1ST ESO UNIT 9 THE BIRTH OF WRITING.

EARLY CIVILIZATIONS Activities IES Torreón del Alcázar

Name....................................................................................................................................................Date..............................

1. Answer these questions:

a. When did the first civilisations develop?

b. Why are there called river valley civilisations?

c. When and where was invented the writing?

d. What is the relationship between the first cities and the birth of writing?

2. Complete the table:

THE FIRST EXAMPLES OF WRITING
Who When Type Characteristics

Sumerians Around 3200 BC Cuneiform

Around 3200 BC, in

Egyptians Hieroglyphs
Ancient Egypt

Chinese 1300 BC Ideograms

Phoenicians 1200 BC Alphabet

3. Circle the correct options in the following text:

The first civilizations appeared / disappeared in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China around 5,000
years ago. These river civilizations developed along large rivers surrounded by unfertile / fertile land. The
rivers were:
− The Tigris and Euphrates in China / Mesopotamia.
− The Nile in Egypt / India.
− The Indus River in India / Mesopotamia.
− The Yellow (Huang He) and Blue (Yangtze) Rivers in India / China.
In rivers civilizations:
➢ The kings / scribes were the most powerful persons. They were served by civil servants and they
did not need / created large armies.
➢ Society was hierarchical: it was divided / not divided into clearly differentiated groups. A
majority / minority of privileged people owned most of the land and wealth, and had important posts in
public institutions. The majority / minority of the population was much poorer.
➢ There were large-scale building works. The kings built palaces, temples / churches, tombs and canals.
4. Answer these questions:
a) What Mesopotamia means?

b) Write the name of the most important Mesopotamian cities?

c) Which present-day countries are in the area where Mesopotamian civilization flourished?

5. Complete the sentences with the corrects words:

• __________ worked in workshops.
• ___________ cultivated crops, such as barley, wheat and beans. They used simple ploughs.
• ____________ registered laws and commercial transactions.
• _______________ owned most of the land and occupied the highest government positions.
• ___________ could work but their salary was half of that of an adult man.
• __________ controlled religious rituals.
6. Copy again the words according their position in the social pyramid.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

7. What was the difference between a slave and a free person?

8. Complete the text whit the words in the box.

writing trade polytheistic ziggurats irrigation canals dry Tigris and Euphrates
Mesopotamia was a territory between the Rivers ________________________. Its geographical situation made
this a key region for __________ between Asia Minor, the Mediterranean area and Syria. Mesopotamia was a very
______ area. However, ________________ allowed agriculture to develop. Mesopotamian civilization was the first
to use _____________ 5,000 years ago. Mesopotamians were _________________: they believed in many gods.
Temples were the gods´ residences on Earth. Some were built on stepped pyramids called _______________.

9. Why did scribes play an important role in the society of Ancient Egypt?
10. Who and what did the Egyptians worship?

11. Read the sentences about the Ancient Egypt. What do they refer to?
a. They were war prisoners and had no rights.
a. ______________
b. He was all-powerful. He passed laws, ruled the country and owned most of the land.
c. It started around 1,600 BC, and lasted about 500 years. Egypt conquered Libya and b. ______________
Syria. c. ______________
d. They could inherit and own property, and they could also get divorced. d. ______________
e. The biggest tombs were spectacular and they were built for the pharaohs. e. ______________
f. Its water rose and flooded the land. When the water went back, it left mud which made f. ______________
the fields fertile.

12. Answer these questions:

a. What was Memphis?

b. What polytheistic means?

c. What was a ziggurat?

d. Who could read, write and count? Which their tasks were?

e. How the human body was shown in the Egyptian painting?