Midterm Exam #1 Flashcards
V. Gordon Childe
Coined the term “Urban Revolution” as a theory for the rise and fall of civilization
Karl Wittfogel
Came up with the “Hydraulic hypothesis” as a theory for the rise and fall of civilization
Robert L. Cameiro
American anthropologist and curator of American Museum of Natural History
(Not sure if this is right cuz I had to search on Google)
James Henry Breasted
Fertile Crescent - this land so fertile that must be why we people makes stated here or smth
King Narmer (Menes)
Unified Egypt
on Narmer Palette found at Nekhen he’s shown wearing combined crown of upper and lower Egypt
Khufu
Pharoah that built the Great Pyramids
Mentuhotep II
reunifies Egypt, ending the 1st Intermediate Period
Sir Leonard Wooley
Conducted an excavation outside a sacred precinct of Ur
revealed 2,500 burials
Ea (Enki)
The “lord of sweet waters that flow under the earth”
Eridu’s patron god
Found Eridu (and civilization in general)
The Ensi
In the Uruk Period - Organization includes secular rulers
King is Ensi: “Lord of the Plowland”
Male with long hair/beard and wearing net and headband
Depicted as subduing enemies, taking prisoners
Anu
god of the sky
Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian cultures
Ra
Egyptian god of the Sun
Khafre
Built the middle pyramid with the Sphinx guarding his mortuary temple
Pepi II
Ruled for 94 years
Last Old Kingdom Pharaoh
After death, centralized authority broke down and power shifted to local monarchs
Enlil
god of wind and storms
Sumerian and Akkadian
Utnapishtim
Sumerian version of Noah in the Epic of Gilgamesh
Like if God told Noah to build the ark and then other gods were like “what the hell God we were tryna kill those noisy mfs”
so then the gods gave Utnapishtim and his wife immortality to be spent in paradise
Gilgamesh
Historic king of Uruk: part god and part human
the god Anu send Enkidu to fight him cuz he’s a bad king or whatever and they become besties
but then gilgamesh rejects the goddess Inanna and she didn’t like that so she killed Enikdu
Gilgamesh is like “OMG am I not immortal” and Enikdu is like “arterlife sucks so maybe find immortality or whatever”
Gilgamesh goes but fails every test Utnapishtim gives him and just has to accept he’ll die
Prince Meskalamdug
“don’t die ugly” king ;))
his tomb was boujee
rlly big with golden stuff - his extra ass doesn’t just have his name on the items but his title of king too
Buried wearing a golden helmet, ears and hair depicted in gold and even a sheet-metal mask covering his face
other graves in the tomb had musical instruments, boat models and games (i wanna be him so bad)
Jean-Francois Champollion
Deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphic writing using Rosetta Stone
Menkaure
Built the last and smallest pyramid using red granite
maybe because quality>quantity
Queen Puabi
Also has a rlly boujee tomb like prince Meskalamdug but hers has a crazy amount of human sacrifices
stone burial at the bottom of a deep shaft (ahaha) in a stone vault
her body is on a wooden bier, cloak of lapis, gold and carnelian beads, queen even got her wig and gold bands
oki so she has 3 attendants with her and then a death pit of men, female attendants and oxen also wearing gold and silver jewelry - don’t wanna be surrounded by uglies ig
dunno how they died
Sargon
means legitimate ruler
son of priestess in temple of Ishtar or so they say - son in secret and let him adrift in reed basket on Euphrates (ouuu sounds familiar)
baby found and raised in court and became ruler of his people
ruler of Akkad and Sumer
established capital at Akkad near modern day Baghdad place is known for its statuary and harbor
builds empire by attacking neighbors lol
expansion makes akkadian language lingua franca of Near East for 2000 years
reigns for 50 years
Naram-Sin
Grandson of Sargon
He says he’s a divine being “king of 4 quarters and king of the universe too sure why not”
undermines competing authority of temple institutions
unsure if he had authority over larger city states
appointed governors/administrators of conquered city-states responsible for implementing policy, tax collection, maintaining order and ensuring loyalty to empire
irrigation in city-states intensified
empire was short lived - collapsed after he died
King Ur-Nammu
After fall of Akkadian empire he established Ur dynasty
warrior king CRUSHED ruler of Lagash and earned title King of Sumer and Akkad
built large ziggurats
wrote earliest law codes
turned Ur into important port for Indian Ocean trade: copper from Oman, gold from india, traded wool and textiles
my king became a pacifist and established influence with diplomacy and religion (men after a breakup)
King Djoser
constructed the 1st pyramid at Saqqara on west bank of the Nile
pyramid is 6 step surrounded by several buildings and shrines all inside a stone wall enclosure
built entirely of stone
1st major stone building in antiquity
Ruled 2687-2668 BC
King Shulgi
Ur-Nammu’s son
he made the Ur capital of extensive empire
standardized admin by appointing governors and regulating tax/tribute payments
pretty good king give him 5 big booms
Sneferu
(Snofru) built first true smooth-sided pyramid (took 3 tries)
Nabonidus
Last king of Babylon
Excavated temple of Ur to better understand Sumerian culture
Rebuilt temple - had to be excavated to be restored
Understanding history using materials
Collections were displayed by his daughter
established early forms of museums
Osiris
Egyptian god of associated with afterlife, resurrection and fertility
The Hyksos
