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First Civilizations
First Civilizations is the second edition of a popular student text first published in 1996 in Montreal by Les Editions Champ Fleury. This much updated and expanded edition provides an introductory overview of the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. It was conceived primarily for... Read more
Published: 2005
Pages: 291
eBook: 9781904768784
First Civilizations is the second edition of a popular student text first published in 1996 in Montreal by Les Editions Champ Fleury. This much updated and expanded edition provides an introductory overview of the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. It was conceived primarily for students who have little or no knowledge of ancient history or archaeology. The book begins with the role of history and archaeology in understanding the past, and continues with the origins of agriculture and the formation of the Sumerian city-states in Mesopotamia. Three subsequent chapters concentrate on Assyrian and Babylonian history and culture. The second half of the book focuses on Egypt, begining with the physical environment of the Nile, the formation of the Egyptian state and the Old Kingdom. Subsequent chapters discuss the Middle Kingdom, the Hyksos period,and the 18th Dynasty, with space devoted to Hatshepsut, Akhenaten, the Ramesside period. The text ends with the Persian conquest of Mesopotamia and Egypt. First Civilizations also contains sections on astronomy, medicine, architecture, eschatology, religion, burial practices and mummification, and discusses the myths of Gilgamesh, Isis and Osiris. Each chapter has a basic bibliography which emphasizes English language encyclopedias, books and journals specializing in the ancient Near East.
| Cover | Cover | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Contents | vi | ||
| Preface | viii | ||
| Acknowledgements | ix | ||
| List of illustrations | x | ||
| Part I: Introduction | 1 | ||
| 1. History and archaeology as tools for understanding the past | 2 | ||
| Methodolog I: What is History? | 4 | ||
| Continuing historical research | 7 | ||
| Methodology II: What is Archaeology? | 9 | ||
| Excavating in Northern Mesopotamia | 11 | ||
| 2. Agriculture and the origins of civilization | 20 | ||
| The Development of Writing | 27 | ||
| Part II: Mesopotamia | 37 | ||
| 3. The Early Dynastic period and the formation ofthe first city-states | 38 | ||
| 4. TheAkkadians and the Ur III Dynasty | 50 | ||
| Part I: The Akkadians | 50 | ||
| 5. Mesopotamia in the second millennium BC: the Babylonians and the Kassites (2000–1600 BC) | 60 | ||
| The Laws of Hammurabi | 64 | ||
| The End of the First Babylonian Dynasty | 70 | ||
| 6. The Assyrians | 74 | ||
| The Sargonid Kings (721–612 BC) | 81 | ||
| 7. The Last Babylonian Dynasty | 90 | ||
| Part III: Religion, science, and medicine | 99 | ||
| 8. Mythology and religion in Mesopotamia: the story of Gilgamesh and Enkidu | 100 | ||
| 9. Science and technology: astronomy and medicine in Mesopotamia and Egypt | 108 | ||
| Part I: Astronomy | 108 | ||
| Part II: Medicine | 117 | ||
| PLATE SECTION | |||
| Part IV: Egypt | 127 | ||
| 10. Egypt: the Black Land | 128 | ||
| 11. The Old Kingdom or the Pyramid Age (2575–2134 BC) | 138 | ||
| 12. Funerary practices, rituals, and mummification | 156 | ||
| The Fate of the Dead | 160 | ||
| Mummification and the Preservation of the Dead | 163 | ||
| 13. The Hyksos period and the New Kingdom | 168 | ||
| The New Kingdom (1550–1069 BC) | 171 | ||
| 14. Akhenaten and the Amarna period | 180 | ||
| The Re-Establishment of the Old Order | 188 | ||
| 15. The 19th Dynasty and the Ramesside kings | 194 | ||
| 16. Egypt inthe late second and first millenniums BC | 204 | ||
| Part V: Mesopotamia and Egypt under Persian rule | 217 | ||
| 17. The Persians | 218 | ||
| Epilogue | 228 | ||
| Notes | 232 | ||
| Bibliography | 250 | ||
| Index | 262 |