In Search of the First Civilizations

by Michael Wood

  Chola dynasty 60, 75–6

  Madurai 57, 76–8, 77

  Srirangam 75, 78

  Taoism 64, 92–4, 96, 114

  Tayasal 167

  Taylor, John 22

  Tel Afar 17

  Tel Jidr 25

  Tenochtitlan 159, 160–2, 163

  Teotihuacan 124, 153, 154–6, 155

  as a pilgrimage centre 154

  Pyramid of the Sun and the primordial cave 154, 156

  Texcoco, Lake 159

  Thebes 117–18, 129

  Theodosius, Roman Emperor 137

  Thoth, Egyptian God of Wisdom 133

  Thousand and One Nights 30

  Tibet 66

  Tigris, river 13–14, 15, 16, 38, 42, 43

  Tikal 157, 159

  Tonantzin, Aztec goddess 164

  Totonicapan, book of 150–1

  trade

  China 106, 110–11

  India and Arab traders 67, 68

  and the industrial revolution 187

  Iraq and India 54–5

  and Old World civilizations 174–6

  Trajan, Roman emperor 136

  Tu Fu, Chinese poet 97

  Tu Mu, Chinese poet 98

  Turin Papyrus 120

  Tutankhamun 87

  Umma 25, 31

  United States, and Western civilization 180, 186, 188

  Upanishads 37, 62, 73

  Ur 20, 22, 23, 24, 27

  and China 87

  and Egypt 126, 129

  Third Dynasty of 31–3

  trade with India 55

  Uruk 13, 20, 24–9, 31, 35, 43, 173, 177

  and Western civilization 190–2

  Utatlan 151–2, 153

  Vico, Italian philosopher 185

  Victoria, Queen 79

  Virgil, Roman poet 186

  Virgin of Guadalupe 164–5

  Vishnu, Hindu god 68, 69, 74

  Wang Ta’o 112

  Wang Yi Jung 83

  warfare, and Western civilization 170, 188

  Warka 10, 12–13

  West Africa 10

  Western civilization 169–92

  Dark Ages 170, 178–9, 182

  and the Enlightenment 171–2, 184–5, 188

  and Greece 171–3, 188

  medieval 25, 179–81

  and the New World 183–4

  Renaissance 182–3

  and the Romans 176–8, 188

  trade and the industrial revolution 187

  trade with Old World civilizations 174–5

  and the United States 180, 186, 188

  and Uruk 190–2

  and warfare 170, 188

  and Western European culture 169–71

  women

  Chinese imperial concubines 100

  Coptic Christians 140, 141

  writing 10

  and Chinese civilization 89, 114

  Chinese oracle bones 29, 83, 86, 87–8

  hieroglyphic 120, 134, 137, 138

  India 62

  Mayan 145, 157, 158–9

  and Mesopotamian civilization 13, 29, 46

  Sanskrit texts 29

  Sumerian 29

  Wu Wang 86

  Xian 41, 89, 95, 97–100, 98, 155

  Xiloj, Andres, Mayan shaman 152, 153

  Yax Pac, king of Copan 158

  Yellow River 16, 83, 84–5, 87, 94, 96

  Yongtai, Chinese princess 100

  Yucatan Maya 167

  Zagros mountains 14, 173

  Zheng He, Chinese admiral 105–6

  Zheng Zhou 88–9

  Zoroaster, prophet 50

  Zoroastrianism 71, 98, 99, 177

  Zoser, Egyptian king 127

  Zosimus of Panopolis 137

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  This book is the product of journeys going back over several years, and it is a happy task to thank some of the people who made it possible. Starting in Iraq: Kamil Alwan Shihab for sharing his knowledge (and good humour) over our weeks together; Muklus, Mersin and Falah our drivers for their constant care and friendship; Muhar Abu Gumar for our many memorable days at Warka; Dr Joseph Habbi in Mosul, and the al-Mulla family in Irbil. Thanks too go to the religious authorities at Kerbala, and especially to the Gailani family in Baghdad for generously allowing free access to their great shrine and its library. The Mandaean community in Baghdad were unfailingly hospitable, as were the Yezidis at Sheikh Adi, where I will never forget a magnificent meal in the open air in that once idyllic spot. I am grateful to the American and British schools in Baghdad for their help: in particular to Tony Wilkinson, Erica Hunter, Jeremy Black and Georgina Hermann; also to Prof. R Boehmer at Warka. Many Iraqi friends abroad were unstinting in their help – especially Dr Lamia al-Gailani.

