FIRST CIVILIZATIONS:
AFRICA AND ASIA
CHAPTER TWO
Ancient Kingdom of the Nile
Egyptians eagerly awaited the ______________ floods,
which soaked the land with life-giving water and deposited a layer of rich ___________, or fertile soil.
Ancient Egypt cooperated to control the floods by
building __________ and irrigation ditches to store water for the ___________ season.
Ancient Egypt had two distinct regions, ___________ Egypt
in the south and Lower Egypt in the __________.
Upper Egypt stretched from the _____________ or
waterfalls, to Lower Egypt which covers the ____________ region, or the triangular area of marshland as the Nile empties in the _____________________.
About 3100B.C, __________, the king of Upper Egypt
united the two regions, using the Nile as a _________ making Egypt the world’s first unified _____.
The Old Kingdom
Ancient Egypt is divided into __________ main periods: ___________ Kingdom – 2700B.C. to 2200B.C ( Pyramids ) ______________ Kingdom – 2050 B.C. to 1800 B.C.
____________ Kingdom – 1550 B.C. to 1100 B.C.
Power passed from one _____________, or ruling family, to
Strong Government
Old Kingdom
During the Old Kingdom, Egyptians rulers called __________ organized
strong, centralized state. ( _______/absolute rule, gods).
Pharaohs depended on a _______, or chief minister, to supervise the
business of government. (under the vizier : tax, farming, scribes)
One wise vizier, ________________, wrote a book : Instructions of Ptah-hotep to help train his son and other young officials.
During the Old Kingdom, the Egyptians built the majestic ___________
(tombs for eternity) that still stand in ________, Egypt.
The Middle Kingdom
After a century of disunity, new pharaohs reunited the land for its
most ___________ period. Why ?
- No Floods:- Pyramids - Foreign Invaders:
The New Kingdom
During the ________ Kingdom, powerful and ____________ pharaohs
created a _________ empire.
- Hatshepsut: 1503-1482 B.C, _______ Pharaoh, trade with Med and Red. - _________ II: 1290-1224 B.C, most powerful, pushed rule northward to
Syria. Reported great victories against the ____________ - did it happen?
Section II: Egyptian
Civilization
Egyptian Religion
In Egypt, pharaohs are viewed as gods. The chief god of the
Egyptians was the _____ god, _______-____.
____________ : god of the underworld, and god of the ______ River. _____: appealed to women, god of clothing, corn grinding,
children.
About 1380 B.C, pharaoh ________________ devoted his life to
worship Aton, a minor god (sun’s disk = symbol). One god idea !
Gods promised the faithful that they would have life after
_______.
Belief in an Afterlife
Egyptians believed that each soul must pass a test in order to
win eternal life. They relied on the Book of the ________ in the afterlife.
They believed that the afterlife was much like life on
____________.
As a result, they _______ the dead with everything they would
need.
To give a soul use of its body in the afterlife, Egyptians
perfected skills in ______________, the preservation of the dead.
Many pharaohs were buried, tombs filled with fantastic riches,
in the desolate Valley of the __________. King Tutankhamen “Tut” (18)
Egyptian Society
Like other early civilizations, Egypt had
fairly rigid ________.
_____________: god and earthly leader (god
on earth)
High Priests and Priestesses: served the
________.
________: Wealthy and fought the
pharaoh’s _____.
Next, a tiny class of merchants,
___________, and artisans.
Farmers and _____________: Most people
were in this class, when they were not farming or harvesting they served the pharaoh.
_____________: Debt or conquered in war –
serve the pharaoh.
Egyptian ___________ generally enjoyed a
higher status and greater
Egyptian Learning
Egyptian Priests and scribes used a form of
pictures writing called ___________________,
to keep important records.
The earliest versions were pictograms that
depicted objects. Then they added
_____________, symbolizing an idea or
action.
Over time, scribes developed _________, a
simpler form for everyday use and learned
to make paper like materials from
__________.
The Egyptians, using trial and error,
accumulated a vast store of knowledge in
fields of:
Medicine Astronomy
___________________ Painting
Sculpture
First Civilizations: Africa and
Asia
Geography of the Fertile
Crescent
The region known as the Fertile Crescent became
a ____________ where people and ideas met and
mingled. (Turbulent history of the region – new
people)
Mesopotamia, which means “ between the
_________” in Greek, is defined by the __________
and Euphrates Rivers that flow from Asia Minor to
the _________ Gulf.
