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1. Egypt Mesopotamia

2. Civilization Certain political, social, economic, and technological phenomena are indicators of civilization. 1. Cities that served as administrative centers. 2. A political system based on territory rather than kinship. 3. Specialization of labor and a significant number of people engaged in non-food producing activities. 4. Class divisions and a substantial increase in the accumulation of wealth. 5. Monumental building. (Building monuments) 6. A system for keeping permanent records (writing) 7. Long distance trade 8. Major advances in science and the arts.
3. River Valley Civilizations The earliest societies in which the previous features are apparent developed in the flood plains of great rivers in Asia and Africa. 1. The Tigris and Euphrates (Mesopotamia) 2. The Indus (India/ Pakistan) 3. The Yellow (Huang He) (China) 4. The Nile (Egypt)
4. The Nile The stability of the Egyptian civilization was due largely to the Nile River. The Nile is the worlds longest river. It has two major sources: The White Nile flowing from Lake Victoria in Uganda and The Blue Nile flowing from Lake Tara in Ethiopia. The Nile served as a two-way transportation highway. The current flows north while the wind blows south. The Nile valley has virtually no rainfall of its own but the valley is very fertile farmland due to the annual floods of the Nile River.
5. The Nile Continued…. With the floods came silt, and with the combination of fertile soil and ready water could produce three to four times what rain-fed fields could produce. The Nile flooded at nearly the same time every year allowing farmers to know when to plant. In a normal year, the fields along the Nile produced a large surplus of grain that was gathered up and used to sustain rulers, palaces, and great building projects. The Egyptians invented the nilometer, stone steps that measured the water level of the Nile. The Hyksos invented a wooden device called the shadoof to lift water from the river for irrigation of crops. This is still used today.
6. Egyptian Creation Myth Egyptian Gods: Ra: The sun god; father of Osiris, Isis, and Seth. Osiris: god of the underworld; First ruler of Egypt. Isis: Wife of Osiris; put Osiris back together after he was cut into pieces by Seth; Mother of Horus. Seth: Brother of Osiris, overthrows his brother. Seth was believed to be the source of disharmony and disorder in the world. Horus: Son of Osiris and Isis. Believed to be the protector of the earthly kings and Pharaohs. Thoth: god of wisdom. This family of gods was a composite one made from different cults in Egypt. The Egyptian culture and nation was also a composite one made from the fertile Nile delta region in northern Egypt and the Nile River valley in southern Egypt. Each area had its distinct gods and crowns that were incorporated together when Egypt was unified in 3100 B.C.
7. Egyptian Isolation Egypt’s geography helped to keep it isolated throughout much of its early history. Deserts surround the Nile valley. In the south, the country was bounded by cataracts (waterfalls), five in all, that made travel upstream difficult. Beyond the cataracts was Nubia. The climate here was harsher than in Egypt and agriculture never developed fully. The more successful Egyptian kingdoms controlled Nubia and exploited its rawmaterials—gold, copper, etc.—as well as exotic animals (giraffes, leopards, and ostriches). The most vulnerable part of Egypt was the northeast, from where potential invasion routes led across the desert from Palestine at the Isthmus of Suez.
8. Unification of Egypt 3100 B.C. An Egyptian king named Narmer or Menes, finally achieved unification of Egypt. Narmer/Menes came from upper (southern) Egypt and conquered lower Egypt (north). Menes was the first king of Egypt to wear the Double Crown. This crown visually showed the uniting of upper and lower Egypt. Upper Egypt was represented by the WhiteCrown and lower Egypt was represented by the RedCrown. These two separate crowns were fused into one that the new kings would wear. Soon after unification, a new capital was established at Memphis, strategically at the mid point between the Delta and the valley.
9. Egyptian Dynasties Menes was the first to call himself “pharaoh.” Pharaoh means “Great House”; Pharaohs were autocratic rulers meaning that they were absolute rulers, they alone made the laws. The pharaoh was forbidden to marry outside his immediate family (did not want the divine blood to be contaminated). The king was so honored that he could not be mentioned by name but had to be referred to as “pharaoh.” Divine kingship was the cornerstone of Egyptian life.
