The Firsts

The Firsts

• I can compare and contrast Mesopotamian and Egyptian societies, including religion, culture, economics, politics, and technology.

• I can Explain the development of monotheism, including the concepts developed by the ancient Hebrews.

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Learning Targets

Multiple Select

Which 2 civilizations are we NOT covering today?

• Egypt

• Mesopotamia

• India

• China

• Hebrews

Why might this area be called
"the fertile crescent"?

• "The land between the rivers"

  • Meso = middle

  • Potam = river

• RIVER(S)

  • Tigris

  • Euphrates

• POLITICS

  • Hereditary Monarchy

    • mono = one

    • archy = to rule

  • City-States - a city that has economic and political control over the city and the surrounding countryside

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​Mesopotamia

• RELIGION

  • Polytheistic

    • poly = many

    • theo = god

  • Ziggurats

• CULTURE

  • Code of Hammurabi

  • Warring City-States

  • The Epic of Gilgamesh

• ECONOMICS

  • Agriculture

• TECHNOLOGY

  • Wheel

  • Cuneiform

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​Mesopotamia

​c. 2100 BC - inscription in Akkadian limestone, commemorating the work and gifts given in honor of the god Inshushinak.

​Artifacts from the British Museum

​The Balawat Gates
Palace of King Shalmaneser III (r. 858-823 BC)
Cedarwood and bronze, 23 ft

1700 BC
The Babylonian story of the flood from the Epic of Atrahasis. Enki, god of wisdom, warned him, and he built a boat.

2100-2000 BC
Sumerian magical spell that uses garbled foreign names as a spell against ghosts.

2500 BC - The Queen's Lyre found in the tomb of Queen Puabi in Ur.

2600-2400 BC
Standard of Ur found in a royal cemetery. One side depicts war, the other side depicts peace.

Drag and Drop

poly​

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mono​

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archy​

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theo​

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meso​

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Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

many

one

to rule

god

middle

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Open Ended

Would you want to live during this time? Why or why not? Use evidence from the previous slides to support your answer.

• RIVER

  • Nile

    • flows south to north

• POLITICS

  • Hereditary Monarchy

  • Pharaoh

• RELIGION

  • Polytheistic

  • Ra - the sun god

  • Cats?!

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​Egypt

• CULTURE

  • Mummification

  • Kingdoms

• ECONOMICS

  • Agriculture

• TECHNOLOGY

  • Hieroglyphics​

  • 365-day calendar

  • Papyrus

​Egypt

• What is it?

  a degree issued by Ptolemy V

• Why is it important?

  written in three languages (Hieroglyphs, Demotic, ancient Greek)

  allowed us to translate hieroglyphs

• Who found it?

  French soldiers in 1799 during Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign in Rosetta (el-Roshid)

• How did the British get it?

  French lost it in the Treaty of Alexandria in 1801 when the British defeated them

• Who translated it?

  Jean-Francois Champollion in 1822

The Rosetta Stone

Famous Egyptian Pharaohs

Amenhotep III
r. 1390-1352 BC
build Luxor Temple, golden age of peace and prosperity

Ramses II
r. 1184-1153
Pharaoh during the time of Moses
His sarcophagus weighs 18 tons!

Akhenaten m. Nefertiti
changed to monotheistic worship of the sun god Aten. Many disliked this and intentionally erased him from history.



Tutankhaten or Tutankhamun tried changing back to polytheistic but he was still erased as a successor to his father. They went unknown for 3,000 years until Tut's tomb was discovered in 1922!

Mummy of a young boy - NOT King TUT!

Open Ended

Why did these two civilizations settle around rivers?

• POLITICS

  • Theocracy

• RELIGION

  • Monotheistic

  • Judaism

    • Jews

    • Star of David

• CULTURE

  • The Torah

  • Old Testament

  • The Ten Commandments

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The Hebrews

Multiple Choice

Which civilization was NOT polytheistic?

• Ancient Mesopotamian civilization

• Ancient Roman civilization
• Ancient Egyptian civilization
• Ancient Hebrew civilization

Multiple Choice

Which monotheistic religion did we cover today?

• Polytheism

• Judaism

• Christianity
• Islam

Multiple Select

What 3 rivers did we cover today?

• Euphrates

• Tigris

• Nile

• Yellow

• Indus

Hotspot

Where is Mesopotamia?

Hotspot

Where is Egypt?

Hotspot

Where did the Hebrews live?