Download Ancient Mesopotamia

Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, & China Study Guide
Part I - Ancient Mesopotamia
Advanced Cities –
Advanced Technology –
Code of Hammurabi Complex Institutions –
Cuneiform –
Tigris and Euphrates River Fertile Crescent –
Polytheistic –
Record Keeping –
Scribe Silt –
Specialized Workers –
Ziggurat –
Short Answer – Answer the following questions in complete sentences.
1. What was the Mesopotamians system of writing called? ______________________________________________
2. Name two things the Sumerians invented: (1) ____________________________ (2) _______________________
3. What is the name of the earliest story ever written? __________________________________________________
4. What were Mesopotamian temples called? _________________________________________________________
5. What is “polytheism”? ________________________________________________________________________
6. Who wrote the law code based on the principle, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth? _____________________
7. What word means “Land between the rivers”? ______________________________________________________
Use the following map and passages to help answer the questions about Mesopotamia.
The Rivers were a vital part of the development of a civilization. They provided many resources which included food,
transportation, as well as plants. Since the rivers were in the middle of deserts and was surrounded by rough terrain, the
development of city-states was inevitable. Mesopotamia developed along the rivers named the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers.
1. The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers were vital to the survival of people. Why were they so important for the
development of a civilization?
2. Based upon the map, what landforms surround the Fertile Crescent in the south and in the East? How did they
impact the development of civilization in the region?
Part II – Ancient Egypt
Afterlife –
Hieroglyphics –
King Tut –
Monotheism –
Mummy –
Papyrus –
Pharaoh –
Pyramid –
Rosetta Stone –
Scribe –
Silt –
Short Answer – Answer the following questions in complete sentences.
1. Into what body of water does the Nile River flow? In what direction does the Nile River flow?
2. Who did Egyptians build the pyramids for and why?
3. What did the ancient Egyptians believe about the pharaohs?
Passages - Read the following passages. Then answer the questions that follow by using your background
knowledge of the topic and what you learned in the passage.
Ancient Egypt’s Natural Borders
The boundaries of many of the western United States are man-made boundaries. This is easy to see when
looking at a map because the lines are straight. The eastern states tend to be bounded by rivers, lakes, or
mountain ranges. These are called natural boundaries.
The land beyond the Nile River Valley is a desert. A desert is a region that receives less than ten inches of
precipitation in a typical year. It is difficult to march an army and the provisions they need across a desert.
There are six large waterfalls called cataracts along the Nile River south of the ancient civilization. The
cataracts made it difficult for navies to invade Egypt from the south.
Not many people ventured into the sea before 1500BC, so the Mediterranean Sea formed a natural border in
ancient times.
1. During its early history, or the Old Kingdom, how was ancient Egypt protected from invaders by
natural borders? Your paragraph must include a topic sentence, two supporting sentences and a
concluding sentence. Write your response below.
The Rosetta Stone
The ancient Egyptians were a great mystery to scientists until they deciphered hieroglyphics, the writing of the
ancient people. The ancient civilization was mentioned in the Bible, but we didn’t know much about the
Egyptians until a troop of French soldiers found a stone near the city of Rosetta in 1799. That stone eventually
made it possible to decode the ancient text.
The Rosetta Stone was inscribed with a law made in 196BC, written in two forms of hieroglyphics and in
ancient Greek. Scientists decided that they could learn hieroglyphics if they could decipher the code.
A French scholar named Jean Champollion translated the Egyptian wring into Greek after more than twenty
years of work. Champollion concluded that hieroglyphics had originally been pictographs, but they stood
for sounds in later times.
Champollion made it possible to understand hieroglyphics, and unlocked many of the mysteries of ancient
Egyptian civilization. What mysteries might a modern Rosetta Stone uncover?
1. For what was the Rosetta Stone named?
2. Explain how the Rosetta Stone made it possible for Champollion to decipher hieroglyphics.
3.
How many years passed between the discovery of the Rosetta Stone and when it was deciphered?
4. What conclusion did Champollion reach regarding the Rosetta Stone?
Part III – Ancient China
Ancestors –
Confucianism –
Confucius –
Daoism –
Dynastic cycle –
Dynasty –
Emperor –
Great Wall –
Huang He River –
Mandate of Heaven –
Silk Road –
Terracotta Warriors –
Yangtze River -
Multiple Choice – Circle the letter of the best answer.
1. The name of the Chinese scholar whose teachings inspired an important belief system was
a. Confucius.
b. Buddha.
c. Shi Huangdi.
d. Zheng He.
2. What is significant about the dynastic cycle?
a. It helped empower the Chinese people.
b. It divided Chinese history into chunks.
c. It helped predict who would be the new ruler.
d. It explained why one dynasty would fall and another would replace it.
