Download 8th World History Egypt Notes Sumerians The ________fertile

8th World History
Egypt Notes
A. Sumerians
The ________fertile crescent _______________ is a region in the Middle East that is curve shaped
from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea.
It includes __________mesopoyamia_______________ which is a situated between the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers.
In fact Mesopotamia means “Land between the river.”
Thousands of years ago the first civilization began to form known as ___kemet___________ because
of the fertile soil called __silt____________ left by the floodwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates that
was perfect for farming.
The first Mesopotamian city was Uruk and as some cities grew they became ______city
states_________________ as they were independent and ruled themselves and the surrounding
area.
Pretty soon the Sumerian city-states emerged where they created a new writing system called
_________cuneiform______________ that used triangle shaped symbols to write.
B.
Babylon and Hammurabi
Eventually Sumer fell allowing for an Akkadian called ___sargon______________ to become king
enabling them to spread some of their cultural traits that are ideas common in a certain culture for
more than 50 years under Sargon’s control.
After Sargon’s death, the empire fell within 100 years and once again the Sumerian city-states fought
for power.
Then came an Amorite named ______hammurabi _____________ that took over a small
unimportant city called Babylon.
Hammurabi is best remembered for his creation of Hammurabi’s ____code__________, which was a
set of laws that governed Babylon.
The code included nearly ____300_________ laws that dealt with specific punishment for crimes.
One law read “If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.”
C.
Persia
Babylon’s thick walls were not able to stop the Persian Empire.
Under ______Cyrus the great__________________, Persia grew rapidly with its large and highly
skilled standing army where soldiers were professional and permanent.
Cyrus’ grandson, ______Darrius the great__________________, advanced the Persians even further
by dividing the empire into provinces and creating a common ____currency____________ or money.
Darius took the Persian wealth and created a ______road system_______________ across the
empire allowing his armies and messengers to travel much faster.
D. Phoenicians
Phoenicians had few natural resources of its own so they traded with other cultures for resources and
goods.
These imports included pine and cedar logs, wine, olive oil, salt, fish, and others.
Because of their location, the Phoenicians became great __sailors___________ and experts at
navigation.
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Through trade they were able to spread their culture including their ________alphabet ___________,
which was the first known one where a set of letters made up a single sound.
The Land
The ancient Egyptians treasured the ____nile________________River as it was the lifeline to the people.
The river flows through the Sahara and the through ___6________ cataracts before reaching Egypt, which
made it impossible to travel.
Egypt was broken into two separate regions: ______upper_________ Egypt and _____lower_________
Egypt.
Upper Egypt was given its name because it is upstream of the Mediterranean Sea.
Lower Egypt sits where a delta has formed because of the flood waters deposits of silt.
Egyptians used to call their country “___kemet__________”, which means “the ____black
land_________________” as a result from the flood deposited silt which was black.
On either side of the Black Land lay the deserts of Egypt called “_____red land_______________” due to
its burning sands and deadliness.
Civilization
Around 7,000 years ago people began growing crops in the Black Land and over time began to grow more
food allowing for a surplus, which leads to a ______food surplus________________.
They built walls around the fields to trap the floodwater for better crop growth.
Powerful families began to emerge and gain control over land where they would collect surplus crop as
____taxes_______________.
The tax money would be used to buy certain goods like jewelry and such things provided by merchants
and artisans.
Surplus of crops supported people wanting to do things other than farm like being
____merchant___________ or ____artisans ________________.
Merchants began to settle around the homes of local rulers and slowly, settlements turned into cities.
G. Kingdoms of Egypt
During the 300’s B.C. two kingdoms emerged: Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt
Upper Egyptian kings wore a ___red____________ crown while Lower Egyptian kings wore a
____white______________ crown.
Legend says that a man named _narmer_____________________ unified the two kingdoms about 3,000
B.C. making him the first ______pharaoh _______________ of Egypt beginning one of Egypt’s earliest
dynasties.
To show unification, Narmer wore of double crown of red and white.
The history of Egypt is separated into three kingdoms: ____old________,_middle_____________, and
______new_____________
The Old Kingdom was from 2686 B.C. to 2125 B.C. with a period of achievement in many areas.
The Middle Kingdom was from 2055 B.C. to 1650 B.C. where they really began to deal with the Nile floods
by building canals.
The New Kingdom followed more civil wars and flourished from 1550 B.C. to 1070 B.C.. This was the high
point of Egyptian power.
The New Kingdom eventually weakened allowing for invasion such as the Persians or Alexander the Great
in 332 B.C.
H. Egyptian Government
The Pharaoh relied on a bureaucracy headed by a ______vizer_________. Usually the bureaucracy
collected taxes in the form of surplus crops and distributed the crops to the pharaoh, priests, or anyone
that worked for the pharaoh.
