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