Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt Chapter 10.1

Mesopotamia  Mesopotamia = “between the rivers”  Located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers  Est. roughly around 4500 B.C.

City States  Each city was considered to be an independent country or nation  Earliest city-states arose in an area called Sumer (est B.C.) Trivia question: What person from the Bible was from the city of UR?

Religion and Government  At the center of each city was a ziggurat  Their religion was based on Polytheism  Religious leaders were in charge of the government (Theocracy)

Sumerians  Invented the wheel and sailboat  First people to keep records and write down laws  Writing system was called Cuneiform (3500B.C)  Believed to have written the first story, Epic of Gilgamesh (2000 B.C.)

Akkad and Babylon  Sumer was taken over around 2300 by the Akkad kingdom led by King Sargon  Sargon was the first to create an empire  Akkadian empire was then taken over by Babylon around 1800BC

Akkad and Babylon  One of Babylon’s greatest kings was Hammurabi  Hammurabi put together one set of laws for the entire empire called Hammurabi’s Code

Phoenicians  Lived in current day Lebanon (1200B.C.)  Most important traders of their day  Helped to spread ideas and cultures around the known world They are known for their alphabet which led to the Greek, Hebrew, and Latin alphabet

Ancient Egypt Chapter 10.1

Egypt  Egyptian Civilization developed along the Nile River  Originally was split up into 2 kingdoms (Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt) Narmer, King of Upper Egypt, Conquered Lower Egypt and united the 2 Kingdoms

Government  Egypt’s government was a theocracy, with the Pharaoh being the leader  Pharaoh was considered a god and was the center of Egyptian Life

Religion  Egyptians believed in many gods  Re= god of the sun  Hapi= god of the Nile  Osiris= god of the harvest

Religion  Egyptians believed in the afterlife, and that the soul could not live without the body  Egyptians embalmed and mummified those who could afford it

Religion  The poor were buried in caves or in the sand  The largest tombs belonged to Pharaoh Great Pyramid of Khufu

Egyptians  Form of writing = hieroglyphics  Developed math based system on the #10  Developed geometry  First to use splints and bandages for wounds  Created clocks