Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt

Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt

SSWH1a

Compare and contrast Mesopotamian and Egyptian societies, including: religion, culture, economics, politics, and technology.

Vocabulary

  • Fertile Crescent – the boomerang-shaped region of the Middle East that was home to some of the earliest human civilizations. Also known as the “Cradle of Civilization.”
  • Mesopotamia – Greek word meaning, “land between two rivers.” The world’s first civilization.
  • Cuneiform – The first form of writing invented by the Sumerians around 2500 B.C.E. that was written on clay tablets.
  • Scribes – People trained to write cuneiform and record many of the languages spoken in Mesopotamia.
  • Polytheism – the belief and/or worship of more than one god.
  • Hammurabi’s Code – the most famous written law codes, founded by Hammurabi in Babylon. Written on Clay Tablets or Stone Pillars so that everyone in public could see.
  • Sumer - The first major civilization in Mesopotamia.
  • Ziggurats – a religious temple built to house the gods. Were the religious and economic centers of early Sumerian city-states.
  • Civilization - are complex societies. They have cities, organized governments, art, religion, class divisions, and a writing system.

Geography of Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is situated within the Fertile Crescent, the "land between two rivers"—the Tigris and Euphrates.

Timeline of Ancient Mesopotamia

  • 5000-3500 BCE: The first city-states gradually develop in southern Mesopotamia, an achievement of the Sumerian people.
  • BCE. 3500: Writing begins to be developed, initially based on pictograms, evolving into full cuneiform script over about a thousand years.
  • BCE. 2300: King Sargon of Akkad starts conquering, establishing the first empire in world history, reaching its height around 2220 BCE.
  • BCE 1792-49: King Hammurabi of Babylon conquers a large empire and issues his famous law code. The empire declines immediately after his death.

Religion

  • Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic with over 2,000 gods and goddesses identified.
  • The chief god varied by period; Enlin (Sky God) for the Sumerians, Marduk for the Babylonians, and Ashur for the Assyrians.
  • Notable gods and goddesses include Ishtar (love and fertility), Tiamat (sea and chaos), and Sin (moon god).
  • Events on Earth were considered a result of the wishes of gods.
  • The primary purpose of humans was to serve the gods.

The Ziggurat Temple

  • The main role of humans was to serve the gods by tending to sanctuaries, burning incense, providing food, and meeting material needs.
  • The economic life of a city-state was oriented to the service of the temple.
  • Ziggurats were built to house the gods.

Government

Sumerian Government:

  • Each Sumerian city formed its own city-state, including the city and surrounding farmland.
  • City-states were fiercely independent and often engaged in warfare.

Kings:

  • By the mid-third millennium, kingship rose in Mesopotamian city-states, modifying temple dominance.
  • Kings often sought to unify Mesopotamia.
  • Famous kings:
    • Sargon of Akkad conquered Sumer around 2300 B.C., building the first known empire.
    • Hammurabi, King of Babylon, united the Babylonian empire around 1790 B.C.

Art and Culture

  • Numerous ancient Mesopotamian texts have been discovered, often in royal libraries from Assyrian and late Babylonian times.
  • Literature, written in cuneiform, includes prayers, hymns, myths, epic poetry, proverbs, theology, philosophy, politics, astrology, spells, and historical records.
  • The Epic of Gilgamesh, dating to around 2000 BCE, is a well-known piece of Mesopotamian literature, notable for predating the Biblical story of Noah’s Ark with a flood narrative.
  • Writings were primarily kept in royal libraries within temples.

Gilgamesh Epic

Gilgamesh was a cruel king of Uruk. Responding to the people's prayers, the gods sent Enkidu, a wild man, who challenged Gilgamesh. After battling, they became friends and decided to use their powers for good, embarking on adventures.

In one adventure, they killed the ogre Humbaba in the Cedar Woods, angering the gods. As punishment, Enkidu died, leading Gilgamesh to seek Utnapishtim, who had achieved eternal life, to learn how to gain immortality.

Utnapishtim revealed a plant at the bottom of the ocean that could restore youth. Gilgamesh retrieved it, but a snake ate the plant while he slept. The snake shed its skin, symbolizing rebirth. Gilgamesh returned to Uruk, becoming a better, humble king, accepting mortality.

