The Edge of History I
From "The Origin of Kingship"
This King's rise to power and his rule over the Sumerian city of Eridu marked the beginning of both recorded Kingship and Civilization.
Who is Alulim?
Owing to the flow of the local river, this group of people oriented themselves "backwards."
Who were the Ancient Egyptians?
This historical period ended around 3000 BC with the advent of written records.
What is prehistory?
This material, made from copper and tin, became the defining medium of the 3rd millennium BC because of its strength, durability, and versatility.
What is bronze?
This burial complex of the First Dynasty was located far from the capital city of Memphis in the southern homeland of the pharaohs.
What is Abydos?
Who is Gilgamesh?
This tomb, built by the pharaoh Khufu around the year 2600 BC, is 481 feet tall, 755 feet long, and is aligned with Polaris, the North Star.
What is the Great Pyramid of Giza?
This tightly-packed military formation was utilized for hundreds of years throughout the ancient world, including Sumeria, and perfected by Alexander the Great.
What is a phalanx?
This region became uninhabitable, leading its inhabitants to settle in the Nile River Valley to the East.
What is the Sahara?
This theory involves the Mediterranean Sea bursting into the Black Sea and sending a flood into Sumer.
What is the Ryan-Pitman Flood Theory?
A symbol of this creature was found carved next to the figure of the first King to unify Upper and Lower Egypt.
What is a Scorpion?
The earliest form of writing, invented by the ancient Sumerians, was named centuries later for its distinctive wedge-shaped letters.
What is Cuneiform?
This city was considered the crown jewel of Sumer, and its rulers claimed a lordship and held influence over the other kings of Mesopotamia.
What is Kish?
This Egyptian god, the brother and murderer of Osiris, was revered in Lower Egypt as the bringer of clouds and sandstorms.
Who is Set?
Despite his numerous victories against natural and supernatural opponents, this enemy finally defeats Gilgamesh in the end.
What is death?
This historical period, which encompasses the reigns of the Third through the Sixth Dynasties, began with the construction of the first pyramids in Egypt.
What is the Old Kingdom?
This artifact, created to celebrate the victory of Lagash over Umma, depicts men with bronze helmets fighting with shields and spears and provides historians with an immeasurable understanding of combat in ancient Sumeria.
What is the Stele of Vultures?
Leaving from this country via the Indus river, you can sail into the Arabian Sea and up the Persian Gulf to Mesopotamia.
What is India?
The Sumerian name for the Euphrates river (Uruttu) comes from the transport of this resource.
What is Copper?
This color signifies the Kingdom of Upper Egypt.
What is White?
This Egyptian writing system contained both pictograms and phonetic symbols, and remained unchanged for centuries, resulting in its influence over many neighboring alphabets.
What are Hieroglyphs?
This people to the northeast of Mesopotamia were attacked by Enmerkar, the King of Uruk, who long admired the riches and skilled craftsmen of their city Aratta.
Who were the Elamites?
The first pharaohs considered themselves the earthly embodiment of this Egyptian god, who they revered as the patron of the sun and sky.
Who is Horus?
According to the Epic of Gilgamesh, the gods intercede on behalf of the people of Uruk by creating this wild man, who humbles and later befriends the story's protagonist.
Who is Enkidu?
This tomb, surrounded by a vast necropolis for the pharaoh Djoser to rule in the afterlife, was designed by Imhotep, and was the first pyramid built in Egypt.
What is the Step Pyramid?
The Sumerian concept of freedom, the idea that citizens should be governed by a certain and unchanging code, that literally translates to "return to the mother."
What is amagi?
This term refers to a rough, non-navigable section of a river.
What is a Cataract?
Despite needing each other, these two ways of life were set at odds in the early stages of the development of civilization.
What are Nomads/Shepherds and Farmers/City Dwellers?
You can mix these two things with Copper to make Bronze.
What are Tin and Arsenic?
This artifact, uncovered by Napoleon's troops in AD 1799, was integral in helping scholars decipher Ancient Egyptian.
What is the Rosetta Stone?
This sacred city of Sumeria, protected by the rulers of Kish, was renowned for its shrines to Enlil, the king of the Mesopotamian pantheon.
What is Nippur?
What is Nesu-bit?
In Part II of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the hero ventures into the Cedar Forest to the north of Sumeria and slays this foe, the "Giant Hugeness," who wreaks havoc there.
Who is Humbaba?
The first pyramids, built to commemorate the legacy of one man, were most likely influenced by these temples of worship seen by Egyptian visitors in Sumeria.
What is a ziggurat?
In 2500 BC, Lugulannemundu, the king of Adab, drove the Elamites from thirteen cities in Sumeria, and took this title to signify his power over the whole world.
What is King of the Four Quarters?
Egyptian Kings often sent expeditions to this nearby region at the start of their reigns.
What is the Sinai Peninsula?
In flood narratives, the flood often represents the loss of this place/idea/feeling.
What is paradise?
These two Ancient Egyptian words mean "Black Land" and "Red Land."
What are Kemet and Deshret?
What is property?
This Sumerian deity, the goddess of love and war, was revered in Uruk and Aratta alike, and her "favor" became the source of war between the two cities.
Who is Inanna?
The pharaohs of the First Dynasty began to expand Egypt's borders beyond the Nile Valley, leading a series of campaigns into these adjacent regions.
What is Palestine, the Sinai Peninsula, and Lower Nubia?
This king of Ur commissioned the oldest surviving copy of the Epic of Gilgamesh around the year 2100 BC.
Who is Shulgi?
This pharaoh, the first of the Fourth Dynasty, completed the Meydum Pyramid (which collapsed), built the Bent Pyramid, and was likely buried in the Northern (a.k.a. Red) Pyramid.
Who is Snefru?
This king of Lagash attempted to reform his city's corruption and restore justice by lowering taxes and dividing the religious and secular duties of priests, but inevitably fell out of favor with the elite and elders of the kingdom.
Who is Urukagina?
This gap between mountains above the Punjab was probably used by ancient peoples to access the fertile river systems of North-West India.
What is the Kyber Pass?