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Great Rulers
During the New Kingdom two great rulers emerged: Ramses II and Hatshepsut.
1.
Hatshepsut was the daughter of a pharaoh and the wife of another, but when her husband died their
son was too young to rule so she took over.
o Many did not want to bow to a woman so Hatshepsut performed all rituals as a
_____man_____________. She even wore a false beard that was a symbol of the Pharaoh’s
power.
o Her rule was peaceful and prosperous as she built wealth and power through
____trade______________.
2.
Ramses II ruled about 200 years after Hatshepsut, and what Hatshepsut did through trade Ramses
did through _____war____________.
o Ramses conquered Canaan and Syria in the Fertile Crescent and also attacked the
______persians_______________. Ramses lost and later made peace by agreeing on a border
for the two civilizations.
o During his reign he built more monuments than any other pharaoh.
J.
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Egyptian Society
In Egyptian society the ____pharaoh______________ was at the top as a god-king
Next were nobles, priests, officials.
______scribes____________ followed as they were the few who could read and write.
Merchants and artisans took up the next slot as the middle class.
______farmer__________, servants, and slaves made up the lower class.
Most people worked on the Pharaoh’s building projects willingly out of religious devotion. They believed
that if they helped the god-king they would be rewarded after death.
K.
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Egyptian Religion
Egyptians worshipped hundreds of gods usually associated with an _____animal_____________ because
they embodied the animals abilities such as speed or strength.
The most important was _______Amon-re__________, the sun god. It was believed that each night he
died in the west and was reborn in the east as the sun rose.
_____Osiris______________ was the god of the underworld. Osiris was killed by
_____Seth___________ and chopped into pieces. Osiris’ wife, _______isis__________, found the pieces
and brought her husband back to life.
Egyptians look to Isis for protection in life and death.
__________Horus____________, their son, battled Seth and won. He united the two lands of Egypt and
as a result every pharaoh was thought to be Horus in human form.
The power of the pharaoh in Egyptian society is embedded by this legend.
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As Osiris overcame death, Egyptians believed they could as well. The first way to prepare for the afterlife
was to live a good life, and the second way was to have their bodies preserved.
They believed the spirit would need to recognize their body and use it as a home. The poor were buried
in the desert while wealthy Egyptians had their bodies made into _____mummies_________________.
The Knowledge of ________mummification _________________ was one of ancient Egypt’s greatest
achievements.
Writing
Ancient Egyptians developed a form of writing by 3200 B.C. known as ____hieroglyphs
_________________. Hieroglyphics used symbols that represent a word or sound.
Scribes were highly valued in society for their knowledge.
Egyptians also invented ___papyrus_______________ for writing. Papyrus was much more convenient
than the Sumerians way of pressing letters into wet clay.
The word paper comes from papyrus.
“________the book of the dead____________________” is one of the more famous texts as a it is a guide
to the afterlife for dead souls.
M. Architecture
___imhotep______________________ designed a new tomb with six stone mounds resulting in a step
pyramid. Later architects made the sides smoother to create a true pyramid.
Earlier tombs were usually underground.
Most tombs contained items that the ruler might want in the afterlife.
During the Old Kingdom three enormous pyramids were built at ___giza__________. The Great Pyramid
was the tallest building in the world for nearly ______4000_____________ years.
The ____sphinx ____________________ guarded the road to the pyramids.
Scholars believe that they were built by hand and not built by slaves.
By 2200 B.C. the Egyptians had stopped building pyramids and the pharaohs that followed carved massive
tombs into the cliffs at the edge of the Nile Valley.
N. Science and Mathematics
Egyptians measured time by the cycles of the moon creating a lunar calendar year of _____354____ days.
That made record keeping and planning difficult, so they developed a solar calendar with exactly
___365____________ days.
The ______greeks_____________ later added leap years when they ruled Egypt in the 200’s B.C.
In chemistry they created the earliest forms of glass, mortar for building, and cosmetics.
Their knowledge of the human anatomy was greatly advanced from their mummification process.
Define: Sargon, Hammurabi’s Code, Cyrus the Great, Darius the Great, Pharaoh, Dynasty, Hatshepsut, Ramses II,
Papyrus, Hieroglyphics, Sumer, City-State
Sargon- built first empire
Hammurabis code- first written law code
Cyrus the great- made first standing army
Darius the great- made rode and currency system
Pharaoh- god like king of Egypt
Dynasty – family run government
Hatshepsut first female ruler ever
Rameses ii- hatshepsuts father
Papyrus- writing system
Hieroglyphics- egypts writing system
Sumer – city state in Africa
City state- ruler its area and nearby areas.