Ancient Near East

The Judgment of the Dead was a trial of the deceased before a tribunal of ________________judges assembled upon the shore of the lake. They decided whether the dead would be taken back in dishonor, or allowed to pass.

forty-two

The leader of the revolt against the Medes was Cyrus, the tributary king of the _______________. He soon built up a bigger empire than any Oriental monarch had before him.

Persians

King Hiram's fleets served as transports and convoys to the expeditions of the Persian monarchs aiming at conquest in Asia Minor or in Europe. It was the __________________sailors under the orders of Pharaoh Necho who circumnavigated Africa two thousand years before Magellan.

Phoenician

King Hiram of Tyre furnished Solomon with artisans and great rafts of timber from Lebanon for building the splendid temple at Jerusalem. The ___________________ also provided timber from their forests for the construction of the great palaces and temples of the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and the Egyptians.

Phoenicians

The Hyksos of Egypt are important because these Asiatic conquerors were one of the mediums through which Egyptian civilization was transmitted to the ________________. Through their wide commercial relations, they spread the same among all the early nations of the Mediterranean area. They also gave Egypt a strong centralized government.

Phoenicians

The ______________________ were a Canaanite group (1150 to 750 B.C.E.) who lived among independent city-states such as Tyre, Byblos, and Sidon on the coast of modern-day Lebanon and are known for their alphabet, commerce, and colonization efforts.

Phoenicians

The Accadians brought with them into the valley the art of ___________________ writing, which later developed into the well-known cuneiform system.

hieroglyphic

One of the most important inventions in Mesopotamian society, the_____________________which greatly improved transportation, work, and life in general, came between 3500 and 3000 B.C.E.

Wheel

The Rosetta stone holds an inscription, written in ______________, demotic, and Greek characters. Champollion, a French scholar, compared the characters of the words Ptolemy, Alexander, and other names and discovered the value of several of the hieroglyphic symbols. By doing this, he opened the vast libraries of Egyptian learning to us.

hieroglyphic

The Assyrians were a Semitic speaking people who developed the use of _________ weapons to establish an empire by 700 BC.

iron

Large scale ___________________ made the expansion of agriculture possible in Mesopotamia and the resulting food surpluses provided the material base for the emergence of civilization.

irrigation

Tradition depicts Hammurabi as receiving the law from Shamash, the god of ______________. The content of Hammurabi's law is based on previous Sumerian laws.

justice

In order to remember important events before the development of writing, history was passed from generation to generation in oral traditions known as ___________________ .

legends

It is said that Nebuchadnezzar II fell victim to a mental disease called ________________________ in which the patient fancies himself a beast, rejects clothing and ordinary food, and even (as in this case) the shelter of a roof.

lycanthropy

Nebuchadnezzar II's wife, Amytis, tired of the monotony of the Babylonian plains, longed for the mountain scenery of her native Media. The gardens were probably built to simulate the appearance of a ________________ rising in cultivated terraces towards the sky.

mountain

Hebrew history begins with the departure of _____________ out of Ur of the Chaldees around 2000 BC.

Abraham

In the cuneiform system brought by Accadians, the characters, instead of being formed of unbroken lines, are composed of wedge-like marks. _________________ was known as The City of Books, owing to its huge clay-tablet libraries.

Accad

Within the Tigris-Euphrates basin, three great empires--the Chaldaean, the Assyrian, and the Babylonian--successively rose to prominence and dominion. The original inhabitants were conjecturally of Turanian race, and are called ______________.

Accadians

British archaeologist _________________ believed that the legendary kingdom of King Minos was real and he used the clues in myths and legends to find it.

Arthur Evans

Some ________________ tribes sought new homes on the plateau of Iran. The tribes that settled in the south became known as the Persians; while those that took possession of the mountain regions of the northwest were called the Medes.

Aryan

For a long time, __________________ was simply a province or dependency of the lower kingdom; but around 1300 BC, the Assyrian monarch Tiglathi-nin conquered Babylonia. From this time on to the fall of Nineveh in 606 BC, the monarchs of this land virtually controlled the affairs of Western Asia.

Assyria

Known for their cruelty and brutality toward any opposition, the _____________________ deported rebellious populations in order to force those persons to lose their national identity or desire for independence.

Assyrians

The Phoenician city ______________ served as the prominent center for the manufacture of writing materials in the ancient world.

Byblos

The _________________ ____________________ refers to a historical region in the arid Near East that extends in a semi-circular band from the Tigris-Euphrates valley, northwest into Syria, and then south from the Mediterranean Sea shore toward Egypt's Nile River Valley; this area presented good conditions for agriculture and thus encouraged growth of populations.

Fertile Crescent

________________, sacred writings of the Egyptians, which were used in religious architecture and for official and archival reasons, were written on papyrus, a medium derived from reeds grown along the Nile.

