Chapter 2

Ancient Middle East and Egypt

Chapter Focus:
What distinct characteristics
did the early civilizations
and empires of the Middle
East and Egypt develop?
2.1 – City-States of Ancient Sumer
Focus:
What were the characteristics of the world’s first civilization?

● Fertile Crescent*
– Stretches from
the Persian Gulf
to the
Mediterranean
Sea*
 2.1
Ancient Sumer

Mesopotamia*
“between the rivers”

– Within the Fertile

Crescent
– Between the Tigris
& Euphrates Rivers
– Location of first
civilization: Sumer*
 2.1
Sumer

Sumerian Civilization
– 12 separate city-
states
– Battle to control land
& water
– War leaders evolve
● Hereditary rule
2.1
Sumerian Civilization

● Government ● Society
– Ruler responsible – Social Hierarchy:*
● City walls system of ranking
groups
● Irrigation system ● Ruling family officials,
● Led army high priests
● Employed scribes ● Lesser priests,
● Chief servant of scribes, merchants,
gods artisans
● Led ceremonies ● Peasant farmers
● Slaves
2.1
Sumerian Civilization

● Religion
– Polytheistic: worship many gods*
– Ziggurat: large stepped platform topped by a temple
dedicated to the city’s chief god or goddess – rituals and
prayers*
– After-life*
● All live in a grim underworld with no release*
2.1
Sumerian Civilization

● Writing (3200 BC)

– Cuneiform:*
● system of writing
using wedge-shaped
marks on clay
tablets*
● Earliest known form
of writing (myths,
prayers, laws,
contracts)
2.1
Sumerian Civilization

● Legacy
– 1900 BC – Sumerian civilization replaced by other
civilizations & empires
– Conquerors adopt ideas
– Developed astronomy
● Movement of planets & stars
– Mathematics
● Number system based on 6
– 60 minute hour
– 360 degree circle
2.2 – First Empires in Mesopotamia*
Focus: How did various strong rulers unite the lands of
the Fertile Crescent into well-organized empires?

● Sargon (2300 BC)*

– Ruler of Akkad
– Conquers Sumer city-states
– First empire in history*
– Collapses after his death
2.2
First Empires in Mesopotamia

● Hammurabi (1700 BC)*

● King of Babylon
● Hammurabi’s Code*– first written law code (~300)
● Codify* – arrange and set down in writing
– “eye for an eye & a life for a life”
● Civil Law*– private rights – taxes, marriage, divorce,
property*
● Criminal Law*– offenses against others – robbery,
assault, murder*
2.2
First Empires in
Mesopotamia

● Hittites*(1400-1200 BC)
– From Asia Minor
– Skill
● how to make iron*
– Sharper,
harder, cheaper
2.2
First Empires in Mesopotamia

● Assyrians (1350 BC)

– Feared warriors
– Ordered Society
– Laws for royal household
– First libraries
– 612 BC - defeated
Assyrians
Skinning Alive
2.2
First Empires in Mesopotamia

● Babylon* (625 BC)

largest city
– King
Nebuchadnezzar*
– Rebuilt canals,
temples, walls, &
palaces
– Hanging Gardens*
Babylon
2.2
First Empires in Mesopotamia

● Persia*
– 539 BC – Conquer
Babylon
– Cyrus the Great*
● Largest empire –
Asia Minor to
India
● Policy of
tolerance to those
conquered**
2.2
Persia - Mesopotamia

● Barter Economy
– exchange a good or
service for another

● Money Economy
– Good paid for through
exchange of token
2.2
Persia - Mesopotamia

● Persian Religion*
– Zoroaster*(600 BC)
– Persian religious
thinker
● Taught of a
“single” wise god
– Ahura Mazda
● Prince of lies and
evil – Ahriman
● Final judgment
day*
2.2
First Empires in Mesopotamia

● Phoenicians*
– Occupied cities along eastern Mediterranean coast
– Manufacturing and trade
– Purple dye
– Colony* – territory settled and ruled by people from another
land
– “carriers of civilization”*
● Alphabet – each symbol represents a single basic sound
● 22 symbols
● Greeks add vowels
Phoenician Colonies
Phoenician Alphabet
2.3 – Kingdom on the Nile
Focus: How did the Nile influence the rise of the powerful civilization
of Egypt?

