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World History
Unit Two: Mesopotamia and Egypt
Unit 2 Overview
Section 1: Eight Features of Civilization
Section 2: Geography Influences Culture
Section 3: Ancient Mesopotamia
Section 4: Ancient Egypt
Section 5: History Skills: Developing an
Argument
Eight Features of
Civilization
By the end of this lesson, you
should be able to…
Define civilization
List and describe the eight features of
civilization
In what ways would your life be different if
civilization, or life in the city, had not developed
and we were still living in the Old Stone Age?
#1--Cities
Neolithic Revolution
Food surpluses
allowed people to
settle in communities
Civilization—life in
the city!
#2—Job Specialization
Food surpluses meant that
not everyone had to be a
farmer.
People could perform
different jobs and then
trade with others for food
and products that they
needed.
#3—Social Classes
Living in a settled
community enabled
people to accumulate
wealth.
Social classes
(divisions in society
based on wealth)
began to emerge.
#4—Public Works
Examples of public
works:
Irrigation ditches for
farmers
Roads to aid in trade
Government Buildings
Given these examples,
how would you define
public works?
#5—Organized Government
What type of planning and
coordination would be
needed if Prophetstown
was going to build a new
high school?
Leadership emerged that
would organize the
population to accomplish
group goals. (Building
public works, etc…)
#6--Writing
What kinds of things
might a civilization
with a well-developed
writing system be able
to do, that a society
without writing could
not?
Writing was useful
for…
#7—Complex Religion
Religion helped people
answer questions like…
What is the purpose of life?
Where did I come from?
What will happen to me
after I die?
What is good? Evil?
Gradually religion often
became tied with the
government. Why would
rulers do this?
# 8—Art and Architecture
Non-material culture
What does art reveal
about the society that
produced it?
In your small group, make a chart listing the
eight features of civilization and provide
examples of each from the village of
Prophetstown.
List as many examples as you can.
Geography Influences
Culture
In what ways has the
environment in the
comic strip shaped the
character’s material
culture?
How might it shape
the non-material
culture?
By the end of this lesson you
should be able to…
Label the following locations on a map:
Mesopotamia, Tigris, Euphrates, Sumer,
Akkad, Egypt, Nile, Upper Egypt, Lower
Egypt
Explain how geography influenced the
development of distinct Mesopotamian
and Egyptian civilizations
Focus Question:
How did the different geographies of
Mesopotamia and Egypt cause them to
develop distinct civilizations?
Geography of Mesopotamia
Unpredictable…
Mesopotamia
In what ways was the Fertile Crescent
vulnerable to outside attacks?
What factors would contribute to the rise of
civilization in this region?
Geography of Egypt
The Nile had
predictable floods—
the floods came at the
same time each year
Egypt
The flooding of the Nile River was gradual
and predictable. How might this flooding
have aided the development of Egyptian
civilization?
Egypt was less vulnerable than
Mesopotamia to outside invasion. How do
you account for this fact?
Given these different environments, how do
you think the religious beliefs of the
Sumerians and Egyptians were different?
Religious Beliefs in
Mesopotamia and Egypt
Mesopotamia
Egypt
The gods were hostile
and unpredictable
The gods were
predictable
It was important to
understand the will of
the gods so that we can
please them
It was important to be
obedient to the pharaoh
who was believed to be
a god and the
Egyptian’s connection
to the spirit world
Ancient Mesopotamia
By the end of today’s lesson you
should be able to…
Define Mesopotamia and locate this region on a
map
List the main achievements of Sumerian
civilization and explain why they are so
significant
Explain the social structure of Sumerian
civilization
Explain the fall of the Sumerian city-states
Define empire and cultural assimilation
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is located in
modern-day Iraq
Mesopotamia means “land
between the rivers.”
(Tigris and Euphrates)
Area where the first
civilizations emerged
Sumerians
The first group to settle in
Mesopotamia were the
Sumerians
The Sumerians settled the
lower Euphrates
By 3000 BC the
Sumerians had established
12 independent city-states
Sumerian Achievements
Cuneiform
Coined money
Brick houses, palaces,
temples
Religious and Political
Institutions
Bronze tools and weapons
Schools
Irrigation
Art
Trade
Law Codes
Why do you think that these achievements
are so significant?
What do you think is the greatest
achievement? Why?
(Think about the pre-historic past that the
Sumerians emerged from.)