10. Dynasties…. Egyptian history is divided into a list of 31 dynasties. This list was compiled by an Egyptian priest named Mantheo (Ptolemy II ordered this 280 B.C.). The list begins with Narmer and ends with arrival of Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. The first dynasties reestablished the myth that the king was the direct heir of the sun god Ra. Ra had impregnated the ruling queen then the herald of the gods appeared to tell her that she was to give birth to the son of Ra. From the earliest dynasties it was believed that at the death of a king, his divinely created spirit, the ka, would leave his body and then ascend to heaven where it would accompany his father, Ra. If the king was to reach his destination safely, certain things had to be done.
11. Dynasties The body of the king had to be preserved, its name recorded on the tomb, and the ka had to be provided with all it needed in the afterlife. It could not survive without nourishment. All Egyptians believed that they had a ka as well and tried to do as much as they could to ensure their afterlife as well. The bodies of the early kings were buried deep in the ground. However, the deeper a body was buried, the more likely it was to decay. The process of embalming, mummification, was developed in order to preserve the body of the king. By the New Kingdom, the art of mummification was to have developed into a complex ritual.
12. Mummification Soon after death the brains and internal organs of the body were removed. The heart was left in place. The organs and the entire body were packed with natron, a salt-like mineral, which absorbed the fluids of the body. The body was left to dry out for 40 days. After the forty days, the body was repacked with linen and sawdust so that its shape was retained. The other organs were packed separately in four canopic jars each with the head of a different animal on top. The body was then bound in cloth and the face had a funerarymask placed on it. If it were a king, the mask would be of gold. This mask was to help the ka recognize the body of the king on the occasions it returned to the tomb. If the mummy was a royal one, it would be placed in three coffins; the first would be gold, the two others were of gilded and inlaid wood. The mummy and coffins were then placed in a sarcophagus. The whole process from death to burial was to take place within seventy days.
13. Mummification Thewealthyelite had their tombs stocked with tables, beds, chairs, and even chariots and boats. The deceased hoped that they would be accepted by Osiris as worthy of life in the FieldofReeds, a lush fertile land somewhere beyond the western horizon. The life they would lead there would be a more carefree version of the life they had already endured. Osiris presided over the trial which decided the deceased future in the afterlife. The ritual was formalized in the Book of the Dead. A copy of this book was always left in the tomb. There were forty-two judges before whom the dead had to plead their case. High standards were expected and covered every area of moral behavior. The man had to prove that he had not killed, stolen, committed adultery, insulted the king, trespassed, or harmed a neighbor’s land. At the end of the trial, the man’s heart, the seat of emotions and intellect, was weighed against a feather. If it was too heavily weighed by sin and the scale tilted downwards the heart was devoured by a monstrous animal. If not, the way was open to the Field of Reeds.
14. Egyptian Government The survivalofthe “divineking” rested on his being able to keep order in the kingdom. Bureaucracies were created to help the king run the kingdom. Heading the bureaucracy was the vizier. His job was to oversee the maintenance of law and order and all building operations. There were a host of other officials as well that oversaw all aspects of the kingdom. Taxes were collected “in kind” (goods not money) and then stored in granaries before being rationed out to support building projects and the feeding of the laborers.
15. The building of the Pyramids Around 2650 B.C. an architectural revolution occurred. It began with the tomb of Third Dynasty King Djoser. One of Djoser’s advisors, Imhotep, had been entrusted with the supervision of the building of the royal tomb. This tomb started as an above ground tomb but was extended and built upon so that eventually a stepped pyramid of six layers emerged. The step pyramid continued to inspire reverence for centuries.
