Ancient Mediterranean World History- Exam 1

Paleolithic

Hunting and Gathering and nomadic

Neolithic

development of agriculture and permanent settlements.

Acheulean Hand Axe

first human-made tool

large and intentionally shaped

Neanderthals

a species of archaic humans known for their robust build, tool use, and adaptation to cold climates.

Homo Sapiens

“Thinking Humans”

Emerged in Africa

Cro Magnon

Early homo sapiens that emerged in Africa

Holocene extinction event

Mega Fauna went extinct

human populations rose

Lepenski Vir

Semi-nomadic society

ornate burials

domestication of dogs

Pastoralism

following herds of domestic animals across the landscape

a more secure food source that led to the development of milk products and the spread of zoological diseases

Agriculture

domestication of plants

allowed for first permanent settlements

Jericho

one of the first Natufian Societies

Jericho/Zawi Chemi Shanidar/ Abu Hureya were the first three

Chalcolithic Period

copper

stone

pottery

weaving/textiles

specialization of labor

Vinca Culture

clay figurines

proto-writing

Otzi the Iceman

Found mummified in the Italian Alpes

we can tell what he ate, how he died when he died, and what tools/material goods he had on him

Megalith Culture

Stone Henge

Hassuna Culture

upper Tigris

Dryland farming

unfired dark red designs on light red pots

grain cultivation, storage, grinding, baking

Halaf Culture

Upper Euphrates

fired bright geometrically designed pottery

community and domestic buildings

circular mud brick homes

Samara

Southern Tigris

Introduced irrigation

geometrically designed pottery

circular homes out of mud bricks

first defensive walls

Ubaid Culture

South Eastern

home to Eridu

irrigation

stratified society

first public temples

Eridu

located in Ubaid

location of Eden and Adam from the bible

Ziggurat

7 storied temple

center of the community

in honor of An/Anu = Sky God

Uruk Period

socio/political/administrative development

on top of Ubaid Culture

Priest-King

Pictograms-precursor to writing

An / Anu

Mesopotamian Sky God

Semetic

a language group (Hebrew, Arabic, etc)

Cuneiform

pictograms / ideograms stamped into a block of clay using a reed

King list

a stone with a list of names, descriptions of events, and mythology

starts with mythical kings who rule for thousands of years

historical kings after Ur

first political document

Akkadians

Pastoralists who moved from Northern Africa to Samaria

Defeats neighbors in Ur / Uruk / Sumer / Kish / Erdu

Establish the first empire

Akkadian was now the Lingua Franka

Sargon

King of the Akkadians

claimed to be a lover of the goddess Ishtar

used cuneiform to unite the kingdom

created a calendar based on the harvest

used vassals to rule - the former kings of the nations he took over

Naram Sin

Sargon’s grandson

tried to expand but was killed in battle

called himself “King of the Four Corners of the Universe”

Ur-Nammu

Takes control from the Akkadians

King of Sumer

Establishes first law code

Amorites

Old Babylonia

adopt Sumerian Culture

Marduk = their number one god

known for the study of math and astrology (base 10, seconds, minutes, hours) (constellations)

Hammurabi

Only Babylonian King

Second large scale empire

united cities through trade, language and laws

Hittites

moved east and west and settled in now-Turkey

used cuneiform

used horses and chariots

NOT Semitic or Sumerian

eventually took back Egypt had taken from them - were a part of the battle of Kadesh against Ramses II

Upper Egypt

Southern on the Nile

more advanced than lower Egypt because of access to trade

Lower Egypt

Northern on the Nile near the Mediterranean Sea

less advanced than Upper Egypt

Nomarchs

part of the Egyptian Hierarchy

Pharaoh → Viziers (one) → Governors (two) → Nomarchs (42)

Badarian Culture

Upper Egypt

Small-scale farming and hunting

pottery made without wheels

burials show bodies with body paints

Naquada I

Upper Egypt

use of copper

Figurines, weapons and food left for the dead

• figurines were of slaves/women → servants for after death

Naquada II

basically exact same as Naquada I

Naquada III

copper on pots to make them a blue-green colour

mastabas

• a burial room with offerings then the body in a basement-like chamber down below

