Download Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt

Mesopotamia and
Ancient Egypt
Ch. 10
Sec. 1
Pp. 300-305
Civilization
► Def.
– a term that describes highly
developed cultures with cities, organized
governments and religions, and systems of
writing
► They have specialized workers, and use
technology and metals.
► Earliest civilization was the Bronze Age.
People mixed copper and tin to make tools
and weapons.
Mesopotamia
►
►
►
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Located in the Fertile
Crescent, between the
Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers
Around 4500 B.C.,
wandering people settled
here and began farming
Built walls and irrigation
systems
Created 12-month
calendar and invented the
plow
What Country is it Today?
►Iraq!
Sumer
► Built
cities that held
up to 40,000 people
► Sumer was a citystate (a city that was
a small state or
nation) located
where the Tigris and
Euphrates run closest
to each other.
Sumer
►Trade
made
them wealthy
►Invented the
wheel and
sailboat
Mesopotamian Religion
►A
ziggurat (a large,
step-like tower) was at
the center of each city
► They believed that the
city’s chief god or
goddess lived in the
temple at the top
► Only priests could
enter the temple
Mesopotamian Religion and
Government
► Polytheism
– worship
of many gods and
goddesses
► Theocracy –
government controlled
by religious leaders
► Q: Are there any
countries with
theocracies today?
First System of Writing
► Sumerians
were first to
write down laws and
keep lists and records
► Cuneiform – writing
made up of hundreds
of markings shaped
like wedges
► Taught writing in tablet
houses, but only the
wealthy went there
Epic of Gilgamesh
► It
was the world’s
first known story
► King Gilgamesh and
Enkidu travel around
performing brave
deeds
► When Enkidu dies,
Gilgamesh searches
for a way to live
forever
Akkad and Babylon
Around 2300 B.C., Akkad
conquers Sumer
► World’s first empire
(group of states under
one ruler)
► Hammurabi was
Babylon’s greatest ruler
► Developed 60 min. hour,
60 sec. min., and 360°
circle
►
Sargon, King of Akkad
Hammurabi’s Code
► He
took what he
thought were best
laws from other citystates and applied it
to his empire
► Carved in stone and
placed where people
could see them
A New Babylon
► After
Hammurabi’s
death, empire split into
smaller territories
► Chaldeans, under King
Nebuchadnezzar,
rebuilt Babylon
Phoenicians
► Trade
spread ideas
and culture
► Phoenicians were
located in Lebanon
► Their alphabet gave
rise to the Hebrew,
Greek, and Latin
alphabets
Egypt – Gift of the Nile
► Developed
along the
Nile River valley
► Delta – fan-shaped
fertile area
► Protected from
invasion by desert,
sea, and Nile’s
cataracts (waterfalls)
► Annual floods
produced rich soil
The Pharaoh
► 3100
B.C. – Upper and Lower Egypt were unified
by Narmer
► Pharaoh – “great house”
► Considered a god, he was the center of their life
Religion
►Their
gods stood
for some part of
nature
►Re – sun god
►Hapi – river god
►Horus – sky god
Thoth, Arbitrator between Good and Evil
Religion
► Believed
soul could
not exist without
the body, so they
embalmed and
mummified them.
► Pyramids – large
tombs of the
pharaohs
Trade and Conquest
Conquered by the
Hyksos around 1700
B.C.
► Gave the Egyptians
bronze and iron
weapons and the chariot
► Egypt conquered Kush
(Sudan) and Punt
(Somalia)
► Traded with Greeks and
Phoenicians
►
Egyptian Writing
► Hieroglyphics
– form of writing in which pictures
are used for words and sounds
► Papyrus – Nile plant the Egyptians turned into
paper
Mathematics and Medicine
► Number
system based on ten
► Used fractions and whole numbers
► Developed geometry
► Used splints, bandages, and compresses
► Sewed up cuts and set broken bones
► Remedies for hair loss and indigestion