Chapter 1 Flashcards
Types of Societies
Hunters and Gathering
Horticulture
Pastoral
Agriculture
Occupying at least 90 percent of human history
Hunters and Gathering
A Belief that all objects whether animate or inanimate such as animals, trees and rocks, possess an impersonal supernatural power
Animatism
Simple gardening, supplementary to hunting and gathering
Horticulture
The domestication of animals in a semi-nomadic lifestyle
Pastoral
Societies whose economies are based on producing and maintaining crops and farmland
Agriculture
Coined Money
Specie
By 3000 B.C. the Sumerians had established 12 independent city-states in southern Mesopotamia, in a region called the
Fertile Crescent
Sumerian cities significantly recurring problem, that of the spread of disease
Contaminated Water
Never really developed
a system for waste disposal
Devastating floods
Sophisticated irrigation system
Necessitated the creation of a centralized government
The need to organize workers for construction and maintenance of the canals
Compare and Contrast
Compare- All Egyptian/Sumerian life centered around religion
Compare- Each saw their kings or pharos as gods
Contrast- Egyptians gods were far more benevolent and helpful to humans, Sumerians gods unleashed deadly floods and wars on humans for irrational reason
Kings’ supreme responsibility was to
Ensure Justice
Main structure in every city was the temple to the gods called a
Ziggurats
Constant raiding which could conclude with no virtual extermination of the losing side
Bronze Age
3 main reasons of slavery
Prisoners of war
Voluntarily selling themselves (escape starvation or satisfy debts)
Born a slave
In 3500 BC the Sumerians invented a form of writing called
Cuneiform
Worship of more than one God
Polytheistic
The more important the god
The more power over humans
Sumerians built the ziggurats
to pacify the gods thus avoiding divine punishment
Sumerians greatest contribution to Western civilization
Invention of a written language
Creates the first recorded empire in Western Civilization
Sargon the Great
The Assyrians major impact on Western Civilization
The development of long-distance trade
The Babylonians major impact on Western Civilization
Established written laws known to people
Its Western and Eastern boarders are protected by the desert was also a course of tremendous wealth
Large Deposits of Metal ores
Around 1600 BC the Ganaantes invented
Alphabet
The river produced left, that enriched the sail and diluted harmful mineral salts
Silt deposit
A crucial crop, secured Egypt’s diplomatic relationships with other countries, and contributed to economic stability
Wheat
Around 3000 BC the Egyptians developed their own form of writing called
Hieroglyphics
Egyptians clearly illustrates how the Egyptians valued
Order and Predictability
Menes made his royal capital
Memphis
Great pyramids were built
-they were not built by slave labor but by
Free Egyptians laborers
The capital city of the middle kingdom
Thebes
The Hyksos brought several items that significantly influenced the Egyptians in the New kingdom period
-Bronze Making Technology
-Humpback Cattle
-Composite Bow
-Horse Drawn Chariot
Second Intermediate Period
Hyksos
Especially noted for abandoning traditional Egyptian polytheism
Akhenaten
Regarded as the greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh of the New Kingdom/Egyptian Empire
Ramesses II (the great)
Ancient World’s Largest Chariot Battle
Battle of Kadesh
The Ptolemy made their royal capital at
Alexandria
