Passwords Social Studies Vocabulary

Ancient Civilizations

What is an epic? Is it bad if a tyrant takes over a country?

What does an astronomer do? Passwords: Social Studies

Vocabulary will help you learn the words you need to do well in

social studies. The lessons in this book are about social studies topics

you will be studying.

Every lesson focuses on ten words that will help you

understand the topic. The lessons include a reading selection

that uses all ten vocabulary words. Four practice activities follow

the reading selection. Using each vocabulary word many times

will help you remember the word and its meaning. A writing

activity ends the lesson. You will use the vocabulary words you

have learned to write a comparison, a narrative, an informational

article, or a description.

If you need help with a vocabulary word as you do the

activities, use the Glossary at the back of the book. The Glossary

defi nes each word and shows you the correct way to pronounce

the word. It also has pictures to help you understand the meaning

of difficult words.

As you work on the lessons, you may learn other words besides

the vocabulary words. Keep track of those other words in My Social

Studies Vocabulary on pages 94–98.

Turn to pages 99 and 100 to learn about roots, prefixes,

and suffixes. Find out how they can help you understand

social studies words.

To the Student

ISBN 978-0-7609-4496-7©2008—Curriculum Associates, Inc.

North Billerica, MA 01862No part of this book may be reproduced by any means

without written permission from the publisher.All Rights Reserved. Printed in USA.15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Table of Contents

Lesson 1: The Old Stone Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Lesson 2: The Ice Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Lesson 3: Early Farmers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Lesson 4: Mesopotamia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Lesson 5: The Sumerians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Lesson 6: The Assyrians and Chaldeans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Lesson 7: Egypt’s Old Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Lesson 8: The Egyptian Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Lesson 9: The Kingdom of Kush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Lesson 10: The Ancient Hebrews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Lesson 11: Ancient India. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Lesson 12: Ancient China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Lesson 13: Ancient Greece. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Lesson 14: Ancient Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Lesson 15: Legacies of Greece and Rome. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

My Social Studies Vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Root Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Prefi xes and Suffi xes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Soon after Sumer arose in Mesopotamia, another great civilization was

born in Egypt. Read this selection to learn about the people who settled

along the Nile River.

Egypt’s Old Kingdom

The Mighty Nile

The Nile is the world’s longest river. The Nile begins in the

mountains and marshes of central Africa. As it fl ows toward the sea,

the Nile falls over several cataracts. A cataract is a large waterfall.

At its mouth, the Nile forms a delta. A delta is the place where a large

river splits into smaller rivers. The soil in

a delta is rich and good for farming.

Around 8,000 years ago, hunter-

gatherers settled along the Nile River.

They came from Africa and Asia. The

Nile valley was green and fertile. These

people built villages and farmed the

land. They became the fi rst Egyptians.

Most fi rst Egyptians lived along

the river.

The land of ancient Egypt

protected the people from outside

invaders. On either side of the

Nile are burning deserts. The

delta and the cataracts protected

the Egyptians from river attack.

40 Egypt’s Old Kingdom

LESSON

7cataract dynasty hieroglyphics deity pyramid

delta pharaoh papyrus tomb mummy

Mediterranean Sea

Red Sea

LOWEREGYPT

UPPEREGYPT

Nile River

First Cataract

Nubian Desert

Libyan Desert

Arabian Desert

SecondCataract

ThirdCataract

FourthCataract

FifthCataract

Ancient Egypt

Two Kingdoms

At fi rst, Egypt was made up of two kingdoms. These were

Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. About 3100 B.C., the two kingdoms

united. The fi rst ruler of united Egypt started a dynasty. A dynasty

is a series of rulers from the same family. The all-powerful ruler of

Egypt was called a pharaoh. Egyptians thought the pharaoh was

a god.

Life in the Old Kingdom

Egyptian dynasties are grouped in three periods: Old, Middle,

and New Kingdoms. During the Old Kingdom, Egyptian civilization

grew strong. The Egyptians created a system of writing, using small

pictures, called hieroglyphics. Hieroglyphics were carved in stone.

Egyptians also wrote on paper made from a marsh reed plant called

papyrus.

