Download Neolithic and River Valley Civs in Middle East

River Valley Civilizations: Egypt, Mesopotamia and other Ancient Middle East civs
AP World History Notes
Mr. G.
The Neolithic Age
§“___________________________________”  “____________________________” Age
§10,000 BCE – 4,000 BCE
§After Adam and Eve or after Noah? Or during?
§ Gradual shift from:
Nomadic lifestyle  settled, stationery lifestyle.
Hunting/Gathering ______________________________ production and
_____________________________________of animals.
The Agricultural Revolution
§8,000 BCE – 5,000 BCE
§ Agriculture developed independently in parts of the world.
Ø ___________________________________Farming-Environmental interaction
Why do you think the development of agriculture occurred around the same
time in several different places?
Why do some archaeologists believe that women were the first farmers?
Early Settled Communities
Growing __________________on a regular basis led to a
___________________________________which then made possible the support of
_______________________________________
_________________________________, settled communities emerged
§ 9,000 BCE  Earliest Agricultural Settlement at ___________________( northern
Iraq )  wheat
What role did the food supply play in shaping the nomadic life of huntergatherers and the settled life of the farmers?
Ancient Mesopotamia
1. Mesopotamia: "Land Between the Two Rivers"
The Ancient Fertile Crescent Area- _______________________civilization
The Middle East: “The Cradle of Civilization”
The Sumerians
* _______________________-Great civilization began in Mesopotamia by
________________________
•___________________________________ system of writing
•__________________________ Temples
•Organized political structure-______________________________
•Social hierarchy-kings, nobles, priests, and slaves
•______________________________ family structure
•Invention of _________________________-reduced time to transport trade goods-useful for
__________________________
•Silver as a means of exchange
•First to use fertilizers ___________________________________
•Taken over by the Akkadians
Sumerian Religion – _______________________________________(worship of many gods)
_______________________________: “Wedge-Shaped” Writing
•Written on ________________________
•Developed by the Sumerians
•Writing and reading it were ____________________________-few had time to learn it
•used to mark boundaries, set down laws, treaties and customs
•Many examples of this writing survive to the present day
•Spread over the ________________________________
Epic of ________________________________
• __________________________piece of literature of the Sumerians
•Complied during the days of the Babylonian Empire after 2000 BC
•Explored themes of friendship,relationships between humans and gods and
meaning of life and death
•_____________________ Story
____________________________at Ur
§Temple built for their many gods (polytheistic)
§ “Mountain of the Gods”
§__________________________________ architecture
§Was the tower of Babel an early Ziggurat?
_________________________of Akkad: The World’s First Empire [Akkadians-came after
the Summerians]
Hammurabi’s [r. 1792-1750 B. C. E.] Code
•The most complete Mesopotamian ________________________
•Set up system of governance and taxation
•Step towards our modern legal codes
•Contained 2 major principles”
1. “_________________________” law of retaliation also known today as
“______________________________”
2. “__________________________”- law applied to everyone
The Ancient Egyptians
A View of Egypt by Satellite
Early Influences on the Development of Ancient Egyptian Civilization________________________________________:
•Ethiopians- grain cultivation and the __________________language
•Sudanese- watermelons, gourds, ____________________________of __________________and
donkeys
•Mesopotamia-wheat and Barley _________________________________
The Fertile Nile Valley
Greek Historian Herodotus Labeled Egypt “_________________________of the_______________”
The Annual Flooding of the Nile each spring
Important-why?
Because when the waters receded it left behind a layer of rich, fertile deposits of
muck which supported a very productive agricultural economy in the Nile River
Valley
Egyptian Social Hierarchy
•A ___________________________________ruled by the _______________________
•Claimed to be gods on earth-incarnate of Horus, the sky god, later Amon, the sun
god (son of the sun)
•Power was the greatest during the Archaic Period (3100-2660 BC) and during the
New Kingdom (1550-1070 BC)
•Legacy-__________________________ at Giza
Hieroglyphics “Alphabet”
24 “letters” + 700 phonetic symbols
Egyptian Gods & Goddesses: “The Sacred ‘Trinity’”
1.
2.
3.
The Ancient Hebrews (Israel)
Abraham’s Journey from Ur
Canaan  The “______________________________________”
Yahweh’s (God’s) “_________________________” With His People
§ The first 5 books of the Bible.
§The most sacred/holiest text in the Jewish religious tradition.
§Jews were ______________________________________(belief in 1 God)-strong influence on
the Jewish people
Moses and the ________________________________________
A new “covenant” with _________________________
Solomon’s Temple Wall: The _____________________________________________
Babylonians and Persians
_______________________the Great
§ A_______________________ ruler  he allowed different cultures within his empire
to keep their own institutions.
§ The Greeks called him a “__________________________.”
§ _________________________
§The Jews called him “the _________________________of the Lord.” (In 537,he allowed
over 40,000 to return to Palestine).
The Hittites & the Beginning of the Iron Age
_____________________Empire-important b/c they were 1st who learned to
_______________________in their ___________________________
The Assyrian Empire
•Took over Hittite lands
•Learned to use iron
•________________________ was the capital
•Vast empire-cruel and terrorized their enemies
•Sent large groups of _________________into exile
The Phoenicians: Transmitters of Civilizations
Phoenician City of Byblos: “Home of the__________________________”
__________________________: Phoenicia’s Mightiest Colony