| Term | Definition |
|---|
| 3000 BC | When was the wheel invented? |
| the wheel | What was perhaps the most important invention for carrying items? |
| Fertile Crescent | the region's curved shape and the richness of its land (land between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea in South Asia) |
| Mesopotamia | "land between the rivers" |
| Sumerians | Who loved to be engaged in warfare? |
| 282 | How many laws were in the Code of Hammurabi? |
| Epic of Gilgamesh | most popular piece of literature in Mesopotamia |
| Nile River | considered a gift to the Egyptians largely because of its irrigational value |
| 8 | how many time periods was Egypt's history broken down into? |
| afterlife | the Egyptians had a strong belief in what? |
| city-state | a city and its surrounding lands functioning as an independent political unit |
| ziggurat | a tiered, pyramid-shaped structure that formed part of a Sumerian temple |
| theocracy | a government in which the ruler is viewed as a divine figure |
| empire | a political unit in which a number of people or countries are controlled by a single ruler |
| patriarchal | relating to a social system in which the father is head of the family |
| polytheistic | a belief in many gods |
| cuneiform | a system of writing with wedge-shaped symbols, invented by the Sumerians around 3000 BC |
| dynasty | a series of rulers from a single family |
| pharaoh | a king of ancient Egypt, considered a god as well as a political and military leader |
| ka | an Egyptian concept referring to one's life force |
| ba | an Egyptian spiritual concept that can be roughly translated as one's soul. often depicted as a bird with a human head. |
| black land | fertile land on the banks of the Nile River |
| red land | the name the Egyptians gave the desert land beyond the river valley because it was dry and lifeless |
| pyramids | a massive structure with a revtagular base and four triangular sides, like those that were built in Egypt as burial places for Old Kingdom pharaohs |
| book of the dead | a compilation of prayers, chants etc. from which the Egyptian would choose sections to be inscribed on the tomb wall of the deceased. |
| coregency | a practice in which a royal successor is chosen and rules alongside the reigning kind to ensure a competent transition from one to the other. |
| necropolis | a cemetery—literally, a "city of the dead." |
| sarcophagus | a stone coffin (usually bearing sculpture or inscriptions) |
| natron | a naturally occurring white chemical substance that was used in the mummification process as a dehydrating agent. |
| mummification | a process of embalming and drying corpses to prevent them from decaying |
| hieroglyphics | an ancient Egyptian writing system in which pictures were used to represent ideas and sounds |
| hieratic script | a cursive form of Egyptian hieroglyphics |
| mastaba | an Arabic word meaning "bench," referring to rectangular-shaped tombs. |
| nomes | the various provinces of Upper and Lower Egypt |
| nomarchs | the leaders or governors of nomes. |
| stele | an ancient upright stone slab bearing markings |
| ibu | mum? mother? |
| wabet | pure place? |
| papyrus | a tall reed that grows in the Nile delta, used by the ancient Egyptians to make a paperlike material for writing on |
| canopic jars | small ornamental jars each on with a god's head on the lid. These were used to enclose the organs taken from the dead body. They were placed in the tomb with the body and everything else. |
| the liver, the lungs, the stomach, and the intestines | what organs were placed in the canopic jars? |
| inundation | the annual flooding of the Nile River, which produced a regular renewal of agricultural land |
| emergence | when the water receded, from October 21 to February 21 |
| summer | lasted from February 21 to June 21 |
| delta | a marshy region fromed by deposits of silt at the mouth of the river |
| before christ | number of years before the birth of jesus |
| anno domini | the year of the lord |
| before the common era | same time period as BC |
| common era | the time period beginning with the supposed year of Christ's birth |
| circa | A Latin word, often abbreviated "c." that means "about" or "around" |
| vizier | the highest office in the Egyptian governmental hierarchy below the king. (a sort of prime minister.) |
| monotheistic | belief in only one god |
| old kingdom | Known as the Pyramid Age; began with the 3rd dynasty; lasted 500 years |
| middle kingdom | (c. 2000 B. C. – c. 1800 B. C.); 2200 B. C. civil war (unrest) |
| new kingdom | c. 1600 B. C. – c. 1100 B. C./ sometimes listed as 1567 to 1085 B. C.); pharaohs attacked neighboring peoples and extended Egyptian rule into SW Asia |
| "opening of the mouth" ritual | one of the most important preparations. The family of the mummy recited spells while the priests used special instruments to touch different parts of the mummy's face. |
| King Menes | scholars believed that he was the first who united Egypt. |
| Queen Ahhotep | She took over after her husband was killed in battle; |
| Howard Carter | King Tut's tomb was found by who in 1922? |
| Pharaoh Thutmose II | Hatshepsuts step son who took the thone when becoming an adult |
| Pharaoh Kamose | helped drive the Hyksos completely out of Egypt; received three military medals; got rid of Hyksos |
| King Scorpion | little evidence of him is found |