Social Structure of the Sumerians
Priests
King
Commoners
Sumerian Religion
Religion influenced every
aspect of Mesopotamian
life including politics, the
military, social institutions
like the family, etc…
Sumerians believed that
gods and demons could be
seen in nature
Beliefs about the Sumerian gods
Invisible but everywhere
Controlled the universe
Seen in nature
Duties of the Priests
Sought to understand the
will of the gods through
divination, dreams, and
astrology—advise the
kings
Carried out the god’s
work on earth
Coordinated economic
activities
Distributed land
Oversaw irrigation
projects
Stored food for
emergencies
Performed religious
ceremonies
Managed the god’s wealth
The Ziggurat
The temple was built for
the god of the city and his
family
Religious ceremonies
were carried out in the
temple
Economic functions of the
ziggurat
Sumerian Government
Sumerians were led by a king
Duties of the king
Construct and maintain temples and irrigation canals
Wage war
Kings were believed to be selected by the gods to
represent them on earth
Sumerian city-states
shared…
A common language
Same culture, religious
beliefs, etc…
Yet they constantly
fought each other over
land boundaries and
water rights.
What were the dangers of the constant
fighting between the Sumerian city states?
Conquests of Mesopotamia
By 2350 B.C. Sargon the
Great, a warrior king from
Akkad, conquered the
Sumerian city-states
Sargon created the world’s
first empire (a number of
territories or people under
a single ruler)
The empire extended from
the Persian Gulf to the
Mediterranean
Spread of Sumerian Culture
The Akkadians adopted Sumerian culture
(cultural assimilation) and spread it with
their conquests
Although the Sumerians eventually
disappeared as a distinct people group, their
ideas, art, and culture would live on
Mesopotamia Security Council
Imagine that you are a representing your city-state
at a council that was created to develop ideas to
protect Mesopotamia from outside invasion. As
you make your recommendations to the board, be
sure to…
Explain reasons why the region is vulnerable to attack
Develop a plan for governing the area that would unite
all the city-states and prevent outside invaders from
conquering them
Propose a method for how to defend your city-states
Ancient Egypt
By the end of this lesson you
should be able to…
Identify the key developments in Egypt’s
Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms
Explain the role of the pharaoh in
Egyptian society
Explain the social structure of Egyptian
society
Ancient Egypt
Egypt developed along the
Nile River in northern
Africa
“The Gift of the Nile” –
Herodotus
What resources did the
Nile River provide for the
Egyptians?
Egyptian Stability
The mountains and deserts surrounding Egypt
helped bring peace and stability to Egyptian
society by…
Isolating Egypt from outside attack
Enabling Egypt to develop a homogenous, or uniform,
culture
Providing raw materials—gold, copper, stone
Current of the Nile flows upstream—easy
transportation
The Old Kingdom
In 2900 BC, Menes the
ruler of Upper Egypt,
conquered Lower Egypt—
this resulted in a unified
kingdom
After it’s unification,
Egypt entered what
historians call the Old
Kingdom (2686-2181 BC)
The Old Kingdom
The basic components
of Egyptian culture
were formed during
this period
This time period is
also known as the
“Pyramid Age”
The Pharaoh
The Egyptians believed that the pharaoh
was both a man and a god
The pharaoh was the absolute ruler in Egypt
The pharaoh’s court was located in
Memphis
Beliefs About the Pharaoh
Protector of Egypt
Controlled the floodwaters
Kept irrigation works in
order
Maintained Justice
Expressed the will of the
gods in heaven
1st Intermediate Period
Decline of the Old
Kingdom
Rise of noble power
Huge material and human
expense in building the
pyramids
1st Intermediate Period—
Civil War ensued as the
royal families competed
for the throne
Middle Kingdom
Strong kings reasserted
the pharaoh's rule and
reunited the state
Result—stability,
economic and cultural
developments
Conquered Nubia—source
of gold!
Trade increased
2nd Intermediate Period
Decline of the Middle Kingdom
The pharaoh's power and authority began to erode
as the…
Nobles regained some power
Nubians revolted and regained their independence
Hyksos invaded Egypt
New Kingdom
In this era, the
Egyptians…
Drove out the Hyksos
Began to build an
empire—ended their
cultural and economic
isolation
Decline of Egyptian Civilization
1300s BC– Libyans attacked from the west
Sea Peoples—raiders from the Aegean and
Asia Minor
Egypt abandoned it’s empire
Egypt eventually fell to the Libyans, Nubians,
Assyrians, Persians, and Greeks
Social Structure of Egyptian
Society
Overhead
Transparency
History Skills: Developing
an Argument
By the end of this lesson you should be able
to…
Define thesis statement
Explain how thesis statements are developed
and why they are important
Identify the thesis statement and it’s supporting
evidence in an article