Chapter 2
First civilizations Africa and Asia
Ancient Kingdoms Of The Nile
In the first section we will saw how the geography of Egypt
affected the diversity and its impact on foreign lands as well
as the impact foreign lands had on Egypt. We will see the
politics of Egypt and see how its rulers shaped and affected
its political, military, and religious beliefs.
The Nile River Valley
• Egyptian era was split into
two. The old and new
kingdom.
• Egyptian empire was located
right along the Nile river
valley which provided
protection, transportation,
and a water supply.
• Lands around the Nile were
very fertile and farmers took
advantage and started
farming there.
• 2 sections of Egypt were
Upper Egypt in the south and
Lower Egypt in the north.
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Egyptian kingdoms were ruled by
monarchs called pharaohs.
Old kingdom was called the
pyramid age.
Pyramids were built as tombs for
dead pharaohs where they were
‘mummified’ and buried with all
their belongings.
During the middle kingdom in
1700 B.C the empire was destroyed
by the invading Hyksos.
New kingdom started when Hyksos
were driven out of Egypt.
First female ruler was queen
Hatshepsut during the new
kingdom.
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Queen Hatshepsut was the first
female ruler.
She encouraged trade with the
eastern Mediterranean and
expanded the empire as far as
Africa.
One of the greatest most influential
pharaohs was Ramses II.
Gained fame for the wars he led
agaist the Hittites until a treaty was
finally signed between the two.
After Ramses’ death, the Egyptian
empire started to decline after
being invaded by Assyrians,
Persians and later on, Greek an
Roman armies.
As Egypt declined, major city
Nubia gained independence.
At around 650 B.C Assyrians
pushed the Nubians back to their
original homeland where they ruled
for another 1000 years.
Pharaohs of Egypt
Queen Hatshepsut
Ramses II
Egyptian Religion
•Egyptian religion was polytheistic.
•The chief god of the egyption religion
was the sun god, Amon-re.
•An important god was Osiris, god of the
underworld and god of the Nile.
•Isis was a goddess who promised life
after death through mummification.
•Other gods included Horus, son of Isis
and Osiris, Anubis, Set, and another sun
god, Aton.
•Only the pharaoh was allowed to conduct
ceremonies for the sun god.
•Cats were treated as gods also and were
greatly respected in egyptian society.
Egyptian cat
Eye of Horus
Mummified Cat
Cats were
worshipped by
egyptians and were
often mummified
and buried in tombs
with pharaohs to be
brought with them
to the after life.
The eye of the god
Horus is said to
represent his battle
against the god Set, and
to represent eclipses.
Egyptian Society
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Most egyptians were peasent
farmers.
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Egyptian slaves were usually
prisoners of wars and battles.
Slaves were used to build pyramids
for pharaohs, and to carry out other
difficult tasks.
During the new kingdom, more
merchants started to surface with
the increase of trade.
With trade increasing, craftsman
started coming about.
Women were treated with respect
in egyptian society and were
allowed to inherit property, go to
court, obtain a divorce, enter
business deals, and buy and sell
goods.
Hieroglyphics & The Rosetta Stone
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Scribes were specifically taught to
read and write to keep records of
ceremonies, taxes and to serve
nobles, priests or the pharaoh.
Hieroglyphics was the official
picture writing of egypt used to
keep records.
Records were written on paper
made of papyrus, a plant that grew
along the nile river.
The Rosetta stone was a black
stone found in a tomb with greek,
demotic, and hieroglyphic writing
on it which allows scholars to
decode and understand thousands
of records from ancient egypt.
From the Rosetta stone, scholars
found out that egyptians studied
medicine, astronomy, and
mathematics.
City-States of Sumer
•The cities of Sumer were northeast of the Nile
river.
•The sumerian civilization was located in the
fertile crescent, land that curves from the Persian
Gulf to the eastern Mediterranean coast. It was
very fertile land and ideal for farming.
•The first known civilization in the fertile
crescent was Mesopotamia, which meant the land
between two rivers. It was located between the
Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
•The sumerians had very few natural resources
but used what they had.
•They built ziggurats out of bricks they made
from clay and water. Ziggurats were temples for
gods or goddesses of the city.
•Trade was the main source of economy for the
sumerian people. Many people were merchants
and artisans.
Sumerian Government & Religion
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Sumer was made up of many
idividual city-states, each had their
own ruler, responsible for irrigation
and maintaining the city walls.
