The document provides information on ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. It discusses how the Nile River shaped ancient Egypt through fertile soil, yearly floods, and acting as a trade route. It then outlines the three main periods of Egyptian history and influences like the Hyksos invasion and trade with Nubia. Key figures in Egypt like Tutankhamen, Akhenaten, and Hatshepsut are identified. The document also summarizes the development of Sumerian civilization in Mesopotamia, including their inventions of writing, the wheel, plow, and walled cities. The Code of Hammurabi and Epic of Gilgamesh are also mentioned.

1. Egypt and Mesopotamia
Study Guide
Answer Key

2. How did the Nile River affect
ancient Egypt?
• Fertile soil that led to settlement
• Yearly floods that deposited silt
• United Upper & Lower Egypt
• Trade route/transportation
• NOTE: deserts & seas protected Egypt
from invasions

3. 3 Main Periods of Egyptian History
• Old Kingdom 2700 – 2200 BCE “The
Pyramid Age”
• Middle Kingdom 2050 – 1800 BCE
turbulent/troubled times
• New Kingdom – 1550 1100 BCE empire
building &trade

4. Egypt affected by…
• 1. Hyksos – invaded w/horse-drawn war
chariots
• 2. Hittites – from Asia Minor, fought vs.
Ramses, peace treaty (IRON)
• 3. Nubia/Kush – fought & traded, traded &
fought…lots of cultural diffusion

5. Define
• Pharaoh – royal ruler of ancient Egypt
(monarchy); seen as a god; dynasty
system – passing down from 1 generation
to another
• Vizier – chief minister; supervised
government bureaucracy
• Ptah-hotep – famous vizier who wrote a
“how to” book

6. Identify
• Osiris – god of Nile, god of underworld
• Isis – goddess of “womanly” arts like
grinding grain, spinning, weaving, child
care
• Amon-Re – Sun God

7. Identify
• Tutankhamen – King Tut…minor pharaoh,
but his tomb wasn’t robbed, so much info
learned
• Akhenaton – pharaoh who believed god
Aton was only 1 who should be
worshipped; married to Nefertiti, unpopular
• Narmer/Menes – considered 1st
; united
Upper & Lower Egypt

8. Identify
• HatSHEpsut – She was a great pharaoh
who trade
• Ramses II – an “empire builder”;
considered most powerful of New
Kingdom pharaohs

9. Egyptian Social Hierarchy
PEASANT FARMERS
Pharaoh
Priests, priestesses,
nobles
Merchants, scribes, artisans
slaves

10. Advances/Achievements
• Medicine: checked symptoms, diagnosed
illness, tried to cure diseases, surgery,
herbs – anise, castor beans, saffron
• Astronomy: calendar based on planet
movement, mapped constellations
• Math: developed geometry to draw
boundaries, build pyramids, temples

11. Advances/Achievements
• Arts & Literature including the following:
• Statues, obelisks, wall paintings,
literature
• WRITING! – hieroglyphics on papyrus
– Demotic=informal writing style
– ROSETTA STONE – allowed scholars to
decode hieroglyphics – 1 of most important
archaeological finds ever!!

14. Sumer
• 3200 BCE
• First Sumerian Empire extends from the
Eastern Mediterranean to Western Iran,
including all of Mesopotamia.
• Beginning of the Bronze Age
• Height of the Sumerian civilization;
development of numerous cultural and
technological inventions.
– writing (cuneiform)
– the wheel
– the plow
– walled cities

15. Sumer
• 3200 BCE
• First Sumerian Empire extends from the
Eastern Mediterranean to Western Iran,
including all of Mesopotamia.
• Beginning of the Bronze Age
• Height of the Sumerian civilization;
development of numerous cultural and
technological inventions.
– writing (cuneiform)
– the wheel
– the plow
– walled cities

16. Cuneiform (first writing)
• Evolved from
pictograms into
phonograms.
• Written on a
clay tablet with
a stick called a
stylus.

17. Epic of Gilgamesh
• Believed in afterlife. “the place where they
live on dust, their food is mud, and they
see no light, living in blackness on the
door and door-bolt, deeply settled dust.”
What does this say about the Sumerian, or
Mesopotamian for that matter, view of life?
(Think about the flooding of the twin rivers,
versus a steady/ dependable Nile River).

18. Babylon
• About 1790, Hammurabi conquered most of
the Fertile Crescent.

19. Code of Hammurabi
• 1st
written law code
(codify)
• “an eye for an eye”
• Not equal justice for
all classes, but the
first “civil law”
• protected women and
slaves (women could
divorce if “blameless”
or they were thrown
in the Euphrates.
• 300 laws on a stone
pillar

20. Hittites
• Pushed out of
Asia Minor about
1400 B.C.
• Although not
sophisticated,
they could USE
IRON.
• Their empire
collapsed in
about 1200 B.C.

21. The Assyrians
• From upper Tigris River
Valley took over in 1100
B.C.
• Warfare central to their
culture
• Well ordered societies
• Assurbanipal ruled from
Capital of Nineveh
(NIHN uh vuh) toward the
end of the empire.

22. The library at Nineveh, and a statue
of Assurbaniphal as a fierce animal.
Does he look anything like a sphinx?

23. Phoenicians
(sea trade and first alphabet)
• manufacturing (glass from sand, purple
dye from small snail, timber)
• trade (established colonies)
• first phonetic alphabet
• Colony of Tyre “tyrian purple”
• Colony of Biblos (Bible and bibliography)

24. Phoenicians
at sea

25. Phoenician alphabet

26. The Hebrews
• Abraham
• Hebrew (one from
across the river)
• covenant with Yahweh
(2000 B.C.)
• 1st
monotheistic religion
• Sabbath
• Canaan

27. Out of Egypt
• Jews left Canaan due
to famine
• Exile to Egypt
• Made slaves by
Pharaoh
• Moses
• Red Sea
• 10 Commandments