Language & Writing

  • Cuneiform was first written in the Sumerian language around 2500 BCE.
  • Sumerian remained important for administration, religion, and high culture for over a millennium.
  • Learning cuneiform was a rigorous process, with literacy limited to a small elite of priests and officials.
  • Writings were primarily used to keep track of legal and economic documents on clay tablets.

Economics

Agriculture

  • The Mesopotamian economy was based primarily on agriculture.
  • Crops included barley, wheat, onions, turnips, grapes, apples, and dates. Livestock included cattle, sheep, and goats. Beer and wine were produced, and fish were abundant.
  • The Tigris and Euphrates rivers enabled farming but also caused frequent floods, requiring year-round irrigation due to the hot, dry climate.
  • Mesopotamians were pioneers in water control, using a system of dykes, reservoirs, canals, drainage channels, and aqueducts.
  • The water control system expanded over generations, covering a wide area with a dense network of waterways.

Irrigation & Farming

Irrigation enabled farmers to grow abundant food and support a large population, leading to the growth of cities and the beginning of civilization.

Trade

  • The plain of Mesopotamia lacked minerals like stone, precious metals, and timber.
  • This stimulated trade with neighboring regions.
  • Food surpluses and craft goods were exchanged for mineral resources.
  • Mesopotamian merchants traded with peoples in Syria, Asia Minor, Iran, and the Indus civilization.
  • Trade was based on a regulated system of exchange with relative values set for goods, such as seed worth a certain amount of silver. These values were codified in law.

Hammurabi’s Code

  • Hammurabi’s Code was the first attempt to codify laws to govern a state.
  • It included:
    • Criminal law: dealing with offenses against others, like robbery and murder.
    • Civil law: dealing with private rights and matters, like business contracts, taxes, and property inheritance.
  • Examples of laws:
    • Law 5: A judge making an error must pay a fine and be removed from the bench.
    • Law 195: If a son strikes his father, the son’s hands shall be cut off.

Social Classes

  • Social classes indicated an established civilization.
    • Upper class: kings, scribes, priests, warriors, and government officials.
    • Middle class: artisans, merchants, farmers, and fishers (the largest group).
    • Lower class: enslaved people who worked on farms or in temples.
  • The elite class was restricted due to the difficulty and expense of acquiring literacy and numeracy.
  • Cuneiform had hundreds of symbols, requiring years of schooling accessible only to elite families.

Inventions and Innovations

  • Wagon wheel
  • Plow
  • Sailboat
  • Number system based on 60
  • Geometry
  • 12-month calendar

4 Empires of Mesopotamia

  1. Sumer
    • First civilization of Mesopotamia
    • Divided into individual city-states
    • First to develop cuneiform
    • Capital = Ur
  2. Assyria
    • Emerged as a major regional power in the second millennium BCE and expanded into a large empire in the early first millennium BCE, covering much of the Middle East.
    • Known as fierce warriors
    • Original capital, Ashur, was the center for worshipping the chief god of the same name
  3. Babylon
    • King Hammurabi conquered a large empire from 1792-49 BCE and issued a famous law code. The empire declined after his death.
    • Famous for the Epic of Gilgamesh
    • Capital = Babylon
  4. Phoenicia
    • Occupied cities along the eastern Mediterranean coast.
    • Made glass from sand and purple dye from sea snails.
    • Called “carriers of civilization” for spreading Middle Eastern civilization around the Mediterranean.
    • Sea-faring civilization
    • Invented the alphabet, with letters representing spoken sounds.

Ancient Egypt

SSWH1a - Compare and contrast Mesopotamian and Egyptian societies, include: religion, culture, economics, politics, and technology.

Vocabulary

  1. hieroglyphics – the Ancient Egyptian system of writing that used pictures and symbols to represent words. Often Written on papyrus
  2. pharoahs -a ruler in ancient Egypt often referred to as Egyptian god-kings
  3. pyramids - a large structure built especially in ancient Egypt that usually has a square base and four triangular sides meeting at a point and that contains tombs of the pharoahs.
  4. mummification - The methods of embalming, or treating the dead body, that the ancient Egyptians used to preserve the body for the afterlife.
  5. Nile River – The longest river in the world that flows south to north in Africa.
  6. papyrus - a reed that grows in marshy areas around the Nile river. In ancient Egypt, the wild plant was used for a variety of uses, and specially cultivated papyrus, grown on plantations, was used to make paper.

