Download Unit 2 Study Guide – River Valley Civilizations Directions: Use

Unit 2 Study Guide – River Valley Civilizations
Directions: Use everything from Unit 2 of your notebook as well as pages 17 – 90 in your textbook to answer
all of these questions.
Characteristics of a Civilization
1. Name the five characteristics of a civilization
1. Complex institutions (long-lasting patterns of organization; includes government, economy and
religion)
2. Advanced cities (must have large populations and must be centers of trade)
3. Recordkeeping (written records to keep track of, among other things, business transactions and
important events)
4. Technology (includes tools and inventions that make life easier)
5. Specialized/skilled workers (people have specialized skills to perform different tasks)
River Valley Civilizations
2. River Valley Map – locate and label each of the following on a map:
a. Tigris River
d. Egypt
g. Early China
b. Euphrates River
e. Nile River
h. Huang He River
c. Mesopotamia
f. Indus River
i. Yangtze River
j. Mediterranean Sea
k. Red Sea
Mesopotamia – Sumer, Akkad, and Babylon
3. Why did people settle in Mesopotamia?
because of the fertile soil that was good for farming that was left behind after the annual flooding of
the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
4. The Mesopotamian river valley civilization formed along the following river(s):
Tigris and Euphrates
5. What were three problems encountered by people who settled in Mesopotamia AND how did they address
each of these problems?
1. After the rivers flooded, the sun quickly dried out the mud (silt) that was left behind. The
Mesopotamians addressed this issue by developing irrigation ditches.
2. There was a lack of natural resources. The Mesopotamians solved this issue by trading with people
in the nearby mountains and deserts.
3. There was a lack of natural barriers, which left the Mesopotamians vulnerable to
attack. The Mesopotamians addressed this issue by building walls around their cities.
6. What is a dynasty?
series of rulers from a single family
7. What was the form of writing developed by the Mesopotamians?
8.
cuneiform
What is shown in the image to the left AND what was its purpose?
ziggurat; monument that served as the center of city life and as a temple in Sumerian
city-states
9. Describe the religion of Mesopotamia and the role of priests in these civilizations.
The people of Mesopotamia believed that all people went to the “land of no return,” which was a place
of darkness where they eat clay and mud. Priests were the rulers of the early city-states. They also
acted as go-betweens with the gods.
10. What is the meaning of the term “monotheistic”?
A religion that only believes in 1 god
11. What is the meaning of the term “polytheistic”?
A religion that believes in many gods
12. Were the Mesopotamians polytheistic or monotheistic?
Polytheistic – they had over 3000 gods
Ancient Egypt
13. The ancient Egyptian civilization formed along the following river:
Nine River
14. Why did the Egyptians call it the “Gift of the Nile”?
Because all life revolved around it – it gave them life in good silt to farm, it allowed them to travel and
trade.
15. In which direction does the Nile River flow? North
16. Where is the Upper and Lower Kingdoms located?
Upper Kingdom – is located in the south by the cataracts
Lower Kingdom – is located in the north in the Nile Delta
17. What were cataracts?
Rapids
18. The rulers of ancient Egypt were known as _____Pharaohs________________________.
19. What is a theocracy?
A government that the ruler is also worshiped as a god
20. What did the ancient Egyptians believe about the pharaohs? They believed they were gods
21. What did the ancient Egyptians believe about the afterlife?
They believed that after someone died, his deeds were judged (by weighing the heart) to determine
what happened to the soul after death.
22. Were the ancient Egyptians monotheistic or polytheistic?
Polytheistic – they had over 2000 gods
23. Name the three Egyptian gods we learned about in class and provide a brief description of each.
1. Ra – sun god
2. Isis – represented ideal mother and wife
3. Osiris – god of death – judged the dead
Indus River Valley
24. The Indus River valley civilization formed near the _____Indus River______________ .
25. What is one reason we learned in class why we do not know as much about the Indus River valley
civilization as we know about the other three river valley civilizations that we covered in class?
We have not been able to decipher their writing.
26. What were the two major advancements that the Indus cities had? Also, explain what each one was.
a. Advance Drainage Systems – plumbing
b. Grid – City Planning
27. What were the names of the two major cities of the Indus Valley?
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro
Early China
28. The Early China river valley civilization formed between the _____Huang He______ River (also known as
the Yellow River) and the ____Yangtze______________ River.
29. What are two dynasties we learned about in class that existed in the Huang He river valley?
Shang and Zhou
30. What was the Mandate of Heaven?
This was the belief that the ruler had the approval of the gods to lead. If negative events (floods,
famine, etc.) happened, this was viewed by the people in this civilization as an indication that the gods
no longer approved of the current leader and thus justified overthrowing that leader.
31. Explain the religious beliefs of the people who lived in the Huang He river valley.
They believed that the spirits of their ancestors had the ability to influence events in a positive or
negative way. Therefore, they had to pay respect to their ancestors’ spirits. They also believed that
the priests were able to communicate with the gods through the use of oracle bones.
32. What did they call feudalism in Early China? Also, explain what it was.
Well-Field System: the peasants work the land for their noble landlords
The Other Middle Eastern Civilizations
33. Where were the Hittites located?
Modern day Turkey
34. How did the Hittites treat women?
Very well – women shared in power with men
35. Whose culture did Hittites adopt?
The culture of Mesopotamia
36. Where did the Phoenicians live?
All around the Mediterranean Sea
37. Did the Phoenicians ever unite together and form a country? If not, how did they live?
no; they lived in city-states
38. What are three accomplishments of the Phoenicians that we learned in class?
1. shipbuilding/navigation skills
2. creation of purple dye
3. creation of phonetic alphabet – each letter is a sound
39. Where were the Nubian-Kush located?
Just south of the Egyptian Upper Kingdom past the cataracts
40. With which other civilization that we learned about in class did the Nubians-Kush interact extensively?
(They would overtake this civilization one day.) Egypt
41. What was the difference between the Pharaohs in Egypt and Nubian-Kush?
Egypt – Pharaohs were gods
Nubian-Kush – Pharaohs were chosen by gods
42. Much of our knowledge about the early history of the Hebrews is found in the __Torah________, which
contains written records and beliefs of the Jews. __Ten Commandments___________ were the written
laws that guided the Hebrews.
43. What is the name of the Hebrews' religion and why was it so different then the other religions we have
studies in class? Judaism and it was Monotheistic
45. Where did the Hebrews settle?
Canaan
46. What dominated Assyrian life? The Military
47. Name some of the advancements of the Assyrians.
Military tactics, ladders, siege machines, iron weapons, tunnels, and roads
48. What civilization was the first to use Iron? The Hittites
49. Which civilization was Indo-European? The Hittites
50. BE ABLE TO LOCATE – the Hittites, the Phoenicians, the Hebrews, the Assyrians, and the Nubian-Kush