This document provides an overview of early civilizations and Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilization. It discusses the first civilizations emerging around 5000 years ago along major rivers like the Tigris, Euphrates, Nile, Yellow River, and Indus River. Mesopotamian civilization was the first to develop writing in around 3000 BC, with cuneiform writing on clay tablets. Egyptian civilization emerged along the Nile River, with the annual flooding providing fertile land. Powerful pharaoh kings ruled ancient Egypt, and religion was important for ensuring order. Both civilizations had hierarchical societies divided between elites and commoners. Mesopotamian and Egyptian art served religious and political functions through temples, statues

1. UNIT 9 – EARLY CIVILIZATIONS
1- WHAT WERE THE FIRST CIVILIZATIONS?
2- WHAT WAS MESOPOTAMIAN CIVILIZATION LIKE?
3- WHAT WAS MESOPOTAMIAN SOCIETY LIKE?
4- WHAT WAS MESOPOTAMIAN CULTURE LIKE?
5- WHY WAS THE NILE CRUCIAL TO ANCIENT EGYPT?
6- WHO WERE THE PHARAONS?
7- WHAT WAS ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SOCIETY LIKE?
8- HOW DID ANCIENT EGYPT CHANGE?
9- WHAT WERE EGYPTIAN RELIGIOUS BELIEFS?
10- WHAT WAS EGYPTIAN ART LIKE?

2. 1- WHAT WERE THE FIRST CIVILIZATIONS?
The
invention
of writing
It marks the end od Prehistory
Writing was used for storing information about taxes, trade and
population.

3. 1- WHAT WERE THE FIRST CIVILIZATIONS?
The first
civilizations
They appeared in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China
around 5000 years ago.
They developed along large rivers surrounded by fertile
land.
Mesopotamia
Egypt
China
India
Tigris, Euphrates
Nile
Yellow and Blue Rivers
Indus

4. 1- WHAT WERE THE FIRST CIVILIZATIONS?
The first
civilizations
River civilizations main characteristics
Powerfull kings
Made laws
They created and led the army
Religious functions
Served by civil servants
Hierachical society
Clearly divided in differentiated groups
Privileged minority
Majority much poorerLarge-scale building works
Palaces,
temples, tombs,
canals

5. 1- WHAT WERE THE FIRST CIVILIZATIONS?
Powerfull kings that lead armies and win battles
Powerfull kings that
made laws.

6. 1- WHAT WERE THE FIRST CIVILIZATIONS?
What does the invention of writing mark?
How was used writing at the beginning?
When and where did the first civilizations appear?
Why they were called river civilizations?
Which were the first civilizations main characteristics?

7. 2- WHAT WAS MESOPOTAMIAN CIVILIZATION LIKE?
Mesopotamia
means “between
rivers”.
First civilization to use writing
(5000 years ago – 3000 BC)
Geographical
characteristics
Dry area
Irrigation canals
allowed agriculture
to develop
Strategic geographical
situation: key region for
trade between Syria,
Mediaterranean and Asia
Minor.
ASIA
MINOR

8. 2- WHAT WAS MESOPOTAMIAN CIVILIZATION LIKE?
Mesopotamian civilization was the first to use writing
CUNEIFORM
WRITING
Signs drawn on clay with a reed
The patterns look as if they were made by a
wedge.
Why was writing so important?
It made posible to organize a state
to record stories of
heroes and divinities.

9. 2- WHAT WAS MESOPOTAMIAN CIVILIZATION LIKE?
What does Mesopotamia means?
When did writing appear in Mesopotamia?
Which are the Mesopotamian geographical
characteristics?
Describe the cuneiform writing
Why was so important the develop of writing?

10. 3- WHAT WAS MESOPOTAMIAN SOCIETY LIKE?Mesopotamian
society
Privileged groups
Aristocracy
King’s family and nobility
Owned most of the land and occupied the
highest government positions.
Priests
Control religion
Owned part of the land
Cooperated with government
Civil servants
They could read, write and
count.
Register laws and commercial
transactions

11. 3- WHAT WAS MESOPOTAMIAN SOCIETY LIKE?Mesopotamian
society
Free people
Slaves
Peasants
CRaftsmen
Rented the land around the city.
Land belonged to the king or the
temple
They worked in workshops.
Carpenters, weavers, jewellers
Women were men’s property.
They had no rights
They became slaves as Prisioners of
war.

12. King and nobility
Priests
Civil servants
Craftsmen and peasants
Slaves

13. 3- WHAT WAS MESOPOTAMIAN SOCIETY LIKE?
How was organized the Mesopotamian society?
Explain the following sentence: The mesopotamian society
was hierarchical.
Activity 2 on page 100.

14. The Standard of Ur
War side

15. http://www.teachinghistory100.org/objects/ab
out_the_object/ur_standard
The Standard of UrPeace side

17. 4- WHAT WAS MESOPOTAMIAN CULTURE LIKE?
Religion in
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamians were polytheistic:
believed in many gods.
Gods were similar to humans but
immortal.
Temples were the gods’ residences on Earth.
They were built on stepped pyramids (zigurat)
Mesopotamians thought that gods lived at the top
of the mountains.
Zigurats pretend to be mountains with a temple at
the top.

18. 4- WHAT WAS MESOPOTAMIAN CULTURE LIKE?
Mesopotamian
art
Mesopotamians built magnificent palaces
(khorsabad); temples (zigurats) and
monumental gates (Isthar Gate)
They invented the arch and the vault.

