Ancient Civilizations:Egypt and Mesopotamia

Egypt• Geography

• 550 miles long, 15 miles on both sides of Nile

• Nile floods once a year leaving rich soil

• Early Government• Needed to control

flooding and for irrigation

• Build dams, reservoirs, and canals

• Eventually formed two kingdoms

• Upper and Lower Egypt

• 3100 BC Menes united the two

• He was first Pharaoh

Egyptian Life• Absolute Monarchy/

Theocracy• Pharaoh was the gods’

representative on Earth• Made laws, built canals and public

buildings, set taxes, • Assisted by nobles and priests in a

bureaucracy

• Class System• Nobles, Priests

• Lower classes • Peasants and slaves• Could not participate in government

• Religion• Polytheistic • Preserved bodies with

mummification• Pharaohs in Pyramids

Contributions of Egypt• Architecture and Engineering

• Pyramids, temples with columns

• Art• Cheerful and colorful frescoes,

huge statues, gold jewelry, pottery

• Hieroglyphic writing• Began as pictographs• First “paper” called papyrus• Translated with Rosetta stone

which has Hieroglyphic and Greek writing on it

• Science• 365 day year• Set bones, prescribed drugs,

understood much about the body because of mummification

Mesopotamia

• The “land between the rivers”• Also known as the Fertile Crescent• Located between the Tigris and

Euphrates Rivers

People of Mesopotamia

• Sumerians• Organization

• Independent city-states around 3500 BC

• ruled by a king• often warred with each other

• Contributions• Cuneiform writing

• Used a reed stylus on clay to make wedge shaped symbols

• System of numbers based on 60

• We use this today with telling time

• Architecture• Sumerians built pyramid like

temples called Ziggurats

Babylonians• King Hammurabi Took over Sumer

around 1900 BC became Babylonian Empire

• Contributions:• Code of Hammurabi

• One of the earliest written law codes• “Eye for an eye” punishment• Lower class/women punished more

severely than upper class/ men (unequal)

• Astronomy• Believed stars affected their lives BUT

learned to predict eclipses and recognize planets

• Religious literature• Epic of Gilgamesh: one of the earliest

creation stories• Describes creation of man and woman

and building an ark before a great flood

Hebrews• History

• 1400 BC Semitic speaking people from Arabian Desert settled in Palestine

• Driven out of their land by Assyrians, exiled to Babylon (Persians later allowed them back to Palestine)

• Moses led them out of slavery in Egypt, received Ten Commandments from God

• Jewish Diaspora, driven from their homeland in exile• Contributions

• Monotheism• Old Testament• High moral principles

• Ten Commandments• “what is hateful unto thee do not do unto others”

• Covenant of Abraham• “father” of Judaism• Made a covenant (agreement) with God

• Hebrew will worship no other God• Hebrews are God’s chosen people

Phoenicians

• 1200 BC, Semitic Speaking people from North of Palestine

• Skilled shipbuilders and navigators• Traded throughout Mediterranean

and to Europe and Africa

• Contributions• “Missionaries of Civilization”

• Brought Mediterranean culture and products to less advanced regions

• Traded Purple Dye made from crushed snail shells

• Alphabet• Based on sound with 22 letters;

Phonetic Alphabet• Eventually becomes the alphabet

we use

Assyrians

• 800 BC, Semitic Speaking People from Northern Mesopotamia

• First to have iron weapons• siege towers, and battering

rams• Used terror and cruelty• Took over from Tigris to

Egypt

• Contributions• Library at Nineveh

• Remains of documents have given us much information about ancient Middle East

• Military roads to move troops quickly