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Mesopotamia

A land between two rivers (Tigris and Euphrates)
First empire: made by Sargon of Akkad
In the Bronze Age: Sumer and the Akkadian Babylonian and Assyrian empires
In the Iron Age: ruled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires.
Home of Sumer: first urbanized city
Good farmland (fertile crescent)
Mesopotamia first had Sumer, the Semitics, and the Elemeites
Akkan, led by Sarron of Akkan, overthrew Sumer and Elam which led to the first empire: the Akadian Empire.

Sumerians

First urbanized city
Their culture was comprised of a group of city-states, including Eridu, Nippur, Lagash, Kish, Ur, and the very first true city, Uruk.
Located by the Persian Gulf
Overthrown by Akkan and turned into the Akkadian Empire
Were known to be traders
Had city-states within it
(Sumeria was a group, but not an empire. It was an urbanization)

City- State

A small city
Like the United States but smaller and with one city in them.

Irrigation

the supply of water to land or crops to help growth, typically by means of channels
Like a controlled flood/ watering

Surplus

More than demanded

Polytheism

When a religion had more than one God that they worshiped.
Egypt and Mesopotamia had a polytheistic religion
(Judaism was really the only monotheistic one)

Ziggurat

A staked building with multiple tiers
The temple was on top
Bottom: warehousing and trade
Lower central part: Priests and nobles residency
Higher central part: Royal residency
Mainly a place of worship
Only priests and religious leaders were allowed in the temples

Social class

99% of the time you were stuck in your same class as you were born in
Usually skilled workers were towards the top/middle

heriarchy

In Mesopotamia, nobles were at the top with religious leaders
Then scribes, artists, important skilled workers
Traders were towards the bottom, but not the lowest
Farmers, slaves, and unskilled people were at the bottom
Pharaohs in Egypt were at the top of all people, as well as Mesopotamia kings

Cuneiform

First objects/token were used as records, but then they carved symbols and 'words' into clay
Finally developed in the first writing form: Cuneiform
Used angular reeds/sticks to create symbols (letters/sounds/words) in clay
Created the first somewhat alphabet

srcibe

An educated person who writes down records on clay tablets
Important
Not many were educated in writing and reading, so they were pretty special.

Pictograph

Another early form of writing that the prehistoric used, but then the Egyptians adopted the ideas
A drawing that depicts words/sounds/idea

Sargon of Akkad

A conqueror from Akkad (north of Sumer) who took over all of Mesopotamia and created the world's first empire.
Conquered Sumer, Elam, as well as parts of Syria, and Anatolia.

Hammurabi's code

The first recorded laws
282 of them
Delt with almost every aspect of everyday life
Mostly fair punishments but ultimately favored the higher class
Made by Hammurabi: a kind of Babalon reigning from c. 1792 BC to c. 1750 BC

Assyrian Empire

After the Gutium invaded the Akkadian Empire, Assyria and Babbalon wanted control of Mesopotamia
Assyria was a belligerent group who had an incredibly strong army that fought fiercely
Used copper, and tin for bronze weapons
1813- 1781 BCE Assyria had control over northern Mesopotamia
Babolonia pushes back during 1792-1750 slightly from southern Meso. with Hamurabi as their king/leader

Tribute

Something that is done or given to show thanks or respect; a payment - This could be in the form of crops, money, or even people

Ashurbanipal

An Assyrian king from 669 BCE to his death in 631.
told people to bring back writings and collected
about 20,000 cuniform tablets
Made a huge library in Nineveh with the tablets

Nile River

The longest river in the world
Flows north through East Africa, into the Mediterranean Sea
Has cataracts (rapids) that protected them from invaders, acted as place markers, and were up and down the river
Flowed through the Nile Delta into the Med. Sea.
It forms from the blue and white Nile (blue on the right and white on the left)

Silt

fine, fertile soil found at the bottom of rivers

Narmer

Narmer was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Early Dynastic Period.
Many scholars consider him the unifier of Egypt and founder of the First Dynasty
in turn, the first Pharaoh of a unified Egypt.

Pharaoh

An Egyptian leader who was at the top of it all
Said to have relations to the Gods
Usually married inside the family to prevent any 'unroyal' blood and to preserve the Godly name/blood (they would actually die this way because of the crossing of genes)
Only one family; dynasties (in a way)

Pyramid

Huge, triangular-shaped burial tombs of Egyptian pharaohs. Built during the Old Kingdom. Held dead pharaohs with their prized belongings (it was said that their stuff would be useful in the afterlife)

Mummification

A process of embalming and drying corpses to prevent them from decaying
Done to nobles and Pharaohs in Egypt before put in a sarcophagus and into the Pyramid
A long process that involved removing the inner organs, brain, and other parts of the body

Hieroglyphics

An ancient Egyptian writing system in which pictures were used to represent ideas and sounds

papryus

A material similar to thick paper
used in ancient times as a writing surface
It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge
Grew along the Nile
Used in Egypt

Rosetta Stone

holds the key to understanding Egyptian hieroglyphs
a script made up of small pictures
was used originally in ancient Egypt for religious texts
We use it to decypher ancient languages (Demotic, hieroglyphic and Greek)

Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom

The history of ancient Egypt is divided into three main periods:
the Old Kingdom (about 2,700-2,200 B.C.E.),
the Middle Kingdom (about 2,050-1,800 B.C.E.),and
the New Kingdom (about 1,550-1,100 B.C.E.).
The New Kingdom was followed by a period called the Late New Kingdom, which lasted to about 343 B.C.E.

Hapshetsut

Expanded Egypt through trade
Was a woman but presented as a male pharaoh
The first woman to rule Egypt
Stern, but calmer than the rest
Like a mom :)

Thutmose II

Hapshetsut's step-son
the TOTAL opposite of Hapshetsut
Very belligerentInvades Palestile, Siberia, and Nubia
Expanded through war
Made Egypt rich with gold and valuables from other kingdoms
Tried to erase all evidence of Hapshetsut existing

Regent

a person who governs in place of a ruler who is ill, absent, or still a child
I.e. King Tut inherited the throne at the age of 7 so he had regents

Akhenaten/ Ahkenaton

Pharaoh was originally called Amenhotep,
tried to convert Egypt into monotheistic religion to worship Aton the sun god
Moved Capital to Akhetaton
reduced the power of priests
His reforms failed miserably though.
King Tut later reversed his enactments

Ramses II

A long-lived ruler of New Kingdom Egypt (r. 1290-1224 BCE).
He reached a stalemate with the Hittites of Anatolia after a standoff in battle at Kadesh in Syria. (Treaty of Kadesh between Egypt and Hittites)
He built on a grand scale throughout Egypt.
The 'Modest' King
Built giant statues of himself all over

Cataracts

Rapids along the river
protected them from invaders
acted as place markers
were up and down the river

Piankhy/ Pianki

Kushite king who conquered Libyan pharaohs in 751 BC
He invaded Egypt from the south and ended the petty kingdoms of the 23rd dynasty (c. 823-c. 732 BCE) in Lower Egypt

Hyksos

1600 BC, Egypt fell under Hyksos rule
The Egyptians waited, observed, then used the Hyksos own methods against them!
It was peaceful after, (during Hapshetsut's rule)
Hyksos used chariots and Bronze weapons, which the Egyptians adopted as their own

Bronze Age

The Bronze Age is a historic period, approximately 3300 BC to 1200 BC