ancient civilizations: egypt and mesopotamia. egypt geography 550 miles long, 15 miles on both sides...
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Egypt• Geography
• 550 miles long, 15 miles on both sides of Nile
• Nile floods once a year leaving rich soil
• Early Government• Needed to control
flooding and for irrigation
• Build dams, reservoirs, and canals
• Eventually formed two kingdoms
• Upper and Lower Egypt
• 3100 BC Menes united the two
• He was first Pharaoh
Egyptian Life• Absolute Monarchy/
Theocracy• Pharaoh was the gods’
representative on Earth• Made laws, built canals and public
buildings, set taxes, • Assisted by nobles and priests in a
bureaucracy
• Class System• Nobles, Priests
• Lower classes • Peasants and slaves• Could not participate in government
• Religion• Polytheistic • Preserved bodies with
mummification• Pharaohs in Pyramids
Contributions of Egypt• Architecture and Engineering
• Pyramids, temples with columns
• Art• Cheerful and colorful frescoes,
huge statues, gold jewelry, pottery
• Hieroglyphic writing• Began as pictographs• First “paper” called papyrus• Translated with Rosetta stone
which has Hieroglyphic and Greek writing on it
• Science• 365 day year• Set bones, prescribed drugs,
understood much about the body because of mummification
Mesopotamia
• The “land between the rivers”• Also known as the Fertile Crescent• Located between the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers
People of Mesopotamia
• Sumerians• Organization
• Independent city-states around 3500 BC
• ruled by a king• often warred with each other
• Contributions• Cuneiform writing
• Used a reed stylus on clay to make wedge shaped symbols
• System of numbers based on 60
• We use this today with telling time
• Architecture• Sumerians built pyramid like
temples called Ziggurats
Babylonians• King Hammurabi Took over Sumer
around 1900 BC became Babylonian Empire
• Contributions:• Code of Hammurabi
• One of the earliest written law codes• “Eye for an eye” punishment• Lower class/women punished more
severely than upper class/ men (unequal)
• Astronomy• Believed stars affected their lives BUT
learned to predict eclipses and recognize planets
• Religious literature• Epic of Gilgamesh: one of the earliest
creation stories• Describes creation of man and woman
and building an ark before a great flood
Hebrews• History
• 1400 BC Semitic speaking people from Arabian Desert settled in Palestine
• Driven out of their land by Assyrians, exiled to Babylon (Persians later allowed them back to Palestine)
• Moses led them out of slavery in Egypt, received Ten Commandments from God
• Jewish Diaspora, driven from their homeland in exile• Contributions
• Monotheism• Old Testament• High moral principles
• Ten Commandments• “what is hateful unto thee do not do unto others”
• Covenant of Abraham• “father” of Judaism• Made a covenant (agreement) with God
• Hebrew will worship no other God• Hebrews are God’s chosen people
Phoenicians
• 1200 BC, Semitic Speaking people from North of Palestine
• Skilled shipbuilders and navigators• Traded throughout Mediterranean
and to Europe and Africa
• Contributions• “Missionaries of Civilization”
• Brought Mediterranean culture and products to less advanced regions
• Traded Purple Dye made from crushed snail shells
• Alphabet• Based on sound with 22 letters;
Phonetic Alphabet• Eventually becomes the alphabet
we use
Assyrians
• 800 BC, Semitic Speaking People from Northern Mesopotamia
• First to have iron weapons• siege towers, and battering
rams• Used terror and cruelty• Took over from Tigris to
Egypt
• Contributions• Library at Nineveh
• Remains of documents have given us much information about ancient Middle East
• Military roads to move troops quickly