Geography of Ancient Egypt

  • Egypt is located on the Nile River
  • The Nile begins in the Highlands of Ethiopia with two branches:
    • The White Nile and the Blue Nile
  • These rivers unite and flow north where they empty into the Mediterranean Sea.
  • Where the river empties into the Nile it forms the Nile Delta, a rich area of alluvial soil.

Economics

  • Economy was based on farming and fishing
  • Most people used what they produced, relatively little was taken by the authorities as taxes
  • Annual flooding of the Nile produced fertile soil which allowed farmers to maintain high yields despite primitive techniques. Most farmers were kept in near serfdom
  • Farmers grew Wheat, barley, lettuce and beans
  • Produced linen in Cottage industries
  • Barter system was prevalent though there was a unit of currency called the Deben, about half an ounce of copper.

Timeline of Ancient Egypt

  • 7,500 BC: The first settlers arrived in the Nile Valley
  • 3,200 BC: Hieroglyphs are used to keep trade records
  • 2,640 BC: The first pyramid is built.
  • 2,555 BC: The Giza pyramids are built for the kings Kufu, Kharfe and Menkeure.
  • 2,520 BC: The Great Sphinx is built.
  • 2,200 BC: First ploughs are attached to oxen

Religion

  • For the Egyptians, religion was closely tied to daily life.
  • The Egyptians were polytheistic, worshipping many different gods.
  • The most important god was the god of the sun, Re, also sometimes referred to as Ra or Amon-Re.
  • It was believed that the Pharaoh was connected to this god.

Egyptian Deities

  • Re (Ra)

    • The Chief Egyptian god. Was seen as the god of the sun.

  • Anubis

    • was the patron of embalming. He was also the keeper of poisons and medicines. Anubis performed the Opening of the Mouth ceremony which was performed at the funeral to restore the senses of the deceased. The ceremony was done by touching the mouth of a mummy or statue of the deceased, it was believed to restore the senses in preparation for the afterlife.

  • Osiris

    • Supreme god and judge of the dead. The symbol of resurrection and eternal life. Provider of fertility and prosperity to the living.
    • When you die, your soul or KA, goes to the underworld to be judged by Osiris. Your heart is weighed against a feather, so if it is light or guilt free, you move to the afterlife.

  • Isis

    • As a winged goddess she may represent the wind. In the Osiris legend there are references to Isis wailing and moaning like the wind. She restores life to Osiris by flapping her wings and filling his mouth and nose with air.
    • Isis was a great enchantress, the goddess of magic. She was the embalmer and guardian of Osiris. She is often rendered on the foot of coffins with long wings spread to protect the deceased.

Egyptian History

Egyptian History is divided into three main periods:

  • The Old Kingdom
  • The Middle Kingdom
  • The New Kingdom

The History of Egypt begins with Menes

  • Menes Unites upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, joining the two into a united kingdom
  • In doing this, Menes establishes the first Egyptian Dynasty

The Old Kingdom 2700-2200 B.C.

  • The Old Kingdom was a period of great prosperity.
  • This time is also called the pyramid age, because the great pyramids were built during this time.
  • Egyptian kings came to be known as Pharaohs.
  • The Pharaoh was seen as divine, or godlike. The people believed that the Pharaoh controlled many things including the flooding of the Nile itself.
  • The Pharaoh wielded absolute power, but used advisors to help them.
  • The Chief advisor to the Pharaoh was the Vizier.

The Pyramids and Sphinx

  • Pyramids were built during the Old Kingdom
  • They were designed to be tombs for the Pharaoh
  • Originally there were step pyramids, then the pyramids evolved into the ones we see at Giza
  • The Pyramids were designed to protect the mummies of the Pharaohs, but they ultimately failed. They were robbed and pillaged.

Mummification

To preserve the body so that the soul could stay in the afterlife, the Egyptians perfected the process of mummification. Mummification was expensive, however, and during the Old Kingdom was a luxury of the rich.

