The First Civilizations Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering early civilizations, including Sumerian, Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Hittite, Phoenician, and Hebrew history.

Mesopotamia

A region in modern-day Iraq meaning 'land between two rivers' (the Tigris and Euphrates) that was the site of Sumer, the first human civilization.

Sumer

The earliest known human civilization, located in Mesopotamia and structured around independent city-states such as Ur, Uruk, and Lagash.

Cuneiform

A system of writing developed and used by the ancient Sumerian civilization.

Ziggurats

Pyramid-like temples constructed by the Sumerians for religious worship.

Epic of Gilgamesh

The earliest known work of literature, produced by the Sumerians.

Neo-Babylonians

Also known as the Chaldeans, a Mesopotamian group whose king Nebuchadnezzar built the Hanging Gardens before they were conquered by the Persians.

Nebuchadnezzar

The Neo-Babylonian king who ordered the construction of the Hanging Gardens in Babylon.

Hittites

An Indo-European people who came from the north, invaded what is now Turkey, introduced iron, and signed the oldest known peace treaty with the Egyptians.

Phoenicians

A maritime people living in Lebanon who engaged in trade, hired mercenaries, established Carthage in North Africa, created Tyrian purple dye, and developed an alphabet.

Tyrian purple

A famous purple dye produced by the Phoenicians by boiling a specific sea snail.

Hebrews

A group of people who developed Judaism, an ethical monotheistic religion whose history and struggles are recorded in the Old Testament.

Nile River

The primary river of Egypt whose predictable seasonal flooding sustained ancient Egyptian civilization.

Pharaohs

The ancient Egyptian god-kings who had pyramids constructed during the Old Kingdom.

Hieroglyphics

The system of writing used in ancient Egypt.

Valley of the Kings

The burial site utilized for Egyptian pharaohs after the Old Kingdom period.

Mummification

The ancient Egyptian practice of preserving the dead, which heavily influenced Nubia (Kush) and the Minoans on Crete.

Irrigation projects

Large-scale agricultural water management systems whose administration is theorized to have driven the creation of early governments.

City-states

Independent, non-centralized urban political units—such as Sumer's Ur, Uruk, and Lagash—that served as political, cultural, manufacturing, and commercial centers.