| Pharaoh Thutmose III | He was responsible for obliterating Queen Hatshepsut's name and image from Egyptian history because as a female, she had upset the normal order; took control after Hatshepsut's death |
| King Narmer | united the two kingdoms (upper and lower) into a single kingdom; created the first Egyptian Dynasty; |
| Pharaoh Amenhotep IV | introduced the worship of Aton, god of the sun disk, as the sole god; first monotheist |
| Akkadians | this civilization included Semitic people living north of Sumeria; united city-states of Mesopotamia; first empire in history; established by Sargon the Great |
| Kushites | Overwhelmed by the Assyrians, who had stronger (bronze and steal) weapons, in 663 BC.; |
| Akhanaten | Pharaoh who let foreignors have high ploitical powers |
| Sargon | warrior who found the Akkadian Empire and so became the first ruler of an empire in the Fertile Crescent |
| Aten | most Eyptian gods have human bodies with heads of an animal but this god is a sun disk with eight out stretched arms holding ankhs |
| Herodotus | the ancient greek known as the father of history |
| Moses | (Old Testament) the Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites from Egypt across the Red sea on a journey known as the Exodus |
| Re (Ra) | ancient hawk-headed Egyptian sun god |
| King Tut | considered the "boy pharaoh"; 9 years old; 9 year reign |
| Hammurabi | Babylonian king who codified the laws of Sumer and Mesopotamia (died 1750 BC) |
| Osiris | Egyptian god of the underworld and judge of the dead |
| Ramses II | known as greatest pharaoh ever, ruled for 67 years, created treaty with Hittites (first treaty in history), establish ownership borders of Isreal, largest tomb, ruled while Jews were there |
| Hyksos | ruled Egypt for 100 years; waged war with horse-drawn chariots |
| god Anubis | Was the god of the dead, he was also the son of Osiris and Nepthys |
| Pharaoh Hateshepsut | expanded trade into East Africa (plants, mur, jewels) |
| Hitties | The Egyptians had conflicts with who after their expansion into parts of Syria and Palestine? |
| Code of Hammurabi | the set of laws drawn up by Babylonian king Hammurabi dating to the 18th century BC, the earliest legal code known in its entirety (282 laws) |
| Gilgamesh | the epic story of the king who searched for immortality. This is a Sumerian legend and is believed to be the first story |
| Valley of the Kings | area near Thebes where the Egyptian rulers of the New Kingdom built splendid tombs |
| Epic of Gilgamesh | an epic poem from Ancient Mesopotamia and is among the earliest known works of literary fiction. |
| Genesis | the first book of the Old Testament: tells of creation |
| Enkidu | legendary friend of Gilgamish |
| Exodus | the second book of the Old Testament: tells of the departure of the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt led by Moses |
| Tigris River | a river running through Sumer, Mespotamia, provided resources for the Mespotamians. |
| Nineveh | an ancient Assyrian city on the Tigris across from the modern city of Mosul in the northern part of what is now known as Iraq |
| Land of Punt | Present day Somalia |
| Euphrates River | A river in southwestern Asia that flows through the southern part of the Fertile Crescent. |
| Upper Egypt | river area in the south and the elevation is higher ... is a skinny strip of land |
| Nile River | the longest river in the world, stretching about 4,200 miles. |
| Mesopotamia | first civilization located between the Tigris & Eurphrates Rivers in present day Iraq; term means "land between the rivers;" Sumerian culture |
| Lower Egypt | in the north ... includes the Nile delta region |
| Syria | country where Egypt acquired wood |
| Fertile Crescent | a geographical area of fertile land in the Middle East stretching in a broad semicircle from the Nile to the Tigris and Euphrates |
| Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon, and Israel | what are the 6 countries that make up the Fertile Crescent? |
| Giza | The largest and most significant pyramid was built in the town of what? |
| Palestine | an ancient country is southwestern Asia on the east coast of the Mediterranean |
| Sumer | A group of ancient city-states in southern Mesopotamia; the earliest civilization in Mesopotamia. |
| Thebes | an ancient Egyptian city on the Nile River that flourished from the 22nd century BC to the 18th century BC; capital of the New Kingdom |
| Mediterranean Sea | Body of water into which Egypt's major river empties |
| Akkad | A city state in northern Mesopotaimia, the ruler of which conquered all the city-states of Mesopotamia and formed the world's first empire. |
| Memphis | an ancient city of Egypt on the Nile (south of Cairo) |
| Red Sea | Body of water on Egypt's eastern boundary |
| Uruk | a large Sumerian city-state in Mesopotamia |
| Karnak | Great temple of Amen at Thebes, the largest complex of religious buildings in the World |
| Persian Gulf | Mesopotamia's twin rivers emptied into this body of water |
| Babylon | the chief city of ancient Mesopotamia and capitol of the ancient kingdom of Babylonia |
| Nubia | conquered by Egypt at the end of the Middle Kingdom. |
| Meroe | center of the kush dynasty from about 250 B.C. to A.D. 150; known for its manufacture of iron weapons and tools. |
| Ur | an ancient city of Sumer located on a former channel of the Euphrates River |
| Kush | From about 500 BC to 150 AD this empire controlled a large trade netowrk |
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