  • First the body was washed and the internal organs including the lungs, stomach, liver and intestines were removed. The heart was left in the body because the Egyptians viewed it as the center of emotion.
  • The Brain was removed through the nose and thrown away. The Egyptians didn’t think it served any purpose
  • The Body was packed in Natron (a drying agent) and left for 70 days. After that the body was wrapped in linen with tree resin for glue. Magical amulets and other treasures were buried with the body.

The Middle Kingdom 2050-1652 B.C

  • After the fall of the Old Kingdom there was a period of chaos for about 150 years
  • A new dynasty took over in Egypt, bringing a period of stability.
  • Egypt expanded into Nubia to its south.
  • The government also sent troops into Palestine and Syria and sent traders to Kush, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Crete
  • In the new kingdom the Pharaoh took new interest in the common people. The Pharaoh also implemented many public works projects.

The New Kingdom 1567-1085 B.C.

  • The Middle Kingdom ended with the invasion of a people called the Hyksos
  • The Hyksos had Chariots and superior weapons to the Egyptians. The Egyptians were easily defeated.
  • Eventually the Egyptians overthrew the Hyksos and established the
  • New Kingdom
  • The Pharaohs of the New Kingdom took a more aggressive ruling style
  • Egypt became the most powerful state in Southwest Asia
  • This is the period in history in which the Egyptians enslaved the Jews according to the Old Testament

Hatshepsut

  • Hatshepsut was the first woman to be Pharaoh
  • She was the daughter of a Pharaoh and the mother and regent of a Pharaoh.
  • She took power for herself
  • She had to pose as a man to cement her authority.
  • She built many monuments and temples.

Akhenaton

  • Akhenaton wanted Egypt to worship the god of the sun, Aton, as the only god.
  • He closed all of the temples to the other gods and caused major social and political problems. He and his wife, Nefertiti, become unpopular rulers.
  • After his death Tutankhamen (King Tut) restored the old ways of worship.

King Tut: Tutankhamen

  • Became pharoah at the age of 9-10 years old
  • Became Pharaoh after the death of Akhenaton.
  • Restored the old religious practices
  • Has the only tomb to be found intact

Ramses II (The Great)

  • Ramses II, reigned from 1279 until 1213 B.C. One of the longest reigns in Egyptian History
  • He sought to increase the size of the empire and went on many military conquests, but he was unsuccessful. He was only able to gain the area of Palestine.
  • He fathered over 100 children
  • Some think that he is the Pharaoh of the Hebrew Exodus

Decline

  • Egypt fell into a period of decline and foreign invasion.
  • Egypt was ruled by many different people and eventually defeated by the Romans.
  • The last Pharaoh of Egypt was Cleopatra VII, who committed suicide rather than surrender to the Romans.

Egyptian Society

  • Egypt had a hierarchical social structure.
  • The people had a positive attitude toward life.
  • Monogamy was the rule, and women had more rights in Ancient Egypt than the rest of the Ancient world.
  • Women could own property, business, and request a divorce.

Hieroglyphics

  • Writing began in Egypt around 3000 B.C.
  • There were different types of writing for different occasions.
  • Hieroglyphics were ideograms used for formal writing
  • Hieratic Script (Demotic) was a simplified version of Egyptian writing.
  • The Egyptians carved their writing on stone, or wrote on papyrus, a form of paper made from a reed that grew along the Nile River.

The Rosetta Stone

  • For a long time archaeologists were unable to translate hieroglyphics
  • The discovery of the Rosetta stone allowed for the translation of Hieroglyphics
  • It contained the same passage in three languages
    • Hieroglyphics
    • Greek
    • Demotic

Egyptian Advancements in Math and Science

  • The Egyptians used math to calculate area and volume in building the pyramids and in surveying flooded land for farming
  • The Egyptians developed an accurate solar (365 day) calendar.
  • The practice of mummification and embalming led to advances in medical knowledge including how to set broken bones, wounds, and disease.
  • Clocks - In order to tell the time Egyptians invented two types of clock. Obelisks were used as sun clocks by noting how its shadow moved around its surface throughout the day. From the use of obelisks they identified the longest and shortest days of the year.
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