Objectives: 1. Identify significant world events from Prehistory, ancient Mesopotamia, and ancient Egypt. 2. Identify example of the humanities in ancient civilizations, such as art, architecture, philosophy, music, and literature. 3. Identify major key examples from the humanities that reflect developments in world events and cultural patterns in Prehistory, ancient Mesopotamia, and ancient Egypt.

1. PREHISTORY,
MESOPOTAMIA,
AND EGYPT
HUM/100 – Intro to the Humanities I
The Ancient World to Medieval Time
Prof. Francisco Pesante-Gonzalez

2. OBJECTIVES
1. Identify significant world events from Prehistory,
ancient Mesopotamia, and ancient Egypt.
2. Identify example of the humanities in ancient
civilizations, such as art, architecture, philosophy,
music, and literature.
3. Identify major key examples from the humanities
that reflect developments in world events and
cultural patterns in Prehistory, ancient
Mesopotamia, and ancient Egypt.
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3. What is Prehistory?
PREHISTORY
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4. PREHISTORY
Cultures “who lived before the time of
writing and so of recorded history”.
(Sayre, 2014, p. 1)
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5. PREHISTORY
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/history_of_the_earth5

6. PREHISTORY
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/history_of_the_earth6

7. PREHISTORY
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/history_of_the_earth7

8. PREHISTORY
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/history_of_the_earth8

9. Cave painting with horses, Chauvet Cave,
Vallon-Pont-d’Arc, France. ca. 30,000 b.C.
PREHISTORY - ART
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10. Woman (Venus of Willendorf), found at Willendorf,
Austria. ca. 25,000–20,000 b.C.
PREHISTORY - ART
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11. Susa, Iran (circa 5000-4000 b.C.E.)
PREHISTORY - ART
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12. Nok Pottery (ca. 500 BCE–200 CE)
PREHISTORY - ART
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13. PREHISTORY - ART
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Paleolitic art - Zimbawe

14. PREHISTORY - ART
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Paleolitic art - Zimbawe

15. “A myth is a story that a culture assumes is
true. It also embodies the culture’s views and
beliefs about its world, often serving to
explain otherwise mysterious natural
phenomena.”
(Sayre 2014, 10)
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PREHISTORY - MYTHOLOGY

16. Chatal Huyuk, Turkey (7400 BCE)
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PREHISTORY - ARCHITECTURE

17. Chatal Huyuk, Turkey (7400 BCE)
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PREHISTORY - ARCHITECTURE

18. Chatal Huyuk, Turkey (7400 BCE)
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PREHISTORY - ARCHITECTURE

19. 21
PREHISTORY - ARCHITECTURE
Neolithic menhir alignments
Carnac-France.
ca. (4,250–3,750 BCE)

20. Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England. (ca. 2750–1500 BCE)22
PREHISTORY - ARCHITECTURE

21. MESOPOTAMIA
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22. MESOPOTAMIA
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• Sumerian
• Akkadian
• Assyrian
• Babylonian

23. The ziggurat at Ur (ca. 2100 BCE)
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MESOPOTAMIA - ARCHITECTURE

24. The ziggurat at Ur (ca. 2100 BCE)
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MESOPOTAMIA - ARCHITECTURE

25. • Polytheistic
• Society was part of the larger society of the universe
governed by these gods
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MESOPOTAMIA - RELIGION

26. • Gods were connected
to the forces of
nature
• Anu: father of gods
• Enil: god of the air
• Belitili: goddess of
agriculture
• Ea/Enki: god of the
water
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MESOPOTAMIA - RELIGION

27. Standard of Ur
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MESOPOTAMIA - POLITICS

28. Standard of Ur
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MESOPOTAMIA - POLITICS

29. Babilonians - Hammurabi Code
• To celebrate his sense of justice and
the wisdom
• Represent god Shamash blessing
Hammurabi
• 282 separate “articles”.
• a list of punishments for offenses.
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MESOPOTAMIA - POLITICS

30. Babilonians - Hammurabi Code
• 2. If any one bring an accusation against a
man, and the accused go to the river and
leap into the river, if he sink in the river
his accuser shall take possession of his
house. But if the river prove that the
accused is not guilty, and he escape
unhurt, then he who had brought the
accusation shall be put to death, while he
who leaped into the river shall take
possession of the house that had
belonged to his accuser.
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MESOPOTAMIA - POLITICS

31. Babilonians - Hammurabi Code
• 117. If any one fail to meet a claim for
debt, and sell himself, his wife, his son,
and daughter for money or give them
away to forced labor: they shall work
for three years in the house of the man
who bought them, or the proprietor,
and in the fourth year they shall be set
free.
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MESOPOTAMIA - POLITICS

32. Babilonians - Hammurabi Code
• 229 If a builder build a house for some
one, and does not construct it
properly, and the house which he built
fall in and kill its owner, then that
builder shall be put to death.
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MESOPOTAMIA - POLITICS

33. REFERENCES
• Sayre, H. (2014). Discovering the Humanities (3rd
ed). Pearson Education.
• World History: Patterns of Interaction (2007).
McDougal Littell.
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