The ancient Egyptians believed in many deities. A deity is a god.

Each deity controlled a force of nature. One Egyptian deity was the

pharaoh. Egyptians believed he was related to Ra, the sun god.

Egyptians also believed in life after death, the afterlife. They

thought it was important to protect the pharaoh’s body

after his death. That way, he could continue to look

after Egypt. So they built a great tomb, or burial place,

for each pharaoh.

The pharaoh’s tomb was a pyramid. A pyramid

was a huge stone building, with a square base and a

pointed top. Deep inside the tomb lay the pharaoh’s

mummy, or preserved body. Mummies were buried

with things they would need in the afterlife.

Egypt’s Old Kingdom 41

Go to page 96 to list other words you have learned about Egypt’s Old Kingdom.

My Social Studies Vocabulary

Tutankhamen, Egyptian pharaoh, was

the 12th ruler of the 18th dynasty.

Pyramids took many years to build.

A. Match each word with its meaning. Write the letter of the correct meaning on the line in front of each word.

1. delta

2. dynasty

3. pharaoh

4. hieroglyphics

5. papyrus

6. deity

7. cataract

8. tomb

9. pyramid

10. mummy

42 Egypt’s Old Kingdom

cataract dynasty hieroglyphics deity pyramid

delta pharaoh papyrus tomb mummy

a. a reed plant used to make paper

b. a burial place

c. a god

d. the all-powerful ruler of Egypt

e. a preserved body

f. the place where a river divides into

smaller rivers

g. a large waterfall

h. a huge stone building, with a square

base and a pointed top

i. a series of rulers from the same family

j. the Egyptians’ system of writing,

using small pictures

Egypt’s Old Kingdom 43

B. Choose and write the two words that best complete each sentence.

dynasty pharaoh deity mummy

1. The Egyptians preserved the body of their ruler,

the , as a .

dynasty deity cataract pyramid

2. Egyptians believed each ruler of a was a

.

pyramid hieroglyphics mummy tomb

3. A huge building with a pointed top, called a , was

the pharaoh’s .

tomb delta hieroglyphics papyrus

4. On paper made from a reed called , Egyptians wrote

their , or writing system.

papyrus hieroglyphics cataract delta

5. Upriver, the Nile has more than one violent , while

at its mouth it forms a .

cataract dynasty hieroglyphics deity pyramid

delta pharaoh papyrus tomb mummy

ROOT

The word papyrus comes from the Latin word

papyrus, which means “the paper plant.”

W

ORD

44 Egypt’s Old Kingdom

C. Write the vocabulary word that best completes each pair of sentences.

1. Ancient Egyptians believed their pharaoh was a .

Each Egyptian controlled a force of nature.

2. The pharaoh’s was placed deep inside a pyramid.

A body was made into a to preserve it.

3. A pyramid was a for a pharaoh.

Each pharaoh had his own , or burial place.

4. A large waterfall, known as a , can prevent large

boats from traveling down a river.

Can you fi nd the location of each , or waterfall,

on the map?

5. The soil in a is good for farming.

A river splits into smaller rivers at a .

6. The fi rst ruler of a united Egypt created a .

A is a series of rulers from the same family.

7. A huge stone building, with a square base and a pointed top, is called a

.

Not many modern buildings are built in the shape of a

.

8. The all-powerful ruler of Egypt was called a .

Egyptians believed their was related to the sun god.

9. Egyptians wrote on a paper made from .

A reed plant called grew in wet areas.

10. The Egyptians created a system of writing called .

Writing called used small pictures.

cataract dynasty hieroglyphics deity pyramid

delta pharaoh papyrus tomb mummy

D. Use each pair of words in a sentence.

1. mummy, pharaoh

2. delta, cataract

3. papyrus, pyramid

4. hieroglyphics, tomb

5. deity, dynasty

Write!Write your response to the prompt on a separate sheet of paper.Use as many vocabulary words as you can in your writing.

Imagine you went to the Egyptian section of a big museum. Write a postcard describing what you saw there.

Egypt’s Old Kingdom 45

cataract dynasty hieroglyphics deity pyramid

delta pharaoh papyrus tomb mummy