Each city-state had their own social
classes.
Sumerians owned slaves as well,
most captured during wars.
Women had rights and were
respected in Sumerian civilization.
Sumerians had many gods that
controlled every aspect of everyday
life.
Their duty was to keep these gods,
who acted like ordinary people,
happy and satisfied.
Unlike Egyptians, the Sumerians
believe the underworld was a dark
gloomy place, without hope and
full of despair.
Cuneiform & school for scribes
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By 3200 B.C., the sumerians came
up with the wedge form of writing
called cuneiform.
As it developed more and more, it
was used to keep records of grain
harvest, business deals, prayers,
myths, laws, and treaties.
Sumerian scribes had to go to
school to learn skills to be a scribe.
School was very strict and most
students were boys.
They were taught mathematics,
medicine, geography, astronomy
and literature.
They came up with a number
system based on the number 6, for
example 60 minutes in an hour, 360
degrees in a circle, which we still
use today.
An end to Sumerian Civilization
• Eventually armies of different nations swept across Mesopotamia and
took over the sumerian city-states.
• The different civilizations and cultures mixed with sumerian culture
and traditions.
• Cuneiform was changed and adapted to the new civilizations’
language.
• Because of the conquering on the sumerian city-states, sumerian
knowledge and ideas spread to romans and greeks who later greatly
impacted the world.
New civilizations
• In about 2300 B.C. a ruler
named Sargon took over sumer.
• After his death, Hammurabi, the
king of Babylon, took over
sumer.
• Hammurabi is most known for
his code of laws called “The
code of Hammurabi.”
• He had workers carve the laws
into a 7 foot pillar and put in the
town center for all the people to
see them and follow them.
• Hammurabi also improved
irrigation in his empire and
organized a well trained army.
• Eventually the babylonians
were taken over by the Hittites.
Hittites and Assyrians
• The Hittites moved in to the
babylonian empire around 1400
B.C.
• They brought the Babylonians
and other civilizations the skill
of making weapons much
stronger from iron.
• Their empire collapses in
around 1200 B.C and then the
Assyrians took over. They also
made weapons from iron.
• They were savage warriors, but
also had a well-ordered society.
• Assyrian king Assubanipal
made the first public library.
Persian Empire
•Babylonian empire led by king Nebuchadnezzar took over assyrian empire and revived
Babylonia in 612 B.C.
•Nebuchadnezzar influenced and built the great hanging gardens of Babylon.
•Under Nebuchadnezzar astronomy flourished.
•In 539 B.C, the Babylonians fell to the Persians under the command of Cyrus the Great.
•The persians ruled land from Asia minor all the way to India.
•Under the Persian ruler Darius, many civilizations were unified to create one big empire.
•Darius divided the persian empire into different regions with a ruler for each region, and
also encouraged the use of coins to improve trade and increase the economy.
•A persian man named Zoroaster also came up with a new religion, the belief in one god
named Ahura Mazda who ruled the world.
Phoenicians
• Phonoecians were great traders
and explorers.
• They manufactured and traded
many things, including their
own purple dye.
• They set up many colonies to
promote trade within the
Mediterranean sea.
• Phoenicians spread the ideas of
all different civilizations to
create new ideas and cultures
within civilizations.
• They also created the first real
alphabet made up of 22
symbols.
• Their alphabet was later
changed to adapt to different
cultures.
Hebrews and Israel
•Solomon was the king of the
Israeli empire.
•He had ambitions to take over
more land and because of his
greed his empire was taken over
by the assyrians in 722 B.C.
•It split into two parts, Israel in
the north, and Judah in the south.
•The hebrews fell to the
assyrians and became slaves.
•Judah fell to babylon in 586
B.C.
•Hebrews were slaves until
Moses got a message from God
and led the great exodus.
Moses and The Great Exodus
• Moses got a message from God to lead the hebrews out of Egypt.
• After they crossed the red sea they went to a desert where Moses was
on a hill and received the ten commandments from God.
• The hebrews had a monotheistic religion, believing in one God only.
• They made a covenant with God and the basis of their religion is the
Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew scripture.
• Judaism was one of the first monotheistic religions which later molded
and had the same main belief as the Christian and Islam religions.
• The ten commandments are still followed today by jews and christians
as well and the covenant between God and the hebrews still remains.