S1 - The First Civilization Terms to Know

Question 1

Civilization

Answer 1

an advanced state of human society containing highly developed forms of government, culture, industry, and common social norms

Question 2

Changes from Foraging

Answer 2

• agricultural-based society
• domestication of animals
• social hierarchy
• religion
• role of women
• irrigation systems
• government
• writing
• technological and cultural acheivements

Question 3

Social Classes

Answer 3

Mesopotamia:
* During times of crisis, chief priests/military leaders would temporarily have authority
* Then kingship took over →established patriarchal hereditary dynasties
* Handed kingship to their sons
* Elites
* Priests
* Merchants
* Peasants
* Slaves - used for physical labor (a source of power and influence)

Question 4

Gender Role Differences

Answer 4

Mesopotamia:
* Although most landowners were male, may women had the right to own their own land + businesses
* Some women could receive and inheritance in the form of a dowry
* This was controlled by their husbands

Question 5

Irrigation Systems

Answer 5

• Mesopotamia was part of the Fertile Crescent - where agriculture was 1st developed
• Tigris + Euphrates rivers (flooding) were unpredictable
• Northern Mesopotamia: had a lot of rainfall; terrain offered protection
• Southern Mesopotamia: dry land; built irrigation systems (less successful); terrain was open to invaders
• In 5000 BCE, farmers brought knowledge of crop-raising to Sumer. They developed large-scale irrigation which allowed the population to grow
• Uruk was developed in 3800 BC and seen as the 1st city
• The city states of Sumer relied on irrigation systems that required cooperation

Question 6

Pictographs

Answer 6

a pictorial symbol for a word or phrase. Pictographs were used as the earliest known form of writing, examples having been discovered in Egypt and Mesopotamia from before 3000 BC

Question 7

Cuneiform

Answer 7

• Sumerian form of writing →cuneiform
• each sign represented an idea
• scribal schools made to teach this complex language

Question 8

Hammurabi’s Code

Answer 8

• Laws of Hammurabi were strict and different from today, but were some of the earliest written laws
  
  • Very severe laws
  • Furthered social structures

Question 9

Pharaoh

Answer 9

The Pharaoh was at the top of the social ladder. He was the king, but treated as a god.
He had all power; got buried with many belongings for afterlife.

Question 10

Hieroglyphics

Answer 10

sacred Egyptian writing

Question 11

Symbolic Writing - uses

Answer 11

• became the formal writing system
• used for other things such as documenting history, laws, and people
• education

Question 12

Bronze Age

Answer 12

Hyskos settled near Nile and adapted Egyptian culture
in turn, they contributed bronzemaking which became standard in egyptian weaponry
collapse of the bronze age
egypt fought w hitties and experienced raids and lootings from sea ppl
combined w a drought, it collapsed the hittie empire and fragmented egyp
new tech -> iron

Question 13

Iron Age

Answer 13

began in 110 BCE
-when iron became the most important material for tools and weapons
-iron weapons were importanttraded goods around the Mediterranean and Tigris and Euphrates valleys
during this time, Egypt begans to decline and new poers emerge that produce and export iron

Question 14

Polytheism

Answer 14

the belief in more than one god

Question 15

Monotheism

Answer 15

the belief in one God

Question 16

Hebrews

Answer 16

any member of an ancient northern Semitic people that were the ancestors of the Jews

Question 17

Yahweh

Answer 17

name for the God of the Israelites

Question 18

Covenant

Answer 18

formal promises that were made under oath