  In India, first in Tamil Nadu: I am grateful to the directors of the museums in Madras and Tanjore; to M. Nagaratinam and her family for their continuing friendship and hospitality and also for our many journeys to Tamil holy sites; to R.N. Dikshithar and all the priests of the Nataraja temple at Chidambaram; to the temple authorities of the Minakshi temple in Madurai for their special kindness; also the committees at the Jambukesvara and Ramanathasvami temples for allowing a non-Hindu access to their shrines; S Natarajan, ‘parish priest’ at Konerirajapuram; the priests at the Thyagaraja temple in Tiruvarur; in Madras thanks as always to S. Kannan and to Sushila Ravindranath. In Calcutta the staff of the Asiatic Society spared no pains on our behalf. A belated thanks too to Jyoti Maya Datta and family. In Benares my special thanks go to Col. V.P. Singh (Retd) for being an exemplary guide to his city and for sharing his reminiscences of his own family traditions; also to Ganesh Pandy and his family who have been mahants there for at least four centuries. In Allahabad I would like to thank Rustom and Shernaz Gandhi and their staff, for their help and kindness over several visits to the Hotel Finaro – surely the nicest hotel in India! In Pakistan, I am most grateful to the Archaeological Service and the Ministry of Tourism for their solicitude during my visit to Mohenjo-Daro.

  In China: in Qufu Mr Guo shared his deep knowledge of Confucius’ home town and its history, ancient and modern. In Xian thanks to Lao Kung and also to Ms Suen; our driver Mr Yu was an unfailing source of strength and fun one hot June when Lao Kung took us down the Yellow River; to the Imam of the Grand Mosque in Xian for his hospitality and wisdom; to the abbot of Xingjiose monastery; to Sam Lieu and Peter Bryder, who sent me to the Cao’an temple near Quenzhou, the last Manichaean temple in the world; Yang Hsi-chang at Anyang; the manager and staff of the Taishan Hotel, Tai’an; but most of all thanks to He Yuxie for making my visits to China in 1990 so memorable.

  In Egypt my special thanks to Hamdi Mohammed Mosa and his family in Luxor, to Haggag el Sanousy, and Mohammed Khalid abu Zed and their families for their matchless hospitality. Thanks also to the staff of the Pharaohs Hotel in Luxor for taking such good care of us on a long stay; to the custodians of Abu’l Haggag’s mosque in Luxor, to the abbot and monks of St Paul’s monastery, and to the religious authorities at the Al Ahzar mosque in Cairo.

  In Central America Jim Conroy taught me more than he could ever realize as he shared his experiences there during our journeys through Guatemala; Andres Xiloj at Barrio St Isabel, Momostenango, showed this gringo some of the ancient rituals and traditions of the Highland Maya in a most generous and open-hearted way, for which I will remain ever grateful to him. Professor Dennis Tedlock made our meeting possible. The archaeological services in Guatemala and Honduras were particularly helpful and courteous. On the road in Guatemala, thanks to Vinny, a tower of strength. In Mexico I would like to thank Professor Roberto Galliegos for giving of his time and knowledge in Teotihuacan and allowing access to the sacred cave. In Europe, Dr Gianni Ponti in Rome, and Hara Palamidi and Myron Papadakis in Athens were both friends and guides for which much thanks.

  At Central TV, Richard Creasey was the ‘onlie begetter’ of the project and Roger James saw it through with a patience and kindness rare in today’s world; to both my thanks. On the
other side of the Atlantic, Leo Eaton at Maryland Public TV was a stalwart supporter who kept asking the questions which needed to be asked and gave unstintingly all through the long period of editing when his heart must often have been elsewhere: to Leo (and Gerry), again, thank you. I am grateful also too Jennifer Lawson at Public TV in Washington for her faith in the project. The main film crew which shot Legacy was three people: Peter Harvey, Lynette Frewin and Mike Claydon. We trekked together from Jarrow to Baghdad and on to South China and I cannot sufficiently express my debt to them for their skill, stamina and good humour. Sanjiv Talreja and Fredy George shot the episode in India and did a wonderful job; so too did Ray Kawata, Bill Bealmear and Carole Everson from MPT who shot the Central American film. Thanks to Hal Lindes and Ed Wynne, who composed the music. The films were edited by Mark and Paul Brown and by Stephen Griffiths and Annie Moore: their commitment and skill were second to none; their patience and freshness over such a long edit nothing short of miraculous! I should also like to thank this book’s editor, Julia Wigg, for her invaluable help with the manuscript. Last of all I want to thank the two people with whom I spent much of the last four years preparing, filming and editing the Legacy series. Peter Spry-Leverton produced and directed the films with great expertise, but also with enviable calmness – even when threatened with the destruction of his film by one security apparatchik! Without him Legacy would not have made it to the screen. Chris Ledger, the associate producer and researcher, was a never-failing source of support, enthusiasm and good cheer, in addition to his own special skills. To both my heartfelt thanks!

  The Garden of Eden? In the marshes between the Tigris and Euphrates in South Iraq was a world of tiny islands with reed houses unchanged in millennia until recently...

  ...This is where ancient Babylonian and biblical myth placed the Creation.

  The 'Royal Standard' of Ur – the wealth of civilization is brought to the king. Made from inlaid lapis lazuli on wood, it dates from c.2700 BC.

  The diversity of the Iragi tradition – Yezidis grew out of the mingling of Christian, Jewish and Islamic ideas in the Middle Ages. Manichaean dualism is part of their belief; for them, Satan is first to be propitiated.

  The spiral minaret at Samarra – an early Islamic echo of the Tower of Babel? Built in the eighth century AD, it is 164 feet high.