3. What impact did the Mandate of Heaven have on the dynastic cycle?
a. It had no impact on the dynastic cycle.
b. It forced someone to become the emperor.
c. It determined who ruled China and for how long.
d. It determined whether the people of China would go to heaven.
4. What was the purpose of the Great Wall of China?
a. to keep out foreign traders
b. to keep out foreign missionaries
c. to trap overworked peasants
d. to keep out invading nomads
Map Skills – Use the following map to help you answer questions about China.
1. What is the capital of China? _______________________________
2. What ocean borders China on the east? __________________________________
3. What sea is on China's southeast border? ___________________________________
4. What river flows by Shanghai? _____________________________
5. Which major river crosses the Great Wall? _______________________
6. In which part of China is its capital, Beijing: NE, NW, SE, or SW? ____________________
7. Name two countries that border China on the northeast: ____________________ and ___________________
8. What is the name of the major river that flows by Shanghai? ____________________
9. If you wanted to travel from Guangzhou to Shanghai, in which direction would you head?
____________________
10. Roughly how many miles is it from Beijing to Shanghai? (Circle your answer): 6 miles, 60 miles, 600 miles,
6,000 miles, or 60,000 miles?
The Incredible Story of China’s Buried Warriors
by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent
1 One
DISCOVERY
morning in the early spring of 1974, a couple of farmers in the countryside near Xi’an, a large city in
central China, decided to dig a well. As they turned over the soil, broken pieces of statues began to emerge.
It wasn’t the first time people in the area had found such things. Over the years bits of pottery, the heads
and arms of ancient statues, and occasionally even an entire clay figure had been unearthed.
Archaeologists—scientists who study the way people lived long ago—were fascinated by these findings.
So when they heard about the farmers’ new discovery, they were quick to investigate.
2 The
archaeologists dug carefully in all directions from the site of the well. As they worked, they were
astonished to find a huge underground vault filled with thousands of life-size warriors made of terra-cotta,
a kind of hard-baked clay. Along with the very real-looking soldiers were many full-size horses, weapons,
and the remains of wooden chariots. Three smaller pits were also found. Two of these contained more
soldiers and warhorses. Altogether it was an amazing find - a gigantic army frozen in time for more than
two thousand years.
3 The
An Underground Empire
terra-cotta warriors were buried about a mile east of the tomb of China’s first emperor, Qin Shihuangdi.
Shihuangdi lived in the third century B.C. The location of his tomb, under a large mound of earth that
rises 250 feet (76 meters) above the surrounding plains, has been known for centuries. But no one knew
that a huge army lay hidden nearby. What was it doing there?
4 Qin
TO LIVE FOREVER
Shihuangdi had two goals in life. The first was to unite China. The second was to live forever. He
believed that he could achieve his second goal and become immortal if he could just find a substance
called the elixir of life. During his reign Shihuangdi made five journeys to sacred mountains in search of
that magical potion.
5 Even
The Eternal City
as Shihuangdi searched for immortality, he was building his own tomb and underground empire.
Perhaps he thought that if he could not find eternal life in the physical world, he might at least live forever
in the world of the spirits.
6 Work
on the tomb complex began shortly after the First Emperor came to power and continued throughout
his rule. More than 700,000 people labored on the project, but it was still not completed by the time the
emperor died thirty-six years later.
7 Shihuangdi’s
underground city is the largest known tomb complex devoted to a single ruler. From the giant
mound of earth that rises above the tomb itself, the city stretches for more than nine miles (fifteen
kilometers) in all directions. So far, archaeologists working at the site have uncovered the remains of a
palace as well as miniature bronze chariots, perhaps intended to help the emperor’s soul on its journeys
after death. They have uncovered the skeletons of people, horses, and rare animals. Their most interesting
find so far, however, are the pits holding the First Emperor’s clay army. The largest of these pits is 775
feet (236 meters) long and 321 feet (98 meters) wide—about the size of five football fields
Reading Comprehension
1. Read the sentences from paragraph 1 in the box below.
It wasn’t the first time people in the
area had found such things. Over
the years bits of pottery, the heads
and arms of ancient statues, and
occasionally even an entire clay
figure had been unearthed.
Based on the sentences, what does the word unearthed most likely mean?
A. described
B. destroyed
C. enclosed
D. exposed
2. In paragraph 2, what does the phrase “frozen in time” suggest about the figures?
A. They had been buried by accident.
B. They had been preserved by the cold.
C. They had been untouched for centuries.
D. They had been abandoned during a war.
3. Read the sentences from paragraph 3 in the box below.
But no one knew that a huge army
lay hidden nearby. What was it
doing there?
What is the most likely purpose of the sentences?
A. to question the value of the discovery
B. to suggest the statues had been moved
C. to challenge the research of the scientists
D. to create a sense of mystery about the find