Studying Ancient History

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Studying Ancient History

(Учебное пособие для студентов, обучающихся по специальности «История», «Музеология»)

КАЗАНСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ

им. В. И. Ульянова-Ленина

ИНСТИТУТ ЯЗЫКА

КАФЕДРА АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА

Studying Ancient History

(Учебное пособие для студентов, обучающихся по специальности «История» - 020700, «Музеология» - 021000)

Казань

2009

Печатается по решению редакционно-издательского совета

ГОУ ВПО «Казанский Государственный Университет

им. В. И. Ульянова - Ленина»

Рецензенты:

кандидат пед. наук, доцент Юхименко А. Н.

(Казанский Государственный Университет)

кандидат филол. наук, доцент Ахметзянов И. Г.

(Российский Исламский Институт)

Научный редактор:

Директор Института Языка КГУ, доктор филол. наук, проф. Багаутдинова Г. А.

Утверждено на заседании кафедры от 27 мая 2009 года, протокол № 9; и на заседании учебно-методической комиссии (Ученого совета Института Языка КГУ) от 27 мая 2009 года, протокол № 9.

Studying Ancient History: учеб. пособие для студентов, обучающихся по специальности «История», «Музеология»./ Каз. Гос. Ун-т, Институт Языка, каф. англ. языка; сост. А. А. Гильманова, А. А. Благовещенская, С. Е. Никитина, Н. О. Першина - Казань: Казан. Гос. Ун-т, 2009. - 112 с.

Данное пособие предназначено для студентов, обучающихся по специальности «История», «Музеология» и содержит материалы по специальности, дополняющие основной курс английского языка. Пособие предназначено для студентов исторического факультета, аспирантов, а также всех, кто интересуется проблемами истории Древнего мира.

От авторов

Одной из важнейших характеристик компетентного специалиста является умение работать с оригинальными источниками на иностранном языке. Для этого требуется не только умение читать и переводить текст, но и владеть лексикой в рамках своей специальности.

Учебное пособие «Studying Ancient History» призвано обучить будущих специалистов - историков работать со специальными текстами и расширить их словарный запас.

В пособии представлены неадаптированные тексты для развития различных умений коммуникативного чтения и перевода со словарем, сопровождаемые до- и после-текстовыми заданиями. Лексические упражнения позволяют проработать необходимую лексику и дополнить словарный запас обучаемых.

Поставленные авторами задачи отражаются в структуре пособия. Пособие состоит из 13 уроков, каждый из которых включает в себя два текста - Text A предназначен для изучающего чтения и включает в себя упражнения на отработку произношения, словообразование, лексику, развитие навыков языковой догадки, перевод. Text B предназначен для ознакомительного, поискового чтения или реферирования, в зависимости от специфики текста.

Тексты учебного пособия представлены в хронологическом порядке и охватывают период, начинающийся с древнейших цивилизаций и заканчивающийся падением Римской империи. Тексты для пособия были взяты с образовательных ресурсов www.historyguide.org (автор лекционного курса проф. Стивен Креис), электронных журналов по истории и археологии, а также из других источников. В пособии имеется раздел текстов для дополнительного чтения, содержащий не вошедший в основную часть материал по истории Древнего мира.

Материалы пособия прошли апробацию в студенческих группах и могут быть использованы как для аудиторной, так и для самостоятельной работы студентов.

Contents

Lesson 1.

Text A. What is civilization

Text B. Abu Dhabi discovery

Lesson 2.

Text A. Ancient Western Asia. Before Civilization

Text B. Who were the Hurrians

Lesson 3.

Text A. Mesopotamian civilization

Text B.

Lesson 4.

Text A. Ancient Sumer

Text B. Digging in the land of Magan

Lesson 5.

Text A. The Code of Hammurabi

Text B. Laws of Babylon

Lesson 6.

Text A. Egyptian civilization

Text B. Egyptian religion

Lesson 7.

Text A. The Akkadian kingdom

Text B. Sargon of Akkad

Lesson 8.

Text A. Dark Ages and Greek Renaissance

Text B. The Myceneans

Lesson 9.