● Nile*
– 4,100 miles; longest
river in the world
– Northward flow
– Black Land – fertile
land (10 miles wide)
– Red Land – desert
2.3 - Egypt

● Floods
– Reservoirs (dry season)
– Irrigation
– Yearly Flood
● Floods in July
● Recedes in October
● Flood – Plant – Harvest
2.3 - Egypt

● Geography*
– Upper Egypt (South)*
● From first cataracts,
waterfall & rapids, to 100
miles from Med. Sea*

– Lower Egypt (North)*

● Delta* region – triangular
marshlands; Nile empties
into the Med. Sea*
2.3 – Egypt
Old Kingdom

● Old Kingdom
– Dynasty* – ruling family; power passes from one
ruler to another
● Pharaohs* – Egyptian kings
– Human & divine
– Absolute Power – own & rule all land
– Bureaucracy* – system of govn’t made up of
different jobs and authority levels
– Vizier* – chief minister who supervises govn’t
● Various depts. – taxes, farming, etc.
 2.3 - Egypt
Old Kingdom

● Great Pyramids**
– Necropolis* –
cemeteries
– Tombs where deceased
live for eternity
– Collapse
● Power struggles
● Crop failures
● Cost of building
pyramids
● Disunite
2.3 - Egypt
Middle Kingdom

● Turbulent period
– Nile doesn’t flood
regularly
– Corruption & rebellion
● 1700 BC
– Hyksos* take over
(100 year rule)
● Introduce horse-
drawn war chariot**
● Adopted Egyptian
culture
2.3 – Egypt
New Kingdom

● Empire reaches as far as

Syria & the Euphrates
River
● Hatshepsut (1472-1458 BC)
– first female ruler;
encouraged trade
● Thutmose III
– Hatshepsut’s stepson;
took over after becoming
an adult
● Warlike
● Stretched borders to
greatest extent*
2.3 – Egypt
New Kingdom

● Ramses II* (1279-1213 BC)

– Battles – Hittites vs.
Egyptians
– First recorded peace
treaty*
– 99 years old – 150
children
2.3 - Egypt

Decline
– After 1100 BC
– 332 BC – last
Egyptian dynasty
ended; Greeks
control
– 30 BC – Roman
armies displace
Greeks
2.4- Egypt
Focus: How did religion and learning play important roles
in ancient Egyptian civilization?

● Religion
– most important gods
are associated with
the sun and the Nile

● Amon-Re* – lord of the

Gods; gave pharaohs
right to rule & judged
their actions*
2.4 - Egypt

● Osiris*
– God of the dead;
judges the soul*
– God of the Nile;
controls the flood*
● Isis
– Daily lives of women
2.4 - Egypt

How Egyptians viewed ● Afterlife

afterlife? – Osiris judges soul
● Eater of the Dead
● Happy Field of
Food
● Book of the
Dead*
– Spells, charms,
and formulas to
survive the
underworld
journey*
 2.4 - Egypt

Mummification*
– Preservation of
body by embalming
and wrapping in
cloth (use body in
afterlife)*
 Peasants & Slaves
Merchants, Scribes, &
Artisans
Govn’t officials &
High Priests
Pharaoh
& Royal
Family
Social Hierarchy
2.4 – Egypt
 2.4 - Egypt

Social Class
– Peasants
● Off-season: build
palaces, temples, &
tombs
– Women
● Inherit property, buy
& sell goods,
divorce
● Excluded from
govn’t jobs &
becoming scribes
2.4 – Egypt
Writing

● Hieroglyphics*
– Using pictures of
symbols to
represent objects,
concepts, or
sounds*
– Record important
economic, royal, &
official historical
information
2.4 – Egypt
Writing

● Hieratic & Demotic

– Simple, cursive, script
for everyday use
● Papyrus
– Plant that grows along
the banks of the Nile*
– Paperlike writing
material
Demotic
2.4 – Egypt
Writing

Rosetta Stone*
– Passage carved on
flat, black stone in
hieroglyphics,
demotic script, and
Greek*
– Decipher meanings
of many
hieroglyphics*
2.4 – Egypt
Science & Mathematics

● Medicine
– Human body –
mummification
– Surgical operations
● Astronomy
– Calendar: 12 months of
30 days
● Mathematics
– Geometry
● Survey land
● Construction of
pyramids & temples
2.5 – Roots of Judaism
Focus: How did the worship of only one god shape
Judaism?

1. What group of people is crediting with

creating the religion of Judaism?
Israelites/Hebrews

2. Judaism is a monotheistic religion, what

does this mean?
One god – made Judaism different
2.5 - Judaism

3. There was a Jewish belief that history and

faith were connected, this lead to the
creation of what book? Describe this book:
Torah – First five books of the Hebrew Bible

4. The Israelites regard Abraham as what?

Why?
The Father of Judaism…he made a pact with
God
2.5 - Judaism

5. Define covenant:
A binding agreement
6. In Egypt the Israelites were in which social
class? Who led the Israelites out of Egypt?
They were slaves, held in bondage – freed by
Moses
7. Who united the twelve tribes of Israel?
David
2.5 - Judaism

8. What city was established as the Jewish

capital?
Jerusalem

9. Define patriarchal:
Men held the highest authority/ and made
decisions…also means relating to the father
2.5 - Judaism

10. In the Jewish faith, the Sabbath is held in

high regard. Define Sabbath:
The Sabbath is a day of rest and worship

11. What was the Diaspora? Why was this

event important?
The migration of Jewish people (Hebrews)
throughout the world, in order to escape
Babylonian captivity