1. Literature of the Ancient World 3000 B.C. – A. D. 500
Spiritual Beginnings: Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Hebrew Literature
Writings from the oldest known civilization
Epic of Gilgamesh
Egyptian Book of the Dead
Hebrew Bible
These writings reveal the spiritual beliefs of these ancient cultures

2. Literature of the Ancient World 3000 B.C. – A. D. 500
Sacred and Practical Teachings: Literature of Ancient India
Includes important Hindu scriptures: Aryan hymns from the Rig Veda and Mahabharata and Ramayana epics which present religious ideals
Secular stories from the Panchatantra, a collection of folk tales arranged as a practical guide for living

3. Making Connections
In what way might writing make a dead man, or a dead civilization, “alive in the mouths of any who read?”
Answer: reading a burial inscription or the preserved words of a dead person conjures up his or her memory. Reading the literature of a past civilization, such as that of the ancient Egyptians, enables people to imagine its gods, rituals, and way of life – making it exist again in the reader’s mind.

4. Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Hebrew Literature (Refer to map on pp
Why might the Jordan River have been less important to the Hebrews than the Nile to the Egyptians or the Tigris and Euphrates to the Mesopotamians?
Answer:
The Jordan is smaller; Canaan has a large body of open water nearby – the Mediterranean; Canaan is small and travel distances not so great as in the other two regions of the Middle East.

5. Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Hebrew Literature (Refer to map on pp
How far apart did the Mesopotamian cities of Ur and Uruk lie?
How many miles did the first Hebrew cover in their migration from Ur to Haran and then from Haran to Canaan?
Answer: approximately 50 miles
Answer: about a thousand miles

6. Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Hebrew Literature (Refer to map on pp
Is the Egyptian city of Memphis closer to Thebes or to Jerusalem?
This unit includes literature from three cultures of the ancient Middle East that occupied a region called the Fertile Crescent. The Mesopotamian and the Egyptian are the oldest civilizations known. The Hebrew produced a body of literature that has been instrumental in shaping Western civilization.
Jerusalem

7. Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Hebrew Literature (Refer to How Cultures Survived, p.17)
Each culture’s way of existing in the region was radically different from that of the other two. The Egyptians were a single ethnic group in a single geographic area, the Mesopotamians different ethnic groups in a single area, and the Hebrews one ethnic group in a number of areas. As you read the rest of this intro, look for causes for these differences and ways the differences affected the cultures.

8. Mesopotamia: History, Arts, and Culture
Study the painting on p. 19 and identify the following items mentioned under Architecture and Technology: a decorated building, a garden, a ziggurat, a city wall, a city gate, a thoroughfare, a hanging garden, a fountain, a sail, and cuneiform writing. How are the symbols formed?

9. Mesopotamia: History, Arts, and Culture
Who can be thought of as the world’s first author because her writings are the earliest ones known to be connected with a particular person?
Answer: Enheduanna – a moon priestess who was the daughter of King Sargon of Akkad. She wrote some of the world’s oldest surviving written poetry in a series of sacred hymns.

10. Egypt: History, Arts, and Culture
Explain the meaning of kingdom as it is used on pp
How is the history of Egypt connected to the history of Mesopotamia as described on p. 18?
Answer: A kingdom is a period in Egyptian history during which the country as unified and ruled by a series of strong dynasties.
Answer: Egypt is invaded by the Assyrians in 671 B. C.

11. Egypt: History, Arts, and Culture
Who were the rulers of the:
Old Kingdom
Middle Kingdom
New Kingdom
Who were the female rulers of these kingdoms? Who was the first female to rule as a pharaoh?
Answer: Queen Nefertiti, Queen Ahhotep, Hatshepsut (declared herself pharaoh after her husband died, ruled as a man, had herself sculpted with a masculine build and artificial chin-beard, and produced a document in which the god Amen endorsed her rule; she ruled for about twenty years; her reign was distinguished as a time of peace, free trade, and the building of beautiful monuments).

12. The Ancient Hebrews: History, Arts, and Culture
Identify the connections between the history of the ancient Hebrews and that of the Mesopotamians and Egyptians.
Answer: Abraham migrated from the Mesopotamian city of Ur about the time the Babylonians took Sumer from the Akkadians. The Hebrews migrated to Egypt during the New Kingdom period, became enslaved there, and were brought out of Egypt by Moses after the end of the New Kingdom. Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians. The Babylonians conquered Judah and took the Jewish people as slaves back to Mesopotamia.

13. The Ancient Hebrews: History, Arts, and Culture
The Temple: After Cyrus freed the Jews from the Babylonian captivity, his successor, Darius I, allowed them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. Darius also returned sacred objects stolen from the Temple by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, but the Ark of the Covenant and the tablets of Moses were lost forever. The second Temple still existed during the time of Jesus at the beginning of the first century A.D., many incidents from his “New Testament” narratives take place there; the 2nd Temple was destroyed by the Roman general Titus in A.D. 70. Part of the original Temple wall remains today and is one of the holiest sites of Judaism. At dusk on Friday, Jews gather at the site, known as the Wailing Wall, to welcome the Sabbath with song and prayer.

14. Searching for the Past (pp. 24-25)
For each short essay listed below, describe the problem presented and how it was solved:
How Writing Was Invented
No one understood the purpose of the clay tokens or why tablets were rounded.
Breaking the Code
No one could read Egyptian hieroglyphics.
A Library in the Sand
The Epic of Gilgamesh was lost.
King Tut’s Tomb
Most pyramids had been looted, so their contents could not be studied.
The Dead Sea Scrolls
Bible texts from the time of Jesus did not exist; the scrolls were not widely available for study.
The Search Continues
Only broken tablets had been found.

15. Literary Terms to Know Myth Heroic literature Sacred verse
Legends, epics
Sacred verse
Wisdom literature
Proverbs, parables
Folk tales
Archetype

16. Foundations of Early Literature
What kinds of literature probably existed in early societies?
What purposes would these kinds of literature serve?
What similar literary forms exist in our own culture?
What examples of literary forms in use today exist primarily in written form? In other forms (oral, etc.)