Text A. The Athenian origins of Direct Democracy

Text B. Polis (city-state)

Lesson 10.

Text A. From Polis to Cosmopolis: Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic World, 323-30 B.C

Text B. Stoicism

Lesson 11.

Text A. Early Roman Civilization, 753-509 BC

Text B. The Roman Empire

Lesson 12.

Text A. Augustus Ceasar and the Pax Romana

Text B. Gladiators

Lesson 13.

Text A. The Decline and Fall of Rome

Text B

Texts for additional reading

Lesson 1

Text A. What is Civilization?

Answer the following questions:

What ancient civilizations do you know?

How do the scientists learn about things of the ancient past?

What society can we call a civilization?

Study the pronunciation of the following proper names:

Egypt [?i:d?ipt]

Greek [gri:k]

Mesopotamia [?mes?p??teimi?]

Roman [?r?um?n]

Complete the table with the names of ancient civilizations and their people:

Country	People
Egypt
	Greek
Mesopotamia
	Roman

Guess the meaning of the following words:

artifact (Am., Brit. artefact), n [?a:tif?kt]

barbarism, n [?bab?riz(?)m]

bronze, n [br?nz]

hierarchy, n [?hai?ra:ki]

Neolithic, adj [‚ni??li?ik]

prehistory, n [‚pri:?hist(?)ri]

urban, adj [??:b(?)n]

Study the following words and expressions:

Barbarian, n [ba:?be(?)ri?n] - варвар

civilization, n [‚siv(?)lai?zei?(?)n] - цивилизация

civilize, v [?siv(?)laiz] - цивилизовать

copper, n [?kЗp?] - медь

craftsman, n [?kra:ftsm?n] - ремесленник

draft, adj [dra:ft] - тягловый, draft animals - тягловый скот

endeavo(u)r, n [in?dev?], [en?dev?] - попытка, предприятие

enlighten, v [in?lait?n], [en?lait?n]- просвещать, обучать

famine, n [?f?min] - голод

Hebrew, n, adj [?hi:bru:] - еврей, иудей; еврейский

irrigation ditch [‚iri?gei?(?)n] [dit?] - оросительный канал

law-abiding, adj [?lЗ:?‚baidi?] - законопослушный

plague, n [pleig] - мор, эпидемия; чума

plow (am. Plough), n [plau] - плуг

scarce, adj [sk??s] - недостаточный, скудный

smelt, v [smelt] - плавить, выплавлять, to smelt metal - плавить металл

solar, adj [?s?ul?] - солнечный, solar calendar - солнечный календарь

stratification, n [‚str?tifi?kei?(?)n] - стратификация, расслоение

surplus, n [?s?:pl?s] - избыток, излишек, остаток

wheeled cart [?wi:ld ?ka:t] - колесная повозка

Read and translate the text using a dictionary if necessary:

Up to about the year 1860, man's history had been conveniently divided into three distinct epochs: ancient, medieval and modern. After 1860, however, a new expression came into general use to describe the cultures of the distant past. Prehistory was the name given to that period of man's history before written documents appeared. We can now study man's prehistory through the field of archeology. Archeological remains can illuminate how and where early cultures lived, stored food and produced tools. We can learn of their religious practices, political organization and what type of relationships may have existed between people. Human artifacts uncovered by archeologists also reveal the existence of kings, plagues, famine, good harvests, wars and class structure. Of course, the history we obtain from archeological digs is by no means complete, especially when compared with man's more recent history (the past 500 years or so).

When we think of the ancient world, we may perhaps think of the Hebrews, Greeks and Romans. The Hebrews gave us faith and morality; Greece gave us reason, philosophy and science; and Rome gave us law and government. This is, of course, a crude oversimplification, and the reason is obvious. Western civilization developed before Greece or Rome. For instance, 3000 years before the greatest era of Greek history, civilizations flourished in Mesopotamia and in Egypt. These civilizations were urban, productive, religious and law abiding and in all meanings of the word, civilized. A solid working definition of civilization is difficult and depends upon your own judgment. Here are a few textbook definitions:

1. Civilization is a form of human culture in which many people live in urban centers, have mastered the art of smelting metals, and have developed a method of writing.