Originated in present-day Syria and Palestine
Gained political control of Lower Egypt, establishing capital at Avaris
respected Egyptian traditions adopting titles, customs, religious beliefs of Pharaohs
introduced innovations like bronze tech, advanced weaponry and horse drawn chariot to Egypt
their rule connected Egypt with global economy making cultural and trade exchanges
Mesopotamia
“land between the 2 rivers”
Tis the alluvial plain between Tigris and Eupharates rivers
Culture area: shared cultural elements such as social practices, architectural and art style and ways of life
White Temple & Anu Ziggurat
Original pyramid structure is Anu Ziggurat - Sumerian
White Temple built on top
Choga Mami Site
The 1st evidence for large-scale canal irrigation
the scale implies organize labour and the presence of a rlly good culture with good social structure (I’m not gonna be extra and use big words)
Buto
ancient city in Egypt’s Nile Delta
ritual objects, astronomical observatory
Tell el’Ouelli
Earliest known site in southern Mesopotamia
dates to Ubaid 0 (~6000 BC)
Nippur
One of the longest-lived Mesopotamian site
religious center of Mesopotamia
The Urban Revolution
The emergence of full-time specialists who lived in cities were supported by food from hinterlands
Economic specialization of workforce = steady pressure to intensify food production = invention of new tech
Class based society less reliant on kinship and unified by religious ideology
Hydraulic Hypothesis
Irrigation led to the development of central authority
Living in dry river valleys means the formation of organized groups to manage irrigation
authority becomes despotic
Fertile Crescent
The fertility of the Nile and Euphrates floodplains was a primary factor in the rise of states in these valleys
Cemetery of City of Ur
Most are simple pit graves - deceased are wrapped in mats/placed in wooden coffins - burials of everyday people
16 “royal” burials - lavish grave goods, brick/stone chambers - presence of human burial
Ur-Nammu OR Shulgi’s Law Code
Divides society into 2 groups: free and slaves (damn)
written in 1st person (king): voice of justice for all
monetary fines to compensate for bodily injury and capital punishment for burder, bobbery, badultery and bape (punishment graded by class)
basis of later law codes include Hammurabi (Babylonian king 300 years later)
Eridu
is considered 1 of the 1st urban settlements in human history
according to Sumerian creation story it was the 1st city rising from the primordial sea
patron god was Enki and apparently Enki found her too
the 1st of 5 cities where kings ruled before the “Great Flood”
Giza Plateau
Archaeological site in Egypt that includes the Great Pyramid and other monuments
part of necropolis of anient Memphis
Uruk
Ancient city in Near East located east of current bed of Euphrates River
Nekhen
Site in Egypt
center of the cult of a falcon deity
Sumer
A civilization in Mesopotamia :|
Ancient sumerians thought to be ancestors of the Marsh Arabs
Akkad
Another Mesopotamian civilization
Saqqara
The sweeping necropolis and pyramid field of Memphis
home to nation’s oldest pyramid: The Step Pyramid of Djoser
This (Abydos)
Burial place of Egypt’s 1st kings and later the primary cult place of god Osiris ruler of land of the dead
Memphis
capital of egypt during Old Kingdom and remained religious and administrative center throughout Egyptian history
The Grand Tour
Rich white people would travel ancient monuments for finishing school and would sometimes bring stuff home
sometimes paid to loot the sites and stuff
Tholoi
Round dome shaped buildings
Shabtis
Common funerary item found in tombs of Ancient Egypt
servants of the underworld
Rosetta Stone
A stone stela inscribed with 3 versions of a decree issues in 196 BCE during the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt
Ziggurat
built by kings as part of temple complexes
built as artificial mountains to elevate priests toward heaven
core is mud brick and exterior covered with baked brick
built in series of steps up to flat platform
often landscaped with trees and shrubs
means rising building
Kings List
Sumerian King List
Ancient clay tablet that lists kings, cities and length of their regns
Papyrus
thick paper - girl its not that special tf
The Red Pyramid
made by sneferu during Old Kingdom of Egypt
3rd pyramid attributed to him
final resting place of pharaoh sneferu
Egyptian Faience
glazed ceramic used to make a variety of objects
Cult of the Falcon Deity (temple)
falcon shrine is a religious complec in Egypt’s eastern desert
for horus
Mastabas
type of ancient tomb
rectangle structure and inward sloping sides
made of mudbrick/limestone
Hieratic/Demotic
Hieratic: cursive form of hieroglyphics used for writing with reed brushes
Demotic: developed from hieratic script used for business and literary purpose
Battle of Kadesh
conflict between egyptians and Hitties in 1274 BC
neither side one decisively
Treaty of Kadesh
Signed in 1258 to end war “battle of kadesh”
world’s 1st peace treaty
Shaduf & Saquiya
both ancient water lifting devices
Shaduf: hand operated device
seesaw
Egypt and India
Saquiya: Mechanical device uses animal to power
also known as persian wheel, tablia, rehat
Bullae
clay/bitumen seals used to mark documents/goods
Northern Plain of Mesopotamia
Foothills of the Taurus (OMG THATS MY SIGN) and Zagros mountains - enough rain in winter to grow crops without irrigation
Southern Plain of Mesopotamia
AKA Akkad and Sumer
Flat alluvial that requires irrigation to grow crops - little rainfall