Heiroglyphics

Some Aryan tribes sought new homes on the plateau of _____________. The tribes that settled in the south became known as the Persians; while those that took possession of the mountain regions of the northwest were called the Medes.

Iran

A region known as ___________________ , which arose around 3200 B.C.E. in the Tigris-Euphrates River Valley, was the location of the earliest cities in the Fertile Crescent.

Mesopotamia

The ______________ society prospered on the island of Crete by 2000 B.C.E.; this empire enjoyed a powerful navy which was used to control people living on the Aegean Sea shores, trade between the Aegean people, Egyptians, and Hittites, and vast wealth including grand palaces often with plumbing and grand artwork.

Minoan

Artaxerxes II was called ________________ for his remarkable memory. During Artaxerxes II's reign, his brother Cyrus organized the well-known expedition of Ten Thousand Greeks in an attempt to gain control of the throne.

Mnemon

The Old Testament presents the Ten Commandments as part of the Law given by God directly to Moses on __________________________ for the people of Israel.

Mount Sinai

The Egyptian pharaoh _____________________ (c. 1375-1358 B.C.E.) brought in the religious phase in Egypt known as the "Amarna period," moved the capital from Thebes to Akhetaton, and focused attention on only worshiping the disk of the sun, a god named Aton.

Akhenaten (After the death of Akhenaton [originally known as Amenhotep IV], Egyptian priests restored the religion of worshipping the pantheon of gods. The Amarna period included a change in Egyptian art that changed the depiction of humans from traditional, stiffly forms to more dynamic, relaxed, and natural forms; however, after the death of Akhenaton, art returned to the earlier form.)

The ______________ , led by King Sargon (c. 2372-2316 B.C.E.) moved into the Tigris-Euphrates valley and conquered certain Sumerian city-states and created an empire that unified Mesopotamia and stretched into the Iranian plateau.

Akkadians

The Pharaohs who reigned in Egypt from the earliest times until the conquest of the country by____________________________________ (332 BC) are grouped into 31 dynasties.

Alexander the Great

A people known as the ___________________ unified Mesopotamia and ruled the area following the Sumerians; this group's empire, which was known as Old Babylon ruled from approximately 1900 to 1600 B.C.E.

Amorites

The Queen of Sheba, attracted by the reports of Solomons glory, came from Southern _______________ to visit the monarch and is known to have exclaimed, "The half was not told me."

Arabia

The tributary of Punjab returned to the Great Darius an annual revenue vastly larger than that of any other province acquired so far, including the rich district of _______________.

Babylonia

After Solomon, all the tribes, except those of Judah and ___________________, rose in revolt. They succeeded in setting up a rival kingdom to the north of Jerusalem with Jeroboam as its first king. This northern state, with Samaria as its capital, became known as the Kingdom of Israel; the southern state, of which Jerusalem remained the capital, was called the Kingdom of Judah.

Benjamin

The _____________ Age began in the Fertile Crescent around 3000 B.C.E. and was characterized by advanced metalworking and creation of tools from copper and tin alloys.

Bronze

The founder of the first Mesopotamian empire was Sargon I. The scholar Sayce calls him the _________________ Solomon. He conquered Sumer into Accad.

Chaldaean

The pyramids were designed as burial places for the dead pharaohs. The oldest pyramid is also the largest, ______________, the Great Pyramid. It is believed to be the biggest building ever erected on Earth.

Cheops

Hammurabi's ____________ , a collection of old and new laws, dealt mainly with family law, land ownership, and commercial transactions, and included very harsh punishments for crimes: "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth."

Code

Archaeologist Arthur Evans believed the Minoan civilization of ___________ lay waiting to be discovered and beginning in the late 1890s he set out to find it. In 1900 he unearthed what he called the Palace of Minos (now called the Palace of Knossos), and reconstructed this amazing culture.

Crete

Cyrus ordered a pyre to be erected on which to burn ______________, the captured Lydian king, who repeatedly called the name of Solon. He was told that Croesus, in his prosperous years, was visited by the Greek sage Solon, who told him "Count no man happy until he is dead."

Croesus

Cyrus ordered a pyre to be erected on which to burn _________________, the captured Lydian king, who repeatedly called the name of Solon. He was told that Croesus, in his prosperous years, was visited by the Greek sage Solon, who told him "Count no man happy until he is dead."

Croesus

Around 3000 B.C.E. the Sumerians began to practice a method of using a stylus to make wedge-shaped strokes on a clay tablet in a writing form known as _____________ .

Cuneiform

Although the Persians were destined to become the dominant tribe of all the Iranian Aryans, the Medes were at first the leading people. __________________ (625-585 BC) was their first prominent king. Aided by the Babylonians, he overthrew the last king of Nineveh, and burned that capital.