2. The first civilizations began in cities, which were larger, more populated, and more complex in their political, economic and social structure than Neolithic villages.

3. One definition of civilization requires that a civilized people have a sense of history -- meaning that the past counts in the present.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines civilization as "the action or process of civilizing or of being civilized; a developed or advanced state of human society." Such a definition is fraught with difficulties. For instance, how might we correctly identify a "developed or advanced state of human society"? Developed or advanced compared to what? The OED defines the verb "to civilize" in the following way: "to make civil; to bring out of a state of barbarism; to instruct in the arts of life; to enlighten; to refine and polish." Are we any closer to a working definition?

In 1936, the archeologist V. Gordon Childe published his book Man Makes Himself. Childe identified several elements which he believed were essential for a civilization to exist. He included: the plow, wheeled cart and draft animals, sailing ships, the smelting of copper and bronze, a solar calendar, writing, standards of measurement, irrigation ditches, specialized craftsmen, urban centers and a surplus of food necessary to support non-agricultural workers who lived within the walls of the city. Childe's list concerns human achievements and pays less attention to human organization.

Another historian agreed with Childe but added that a true definition of civilization should also include money collected through taxes, a privileged ruling class, a centralized government and a national religious or priestly class. Such a list, unlike Childe's, highlights human organization. In 1955, Clyde Kluckhohn argued that there were three essential criteria for civilization: towns containing more than 5000 people, writing, and monumental ceremonial centers. Finally, the archeologist and anthropologist Robert M. Adams argued for a definition of civilization as a society with functionally interrelated sets of social institutions: class stratification based on the ownership and control of production, political and religious hierarchies complementing each other in the central administration of territorially organized states and lastly, a complex division of labor, with skilled workers, soldiers and officials existing alongside the great mass of peasant producers.

As historians have often remarked, civilization is a word easier to describe than it is to define. As implied by the above discussion, the word itself comes from the Latin adjective civilis, a reference to a citizen. Citizens willingly bring themselves together in political, social, economic, and religious organizations -- they merge together, that is, in the interests of the larger community. Over time, the word civilization has come to imply something beyond organization -- it refers to a particular shared way of thinking about the world as well as a reflection on that world in art, literature, drama and a host of other cultural happenings. To understand this idea better it is necessary to investigate the origins of civilization.

The historian's task is not an easy one and this is especially the case when dealing with ancient civilizations that rose and fell more than five thousand years ago. Since history is specifically the story of man's written records, the historian of ancient culture must piece together the past from fragments of human endeavor and human achievement. But trying to piece together the past of a culture whose written documents are scarce, makes the historian's task that much more difficult.

Ex.1. Answer the following questions:

1. What can we learn with the help of archaeology? What kind of information does it give?

2. When did the ancient civilizations start?

3. What does the definition of civilization include?

4. What arguments did the historians have about this definition?

5. Where does the word “civilization” originate from?

6. What makes the work of a historian more difficult?

Ex. 2. Give Russian equivalents to these expressions:

Ancient epoch

Archeological digs

Division of labour

Priestly class

To define a term

Standards of measurement

Solar calendar

Surplus of food

Urban centre

Ruling class

Ex. 3. Give English equivalents to these expressions:

Религиозные практики

Рабочее определение

Археологические останки

Христианская эра

Средневековая эпоха

Тягловый скот

Древние цивилизации

Плавить металл

Законопослушный

Метод письменности

Ex.4. Match the words with their definitions:

1. a barbarian	The time in history before anything was written down
2. a solar calendar	Someone whose job is to do something using hands
3. pre-history	A system of organization in which people or things are divided into levels of importance
4. an artifact	A disease that causes death and spreads quickly to a large number of people
5. a craftsman	A system which divides and measures time with the help of the Sun
6. an irrigation ditch	Someone from a different tribe or land, who people believe to be wild and uncivilized
7. plague	An object which was made in the past (a tool, a weapon etc.) that was made in the past and is historically important
8. hierarchy	A device designed to supply land or crops with water

