Professor James Baer

WESTERN CIVILIZATION I

Study Guide Ch. 1 and 2

Identification:Students should be able to identify the terms and people listed in one short phrase. After reading these chapters, students should understand  the importance of these individuals and terms, and with which country or countries they are associated. These  must be typed.

Terms:

Paleolithic:
Neolithic:
archaeology:
cuneiform:
Sumeria:
Babylonia:
Assyria:
Hebrews:
Bronze Age:
Iron Age:
Code of Hammurabi:
Pharaoh:
Old Kingdom:
pyramids:
New Kingdom:
ethical monotheism:
Middle Kingdom:
hieroglyphics:
Mesopotamia:
"Gilgamesh:"
covenant:
Hittites:
Aten:
ziggurats:

People:

Sargon I:
Hammurabi:
Hatshepsut:
Akhenaten:
Ramses II:
Moses:
Nebuchadnezzar II:
Cyrus II:
Zoroaster:
 

Discussion/ Essay Topics: The following topics will be highlighted by the instructor in class, and there will be opportunities for students to discuss these issues. Based on discussion and the information in these chapters, students should be able to write a complete essay of several pages, using specific examples and showing that they have thought about the questions. The midterm exam will require students to write in class an essay in response to one of these questions chosen by the instructor.

1. How do we know about people who lived before writing was invented? How valid is our knowledge?

2. How did hunting/gathering societies change with the agricultural revolution?

3. Do you think the laws of Hammurabi were fair? How do they compare to our laws?

4. How is the Egyptian civilization similar to and/or different from that of Mesopotamia? Include examples of religion, political organization, and geography.

5. How did the Hebrew concept of God differ from that of the Egyptians and Mesopotamians?