Egypt and Mesopotamia Study Guide

Answer Key

How did the Nile River affect ancient Egypt?

• Fertile soil that led to settlement

• Yearly floods that deposited silt

• United Upper & Lower Egypt

• Trade route/transportation

• NOTE: deserts & seas protected Egypt from invasions

3 Main Periods of Egyptian History

• Old Kingdom 2700 – 2200 BCE “The Pyramid Age”

• Middle Kingdom 2050 – 1800 BCE turbulent/troubled times

• New Kingdom – 1550 1100 BCE empire building &trade

Egypt affected by…

• 1. Hyksos – invaded w/horse-drawn war chariots

• 2. Hittites – from Asia Minor, fought vs. Ramses, peace treaty (IRON)

• 3. Nubia/Kush – fought & traded, traded & fought…lots of cultural diffusion

Define

• Pharaoh – royal ruler of ancient Egypt (monarchy); seen as a god; dynasty system – passing down from 1 generation to another

• Vizier – chief minister; supervised government bureaucracy

• Ptah-hotep – famous vizier who wrote a “how to” book

Identify

• Osiris – god of Nile, god of underworld

• Isis – goddess of “womanly” arts like grinding grain, spinning, weaving, child care

• Amon-Re – Sun God

Identify

• Tutankhamen – King Tut…minor pharaoh, but his tomb wasn’t robbed, so much info learned

• Akhenaton – pharaoh who believed god Aton was only 1 who should be worshipped; married to Nefertiti, unpopular

• Narmer/Menes – considered 1st; united Upper & Lower Egypt

Identify

• HatSHEpsut – She was a great pharaoh who trade

• Ramses II – an “empire builder”; considered most powerful of New Kingdom pharaohs

Egyptian Social Hierarchy

PEASANT FARMERS

Pharaoh

Priests, priestesses,nobles

Merchants, scribes, artisans

slaves

Advances/Achievements

• Medicine: checked symptoms, diagnosed illness, tried to cure diseases, surgery, herbs – anise, castor beans, saffron

• Astronomy: calendar based on planet movement, mapped constellations

• Math: developed geometry to draw boundaries, build pyramids, temples

Advances/Achievements

• Arts & Literature including the following:• Statues, obelisks, wall paintings,

literature • WRITING! – hieroglyphics on papyrus

– Demotic=informal writing style

– ROSETTA STONE – allowed scholars to decode hieroglyphics – 1 of most important archaeological finds ever!!

Sumer• 3200 BCE• First Sumerian Empire extends from the

Eastern Mediterranean to Western Iran, including all of Mesopotamia.

• Beginning of the Bronze Age• Height of the Sumerian civilization;

development of numerous cultural and technological inventions.– writing (cuneiform)– the wheel– the plow– walled cities

Sumer• 3200 BCE• First Sumerian Empire extends from the

Eastern Mediterranean to Western Iran, including all of Mesopotamia.

• Beginning of the Bronze Age• Height of the Sumerian civilization;

development of numerous cultural and technological inventions.– writing (cuneiform)– the wheel– the plow– walled cities

Cuneiform (first writing)

• Evolved from pictograms into phonograms.

• Written on a clay tablet with a stick called a stylus.

Epic of Gilgamesh

• Believed in afterlife. “the place where they live on dust, their food is mud, and they see no light, living in blackness on the door and door-bolt, deeply settled dust.”

What does this say about the Sumerian, or Mesopotamian for that matter, view of life?

(Think about the flooding of the twin rivers, versus a steady/ dependable Nile River).

Babylon• About 1790, Hammurabi conquered most of

the Fertile Crescent.

Code of Hammurabi• 1st written law code

(codify)• “an eye for an eye”• Not equal justice for

all classes, but the first “civil law”

• protected women and slaves (women could divorce if “blameless” or they were thrown in the Euphrates.

• 300 laws on a stone pillar

Hittites• Pushed out of Asia

Minor about 1400 B.C.

• Although not sophisticated, they could USE IRON.

• Their empire collapsed in about 1200 B.C.

The Assyrians

• From upper Tigris River Valley took over in 1100 B.C.

• Warfare central to their culture

• Well ordered societies

• Assurbanipal ruled from Capital of Nineveh (NIHN uh vuh) toward the end of the empire.

The library at Nineveh, and a statue of Assurbaniphal as a fierce animal.

Does he look anything like a sphinx?

Phoenicians (sea trade and first alphabet)

• manufacturing (glass from sand, purple dye from small snail, timber)

• trade (established colonies)

• first phonetic alphabet

• Colony of Tyre “tyrian purple”

• Colony of Biblos (Bible and bibliography)

Phoenicians at sea

Phoenician alphabet

The Hebrews

• Abraham• Hebrew (one from

across the river)• covenant with Yahweh

(2000 B.C.)• 1st monotheistic

religion• Sabbath• Canaan

Out of Egypt

• Jews left Canaan due to famine

• Exile to Egypt

• Made slaves by Pharaoh

• Moses

• Red Sea

• 10 Commandments