HIS 122
World History I
Dr. Hutton
Spring 2014
Weekly Assignment #1
Due: Thursday, Feb. 5
Read Chaps. 2 & 3, pages 49-58, 62-69, 85-91 and 101-111, in Tignor et al., Worlds Together,
Worlds Apart: Beginnings through the Fifteenth Century (hereafter: Tignor) & answer these
questions:
1. What made Uruk as a city different from smaller towns and villages?
2. Who were the Mesopotamians’ trading partners? What kinds of goods did they trade?
3. How were the Sumerian gods related to the cities? What was the relationship between the
rulers and the gods?
4. What groups had the most power in Sumerian society? What gave them that power?
5. How was the state founded by Sargon of Akkad different from the earlier city-states?
6. What type of government did the Egyptians have? Which groups had the most power?
7. How were the gods related to the pharoahs/kings?
8. How did the Egyptian state control the common people?
9. What were the effects of the climate change between 2200 and 2150 BCE?
10. How did the climate change around 2200 BCE and what effects did that have on the riverine
cultures?
11. How did the pastoral nomads and transhumant herders end up founding territorial states?
What was their secret weapon?
12. Where did the Vedic people originate, what areas did they take over, and why did
they turn to agriculture?
13. How were the Vedic people organized?
14. Where was the Shang state located? How was it similar to and different from the territorial
kingdoms in Southwest Asia?
15. How did the Shang kings use bronze to spread and keep their power?
16. Why was divination so important to the Shang kings?
17. How did they use writing in divination?
Read Hammurabi’s Code and answer these questions:
18. According to Hammurabi, what gave him the authority to make laws? What did he say were
his responsibilities to the people?
19. List five crimes and punishments in Hammurabi’s Code.
20. Which of the markers of difference – race or ethnicity, class, and gender – was most
important in Babylon?
Download the map from the course website and label these locations. Bring the
completed map to class on Thursday. Study the map for the midterm exam.
Southwest Asia
Sahel
Yellow River
Yangzi River
Tigris River
Euphrates River
Indus River
Persia (Iran)
Mesopotamia (Iraq)
Anatolia
Greece
Mediterranean Sea
Persian Gulf
Red Sea
Nile River
Mesoamerica
Chavín lands (Peru)
Black Sea
India (modern)
Central Asia
Himalaya Mountains
Andes Mountains