1. Chapter 2 Ancient Middle East and Egypt
3200 B.C B.C.

2. Fertile Crescent
From Persian Gulf to the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea
Mesopotamia= between two rivers
Tigris and Euphrates Rivers flow from modern day Turkey into Iraq
Catastrophic floods occurred in ancient Sumer
The Epic of Gilgamesh
Villagers had to work together to protect themselves and their farmland from the violent flooding

3. Building Cities Lack natural resources like timber and stone
Made houses and other structures out of clay bricks
Merchants traveled far to sell their wares
Sumerians may have been the first people to use wheeled vehicles

4. Sumerian Civilization Takes Shape
12 separate city-states
Rule by war leaders/hereditary rule
In charge of public works, warfare, enforced laws, employed scribes, chief servant of the gods
Hierarchy- system of ranking
Upper class- ruling family, leading officials, and high priests
Middle class- lesser priests, scribes, merchants and artisans
Lower class- peasants farmers and slaves

5. What were women’s roles in Sumerian society?
What was the Sumerian view of the afterlife?

6. Section 2 Invaders, Traders, and Empire Builders
The Fertile Crescent was a very appealing place for nomadic peoples and ambitious warriors
Some came through Mesopotamia to pillage and some to settle

7. Sargon and the Akkadians
Ruler of Akkad 2300 B.C.
Invaded city-states of Sumer
Built first known empire
Only lasted until his death

8. Hammurabi and Babylon 1790 B.C. King of Babylon
Brought much of Mesopotamia under his empire
Code of Hammurabi
Law code
Codify- arrange and set down into writing
Most enduring legacy

9. Types of Law Civil Law Deals with private rights and matters
Business contracts
Property inheritance
Taxes
Marriage
Divorce
A Husband had legal authority over his wife, and a legal duty to support her
A Father had unlimited authority over his children

10. Criminal Law Offenses against others Robbery Assault Murder
“eye for an eye”

11. Other Accomplishments of Hammurabi
Public works such as irrigation, well-trained army, temple repairs
Unified his empire through religion
Marduk became the chief god of Babylon over all other Sumerian gods

12. Hittites 1400 B.C. Secret of ironworking
Empire collapsed around 1400 B.C.
Ironworking spread
Refine the horse-drawn chariot p. 39

13. Assyrians
1350 B.C. started their empire, 1100 B.C. spread across Mesopotamia
Feared warriors
City of Nineveh- world’s first library
King Assurbanipal
Collected cuneiform tablets from all over the Fertile Crescent

14. Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon
Revived Babylon
Stretched from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf
Hanging Gardens
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

15. Persians Babylon fell to Cyrus the Great
Asia minor to India- Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Afghanistan and Pakistan
Policy of tolerance
Darius I
Satraps and satrapy
Single law code
Traveled all over his empire
Produced common weights and measures
Barter economy vs. money economy

16. Zoroaster 600 B.C Rejected old Persian gods
One god, Ahura Mazda, ruled the world
He was in constant struggle with Ahriman, the prince of lies and evil
It was your job to decide with side to support
Zoroaster taught that in the end Ahura Mazda would win, and their would be a final judgment day

17. Phoenicians Sailors and traders
String of cities along the eastern Mediterranean coast in modern day Lebanon and Syria
Some farming, but mostly relied manufacturing and trade
Set up colonies in North Africa, Sicily, and Spain
Some made it as far as Britain
“Carriers of civilization”
Alphabet
22 symbols that stood for a consonant sound
Greeks added vowel sounds and symbols
This is where we get the words you are reading right now

18. Section 3 Kingdom on the Nile
Geography
Nile- longest river in the world. Flows from south to north
Surrounded by dessert
Yearly flooding
Channeled water for the dry season
Upper Egypt- South
Lower Egypt- North
Cataract- waterfall
Delta- Triangular area of marshland
River used for trade and as a unifying force

19. Old Kingdom 2575 B.C.- 2130 B.C. Pharaohs- Egyptians kings/gods
Strong centralized state
Bureaucracy- a system of gov’t that includes different job functions and levels of authority
Vizier- chief minister
Ptah-hotep
Vizier 2450 B.C.
Wrote Instructions of the Vizier Ptah-hotep

20. Great Pyramids are Built!
Necropolis=cemeteries
Take out your packet and read about the building of the pyramids!!

21. Middle Kingdom 1938 B.C.- 1630 B.C. Turbulent period
Power struggles, crop failures, debt
Nile not as predictable
Took over Nubia
More contact with peoples of the Middle East and Crete
About 1700 B.C. Hyksos invaded
Read Hyksos and Horses

22. New Kingdom 1539 B.C.- 1075 B.C. Age of conquest Hatshepsut
Thutmose III
Ramses II
Ruled 66 years
Built many monuments to himself
Fought with the Hittites- first signed peace treaty

23. Decline 1100 B.C. Invaded by Assyrians and Persians
332 B.C. Greeks took over
30 B.C. Rome took it from the Greeks

38. Section 4 Egyptian Civilization

39. Religion Chief gods and goddesses Sun god Old Kingdom called Re
Middle Kingdom called Amon-Re
Pharaohs received their right to rule directly from Amon-Re

40. Osiris and Isis Osiris God of the Dead and the Nile River
Isis was ideal female and wife of Osiris

41. Akhenaton In 1380 B.C., Amenhotep IV challenged the priests of Amon-Re
He worshipped only Aton, a minor god
Many did not following him
Changes did not last beyond his lifetime

42. Egyptian Views of the Afterlife
Pass a test to win eternal life
Osiris would judge the weight of your heart against that of a feather
If your heart was heavier then you would be fed to the Eater of the Dead
If your heart did not out-weight the feather then you could enter the Happy Field of Food
Book of the Dead was there as your guide

43. Mummification
Egyptians believed that the afterlife would be much like life on Earth
Buried the dead with everything they needed for eternity
Mummification was used to preserve the body
Just for rulers and nobles, but eventually ordinary Egyptians were mummified, including pets

44. Egyptian Society Mostly farmers and slaves
In the off-season men were expected to serve the pharaoh
Women would tend to the children and household

45. Changes Social classes more fluid because of warfare and trade
Women enjoyed a higher status
Inherit property
Enter business deals
Buy and sell goods
Got to court
Obtain a divorce

46. Advances in Learning Hieroglyphics Hieratic Demotic p. 54 in textbook
Rosetta Stone
Knew about the human body b/c of mummification
Modern-day calendar
Geometry

47. Arts and Literature
Gods and pharaohs always larger than other figures in art
Stiff standard poses
Not life-like
Literature included hymns, prayers, proverbs, and love poems
The Tale of Sinuhe

48. Section 5 The Roots of Judaism

49. Unique Belief System Monotheistic
Torah- first 5 books of the Bible plus more
Talmud- laws and customs
Moses
David
Solomon
Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Captivity

50. Law and Morality Society was patriarchal Women had few legal rights
Ten Commandments
Prophets
Strong code of ethics

51. Diaspora Means to spread out Kept their traditions and ways of life
Greatly influenced Christianity and Islam