1, Early Civilizations and Religion Flashcards
365-day calendar
created by the ancient Egyptians, this system of measuring yearly time is still used today
Egyptian Book of the Dead
the principal religious text of the ancient Egyptians; their chief god was Ra, the sun god
periods of ancient Egypt
- Early Dynastic Era (3,100-2,575 BC): basic social and political features take shape
- Old Kingdom (2,575-2,134 BC): features continue to shape, and the major pyramids are built
- First Intermediate Period (2,134-2,040 BC): a time of political disorder
- Middle Kingdom (2,020-1,640 BC): the more powerful and culturally dynamic middle kingdom rules
- Second Intermediate Period (1,640-1,532 BC): invaders from the south known as Hyksos rule Egypt
- New Kingdom (1,532-1,070 BC): Egyptians rebel against Hyksos rule and reform their empire
By 900 BC, after the collapse of the New Kingdom, most of Egypt had lost it’s independence.
Assyrians
an extremely powerful warrior group who between 911 BC and 612 BC formed a large empire in Mesopotamia, which also included parts of the Middle East and Egypt
Hittites
nomads from nearby Anatolia who in the 1300s and 1200s BC came to rule much of Mesopotamia; skilled at chariot warfare, they are also notable for being among the first groups to make systematic use of iron weapons
base-60 number system
a counting system developed by the ancient Mesopotamians that is still used today
Warring States period
the period from 480-221 BC at the end of the Zhou Dynasty that was plagued by internal collapse and civil war
two important aspects of early Chinese culture
ancestor veneration (worship of ancestral spirits) and divination (fortune-telling)
Stone Age
a period that lasted roughly from 2.5 million years ago until 5,000 to 6,000 years ago; it is generally subdivided into the Paleolithic Age (2.5 million BC - 12,000 BC), the Mesolithic Age (12,000 BC - 8,000 BC), and the Neolithic Age (8,000 BC - 5,000 BC)
Nubia
a civilization located to the south of Egypt along the Nile River that was settled around 3,000 BC; Egypt conquered the Nubian kingdom of Kush around 1,500 BC
Trojan War
a war depicted in a Homeric epic that was more likely conflict between Mycenaean civilization and Troy, a rival trading city (unrelated to any princess)
Dark Ages
a time from 1,150-800 following Mycenaean civilization during which Greek culture formed; the Dark Ages themselves were actually culturally very poor
monarchy
the most common form of government in ancient civilization
prison labor
common to most societies, this involved back-breaking tasks such as rowing in galleys, clearing forests, building roads, or working on large construction or architectural projects
Abu Simbel
a complex constructed by Egypt’s Rameses 2 to celebrate the victory in battle
