Ancient Middle East and Egypt

Chapter 2

Fertile Crescent

■ Mesopotamia: “between the rivers” which are the Tigris and the Euphrates

■ 3300 B.C. the first civilization developed

■ Flooding was controlled by the people

■ Trade brought riches

Where would that be today?

Sumerian Civilization■ Ur and Uruk■ Organized government

■ City-states: independently ruled

Uruk

Sumerian Civilizations■ Sumerian religion

■ Polytheistic: worshipping many gods

■ Ziggurat: top of a temple dedicated to a god or goddess

Sumerian Civilization

■ Sumerian society■ Social hierarchy:

ruling class to slaves

■ Women held a higher social status

Sumerian Civilizations

■ Sumerians invent writing■ Cuneiform:

wedgeShaped marks

on clay tablets

Lasting Legacy of Sumer

■ Develop astronomy (constellations) and mathematics (algebra and geometry)

■ Develop the calendar

Lasting Legacy of Sumer

■ The Epic of Gilgamesh: a story of a great flood that destroys the world

Babylonians

■ Hammurabi, king of Babylon, conquered Sumer in 1790 B.C.

■ A system of law will help society become stable■ Hammurabi’s Code: 282 set of laws that govern a

state▪ Civil law: private rights and matters; protect the

powerless▪ Criminal law: encourage social order and limited

personal vengeance

Directions: Read the article provided and answer the questions below.

1. What laws come from Hammurabi’s code that still exist today?

2. If we used Hammurabi’s code today, what would our society look like?-

Conquests Bring New Empires and Ideas

■ Hittites: came into the Mesopotamia region around 1400 B.C.■ Extract iron from ore: birth of the Iron Age

■ Assyrian■ Upper Tigris: 1350 B.C.■ Feared warriors/well-ordered society■ King Assurbanipal: first library

■ Babylon■ 612 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar established a new empire■ Hanging Gardens: “seven wonders of the world”

Hanging Gardens

Near the Euphrates River

The Persians Establish a Huge Empire

■ 539 B.C., Cyrus the Great took Babylon

■ Emperor Darius I■ 522 B.C. to 486 B.C.■ Set up a bureaucracy■ Divided the empire into

provinces■ Had roads built■ System of laws■ Improved economic life: Persian

coinage■ Zoroaster: religion of Ahura

Mazda vs. Ahriman (Good vs. Evil)

Contributions of Phoenician Traders

■ Occupied along the eastern Mediterranean coast

■ Known as “carriers of civilization”: spread Middle Eastern civilization

■ Developed an alphabet system of 22 symbols that stood for consonant sounds

Kingdom of the Nile

■ Geography Helps Shape Egypt■ The Nile is the life line of Egypt

■ The Nile provided an annual flood: 1) irrigated the fields and 2) silt left to fertilize the fields and feed the livestock

■ They built dikes, reservoirs, and irrigation ditches

■ Uniting Two Regions■ Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt■ Nile Delta drains into the Mediterranean Sea■ 3100 B.C. Menes, the king of Upper Egypt united the two

regions. ■ The Nile was used as a highway

Egyptian Culture

The Old Kingdom Forms

■ 2575 B.C. – 2130 B.C.■ Egyptian kings, pharaohs, organized a strong,

centralized state■ Pharaoh was a god, but also seen as human■ Ruled by means of a bureaucracy: system of

government that includes departments■ Vizier: chief minister who looked over tax

collection, farming, and irrigation system■ 1) Pharaoh, aristocrats, nobles 2) merchants and

scribes 3) peasants and farmers■ Great Pyramids were built near Giza

▪ Homes for the afterlife

Pharaoh’s

The Turbulent Middle Kingdom

■ 1938 B.C. – 1630 B.C.■ The Nile did not rise as regularly ■ Corruption and rebellions were common■ Strong rulers did organize a large drainage

project, creating vast new stretches of farmland

■ The Regional Aristocrats lost power■ The Hyksos occupied the Nile delta region in

1700 B.C. ■ Controlled Egypt for more than a 100 years

New Kingdom Egypt grows strong

■ 1539 B.C. – 1075 B.C.■ Egypt reached its height by 1450 B.C.■ Hatshepsut: first female pharaoh around 1472 to 1458

B.C.■ Thutmose III took over■ Ramses II: ruled for 66 years and conquered Syria

■ Made peace with the Hittites■ Defeated the Nubians: rich in trade

■ 1100 B.C. saw the decline of the Egyptian Empire: the Assyrians, to the Greeks, to the Romans

Egyptian Religion

■ Inscriptions on monuments and wall paintings in tombs

■ Chief Gods and Goddesses■ Amon-Ra: the sun god■ Osiris and Isis: God of the

Underworld and goddess who taught women to cook and sew

Amon-RaOsiris Isis

How Egyptians Viewed the Afterlife

■ Proving oneself to Osiris■ Each Soul had to pass a test to win eternal life■ Relied on the Book of the Dead

■ Preparing the Dead for the Afterlife■ Mummification: the preservation of dead

bodies by embalming them and wrapping them in cloth

■ Tomb of Tutankhamen■ Howard Carter unearthed the tomb■ Huge treasure room to understand culture

Mummification

http://oi-archive.uchicago.edu/OI/MUS/ED/mummy.html

Egyptians Organize their Society

■ Most people were farmers■ Many for slaves

■ Changes to social structure■ Trading and war meant more money■ Skilled craftsman made fine jewelry, furniture, and

fabrics■ Women enjoyed higher status

■ Women could inherit property, enter business deals, buy and sell goods, go to court, and obtain a divorce

■ Women could not learn to read or write or hold government jobs

■ Women could enter the priesthood and work in businesses

Egyptians make Advance in Learning

■ Keeping Written Records■ Developed multiple writing systems■ Hieroglyphics: a system in which symbols or pictures

represent objects, concepts, or sounds■ Hieratic: cursive form of writing■ Papyrus: writing on this plant

■ Rosetta Stone■ Jean Champollion, a French scholar, deciphered the

meanings of hieroglyphics.■ Science and Mathematics

■ Developed the modern calendar■ Use of geometry because of the Nile and projects■ Far advance in the medical field

Egyptian Art

Rosetta StoneEgyptian medicine

hieroglyphics

Roots of Judaism

■ The Early Belief System■ The Israelites developed the religion about

4,000 years ago.■ The Hebrews were monotheistic: belief of one

god.■ History and faith were interconnected■ Torah: recorded events and laws

■ The Hebrew bible included 24 books■ Talmud: additional laws and customs written

down much later

The Ancient Israelites■ Abraham is considered the father of the Israelite people■ Covenant between God and Abraham

■ God had a special relationship with Abraham and his family■ Canaan was their “promised land”

■ The Kingdom of Israel■ Around 1,000 B.C. David united the 12 separate tribes of

Israel■ Solomon made Jerusalem a splendid city with a beautiful

temple■ Division and Conquest

■ In 922 B.C., Israel split into two states: Israel in the north and Judah in the south

■ The Assyrian, the Babylonians, and the Persians conquered but Cyrus the Great freed the Israelites. Those who came from Judah became known as Jews.

Judaism Teaches About Law and Morality

■ Israelite society was patriarchal: characteristic of a system of society or government controlled by men

■ The Ten Commandments as a guide■ Teaching an Ethical Worldview

■ Prophets represent teachers■ Taught ethics or moral standards of behavior:

Loving-kindness and compassion■ Maintain their beliefs

■ Judaism is considered a major world religion■ It influenced both Christianity and Islam

Judaism