Merimde culture

Lower Egypt

ovular reed huts

icorn wheat

Herring-bone style pottery

no evidence of grave goods

Maadi

Oval huts with grain storage

buried bodies outside of the community

egalitarian

Hieroglyphs

formal Egyptian writing

carved into stone

used in religious contexts

papyrus

“paper”

used for less official Egyptian documents

could be up to 35 ft long

Palermo Stone

The Royal Annuls

contains info on the first 5 dynasties in the “Old Kingdom”

like The King Stone it begins with myth history

Menes was the first ruler of a united Egypt

Ma’at

the Egyptian idea that there is a natural order to the universe that everyone was subjected to

Ushabits

figurines of servants placed in graves so the Pharaoh could take those to the afterlife instead of having to perform a human sacrifice

Rosetta Stone

Contained Hieroglyphs, Hieratic, Ancient Greek

Stone detailing legal information that taught us how to translate Egyptian writing

Khufu

Built The Great Pyramid

Khafre

Built the Sphynx

Pyramid Texts

Carved into the stone in a burial chamber to lead the soul of the deceased into the afterlife

Syncretism

the comning of cultures and gods

(Amon and Ra → Amon-Ra

Mummification

the process of preparing a body for the afterlife

all organs are taken out and preserved in jars

the heart is left

the brain is thrown out

Ka

Egyptian soul that represents your animalistic needs/desires

Ba

Egyptian soul that represents your personality

Aka

Egyptian soul that is taken out and weighed against a feather to grant you passage to the afterlife

Hyksos

A group of people that invaded Egypt during the Second Intermittent Period

had chariots, bows, bronze weapons

adoption of Egyptian culture (they liked Set)

use of Nomarchs to stay in power

Egyptians learned their military practices and over threw them

Damnation of Memory

When a successor attempts to destroy all record of a ruler that came before them

Amenhotep Iv

Pharaoh of Egypt

He made it illegal to worship the pantheon and only he was allowed to worship Aton (the sun disk)

the Egyptian people were only allowed to worship him

this caused civil unrest

he pulled troops from the edges of the kingdom and accidentally allowed the Hittites to reclaim the territory

Aton

the Sun Disk

Henotheism

the worship of a single god while still acknowledging the existence of others

Ramses I and Ramses II

reclaim territory lost to the Hittites

described as the best military leaders in Egyptian history

The Battle of Kadesh

Egyptians reclaiming the land that was taken from them by the Hittites

first peace treaty recorded

both groups of people claim victory

Bronze age

economy in agriculture

specialization or labor and social hierarchy

cites used as administration and population centers

well-developed tech out of metal

system of writing for record keeping

Elba

modern-day Syria

Run by an aristocracy of merchants and a fixed-term elected king

trade center

traded in textiles, copper, beer, etc.

Semitic speakers

burned by Naram Sin

nave came back to true power

Ugaritic Alphabet

Egyptian characters in Mesopotamian style

30 individual characters used to spell words (no vowels)

open to merchants

Minoan Civilization

Crete

named after King Minos

no single king

individual city-states

no city walls and only military to protect traders and trade routes

doors, windows, indoor plumbing

OLIVES

Established colonies for easier trading

imported amber, wood, metal

Linear A

Used by minoans

we cant decipher it

Lady of the Wild Things

Minoan goddess

shirtless and holding snakes

Minoan religion was practiced small-scale

Mycenean Civilization

first western civilization

first civilization in Greece

took over the Minoans

adopted minoan culture including imagery of octopuses / bulls / bull flipping

used linear B

highly centralized warlike people

had megarons

• long rectangular public buildings

Linear B

Used by Myceneans

we know how to decipher

early form of Greek

Cyclopean Blocks

stone blocks used in Mycenean buildings so large cyclopses must have moved them

Trojan war

the Mycenean king Agamemnon led the Greek forces against Troy in the Trojan war

Sea People

a mysterious people that destroyed the Hittites, Urgrit etc. but were defeated by King Ramses II