History Chapter 2: The Ancient Middle East and Egypt

Tigris River

River that flows across a low, flat plain in Iraq and joins the Euphrates River

Euphrates River

River that flows across a low, flat plain in Iraq and joins the Tigris River

Fertile Crescent

area between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea, "crossroads of the world"

Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

the two rivers that surround Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia

"between the rivers", area between Tigris and Euphrates rivers

silt

soil that came from rivers flooding, good for farming

Sumer

The world's first civilization, founded in Mesopotamia, which existed for over 3,000 years.

ziggurats

largest Sumerian buildings, pyramids and temples, shrines for god on top

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Epic poem from Mesopotamia, discusses huge flood in it

How rivers led to government

floods could be dangerous but beneficial, so people had to control them. This led to priests to worship gods and governments to organize irrigation projects

polytheism

Belief in many gods, they control all aspects of life

clay

Sumerians didn't have much natural stone or wood, so they made most of their structures out of _______ because it was common around the rivers

cuneiform

one of earliest forms of writing, Sumerians used wedge-shaped marks on clay tablets, grew out of a system of pictographs

scribes

people trained to write using the earliest forms of writing before literacy was widespread, seen in ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian cultures

Ur, Uruk, Nippur, Kish, Lagash, Eridu

Sumerian cities

cultural diffusion

Mesopotamia had lots of ___________ ____________ because the lack of resources led "the river people" and "the mountain people" to constantly fight each other and spread ideas

Sargon

ruler of Akkad who conquered Sumer and built the world's first empire

empire

A group of states or territories controlled by one ruler

Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, Hittites, Assyria, Babylon, Persia

order of civilzations in Mesopotamia

Hammurabi

king of Babylon, tried to unify Babylonian empire through creating a uniform set of laws

Hammurabi's Code

a set of 282 laws that dealt with almost every part of daily life, created by a Babylonian king, uniform set of laws divided into civil and criminal types

steles

large stone pillars with Hammurabi's Code written on them, had statue of Hammurabi receiving laws from Marduk on top

civil law

laws that protect individual rights, such as slaves and women at the time, dealt with divorce and contracts

criminal law

law that deals with crimes and the punishments associated with those crimes

Hammurabi's accomplishments

wrote down a uniform set of laws, improved irrigation systems, made good army, fixed temples, gave religious unity by making Marduk the patron god

Hittites

people from Asia Minor who conquered the Babylonians the first time

iron

The Hittites had a military advantage because they had use of ________, which gave them better weapons than the Babylonians

Assyrians

Known as a warrior people who ruthlessly conquered neighboring countries; their empire stretched from east to north of the Tigris River all the way to central Egypt; had fearful military tactics

Nineveh or Assur

Assyrian capitals

Nebuchadnezzar

King of second Babylonian empire, overthrew Assyrians, made Babylon the capital city with huge walls around city, Hanging Gardens, captured Jews as slaves and burned down Solomon's Temple

Cyrus

leader of Persian army who conquered Babylon and freed Jews from Babylonian Captivity

Darius

3rd king of Persian empire, unified the empire

Persia Unity

Empire was united through satrapies, royal roads, religious tolerance, money economy, and a single code of laws

bureaucracy

A system of managing government through departments run by appointed officials

satrapies

regions the Persian Empire was divided into, helped keep empire under control and people in each region happy

satrap

A governor of a province in ancient Persia, usually were people that subjects in a colony respected before capture

royal road

A road in the Persian Empire, allowed communication through mail and transportation to be quicker, unified empire

Zoroaster

Persian prophet that gave hope for the afterlife, life is a battle of good v. evil, pushed for one of the first monotheistic religions

Zoroastrianism

The Persian's religion where they believed that there was a good god (Ahura mazda) and a bad god (Ahriman) battling, monotheistic

Phoenicians

Traders and sailors who lived in a string of cities along the Mediterranean coast; called the "carriers of civilization"

colonies

To promote trade, Phoenicians set up ______________, which were territories settled and ruled by people from another land

Phoenician alphabet

the greatest Phoenician invention, quicker than cuneiform, it had 22 symbols for consonants, the Greeks later adapted it and added vowels

Tyre

The Phoenician capital city

7 Features of Civilization

complex religion, organized government, public works, job specialization, arts and architecture, writing, social classes

Persian capitals

Persepolis, Susa, Babylon

Carthage

Most famous Phoenician colony; became strong trading power in the Mediterranean

Nile River

The river in which early kingdoms in Egypt were centered around.

Upper Egypt

the southern part of ancient Egypt, newer part, less people lived there, goes from Nile's first cataract to about 100 miles from Mediterranean Sea

Lower Egypt

The northern part of ancient Egypt, near Nile Delta, oldest part of Egypt, most people lived there

Memphis

political/economic gateway between Upper and Lower Egypt, capital of Egypt

King Menes

United Upper and Lower Egypt into a single kingdom and created the first royal dynasty.

Old Kingdom

First part of ancient Egyptian history, known as the "pyramid age"

pharaoh

A king of ancient Egypt, considered a god as well as a political and military leader.