16. Pyramids continued…. At the beginning of the Old Kingdom, the building of the Great Pyramids began. Snefru (2575-2551 B.C.) was the first ruler of the 4th Dynasty. He created the first true pyramid. Most of the pharaohs built one pyramid, Snefru built five, two of which are famous. The Bent Pyramid: The sides angle in about half-way up because its initial gradient (slope) was too steep. Its outer casing is the best preserved. The Red Pyramid: It is famous for its reddish limestone and it is the first pyramid in the smooth style. This pyramid entombed Snefru.
17. Pyramids continued… The largest pyramid is the Great Pyramid of Khufu, son of Snefru. Kufu was a tyrant during his reign. He shut down all temples so that the people could focus their efforts on building his pyramid. Some stories say that he even prostituted his own daughter to help pay for the pyramid. 2,500,000 limestone blocks each of which weighs 2 ½ tons were hauled into position. The stones of the three pyramids of Giza could enclose France in a wall nearly 10 feet tall! Each side of the Great Pyramid of Khufu is 754 ½ feet long and aligned perfectly to the north. It is so large that five major European cathedrals, including St. Peters in Rome and St. Pauls in London could easily fit inside together. No slaves worked on the Great Pyramid. Farmers as well other average Egyptians worked on the structure.
18. Pyramids The building of the pyramids needed great technical skills but relatively little technology. The site was important because the rock had to be firm enough to sustain the massive weight of the building yet close enough to water for the stone to be brought in during the annual floods. The most probable building method was by the use of ramps. Recent experiments have proven that a workforce of 25,000 could have completed the Great Pyramid in twenty years.
19. Pyramids…. All burial grounds were located on the west bank of the Nile since it was in the west that the sun set, beginning the nightly journey that the ka had to make. The Egyptians provided Giza with a permanent guardian, the Great Sphinx. King Khafre ordered the construction of the colossal creature. It is 75 ft. tall and 150 ft. long. Its body is that of a lion. Damages: Its nose was hacked off in the 15th century by Muslim zealots. Napoleon’s soldiers peppered its head with musket fire. Huge shoulder chunks fell out in 1988.
20. The Old Kingdom The last 100 years of the Old Kingdom were ones of weak government and social unrest that led to revolution. Some of the many reasons for the fall of the Old Kingdom were: 1. Over taxation 2. Ambitions of local leaders. Some nobles continued to want more and more power. 3. Growth of individualism. Pride in self. 4. Democratization of the afterlife. Every Egyptian believing that they would move on just like the pharaoh. Civil war ended the Old Kingdom.
21. The Middle Kingdom The Middle Kingdom 2050 B.C. – 1800 B.C. After a long struggle, the rulers of Thebes won over their enemies and united Egypt again under their rule. Strong pharaohs brought stability to the kingdom. The capital was moved to Thebes from Memphis. The new dynasty seized territory and enlarged the kingdom. The new kings also encouraged trade with outsiders.
22. The Middle Kingdom Ends The decline of the Middle Kingdom was gradual. Kings with short reigns slowly began losing their grip on the borders of Egypt. Around 1795 B.C., invaders who are known as the Hyksos (Greek for “foreign kings”), gained control of lower Egypt to Memphis. The Egyptians called the Hyksos barbarians but the Hyksos brought technology with them that the Egyptians adopted like the harnessed horse, new forms of armor, bronze swords and spears, the chariot, as well as weaving on upright looms. Musically they brought the lyres (harp) and the lute (flute). The Hyksos were driven out of Egypt in about 1550B.C. by king Ahmose I. He takes the title of pharaoh and rules Egypt peacefully. This started a period of 500 years in which Egypt was stable and prosperous called the New Kingdom.
23. Imperial Egypt The rulers of the New Kingdom became warrior kings and built an empire that reached into Asia to the Euphrates River. The borders of Egypt were also extended farther south. Ahmose I successor was Amenhotep I who ruled for twenty years. His successor was his niece, Hatshepsut. Initially she served as coregent, ruling Egypt until the rightful heir could grow up. She soon took absolute power for herself. Shewore a fake beard and had statues made depicting herself as male. She ruled for over twenty years. Some historians single her out as history’s first noteworthy woman.
