1. Chapter 3 North Africa and Southwest Asia Early Cultures

2. Section 3.1 Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt (pages 82–86)

3. Did you know??? One of the most important technological achievements of the Sumerians was the invention of the wheel. Before wheeled carts were invented, goods were carried by boats or donkeys. The first wheels were made from solid wood, but eventually spokes were designed to reduce the weight.

4. I. Mesopotamia (pages 82–84) A. Civilization is a term historians use to describe a culture that has reached a certain level of development. This development includes a system of writing, building cities, and specialized workers.

5. I. Mesopotamia (pages 82–84) B. One of the first civilizations grew in the fertile crescent of land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Its name was Mesopotamia, and it was what is now Syria and Iraq.

6. I. Mesopotamia (pages 82–84) C. Around 4500 B.C. wandering peoples settled in large numbers here and began farming. They created a 12-month calendar, based on the phases of the moon, and they created the plow.

7. I. Mesopotamia (pages 82–84) D. Some of the villages and towns became city-states, which were made up of the city and farmland around it.

8. I. Mesopotamia (pages 82–84) E. The city-state was a theocracy—it was ruled by an individual who was both the religious leader and the king.

9. I. Mesopotamia (pages 82–84) F. The earliest of the city-states rose in an area called Sumer. The Sumerians created a form of writing known as cuneiform.

10. I. Mesopotamia (pages 82–84) G. Around 2300 B.C. the warlike kingdom of Akkad conquered Sumer and several other city-states to create the first empire, or group of states under one ruler.

11. I. Mesopotamia (pages 82–84) H. Hammurabi’s Code was an attempt to bring some justice and fairness to the idea of law.

12. I. Mesopotamia (pages 82–84) I. Among the most important traders were the Phoenicians, who were located mainly in what is now Lebanon. The Phoenicians developed an alphabet that gave rise to the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin alphabets still in use today.

13. Discussion Question How did the Babylonians contribute to the field of mathematics?

14. Discussion Question (The Babylonians contributed to the field of mathematics by developing a number system based on 60. From them, we have borrowed the 60-minute hour, 60-second minute, and 360-degree circle. They also used a clock controlled by drops of water to tell time.)

15. II. Ancient Egypt (pages 84–86) A. Like Mesopotamia, Egypt grew out of a river valley—the Nile, the longest river in the world.

16. II. Ancient Egypt (pages 84–86) B. The two kingdoms of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt were united in 3100 B.C. under a great ruler called a pharaoh.

17. II. Ancient Egypt (pages 84–86) C. Egyptians had a polytheistic religion, meaning they worshipped many gods.

18. II. Ancient Egypt (pages 84–86) D. Egyptians believed in life after death. To preserve the body for the next life, it was embalmed, or preserved immediately after death, as a mummy.

19. King Tut

20. Ramses II

21. II. Ancient Egypt (pages 84–86) E. The biggest tombs belonged to the pharaohs and were called pyramids.

22. II. Ancient Egypt (pages 84–86) F. Hieroglyphics is a form of picture writing with about 800 signs. In 1820, the Rosetta Stone provided the key that cracked the code for hieroglyphics.

23. II. Ancient Egypt (pages 84–86) G. Egypt expanded as far as Mesopotamia in the north and southward to the present-day Sudan.

24. II. Ancient Egypt (pages 84–86) H. Along with trade goods, the Egyptians spread ideas and accomplishments.

25. Discussion Question Even in ancient times, how were people and nations able to dominate one another?

26. Discussion Question (Even then, people and nations that could use technology were able to dominate, or control, other cultures.)

27. Section 3.2 Religions of the Middle East (pages 88–93)

28. Did you know???? The Quran, the holy book of Islam, is believed to be the exact and precise word of God, revealed to Muhammad by the angel Gabriel over a period of approximately 23 years. Although the Quran has been translated into many languages, only the original Arabic is considered the literal word of Allah.

29. I. Judaism (pages 88–90) A. Judaism was first practiced by a small group of people from Mesopotamia called Hebrews. The followers of Judaism today are known as Jews. Their holy book is the Torah.

30. I. Judaism (pages 88–90) B. The Jews believe that they are God’s chosen people and will remain so for as long as they follow God’s laws. The most well-known of these laws are the Ten Commandments.

31. I. Judaism (pages 88–90) C. Israel became an important and prosperous state under its first three kings— Saul, David, and Solomon.

32. I. Judaism (pages 88–90) D. Eventually, the Jewish people spread to many countries throughout the world. Jewish scholars, writers, artists, and scientists have greatly increased the world’s knowledge.

33. I. Judaism (pages 88–90) E. Because they follow their own religion and customs, Jews have sometimes been viewed suspiciously. Some governments have used Jewish communities as a scapegoat, or someone to blame for their troubles. In the 1940s, more than 6 million Jews were murdered in Europe during the Holocaust.

34. I. Judaism (pages 88–90) F. The United Nations voted in 1947 to create a Jewish state in Palestine.

35. Discussion Question From whom do the Jewish people believe they are descended?

36. Discussion Question (According to Jewish belief, the Hebrew people are descended from Abraham and Sarah, who first worshipped the one god, or Yahweh.)

37. II. Christianity (pages 90–92) A. Christianity is made up of people, called Christians, who are followers of Jesus Christ.

38. II. Christianity (pages 90–92) B. Christians believe Jesus is the Son of God and that he was the Messiah that the Jews were awaiting.

39. II. Christianity (pages 90–92) C. The holy book of the Christians is the Bible.

40. II. Christianity (pages 90–92) D. The disciples of Jesus spread His teachings across the Roman world and beyond. They were often persecuted until the emperor Constantine the Great became a Christian and made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.

41. II. Christianity (pages 90–92) E. The most famous universities of Europe were begun by Christian scholars.

42. Discussion Question What is Easter?

43. Discussion Question (Easter, believed to be the day that God raised Jesus from the dead, is the most important day of the Christian calendar.)

44. III. Islam (pages 92–93) A. The followers of Islam are called Muslims, or Moslems.

45. III. Islam (pages 92–93) B. Muslims believe that Muhammad is the last and greatest prophet of Allah, or God.

46. III. Islam (pages 92–93) C. The Muslim holy book is the Quran (Koran).

47. III. Islam (pages 92–93) D. The Quran describes the five pillars of faith, or the five obligations all Muslims must fulfill.

48. III. Islam (pages 92–93) E. The Muslim calendar begins in A.D. 622, the year of the Hijrah, when Muhammad was forced to flee for safety from Makkah to Madinah. Since the time of Muhammad, the Islamic faith has spread widely.

49. III. Islam (pages 92–93) F. Under Islam, knowledge in art, architecture, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, geography, history, and other fields was greatly increased.

50. Discussion Question What is Ramadan?

51. Discussion Question (Ramadan is the month, according to Muslim beliefs, in which God began to reveal the Quran to Muhammad. Muslims observe Ramadan by fasting and refraining from any acts that take their attention away from God.)

52. The End