Vizier

chief minister who supervised the business of government in ancient Egypt, heads bureaucracy

Giza

An ancient Egyptian city; the site of the Great Pyramid

pyramids

monumental architecture typical of Old Kingdom Egypt; used as burial sites for pharaohs. Were costly to make and led to downfall of Old Kingdom

Middle Kingdom

2050 BC. - 1800 BC.: A new dynasty reunited Egypt. Moved the capital to Thebes. Built irrigation projects and canal between Nile and Red Sea so Egyptian ships could trade along coasts of Arabian Peninsula and East Africa. Expanded Egyptian territory: Nubia, Syria.

Hyksos

a group of nomadic invaders from southwest Asia who ruled Egypt from 1640 to 1570 B.C.

Chariots

Hyksos had advantage in battle over the Egyptians because they had ______________.

New Kingdom

the period during which Egypt reached the height of its power and glory, empire went up to Syria

Queen Hatshepsut

Egyptian queen, she worked to increase trade with places outside of Egypt and ordered many impressive monuments and temples built during her reign.

Thutmose III

A pharaoh during the New Kingdom that was one of the greatest conquerers and many new lands were brought under control under his reign

Ramses II

A long-lived ruler of New Kingdom Egypt. He reached an accommodation with the Hittites of Anatolia after a standoff in battle at Kadesh in Syria. He built on a grand scale throughout Egypt.

Nubia

an ancient region in the Nile River Valley, Egyptians had soldiers there in Middle Kingdom and conquered them in New Kingdom

Ra (Amon Re)

Egyptian sun god, falcon head with sun and snake, creator of gods and humans

Osiris

Egyptian god of the underworld and agriculture, depicted green/black with flail and crook, father of Horus and husband to Isis

Isis

Egyptian goddess of fertility and motherhood, has magical powers from knowing Ra's true name, has cow horns with sun in between, sometimes has wings, mother of Horus and wife of Osiris

Set

Egyptian god of storms, desert, war, outsiders; depicted with staff and ankh, has dog/anteater head, married to Nephthys

Horus

Egyptian sky god connected to pharaoh, ruler of living world and sky, has falcon head and crown

Anubis

God of mummification and embalming, weighs souls, jackal head

Anubis/Thoth/Ammut/Osiris

guardian of the underworld, keeper of the Sacred Scales of Ma'at/ the righteous judge, records the decision/ demon crocodile-lion-hippo who gets fed the hearts of the evil people/ god who watches over it all

Osiris, Isis, Horus

god of the river; nearly dies but comes back to life (symbol of resurrection) bringer of life; killed by brother becomes judge of dead / wife of Osiris, found him near death in a river; gave him life again; considered mother of universe / son of the above; looks like hawk

Sphinx

Body of a lion with a human head, carved out of limestone rocks in front of temples to guard them, greatest one in Giza

Obelisk

A tall, four-sided pillar that is pointed on top, look like rays of sunlight, in front of temples to guard them/help Ra raise the sun each morning

mummification

A process Egyptians used of embalming and drying corpses to prevent them from decaying; rulers mummified and buried with riches from the belief that it would go to the afterlife with them

theocracy

Government controlled by religious leaders who rule in the name of god(s), Egypt was one with pharaohs

King Tutankhamen

Egyptian pharaoh, he died while still a young king. The discovery of his tomb in 1922 has taught archaeologists much about Egyptian culture.

Howard Carter

Discovered King Tut's tomb

Egypt warfare

Egypt was relatively bad at warfare since it was geographically isolated and didn't have lots of experience

Hieroglyphics

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

papyrus

A long-lasting, paper-like material made from reeds

Jean Champollion

deciphered the Rosetta Stone, worked for Napoleon

Rosetta Stone

a huge stone slab inscribed with hieroglyphics, Greek, and demotic that allowed historians to understand Egyptian writing.

Egyptian conquerors

Hyksos, Nubians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans

Egyptian cities

Giza and Memphis, Thebes, Luxor, Karnak

peasant farmers

The social class most people in ancient cultures were; the lowest class next to slavery

Torah

Israelite's sacred texts, tells of history and relationship with Yahweh, contains first 5 books of Hebrew Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)

Abraham

father of Israelites and Judaism, God told him to leave his home in Ur to Canaan, made covenant with him, father of Isaac

Isaac

One of the three patriarchs, Abraham's son God told him to sacrifice him to prove his loyalty, Abraham nearly sacrifices him but God saves him

covenant

An agreement; Abraham made one with God: God would have special relationship with Abraham and his descendants, Canaan would be the promised land

Jacob (Israel)

Son of Isaac, had 12 kids known as the descendants of Israel

Joseph

Son of Jacob, in charge of Egypt's food supply, had vision of a famine, moved family to Egypt, eventually turned to slaves

Moses

Israelite who renewed God's covenant, led Israelites through a desert for 40 years to Canaan to be free from slavery

3 Jewish Patriarchs

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob

Saul

First king of Israel, united the 12 tribes into one nation

David

Second king of Israel, wise, made Jerusalem as capital of Kingdom of Israel, conducted military border campaigns

Solomon

Third king of Israel, son of David, wise and understanding, made a large temple, negotiated with Egypt and Mesopotamia

Solomon's Temple

A monumental sanctuary built in Jerusalem by the third King of Israel. It was costly to make, and it eventually split the Kingdom of Israel in two. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it when he conquered Judah.

Yahweh

Hebrew name for God

prophets

spiritual leaders who interpret God's will and spread it, such as Isaiah or Jeremiah