RELG 201 Final Flashcards
Nile River
overflows each year which causes floods, but the floods as they allowed the crops to grow–the Egyptians did not have to irrigate as much as the Mesopotamians
Hapi
Egyptian god of the Nile and of fertility
Generally referred to as the River God, depicted as half male half female
Held the Ankh
Ankh
The key of life
8 original gods
Hok and Hoket, Kuk and Kuket, Nun and Nunet, Amun and Amunet
Horus
Son of Osiris and Isis who will fight his evil uncle Seth to avenge his father. He was declared the new ruler of the living, and left Seth to rule the deserts as the god of evil and chaos.
Eye of Horus
Pshent crown
combination of the crowns of Upper Egypt and of Lower Egypt
Old Kingdom
pyramids were only built for royal people, it ended when there were two pharaohs which lessened their power
Djoser
pharoah who first built a mastaba, then turned it into a steppe pyramid, then kept making it bigger
Snefru
Under his reign, Egypt became very powerful, wealthy
He built three pyramids, with no inscriptions inside
Pyramids of Giza
belonged to Snefru’s sons
Khufu
Snefru’s son, cruel and unjust pharaoh unlike his father
His pyramid is one of the 7 Wonders of the World
Two cases of miraculous birth
Since kings were no longer considered gods on earth, they created a legend that they were the sons of Ra to justify their rule
Hatchepsuut made up a legend that she was the daughter of Amon to justify being regent
Pepi II
Ruled at the end of the 6th dynasty, part of the first intermediate period
He was supposed to be the head of the army but he was too old (died at 96)
Many problems after him, the 6th dynasty fell and pharaohs lost power
Mentuhotep II
5th king of the 11th dynasty
Reunited Egypt, but it took him about 30 years, had to fight a lot to control everything
Assyrians were the first to put together these three factors to create an empire
1) Systematic and permanent occupation of the conquered territories
2) Permanent presence of soldiers
3) Division of the territory into provinces governed by Assyrian high officials
Assur
Assyrian patron deity of the city of Assur (capital for one thousand years)
Assyrian religion was based on the worship of this one supreme god. The process of turning to henotheism, pushing aside the other gods in favour of this one, represented the expansionist policies of the Assyrian empire
Shamash (Assyria)
still mentioned, still has temples, but he is not as important
Adad
Assyrian god of thunder, rain, and lightening (which was very important in this climate because rain was rare)
He held lightening bolts, the thunder was supposed to be the sound of his voice. His symbol was the bull
He was respected and feared. His cult was particularly developed among those of the Assyrians
Nabu
son of Marduk, god of Wisdom
Ishtar
Goddess of war, not so much love anymore
Second most important god in Assyria, did not really get that overshadowed by Assur unlike the rest of them
She was relied upon for divination and oracles
Assurnasirpal II
On the order of Assur, he attacked nearby cities and brutally murdered the citizens + burned down their shit
This is because Assur asked him to spread the frontiers of the empire
Assurbanipal
Greatest Assyrian king with a huge personal library, found many texts
Good fighter in the first part of his reign but in the second he was more peaceful and wrote more texts. The Assyrians loved him and hated him because he wasn’t defending the borders well enough
etemmu
demons
Pazuzu
demon associated with miscarriages because she attacked babies and pregnant women
Zimri-Lim
King of Mari, close to King Hammurabi –> they called themselves brothers
Eventually Hammurabi broke their alliance and destroyed his land
Maqlû
“Burning” –> Babylonian (written in Akkadian) incantation text with directions for a long, anti-witchcraft incantation. Performed in the month of Abu (July-August) when spirits were moving and people were especially vulnerable to their spells
Nebuchadnezzar I
During his reign, the superiority and the absolute theological pre-eminence of Marduk were recognized in Mesopotamia
Enuma Elish
used to justify Marduk’s takeover as the head of the pantheon (took it from Enlil)
Nebuchadnezzar II
Presented himself as a righteous/just king
He used Marduk and his power as creator of the universe to justify his conquests, as well as the domination by the Babylonians over many other peoples.
He used propaganda: wouldn’t admit to being cruel, said he was “liberating” the people he was conquering, said he was created by Marduk for this purpose
Nabonidus
Last king of Babylon, played a role along with Cyrus the Great in the fall of Babylon
Said he didn’t want to be king and was placed their by Marduk (don’t know if this was true or propaganda)
He worshipped Marduk in the first years of his reign but wasn’t as devoted. He tried really hard to be accepted by the priest of Marduk. The priest may have had an issue with him because he wasn’t part of the royal family and was originally a supporter of Sin (his mother was his high priestess)
He may have tried to replace Marduk with Sin but that would have been impossible. He preferred Sin, then Shamash, then Ishtar
Nabonidus Cylinder–> depicts Marduk asking Nabonidus to rebuilt Sin’s temple
Fled to Tema because of problems with the priest –> cancellation of the Babylonian New Year festival
Unas
last pharaoh of the 5th dynasty, first to use pyramid texts and began the tradition of covering the coffin and tomb in inscriptions
Sargon II
Responsible for the destruction of the kingdom of Israel, deported 10 of the 12 tribes
Son Sennacherib, whose face was erased (not generally a good sign)