19. 4- WHAT WAS MESOPOTAMIAN CULTURE LIKE?
Mesopotamian
art
Brick and adobe (mud brick) were
used for construction.

20. Statues of prayers and believers
Gudea of Lagash
4- WHAT WAS MESOPOTAMIAN CULTURE LIKE?
Mesopotamian
art
Sculpture

21. Statues of animals and bulls with human heads
(lamasus).
4- WHAT WAS MESOPOTAMIAN CULTURE LIKE?
Mesopotamian
art

22. Reliefs showed political, hunting and religious scenes.
4- WHAT WAS MESOPOTAMIAN CULTURE LIKE?
Mesopotamian
art

23. 4- WHAT WAS MESOPOTAMIAN CULTURE LIKE?
What does polytheistic mean?
Describe the Mesopotamian gods.
What is a ziggurat?
Which types of buildings did Mesopotamians build?
Which elements did they invente?Which materials did
they use to build?
Which types of statues did the Mesopotamians
make?

24. 5- Why was the Nile crucial to Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Lower Egypt
Saqqara
Gyza
Memphis Arabian
desert
Upper Egypt
Tebas
Edfu
Luxor
Karnak
Red
Sea
Abu Simbel
Libyan
desert
Mediterranean Sea
Egyptian
civilization
It emerged 5000
years ago along
River Nile.
Each year the water
from Nile rose and
flooded the area; it
left mud that made
the fields fertile

25. 6- WHO WERE THE PHARAONS?
Egyptian civilization started in 3100 BC and finished when Egypt was
conquered by the Romans in the first century BC.
Pharaon
He was the king of Egypt
He was all-powerfull Egyptians believed the pharaon
was a god: they thought that
pharaons could make the waters
of the Nile rise.
He passed laws.
He owned most of the land.
He controlled trade and led
armies.

26. 6- WHO WERE THE PHARAONS?
What does pharaoh mean? Why was he so powerfull?

27. 7- WHAT WAS ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SOCIETY LIKE?
The
elite
Noblemen
Priests
Scribes
Majority
Merchants
Craftsmen
Peasants
Servants
Slaves
Ruled the provinces
Received land and treasures from pharaon
Organized rituals; owned land
In charge of oficial documents
Read, write and count
Pharaon and his family

28. 7- WHAT WAS ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SOCIETY LIKE?
The role
of women
Women had more rights than other in Antiquity.
Inherit; own property; divorce
But it was rare to for women to hold positions in
administration.
Some became
pharaons.

29. 7- WHAT WAS ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SOCIETY LIKE?
Explain how was the Egyptian society
organized and its similarities with the
Mesopotamian one.

30. 8- HOW DID ANCIENT EGYPT CHANGE?
Old Kingdom
Middle Kingdom
New Kingdom
3100 BC 2200-2050 BC 1800 BC 1580 BC
Foreign rule
1100 BC 31 BC
1st intermediate
period
2nd intermediate
period
AmenhotepIII Akhenaten Ramesses II

31. 9- WHAT WERE EGYPTIAN RELIGIOUS BELIEFS?
Egyptian
religion
They were polytheistic
Ra (Amum, Atum), the Sun, was the
most important.
Other important gods: Isis, Osiris, Horus
Also worshipped: animals, R. Nile,
Pharaoh
Religion was important because it preserved the order of the
universe (it ensured the river flooded each year)
Egyptians believed there was an afterlife, so they preserved the
body (mummies) in a sarcophagus.
The biggest tombs were the pyramids.

32. Osiris: God of the afterlife
Ra, the Sun, was the most important.

33. Thot: inventor de la escritura y dios de la
sabiduríaAnubis: dios del infierno

34. Isis: Esposa y hermana de Osiris, diosa
de la fertilidad. Es la madre de Horus,
dios de la guerra

35. A MASTABA
A type of ancient Egyptian tomb in which important people were
buried.

36. The pyramid
Spectacular and giants tombs, pyramidal in shape; which were
builts by the pharaons
Pirámides de Giza en honor de los faraones Keops,
Kefren y Micerinos. Son de inicios del tercer milenio
antes de Cristo.

37. The hypogeum
Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut; one of the most important
Ancient Egypt monuments.
Underground tombs caved under a mountain

38. Who were the most important Egyptian gods?
Why was religion so important for the Egyptians?
Why did they preserve their bodies when they died?
Which were the most important Egytian funerary monuments?
9- WHAT WERE EGYPTIAN RELIGIOUS BELIEFS?

39. 10- WHAT WAS EGYPTIAN ART LIKE?
Egyptian art
Artists were considered craftsmen
rather than artists.
Religious meaning: tombs and temples
decorated with paintings and reliefs.
Political meaning: Large statues
showed the pharaoh’s power.

40. 10- WHAT WAS EGYPTIAN ART LIKE?
Temples They had an avenue of sphinxes leading
to the entrance
Inside there were different halls and a
sanctuary.
The image of the
god was in the
sanctuary.

41. 10- WHAT WAS EGYPTIAN ART LIKE?
Painting
It changed very little in 3000 years.
Artists followed strict rules
Figures painted without
perspective
Objects and human body
seen from the front.
Head, arms and legs seen in profile.
Person idealized: young and
beatiful
Static human figures: Stability and
continuity.

42. 10- WHAT WAS EGYPTIAN ART LIKE?
Describe and Egyptian temple.
Which were the rules that followed Egyptians painters.
Why were human figures painted so static?