Chapter 2 Vocabulary PDF

Chapter 2 Ancient Middle East and Egypt 3200 B.C. – 500 B.C. Section 1 1. Fertile crescent – region of the Middle East in which civilizations first arose. 2. Mesopotamia – region within the Fertile Crescent that lies between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. 3. Sumer – site of the world’s...

Chapter 2 Ancient Middle East and Egypt 3200 B.C. – 500 B.C. Section 1 1. Fertile crescent – region of the Middle East in which civilizations first arose. 2. Mesopotamia – region within the Fertile Crescent that lies between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. 3. Sumer – site of the world’s first civilization, located in southeastern Mesopotamia. 4. The Epic of Gilgamesh – a Mesopotamian narrative poem which was first told orally in Sumer. 5. hierarchy – system of ranking groups. 6. Ziggurat – in ancient Mesopotamia, a large, stepped platform thought to have been topped by a temple dedicated to a city’s chief god or goddess. 7. Cuneiform – in the ancient Middle East, a system of writing that used wedge-shaped marks. Section 2 1. Sargon – the ruler of Akkad, invaded and conquered the neighboring city- states of Sumer. 2. Hammurabi – king of Babylon who brought much of Mesopotamia under the control of his empire, and improved the system of irrigation, organized a well- trained army, and ordered many temples to be repaired. 3. Codify – to arrange or set down in writing. 4. Civil law – branch of law that deals with private rights and matters. 5. Criminal law – branch of law that deals with offenses against others. 6. Nebuchadnezzar – second king ruling Babylon. 7. Barter economy – economic system in which one set of goods or services is exchanged for another. 8. Money economy – economic system in which goods or services are paid for through the exchange of a token of an agreed value. 9. Zoraster – Persian thinker who lived about 600 B.C. he rejected the old Persian gods and taught that a single wise god, Ahura Mazda ruled the world. 10. Colony – territory settled and ruled by people from another land. 11. alphabet – writing system in which each symbol represents a single basic sound. Section 3 1. Cataract – waterfall. 2. Delta – triangular area of marshland formed by deposits of silt at the mouth of some rivers. 3. Dynasty – ruling family. 4. Pharaoh – title of the rulers of ancient Egypt. 5. Bureaucracy 6. Vizier – chief minister who supervised the business of government in ancient Egypt. 7. Hatshepsut – first female ruler she exercised all the rights of a pharaoh. 8. Thutmose III – took over as pharaoh, a great military general, stretched Egypt’s borders to their greatest extent ever. 9. Ramses II – became pharaoh of the New Kingdom, ruled for 66 years. Section 4 1. Amon-Re – the great lord of the gods. 2. Osiris – Egyptian male god. 3. Isis – Egyptian female god whose story touched human emotions such as love, and jealousy. 4. Akhenaton – the pharaoh Amenhotep IV took this name which means “he who serves Aton”. 5. Mummification – the preservation of dead bodies by embalming and wrapping them in cloth. 6. Hieroglyphics – system of writing in which pictures called hieroglyphs represent objects, concepts, or sounds. 7. Papyrus – plant used to make a paper-like writing material in ancient Egypt. 8. Decipher – to figure out the meaning of. 9. Rosetta Stone – stone monument that includes the same passage carved in hieroglyphics, demotic script, and Greek and that was used to decipher the meanings of many hieroglyphs. Section 5 1. Monotheistic - believing in one God. 2. Torah – the most sacred text of the Hebrew Bible, including its first five books. 3. Abraham – lived near Ur in Mesopotamia, migrated with his family to Canaan, he is considered the father of the Israelite people. 4. Covenant – a binding agreement; specifically, in the Jewish tradition, the binding agreement God made with Abraham. 5. Moses – an Israelite who migrated the Israelites to Egypt. 6. David – the strong and wise second king of Israel united these tribes into a single nation. 7. Solomon – undertook the task of turning the city of Jerusalem into an impressive capital, the son of David. 8. Patriarchal – relating to a society in which men hold the greatest legal and moral authority. 9. Sabbath – a holy day for rest and worship. 10.Prophet – spiritual leader who interprets God’s will. 11.Ethics – moral standards of behavior. 12.Diaspora – the spreading of the Jews beyond their historic homeland.