Cyaxares

______________________ was the sixth king of the Amorite Dynasty of Old Babylon.

Hammurabi

The region of northwestern India known as Punjab was brought under Persian authority by _____________. Thus the eastern limits of the empire were pushed out to include one of the richest countries of Asia.

Darius

_________________ has been called "the second founder of the Persian Empire"; he established post-roads, and instituted a coinage for the realm. Upon the great rock of Behistun, a lofty smooth-faced cliff on the western frontier of Persia, he inscribed a record of all his achievements.

Darius

The Egyptian literary work, Book of the ________________ , a group of prayers and spells related to the afterlife, reflects their belief in the afterlife and the process to attaining happy immortality.

Dead

The _____________ is the term given to Jews who were living outside Judea but retained their Jewish identity.

Diaspora

David transformed the pastoral and half-civilized Israeli tribes into a conquering people. He extended the limits of his empire in every direction, and waged wars of extermination against the troublesome tribes of Moab and _________.

Edom

In his legendary "An Account of ____________," Herodotus called the kingdom a "gift of the Nile".

Egypt

The civilization group known as the ________________, who unified the regions around the Nile River valley, was much more protected than that of the Mesopotamians due to the surrounding vast deserts.

Egyptians

The Hebrew prophet ____________________ approached Ahab, king of Israel (871-852 B.C.E.) and delivered a message to him denouncing him for having ordered the execution of his subject Naboth in order to obtain his property. Ahab repented.

Elijah

_____________________ was the sixth king of the Amorite Dynasty of Old Babylon.

Hammurabi

The Sumerians' religion is described in the ancient poetic work known as The Epic of _____________________ as having a very uncertain and dismal view of the afterlife and including a large group of capricious, powerful gods; this piece of literature, which recounts a great flood, is about an epic hero, the king of Uruk, who is in search of immortality.

Gilgamesh

During the Fourth dynasty of the Egyptians, the great pyramids at ____________ were constructed and used as huge tombs for the pharaohs and their families.

Giza

The most well known Amorite king,__________________ , was made famous by his comprehensive law code.

Hammurabi

King _____________ of Tyre furnished Solomon with artisans and great rafts of timber from Lebanon for building the splendid temple at Jerusalem. The Phoenicians also provided timber from their forests for the construction of the great palaces and temples of the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and the Egyptians.

Hiram

The Amorites' Old Babylon empire fell around 1600 B.C.E. due to invasion by a group of people known as the ______________ from Asia Minor to the north and Kassites from the east (modern day Iran).

Hitties

While trying to extend their rule into the Sinai peninsula, the Egyptians came into conflict with the ___________________ who wanted the same territory; after many battles, there was no clear victory.

Hitties

The Middle Kingdom in Egypt fell to the _____________ who invaded from the Nile delta and defeated the Egyptian army.

Hyksos

The Homeric epic poem the ____________ (800-750 B.C.E.) was likely based on true events surrounding the Trojan War around 1250 B.C.E.

Illiad

Cyrus's kingdom stretched from the _________________ River to the farthest limits of Asia Minor, and from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf, thus embracing not only the territories of the Median Kingdom, but also those of the allied kingdoms of Lydia and Babylonia.

Indus

Between each chief Egyptian city and the burial-place on the western edge of the valley was a sacred lake, across which the human body was borne in a barge. But, before admittance to the boat, the body had to pass the ordeal called the ______________________of the Dead.

Judgment

Although the Hittites plundered the Amorite empire and returned home, the __________________ conquered and set up rule in the region.

Kassites

The ziggurat of Ur was built by King Ur-Nammu and dedicated to the Sumerian moon goddess,_________________.

Nanna

The prophet Ezekiel (ch. xxix.18) describes the length and hardness of a siege: "Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled." After a siege of thirteen years, the city of Tyre fell into the hands of the Babylonian king ____________________________, and his authority became undisputed from the Zagros Mountains to the Mediterranean.

Nebuchadnezzar

The so-called hanging gardens excited the greatest admiration of the ancient Greek visitors to Babylon. They were constructed by _____________________ to please his wife Amytis.

Nebuchadnezzar II

The ________________ Age, which began around 8000 B.C.E. was a period in the development of human technology in which many humans organized themselves in villages, used domesticated crops and animals, and developed more refined stone tools.

Neolithic

The ___________ Kingdom in Egypt (1550 to 1100 B.C.E.) was a time in which the pharaohs came back into power and spread their rule southward into Africa and northeastward into the Sinai peninsula.

New

Though the Hebrew religious text is the ____________________, the Talmud is a collection of Hebrew customs and traditions, including the comments of the rabbis. It is a work held by most Jews next in sacredness to the Holy Book.

Old Testament

The ________________ Age represented the first phase of human technology and consisted of small nomadic communities of hunters and gatherers who used fire and crude tools constructed of stone and wood in order to survive.