For ____________ civilizations, the fertile lands
attracted farmers and enabled them to produce
___________ food needed to support growing
populations. (control rivers)
Around 3200B.C. the first cities emerged in the
____________ parts of Mesopotamia.
With limited natural __________ and building
materials, sun-dried clay ________ became the
building blocks of the Sumerian river valley cities.
Trade brought riches to these cities. Traders would
________ the rivers or take the first _________
Sumerian Civilization
As rival city-states battled over land and resources, people turned
to _______ leaders for protection. These leaders evolved into _________ rulers.
These rulers were seen as chief servants of the _______ and
responsible for - _______
Each Sumerian city-state had a distinct social ______________ or
system of ranks.
Highest Class - ruling family, leading officials, and high ___________. Middle Class - lower priests, scribes, _____________ and artisans. Majority of People - farmers or ___________: worked the land of the
king or temple.
Lowest Class - ___________ : most were captured in war.
Sumerian Religion
Like most ancient peoples, they were _____________ and worshipped
many gods who were thought to control every aspect of life, especially forces of ___________.
To Sumerians, their _______ duty was to keep these divine beings
happy. (ordinary)
Each city-state built a ___________ or pyramid-temple with a shrine
of the cities chief god or goddess soaring to the heavens. (prayed, sacrifices, holy days)
Like the Egyptians, the Sumerians believed in an ______________. Underworld – “place where they live on dust, food is mud, and they
Advances in Learning
By 3200 B.C., the Sumerians had
invented what may be the earliest
known form of writing, later called
____________, from the Latin word
meaning “wedge”.
The writing was developed by
_____ for record keeping and
involved using a reed pen to make
wedge-shaped _________________ or
marks on clay tablets.
Sumerian scholars made great
Invaders, Traders, and Empire
Builders
Invasion and ___________ were prominent in the
history of the ancient Middle East.
About 2300B.C, ___________, the ruler of the
neighboring Akkad, invaded and conquered the
city-state of Sumer
By about 1790 B.C, Hammurabi, king of
___________, brought much of Mesopotamia under
his control - ________ of Hammurabi (laws, 300 in
stone)
First important attempt by a ruler to _______or
arrange in writing, the laws of a state. “Cause
justice to prevail. Destroy the wicked and evil.
That the strong may not oppress the weak.”
One section of the code, codified ____________
laws, which deal with offenses against others.
( ________, ________ ) – principle of “an eye for an
eye.”
Another part involved __________ laws. This deals
Warfare and the Spread of Ideas
The Hittites of Asia Minor pushed into Mesopotamia about 1400B.C. with
tools and weapons made of ______________, ushering in a new age. ( ______________ Age ) How?
By 1100B.C, the __________________, who lived on the upper Tigris began to
expand across Mesopotamia becoming among the most feared __________________ in history (iron)
King __________________ founded one of the first _____________at Nineveh.
(cuneiform)
In 612B.C, neighboring people joined forces to crush the Assyrian armies. King ______________________, revived the power of Babylon (Persian to Med /
hanging gardens)
The Persian Empire
The thick walls of Babylon could not hold back the _____________ armies and in
539B.C. they fell to _________ the Great. (Asia minor to India – Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Pakistan)
In general, Persian kings had a policy of __________, or acceptance of the
conquered.
The real unification of the Persian Empire happened under Emperor
____________.
He divided his empire into ____________, each headed by a governor called a
________
Like Hammurabi, Darius had a single code of laws for his empire and the
conquered.
He also established a common set of weights and measures to improve
___________, and encouraged the use of _________ (Lydian's of Asia Minor ), but most continued to be part of the _________ economy, exchanging one good or service for another. (money economy)
Zoroaster, the Persian thinker (600B.C.) taught of a single wise god, Ahura
________.
This god struggled against Ahriman, the prince of ___________ and lies. (each
must choose)
On the Judgment day each person is judged for their __________:
Phoenician Sea Traders
Many small city-states made their own
contributions to civilizations, for example,
the Phoenicians or the “carriers of
civilization” have gained fame as _________
and traders from the eastern
Mediterranean (glass, purple dye, paper
scrolls)
To promote trade, they set up __________ or
settlements ruled by people from another
land.
The Phoenicians developed our
_____________ or letters that represent
spoken sounds.