Question | Answer |
Before the rise of civilization people were nomadic. What does this mean? | They traveled from place to place hunting and gathering food. |
How was the behavior of nomadic people regulated? | Through unwritten customs |
How did ancient people progress in their social organization? | Nomadic clans to villages to city-states to empires |
The first civilizations developed near these two rivers | The Tigris and Euphrates River |
Why did the first civilizations develop in river valleys? | Because annual flooding left silt on the surrounding land which enriched the soil |
How did the first farmers cope with challenges posed by rivers? | They learned to control flooding and use irrigation systems |
What was the name of the area that gave birth to the first civilizations? | Mesopotamia |
What do all civilizations need to survive and grow? | Resources |
What was the first civilization of the ancient world? | Sumer |
What are the five key elements of civilization? | Centralized Government; Organized Religion; Arts, Architecture, and Public Works; Job Specialization and Social Classes; Writing |
What does polytheistic mean? | Believed in many gods and goddesses |
How did the Hebrews differ from other ancient people? | Were Monotheistic, not polytheistic |
What was the most important religious duty of ancient citizens? | To keep their gods happy |
What were the temples in the Fertile Crescent called? | Ziggurats |
What stood at the top of each Ziggurat? | A shrine to the chief god or goddess of the city |
Why did ancient rulers build large palaces and temples? | To make the citizens believe in the power and strength of the rulers and gods |
What claim did ancient rulers claim to justify their authority? | The will of the gods |
What does it mean when we say that rulers in the ancient world were hereditary leader? | Leadership was passed from father to son |
What caused conflicts among the Fertile Crescent? | They competed to control land and water |
What developed as a result of the need to control the rivers, collect taxes, and build public works projects? | The first centralized governments in history |
List any three groups of people who developed civilizations in the Fertile Crescent. | Akkadians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Hebrews, Hittites, Medes, Persians, Phoenicians, and Sumerians |
What tasks did the first organized governments perform? | Write laws, collect taxes, provide food supply, and maintain defense |
Why were the first laws written? | To regulate the behavior of people who were now strangers to one another in cities |
In the ancient world, who was specially trained to read and write? | a scribe |
What did ancient people invent to record grain harvests and keep accurate records of the seasons? | writing |
How did ancient rulers use public works projects to ensure the cities' food supplies? | Built irrigation systems, roads, and bridges and kept records of harvests |
How did ancient use public works projects to provide for the defense of the city? | Built walls around the city to protect it from attack |
How did cities change the way people worked? | People specialized in jobs for the first time |
Why were people able to specialize in jobs in early civilizations? | Surpluses in food mean that not everyone had to search for food |
Raking people according to their hobs led to this. | The development of the first social classes |