Paleolithic

In Hebrew history, there arose a line of national heroes such as Gideon, Jephthah, and _______________, whose deeds of valor and daring brought deliverance for the tribes of Israel. These popular leaders were called Judges.

Samson

The last great Pharaoh was Necho II, after whom Egypt willingly exchanged masters; and for three centuries, the valley was the seat of the renowned Graeco-Egyptian Empire of the ___________________. This lasted until the Romans annexed the region to their all-absorbing empire (30 BC).

Ptolemies

In Nubia, beyond the First Cataract, is the renowned rock-hewn temple of Ipsambul, the front of which is adorned with four gigantic portrait-statues of ___________________, seventy feet in height.

Rameses II

__________________(Sesostris to the Greeks) of the Nineteenth Dynasty was a hero of innumerable stories. His sixty-seven years reign was occupied with the oppression of the Israelis, the superintendence of great architectural works, and military expeditions against the Hittites.

Rameses II

Darius crossed the Bosphorus by means of a sort of pontoon bridge, constructed by Grecian architects. Passing the Danube by means of a similar bridge, he penetrated far into what is now __________________.

Russia

After Solomon, all the tribes, except those of Judah and Benjamin, rose in revolt. They succeeded in setting up a rival kingdom to the north of Jerusalem with Jeroboam as its first king. This northern state, with ___________________________ as its capital, became known as the Kingdom of Israel; the southern state, of which Jerusalem remained the capital, was called the Kingdom of Judah.

Samaria

The system of government which Darius I established is known as the ________________, a form represented until modern Europe by the government of the Turkish Sultan.

Satrapal

Around 1250 and 1150 B.C.E., a group known as the "____________ People's," motivated possibly by famine, invaded and overthrew empires around the eastern Mediterranean area including the Mycenaean empire.

Sea

The ___________________ Intermediate Period (1700 to 1550 B.C.) was a period in Egypt in which the Hyksos dominated mainly in the Nile delta but were unable to achieve full control of the Nile valley.

Second

One Assyrian tablet from the Royal Library at Nineveh, "The Will of ____________________", conveys to certain priests some personal property to be held in trust for one of his sons.

Sennacherib

The celebrated Temple of the _______________________________ at Borsippa, a suburb of Babylon, is representative of the later Babylonian temples.

Seven Spheres

The Accadian religion, as revealed by the tablets recovered by archaeologists, was essentially the same as that held today by the nomadic Turanian tribes of Northern Asia--it is known as _____________________.

Shamanism

Solomon, though widely considered a wise and just ruler with magnificent courts, was an idolater. He had seven hundred wives from many nationalities. One of his famous admirers was the Queen of _________________.

Sheba

The Hyksos, or the ______________ Kings. They were violent and barbarous, and destroyed or mutilated the monuments of the country. It was probably during the supremacy of the Hyksos that the families of Israel found a refuge in Lower Egypt.

Shepherd

David's son, King ______________ (965-928 B.C.E.) built the first Jewish temple in Jerusalem, a magnificent temple and focal point for worship and sacrifices in ancient Judaism.

Solomon

Alexander the Great, after a most memorable siege, captured the city of __________ and reduced it to ruins (332 BC). It was the only Phoenician city which closed her gates against the conqueror.

Tyre

Fueled with resentment over the Akkadian rule, the Sumerian city of ____________ rose up to gain control of Mesopotamia around 2100 B.C.E.

Ur

The power and supremacy of the Persian monarchy passed away with the reign of ____________. The last one hundred forty years of the existence of the empire was a time of weakness and anarchy.

Xerxes

Westward expansion of the Persian Empire ended when King ___________________ (486-465 B.C.E.) was defeated after he attempted to occupy the Balkan Peninsula.

Xerxes

Early Sumerian temples were built on the ruins of the last one, and they developed into stepped towers called _____________ (from an Assyrian word meaning pinnacles).

Ziggurats

Sumer is often referred to as the world's first ___________________, and was located in Mesopotamia

civilization

The Sumerians were located in Mesopotamia, which means "the land between the two ______________." The old Sumerian Empire came to an end when the Babylonians came in and conquered it.

rivers

Before King Saul and the establishment of a kingdom, the Hebrews did not really have an independent ______________.

state

The story of Abraham, his nephew Lot, his son Isaac, and Isaac's sons Jacob and Esau is of the sojourn of the descendants of Jacob in Egypt, of the Exodus, of the conquest of Canaan, and the apportionment of the land among the _______________ tribes of Israel. It is the Patriarchal age of Hebrew history.

twelve

The development of a skill called ________________ became necessary in order to keep record of business transactions as cities served as centers for the exchange of goods.

writing

The key to the Egyptian __________was discovered by means of the Rosetta Stone. This valuable relic, a heavy block of black basalt, is now in the British Museum.

writing