Western Civilization

The Hunter-Gatherers of the Old Stone Age One of the basic distinguishing features of the human species is the ability to make t ...

existed between men and women. Indeed, some specu- late that both men and women made the decisions that affected the activities ...

to the important role of religious practices in the lives of these Neolithic peoples. The Neolithic Revolution had far-reaching ...

around 3000 to 1200B.C.E. theBronze Age; there- after, bronze was increasingly replaced by iron. At first, Neolithic settlements ...

officials, apartment buildings, and grand residences, all built of stone. The inhabitants of Caral also devel- oped a system of ...

the gods and supervised the temples and their property. The priests and priestesses had great power. The temples ownedmuchofthec ...

agriculture depended. The army, the government bu- reaucracy, and the priests and priestesses all aided the kings in their rule. ...

temple is destroyed; the gods have abandoned us,.... Smoke lies on our city like a shroud.”^3 Located on the flat land of Mesopo ...

the son of the builder was put to death. If the collapse destroyed goods, they had to be replaced and the house itself reconstru ...

her dowry. A woman could seek a divorce and get her dowry back if her husband was unable to show that she had done anything wron ...

Human beings’ relationship with their gods was based on subservience; according to Sumerian myth, human beings were created to d ...

texts date to around 3000B.C.E. and were written by the Sumerians, who used acuneiform(kyoo-NEE-uh- form) (“wedge-shaped”) syste ...

OPPOSING VIEWPOINTS The Great Flood: Two Versions Both the MesopotamianEpic of Gilgameshand the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) inc ...

a narrow band on both sides of the Nile. About one hundred miles before it empties into the Mediterra- nean, the river splits in ...

Although theoretically absolute in their power, in practice Egyptian kings did not rule alone. Initially, members of the king’s ...

The Middle Kingdom was characterized by a new concern on the part of the pharaohs for the people. In the Old Kingdom, the pharao ...

with a human body and the head of a falcon. The phar- aoh took the title “Son of Re” because he was regarded as the earthly embo ...

Egyptian kings and the spiritual conviction that under- lay Egyptian society. No later pyramid ever matched its size or splendor ...

Akhenaten’s attempt at religious change failed. It went too far in asking Egyptians to ignore their traditional ways and beliefs ...

IMAGES OF EVERYDAY LIFE The Egyptian Diet THE DIETS OFthe upper and lower classes in ancient Egypt differed considerably. Variou ...