  Roots of Indian tradition – the 'sacred' bath at Mohenjo-Daro, Pakistan.

  The Kumbh Mela festival at the confluence of the Ganges and the Jumna rivers. The festival dates from the twelfth century AD but the site is of immemorial sanctity.

  The river front on the Ganges at Benares. 'There are many holy places on this wide earth, but which one of them equals one speck of Kashni's dust?'

  Portuguese Jesuits debating with Muslim holy men before Akbar. 'His court became the home of the enquirers of the seven climes and the meeting place of every religion and sect' (Abul Fazl).

  Moghul civilization – the Taj Mahal at Agra, a seventeenth-century royal tomb situated in a paradise garden on the Jumna river.

  The South Indian tradition – a gateway to the great temple of Shiva Nataraja at Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu.

  Fawang temple on the sacred mountain, Songshan, one of the earliest Buddhist shrines in China (71 AD).

  Visionary art from Dunhuang (eighth century AD), one of a thousand caves decorated between the third and thirteeth centuries AD.

  The Longmen caves near the ancient capital of Luoyang, a vast collection of Buddhist monuments built between 500 and 900 AD.

  A Silk Route landscape. The Lake of the Crescent Moon lies amongst immense sand dunes outside Dunhuang.

  European partners cutting up the Chinese cake – a French cartoon from 1898.

  The Narmer Palette (c.3100 BC). The white-crowned king of Upper Egypt kills Wash, a ruler from the Delta, symbolized by a personified papyrus clump on which sits Horus the hawk, Narmer's patron deity.

  King Menkaure (Mycerinus) between the goddess Hathor and the personi- fication of Hu nome (province), c.2500 BC. The brilliant artistic tradition of the Old Kingdom survived until the Greek period.

  The Theban landscape – pink cliffs bordering the green strip of the valley. Until the modern dams were constructed, this was a uniquely balanced environment which formed the basis of civilization.

  Weighing the soul, from the Book of the Dead. Some fundamental Egyptian religious beliefs, such as the idea of a Last Judgement, may have later influenced Christianity and Islam.

  Saqqara. The jubilee festival courtyard with its stone 'tent shrines' for provincial gods, with Zoser's Step Pyramid behind.

  Coffin portraits from the Faiyum, second century AD. 'Look how you have progressed from being a mere human being on the face of this earth,' wrote the Egyptian Christian Origen. 'Be clear, and understand that there is a capacity in each of you to be transformed.'

  The Mayan site of Tikal, still partially covered by forest. This photograph, taken in 1882, gives an idea of what the early archaeologists saw.

  'Now it ripples, now it murmers, empty under the sky (Popol Vuh). Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, one of the four sacred lakes that still mark the guarters of the world of the Quiche Maya.

  Machu Picchu, Peru – a royal residence and mortuary shrine built by Pachacuti Inca in the 1440s, abandoned after the Spanish Conquest in the sixteenth century.

  The ball court in the central plaza at Copan, Honduras, eighth century AD.

  King 'Eighteen Rabbit' of Copan, dated 20 August 731.

  Pages from an Aztec codex showing the god Quetzalcoatl. Mexican written traditions of the Spanish Conquest are an important part of our picture of the fall of the New World.

  The ancient Mayan festival on the day 'Eight Monkey', Momostenango, Guatemala. Even in the twenty-first century the daykeepers burn incense and perform rituals around the 'city of shrines' As Las Casas wrote in 1 542, 'Everything that has happened since the marvellous discovery of the Americas has been so extraordinary that it remains incredible to anyone who didn't see it with his own eyes.'

  The Western tradition – the Christian creator-god, standing outside his creation and imparting its laws. This conception of monotheism is as particular to Europe as Shiva's dance is to India.

  PICTURE CREDITS

  BBC Books would like to thank the following for providing photographs and for permission to reproduce copyright material. While every effort has been made to trace and acknowledge all copyright holders, we would like to apologize should there have been any errors or omissions.

  All photographs by Michael Wood except:

  1 Georg Gerster/Network Photographers

  2 akg-images/Erich Lessing

  3 Robert Harding Picture Library

  4 The Trustees of the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin

  5 Mary Evans Picture Library

  6 akg-images/François Guenet

  7 akg-images/François Guenet

  8 British Museum

  9 akg-images/Erich Lessing

  10 Royal Geographical Society, London

  11 akg-images

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  Version 1.0

  Epub ISBN 9781448141647

  www.randomhouse.co.uk

  First published in hardback 1992

  This paperback edition first published 2005

  Published by BBC Books, BBC Worldwide Ltd,

  Woodlands, 80 Wood Lane, London W12 0TT

  Copyright © Michael Wood 1992, 1999, 2005

  The moral right of the author has been asserted

  All rights reserved. No part of
this book may be reproduced in any form by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in review.

  ISBN 0 563 52266 6

  Commissioning editors: Sheila Ableman and Sally Potter

  Project editors: Katy Lord and Martin Redfern

  Designer: Linda Blakemore

  Cartographer: Eugene Fleury