding eastward, as a result of Roman attacks, almost the entire territory of the Greeks and their empire became a part of the Roman empire.

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