Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and surrounding areas

Focusing on Eastern Mediterranean.

• The Nile River• The Tigris and

Euprates• The Fertile

Crescent• Today called

“the Near East”

Ancient Egypt - 3 major eras

• The Old Kingdom – 2700 BC- 2200 BC

• The Middle Kingdom– 2050 BC - 1800 BC

• The New Kingdom– 1550 BC - 1100 BC

• Pharaohs were the Egyptian rulers. Dynastic Absolute Monarchy with aspects of Theocracy

Decline of the New Kingdom

• Hatshepsut was the only female pharaoh from 1503 BC - 1482 BC

• Ramses II (r.1290 BC - 1224 BC) seen as last effective ruler

• Egypt would fall to Persians and later Greeks

Egyptian Religion

• Religion - polytheistic

• Highly developed death rites and belief in afterlife

• Practiced mummification

Egyptian Society

• Most Egyptians were farmers

• Educated class mostly priests

• Slaves in later times were the Jews

• During New Kingdom craftsmen and merchants more prevalent

• Women had an active role in society

Egyptian Knowledge

• Egyptian language employed Heiroglypics carved in stone

• Developed simpler ways of communication with papyrus and demotic script

Modern Egypt

• Primarily Muslim Arab State with Coptic Christian minority

• Currently undergoing popular revolution

• Seen as the Crossroads of the Arab World

• Produces most Arab print, audio, and film media

• Cairo is largest city in Africa

Ancient Mesopotamia• Developed along

the twin rivers of the Tigris and Euphrates

• Small collection of city states gave way to empires

Sumer c. 3200 BC

• Small cities in southern mesopotamia have sucessfully employed agricultural techniques like irrigation to grow.

• Built cities out of mud bricks

• Amassed wealth through trade

Sumerian Knowledge

• Used cuneiform, starting originally as pictographs.

• Over time evolving into distinct writing system

• Built ziggurats to their gods

“Sumeria” Today

The First Empires

• The Assyrian Empire• The Babylonian Empire• Would trade dominance

in Fertile Crescent• Assyrians would

conquer all by 652 BC• Hammurabi gave us his

famous code c. 1700 BC

The Israelites• Unique because of

Monotheism and rejection of other gods

• Originally nomads that settled in the region between Egypt and Mesopotamia

• 1000 BC set up kingdom of Israel.

• Conquered by Assyrians in 722 BC followed by the Babylonians in 586 BC

The Persians• 539 BC Babylon Falls to Cyrus the

Great. Persia conquers most of “civilized” world

• Able to rule diverse peoples and lands with the use of “satraps”