MidTerm HIST 115

Mesopotamia

"land between the two rivers"

Inanna/Ishtar

- the most important female deity in ancient Mesopotamia -goddess of love and warfare -main temple in Uruk -major character in the Epic of Gilgamesh

Enheduanna

daughter of Sargon, first female writer in history

Akkadian Empire

first ancient empire of Mesopotamia, centered in the city of Akkad.

dominance vs hegemony

force; going to have a war vs. consent

Memphis

The capital of Old Kingdom Egypt, near the head of the Nile Delta. Early rulers were interred in the nearby pyramids.

Babylon

The largest and most important city in Mesopotamia

Uruk

The largest city of ancient Mesopotamia

Sumer

The name of the civilization that existed in Southern Mesopotamia and consisted of city states; home to the first urban revolution.

Early Dynastic Period

The period that follows the Uruk period, during which southern Mesopotamia was home to a series of city states

Abydos

The site of the royal cemetery of Egypt during the First and Second Dynasties.

Mesopotamian inventions

Wheel, irrigation, cuneiform writing, farming, calendar (to know when the floods would come and when to plant and harvest crops), plow

Great Pyramid

largest pyramid built by Khufu.

Nanna

most important female deity in ancient Mesopotamia

Tomb 100

oldest known painted tomb

White Nile

one of the two rivers that merge to create the Nile; flows north out of Lake Victoria

Blue Nile

one of two rivers which merge to form the Nile; flows northeast out of Lake Tana

hieroglyphs

pictures and other written symbols that stand for ideas, things, or sounds

Cuneiform

A form of writing developed by the Sumerians using a wedge shaped stylus and clay tablets.

Natron

A type of salt used to dry out the body

Thebes

Capital city of Egypt and home of the ruling dynasties during the Middle and New Kingdoms. Amon, patron deity of Thebes, became one of the chief gods of Egypt. Monarchs were buried across the river in the Valley of the Kings.

Akkad

Capital of the Akkadian Empire

Neithhotep

First dynasty queen who was once thought to be a male ruler because she had an outstandingly large mastaba

Khasekhemwy

He united the two kingdoms of Egypt after a period of civil war and became the first pharaoh of the prosperous Third Dynasty. His adopted name means "The Two Powerful Ones Appear."

Palermo Stone

Monumental stone of the Old Kingdom recording list of years and major events in kings' reigns up until Dynasty 5 (ca 2400 BC)

Unification of Egypt

3100 BCE

Bent pyramid

3rd pyramid, built by Seneferu, first attempt at classic shape but made too steep and had to be sloped

Marduk

A Mesopotamian deity, chief god of the city of Babylon

Ziggurat

A Mesopotamian stepped pyramid. Unlike an Egyptian pyramid, a ziggurat was a solid structure of baked brick, an artificial hill at the summit of which stood a temple.

Nubia

A civilization to the south of Egypt in the Nile Valley, noted for development of an alphabetic writing system and a major iron working industry by 500 BCE

Code of Hammurabi

A collection of 282 laws. One of the first (but not THE first) examples of written law in the ancient world.

Coffin texts

A collection of ancient Egyptian funerary spells written on coffins

Pyramid Texts

A collection of ancient Egyptian religious texts, possibly the oldest religious texts in the world

Mummy

A dead body preserved in lifelike condition

Hierakonpolis

Along with Abydos, one of the two centers of Egypt during the late Predynastic period and the First Dynasty

Hammurabi

Amorite ruler of Babylon (r. 1792-1750 B.C.E.). He conquered many city-states in southern and northern Mesopotamia and is best known for a code of laws, inscribed on a black stone pillar, illustrating the principles to be used in legal cases.

Narmer Palette

An artifact discovered at the site of Hierakonpolis; its two sides show the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under King Narmer

Epic of Gilgamesh

An epic poem from Mesopotamia, and among the earliest known works of literary writing.

Karnak Temple

Cult Temple dedicated to the Gods begun by Senusret I, finished by Ramses II. Worked on by 30 Pharaohs.

Osiris

Egyptian god of the underworld and judge of the dead

Djoser

Egyptian king; hires Imhotep to build him a tomb

papyrus

Egyptian paper

Manetho

Egyptian priest and advisor who began keeping records of the ancient Egyptian kings

Ptah

God of creation

Anu

God of the sky

Shamash

God of the sun

Naram-Sin

Grandson of Sargon. Known for expanding the Akkad empire to its greatest extent.

basin irrigation

In Egypt, a system by which water and silt were controlled by embankments and time-released to irrigate farmlands

Mortuary Temple

In Egyptian architecture, a temple erected for the worship of a deceased pharaoh.

Canopic jars

Jars in which the ancient Egyptians preserved the internal organs of a deceased person usually for burial with the mummy.

Khafre

Khufu's son; builds the Sphinx and the second largest pyramid

Narmer

King who united upper and lower Egypt

ZImri-Lim

Last king of Mari, defeated by Hammurabi

Imhotep

Name of the architect who designed the Step Pyramid

Ankhtifi

Nomarch of Hierakonpolis, supporter of Pharaoh Herakleopolis

Horus

One of ancient Egypt's best known gods, as well as one of its oldest.

prehistory vs history

Prehistory - no written documents; History: written proof of history

Tigris River

River that flows across a low, flat plain in Mesopotamia and joins the Euphrates River

Euphrates River

River that flows across a low, flat plain in Mesopotamia and joins the Tigris River

nomarch

Ruler of a Nome, under the pharaoh

Buhen

Settlement to the north of 2nd cataract, fortress constructed during rule of Senusret III, lost to Nubians at the end of 5th dynasty

Khufu

Sneferu's son; builds the biggest pyramid on earth.

Enuma Elish

The Babylonian Creation Myth where the universe is created out of the carcass of a murdered god

Step Pyramid

Tomb built by Imhotep for Djoser.

Ur

Ur was a city in the region of Sumer, southern Mesopotamia

Scorpion Mace Head

Very first pharaoh known in Egypt; showing how important irrigation was.

nilometer

a an ancient device used to measure the height of the Nile water and help predict flooding

Rosetta Stone

a huge stone slab inscribed with hieroglyphics, Greek, and a later form of Egyptian that allowed historians to understand Egyptian writing.

Old Kingdom

a period in Egyptian history that lasted from about 2700 BC to 2200 BC

Obelisk

a tall, pointed, four-sided pillar in ancient Egypt

Byblos

an ancient Mediterranean seaport that was a thriving city state in Phoenicia during the second millenium BC

Sphinx

built by Khafre; egyptian statue that had the body of a lion and the head of a human; featured resembled Khafre

Vizier

chief minister who supervised the business of government in ancient Egypt

Merneith

consort and regent (wife of reigning king) in Ancient Egypt during the 1st Dynasty; only queen buried at Umm el-Qaab in Abydos

Sargon

ruler from the Akkad empire. He was known for his conquests among the Sumer city states.

Pu-abi

she was a queen of Ur whose tomb has not been looted.

Heliopolis

the Egyptian city that was the center of sun worship

Maat

the Egyptian concept of truth, justice, and cosmic order, represented by a goddess, often portrayed with a feather upon her head

mastaba

the first real tomb built that was rectangular and made out of mud brick; rich ppl were buried here

Sneferu

the greatest of the pyramid builders; built the collapsed pyramid, bent pyramid, and the red pyramid.

Red pyramid

the very first true pyramid built by Sneferu

Cuneiform

the world's first system of writing