Download WHI.03: Early River Valley Civilizations

WHI.03: Early River Valley
Civilizations
Essential Understandings
p. 025
1) During the New Stone Age, permanent settlements appeared in river valleys and
around the Fertile Crescent.
2) River valleys provided rich soil for crops, as well as protection from invasion.
3) River valleys were the “Cradles of Civilization.” Early civilizations made major
contributions to social, political, and economic progress
4) Religion was a major part of life in all early civilizations.
5) Language and writing were important cultural innovations.
Essential Questions
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1) Why did ancient civilizations develop in river valleys?
2) Where were the earliest civilizations located?
3) When did these civilizations exist?
4) What were the social, political, and economic characteristics of early civilizations?
5) What forms of language and writing existed in early civilizations?
Why do I need to know this?
p. 025
1) The development of Mesopotamia reflects a pattern that has occurred repeatedly
throughout history.
2) Many of the monuments built by the Egyptians still stand as a testament to their ancient
civilization.
3) The culture of India today has its roots in its ancient civilization.
4) The culture that took root during ancient times still influences Chinese way of life today.
Mesopotamia
p. 29-30
1. What river(s) are in Mesopotamia
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Mesopotamia is located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
2. What does Mesopotamia mean?
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Land between the rivers.
3. What is another name for the area?
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This area is also know as the Fertile Crescent.
4. What modern day country is located
there?
Mesopotamia is in modern day Iraq.
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5. What is silt?
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A thick rich soil that is left behind after each flood.
Aerial Shot of the Tigris and Euphrates
near the Persian Gulf
6. What are some environmental challenges
people living in Mesopotamia experieinced?
a.
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unpredictable flooding
•
during the dry season, the land became like a desert
b.
no natural barriers for protection
c.
had limited natural resources like stone, wood, and metal to use for tools and
buildings
Flooding in Baghdad
What’s the problem with living here?
7. What solutions did they come up with to
deal with those environmental problems?
p. 029
a. dug irrigation ditches that carried river water to their fields and lowed them to
produce a surplus of crops
b. for defense, they built city walls with mud bricks
c. Sumerians traded with the peoples of the mountains and the desert for the products
they lacked
Aerial Shot of the Tigris and Euphrates
near the Persian Gulf
8. What is a City-state?
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It is a city and the land that surrounds it, functioned much like an independent country
9. What does every city-state have?
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In the center of each, was a ziggurat
Based off this picture, what evidence is there
to suggest priests were powerful?
The Ziggurat of Ur
The base is 210 feet by 150 feet
Was about 150 feet tall, but parts have fallen over the
millenia
10. What is a ziggurat?
p. 029
Pyramid shaped temple
Based off this picture, what evidence is there
to suggest priests were powerful?
The Ziggurat of Ur
The base is 210 feet by 150 feet
Was about 150 feet tall, but parts have fallen over the
millenia
11. What are some examples of a specialized
worker in Mesopotamia?
p. 029
12. What are the complex institutions?
p. 029
13. Sumerian Society
p. 021
1. priests and kings
2. wealthy merchants
3. ordinary farmers* and people in workshops
4. slaves – not really part of the class system; based upon conquered peoples, not race
Priests/Kings
Wealthy Merchants
Farmers/Ordinary people
Slaves
14. What did religion in Sumer look like?
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a. Polytheistic - the belief in many gods.
b. How did the gods behave? - Sumerians described their gods as doing many of the same things
humans do
c. What was one of their major gods? Enlil – god of the clouds and air
•
Wicked Udugs – lowly demon gods who caused misfortune and disease
d. believed that the souls of the dead went to the “land of no return,” a
dismal, gloomy place between the earth’s crust and the ancient sea
Enlil
15. What was the Epic of Gilgamesh?
p. 030
The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the earliest works of literature and traces the
adventures of a legendary king, Gilgamesh, who unsuccessfully searches for
immortality.
16. How did Sumerians keep records?
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They kept records on cuneiform tablets – record of business, historical events, customs,
traditions, religious ceremonies …
17. What is their written language?
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Cuneiform – writing with wedge shaped markings.
18. What are some examples of
advanced technology?
Wheel, Sail, Plow, Bronze Weapons
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19. Who is Sargon of Akkad
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a. conquered all of Sumer in 2350 B.C.
b. created the world’s first empire – brings together several peoples, nations, or
previously independent states under the control of one ruler
20. Who was Hammurabi
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1. a group known as the Amorites, overwhelmed the Sumerians and established their
capital at Babylon
2. It reached it’s peak under the rule of Hammurabi(p.31)
Hammurabi’s Code
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Created a law code stressed punishment and retaliation
a. “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” (the philosophy/famous phrase of his code)
b. important rights extended to women
c. although the code applied to everyone, it set different punishments for rich and poor and for
men and women
d. made the government accountable for what occurred in society
Egyptian Civilization
p. 31-33
1. What river flows through Egypt?
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the Nile flows northward through Egypt for over 4,100 miles, making it the world’s longest river
2. What is the Nile Delta
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a broad, marshy, triangular area of land formed by deposits of silt at the mouth of the
river
3. What are cataracts?
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Churning rapids and waterfalls along the Nile
4. Why are cataracts an important feature of
the Nile?
They help protect those living in Northern Egypt (Lower Egypt)
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5. What are environmental challenges
Egyptians faced?
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a. compared to the unpredictable Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the Nile’s flooding was
regular as clockwork
b. the vast deserts on either side of the Nile acted as natural barriers but
forced the Egyptians to stay close to the river
6. What are some examples of advanced
cities in ancient Egypt?
a. Memphis
b. Thebes
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7. How is Egypt’s history categorized?
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Egypt’s ancient history is broken into three kingdoms,
each of which is broken down into dynasties.
8. Who was King Menes?
p. 032
King of Upper Egypt who invaded Lower Egypt and united Egypt in 3100 B.C.,
beginning the first dynasty
9. What is a pharaoh?
p. 032
Egyptian god-kings
10. What is a theocracy?
p. 032
It’s when the leader of the government is also the leader of the religion, as in Egypt.
11. Egyptians were polytheistic. What does that
mean?
They worshipped many gods
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12. What are some major gods in ancient
Egypt?
Ra – the main god;
god of the sun
Osiris – god of the
dead
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Anubis– protector
of the dead and
embalming
Horus – patron
god of Egypt
13. How do we know that Egyptians
believed in an afterlife?
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Egyptians preserved a dead person’s body by mummification – embalming and
drying the corpse to prevent it from decaying
Mummies were placed in tombs with clothing, food, jewelry, etc
Pyramids were tombs for the pharaohs and were intended to be a palace a
pharaoh ruled from in the afterlife
Mummy
Mummy of Ramses II
about 20 years to build
481 feet tall (455 now)
Base is 756 feet on all sides
Less than 2 inch difference
About 2.3 M blocks
About 2.6 M tons
Avg. space between the blocks
is only ½ a millimeter
tallest building for over 3,800
years
Khufu’s Pyramid
Khafre’s Pyramed
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