24. Imperial Egypt In 1352 B.C., a change in the Egyptian religious structure was attempted. The new king was named Amenhotep IV (He is also called the Heretic Pharaoh). He changed his name to Akhenaten and encouraged the Egyptians to begin worshiping Aten, the sun in its physical form, only. Aten could not be appeased by magical incantations or sacrifice. He demanded that followers lead an ethical life and earn salvation through penitence for past transgressions.
25. Imperial Egypt This Shift from polytheism to monotheism was a huge leap for the people to make. Many temples were closed down and their goods were confiscated. The economic structure of the state was upset as lands were transferred directly to the king. Religious festivals were ended as well. The new religion did not catch on as there was no incentive for common Egyptians to change their beliefs. When Akhenaten died in 1336 B.C., his successor, the boy king Tutankhamen, changed the religion back to the traditional polytheistic one before he died around age 19 from a cerebral hemorrhage. To reward him, his priests ensured that his tomb, sarcophagus, and coffins were the richest Egypt had ever seen. King Tut’s tombwasdiscovered in 1922 by the British archaeologist Howard Carter.
26. The Late Period The final decline of Egypt’s power set in during this period. The treasury had been drained by building projects and by the army. Hungry workers had to resort to strikes to get their wages in grain. The central government weakened and the kingdom split up once again into small states. New invaders: The Ethiopians entered Egypt in 730 B.C. but are subsequently defeated by the Assyrians. In 525 B.C. the Persians conquered Egypt and held it until 341 B.C.
27. Post Dynastic Periods The Persians ruled Egypt until 332 B.C. when they were defeated by AlexanderTheGreat. After his death, one of his generals, Ptolemy, proclaimed himself pharaoh. The Ptolemaic Period lasted from 332 B.C. until 30 B.C. The Ptolemy's introduced Greek ideas and manners into Egypt. The city of Alexandria became the new capital of Egypt. The Ptolemaic line ended with Cleopatra VII. Egypt was proclaimed a province of Rome in 30 B.C. and remained part of the Roman then Byzantine Empire until 640 A.D. when it fell to the Arabs.
28. Life in Ancient Egypt At the height of its glory, Egypt was home to some 8 million persons. Most of them lived in the Nile Valley and its delta. Egyptian society was divided into classes with the majority at the bottom supporting the privileged few. Ambitious people could improve their status somewhat.
29. Egypt’s Social Pyramid
30. Status of Women Women had exceptionally favorable status in Egypt. They were highly respected and enjoyed more freedom and rights than anywhere else. Pharaohs always boasted how they made the country so peaceful that a woman could go safely wherever she pleased. Egyptian women were excluded from formal education even though all land was in the woman’s name.
31. Egyptian Writing The Egyptians had three types of writing styles: Hieroglyphics, Hieratic, and Demotic. Running a large government produced the need for a class of scribes who could keep written records and teach others to write. Egyptian writing did not employ an alphabet. It had pictures to stand for things and ideas. These symbols originally stood for the actual item to be written. As time went on, certain pictures stood for syllables and could be used to make up different words.
32. Hieroglyphics Hieroglyphics is a Greek word meaning “Holy Carvings.” They are not quite as old as cuneiform. There are 750 picture symbols that may represent letters or sounds and combined together form a written language. Egyptian hieroglyphics were undecipherable once the last priest who knew how to read them died. Hieratic and Demotic are both a type of short hand.
33. The Rosetta Stone For thousands of years hieroglyphics were a mystery. In 1822, French linguist Jean Francois Champollion deciphered the Rosetta Stone. This stone, carved in 196 B.C., has three sections of writing: Greek, hieroglyphics, and hieratic. Champollion found that the Greek writing corresponded to the hieroglyphic portions and thus the code was cracked.

