River Valley Civilizations in the Ancient Near East

cuneiform

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

Theocracy

A government controlled by religious leaders

Tigris and Euphrates

Mesopotamia nestled itself between these two rivers

Hatepshut

Ruled during Egyptian New Kingdom, first female Pharaoh, conducted large trade missions to Punt

fertile crescent

The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers gave life to the first known agricultural villages in this area about 10,000 years ago and the first known cities about 5,000 years ago. Includes Mesopotamia, Palestine, and the Nile.

Sumerians

The people who dominated southern Mesopotamia through the end of the third millennium B.C.E. They were responsible for the creation of many fundamental elements of Mesopotamian culture-such as irrigation technology, cuneiform, and religious conceptions.

Neolithic

The period of the Stone Age associated with the ancient Agricultural Revolution. It follows the Paleolithic period.

Nile river

The river in which early kingdoms in Egypt were centered around.

amenhotep

Young pharaoh of Egypt who introduced monotheism (Aton - sun god

Tutankhamen

Young pharaoh whose intact burial tomb was found in 1922

pyramaid

a huge building with sloping triangle shaped sides built as royal tombs in equypt

scribe

a person who copies manuscripts and documents

polytheistism

belief in one god

Kufu

built the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Medes

defeated Persia and unified Egypt

MAAT

judges your heart in the underworld

ensi

religious and political king

Book of the Dead

scrolls that served as a guide for the afterlife in ancient Egypt

Thutmose

warrior pharaoh who expanded Egypt's borders

ziggurat

A rectangular tiered temple or terraced mound erected by the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians

Pharaoh

A ruler of ancient Egypt

Epic of Gilgamesh

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

code of Hammurabi

A collection of 282 laws which were enforced under Hammurabi's Rule in Ancient Babylon. One of the first examples of written law in the ancient civilizations.

Mesopotamia

(land between the rivers) The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; birthplace of the Sumerian and Babylonian Civilizations.

traits of civiliztion

1) advanced technology 2) complex military 3) law code

Osiris

Egyptian god of the underworld and judge of the dead

akhenaten

Egyptian pharaoh (r. 1353-1335 B.C.E.). He built a new capital at Amarna, fostered a new style of naturalistic art, and created a religious revolution by imposing worship of the sun-disk.

Anubis

God of the dead also weighed the heart