6,000 B.C. – 587 B.C.

 The Nile River  750-mile stretch to the delta provided easy travel to Mediterranean Sea  Predictable annual floods provided fertile land  Climate and irrigation allowed for 2-3 crops per year

 Old Kingdom (2680 B.C. – 2180 B.C.)  Pharaohs organized a strong central state, were absolute rulers, and were considered gods  Egyptians built pyramids at Giza  Used hieroglyphics and wrote on papyrus

 Middle Kingdom (2050 B.C. – 1650 B.C.)  Large canal project created arable farmland  Hyskos conquered lower Egypt  brought horse-drawn chariots and bronze

 New Kingdom (1570 B.C. – 1080 B.C.)  Powerful pharaohs created a large empire that reached the Euphrates River  Hatshepsut encouraged trade  Ramses II expanded Egyptian rule to Syria

 Achievements  Geometry (to build pyramids)  Calendar (accurate 365 days)  Later added a leap year  Medicine (including preserving bodies)

Khufuthe Washington monument 346 feet

 Egyptians were polytheistic  Amon-Re, sun god, was most important  Osiris, judged the dead and was associated with the Nile  Believed in an afterlife  Mummification prepared people for death

 The Fertile Crescent  Formed by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers  Flooding not as predictable as Nile  Required canals and dikes to control water levels

 Sumer  Cuneiform  Arch  Ziggurat  Wheel

bricks no wood in the area; steel had not yet been invented at the top of the structure to get it as close as possible to the sky, where the people believed the gods lived

 Babylonians  Code of Hammurabi  Harsh Punishment “eye for an eye”  Varied according to status  Women had some legal and property rights

 Persians  Cyrus the Great  Conquered people treated fairly  allowed to keep religions and laws  Secret agents kept king informed

 Persians (cont)  Darius I  Organized Persia into territories  Promoted trade and commerce  Standardized monetary system  Built Royal Road  1,500 mile road with fresh horses  Tolerant of religious practices

 Persians (cont)  Xerses I  Focused on military  Tried to conquer Greece  Defeated Spartans  Burned Athens  Defeated at Salamis

 Phoenicians  Traders that went as far as England  Created the alphabet  Lydians  Developed money economy

Canaanite to Phoenician to Greek to English a triangle S

 Monotheistic – believe one god created the universe  First five books of the Bible are the Torah  Law similar to Hammurabi  Higher value on human life

 Abraham  Father of the Jewish people  Told to leave his home to create a great nation  Blessed with a lot of children

 Moses  Raised in the Pharaoh's court  God tells Moses to lead his people on an exodus from Egypt to the promised land  God gives Moses the Torah and the Ten Commandments