34. Mesopotamia

35. Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a Greek word meaning “land between the rivers.” Thetworivers that run through Mesopotamia are the Tigris River (1200 miles long) on the eastern side and the Euphrates River (1700 miles long) on the western side. This lush river valley was part of the “Fertile Crescent” where many civilizations developed. The lack of natural barriers opened Mesopotamia to invaders
36. Mesopotamia Around 3000 B.C., a collection of city-states banded together to form the Sumerian civilization. Some city-states had populations from 20,000 to 25,000. City-states shared language, culture and religion. The chief Sumerian city-state was called Ur.City-States were governed independently and usually had a military leader. Kings ruled some city-states and served as both military and religious leaders. The Sumerians were the first civilization to record their history. They were also a “hydraulic society” meaning that they used irrigation to aid in plant growth. Elaborate canal systems were built to help channel floods and to irrigate fields.
37. Sumerian Religion Sumerian religion was polytheistic. An was the god of the seasons. Enlil was the god of winds and agriculture. Gods were unpredictable and selfish. Floods and disasters happened because the gods were angry. Sacrifices were made to appease the gods. Religious activities centered around the ziggurat. Ziggurats were temples made of sun dried mud bricks. There were steps that led to a shrine on top. Only priests and priestesses could enter the shrine. They were dedicated to the chief god of each city-state.
38. Roles of Men and Women Men: Were the head of the household. They could easily divorce then sell their wife or children into slavery. Women:Were able to buy and sell property as well as own their own business and sell their own slaves.
39. Writing On Clay Cuneiform: Wedge shaped writing is the oldest form of writing in the world. Shapes are made by pressing a sharp reed into wet clay tablets. The tablets dried in the sun. They mostly record business transactions that occurred in the city-states.
40. The Epic of Gilgamesh The Epic of Gilgamesh may be the oldest recorded story in the world. In the story, Gilgameshis a god-like man who performs heroic deeds. There is a part of the story that talks about a devastating flood very similar to the flood described in the Bible. Many modern day experts believe that thestory may have been originally based on an actual king of the city-state of Uruk.
41. Sumerian Inventions Some of the important inventions that the Sumerians developed include the wheel,the arch, the potter’s wheel, the sun dial, the twelve month calendar and bronze.
42. Empires of Mesopotamia The Akkadians come from the Arabian Peninsula and conquer Sumeria in the 2300’s B.C. SargonI was the leader of the Akkadians. He came to power in 2300 B.C. and his army leveled the city of Uruk. He united all Mesopotamian city-states into one empire. This was the first empire known to history. His successors lacked the skill and force to hold this empire together.
43. Empires of Mesopotamia The Amorites, also known as Babylonians, came from the north and overran Mesopotamia In 2000 B.C. They built the city of Babylon. Hammurabi was the 6th king of Babylon. Under his rule, Babylon became a major trading center. Hammurabi’s greatest achievement was creating and writing down 282 laws for his whole kingdom such as: Eye for an eye Buyer beware These laws were inscribed on huge pillars in the public squares.
44. Religion They believed in astrology. They felt that the movement of the stars affected ones life. They also adopted the Sumerian religion which was vague regarding an afterlife it did not promise the individual immortality after death. His empire fell to the Hittites, from Asia Minor, in 1600 B.C. The Hittites ruled Mesopotamia until 1225 B.C. They were the first people to use iron on a large scale.
45. Religion In 1225 B.C., the Assyrians, a tribe from northern Mesopotamia, conquered the Hittites and take Babylon. The Assyrians were extremely brutal warriors and showed little mercy to those they conquered. They would routinely scatter the peoples they conquered throughout the kingdom to help suppress potential revolts. At the height of their power, Sennacherib was their ruler (705-681 B.C.). He was famous for his brutality as well as founding the city of Nineveh. Nineveh was seven and a half square miles in circumference; had several zoos, orchards, as well as good libraries. The city had aqueducts to supply its water needs.