Ex. 5. Complete the table with the appropriate forms of the words given:

Verb	Noun
	civilization
to barbarize	1. 2.
to enlighten
	irrigation
to smelt

Ex. 6. Insert the words and phrases given into the sentences in their correct form. Translate the sentences into Russian:

Greeks Produce tools Urban centres Prehistory Ruling class Morality Artefacts Centralized government Religious hierarchy Ownership

1. The term _________ means the period of distant past before the written documents appeared.

2. The ________ found during the digs can tell us about the way people stored food, _________ _____ and gathered harvests.

3. Such notions as faith and ________, philosophy and science, law and government were introduced by ancient civilizations of Hebrews, __________ and Romans.

4. _______ _______ contained specialized craftsmen and non-agricultural workers, but they didn't include peasant producers.

5. The privileged _________ _______ could collect money through taxes and organize __________ ________. This system was based on __________.

6. Priestly class stood on the top of _______ __________.

Ex. 5. Translate from Russian into English:

1. До середины XIX в. человеческая история была разделена на три эпохи: древнюю, средневековую и современную.

2. Изучая археологические останки, мы можем узнать о религиозных практиках, политической организации и классовой структуре общества.

3. Процветающие древние сообщества Месопотамии и Египта были цивилизациями городского типа. Они также были религиозными и законопослушными.

4. Чтобы стать цивилизованным, человеческому обществу пришлось выйти из состояния варварства и стать просвещенным.

5. Одними из основных признаков цивилизации являются плуг, колесная повозка, тягловые животные, плавление меди и бронзы, солнечный календарь, письменность и стандарты измерения.

6. Крестьяне, горожане, чиновники и солдаты являются функционально взаимозависимыми элементами городского сообщества.

Ex. 6. Discuss the following question as a group:

Is it possible to give a solid definition of civilization? Why? Why not?

Text B. Abu Dhabi Discovery

Before reading the text, answer the questions:

1. What remains of human culture may help archaeologists learn more about distant past?

2. Which of these remains are better preserved?

Read the following text quickly without a dictionary and find out the following information:

1. the type of the artifact found

2. the age of the discovery

3. the way it looked like

4. the place where it was found

5. other things that archaeologists found during the digs

A pottery vessel discovered at the oldest, best-preserved Neolithic village in eastern Arabia may be evidence of early trade across the Persian Gulf between southern Mesopotamia and an island community off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.

Found on the island of Marawah near the UAE capital Abu Dhabi, the 7,000-year-old pottery vessel has a pale-green surface and is painted with black geometric lines and chevrons--characteristics of pottery from Tell Al-Ubaid in southern Iraq, the heart of Mesopotamia. The design is also similar to that found on pottery made in the Susiana region of southern Iran during the fifth millennium B.C. Archaeologists suggest the presence of the pottery indicates trade at a surprisingly early time between peoples on the Gulf.

The vessel was discovered in the remains of a four-room building erected in phases between 7000 and 6500 B.C. So far, archaeologists have only excavated one of the rooms, in which they have also unearthed the oldest human remains ever found in the region. The person had been buried just inside the threshold, making it likely the building hadn't been in regular use by the time of the burial--anyone entering would have literally tripped over the remains. In fact, at one point someone may indeed have stumbled over them--the bones were damaged and scattered, the feet found several yards away from the rest of the body. Among the most beautiful artifacts found so far, according to the archaeologists, were delicate buttons made of pearl oyster shells.

the Archaeological Institute of America

Vol. 57 № 5, September/October 2004

Ex. 1. Use the context of the article to work out the meaning of these words:

- vessel

- evidence

- chevrons

- the Gulf

- to trip / stumble over smth

- to be scattered

Ex. 2. Give a short summary of the article in 4-5 sentences.

Lesson 2

Text A. Ancient Western Asia. Before Civilization

Answer the following questions:

What were the main occupations of the people of ancient civilizations?

Why would they move from one place to another?

What were the first achievements of early civilizations?

Give Russian equivalents to these countries' names:

Syria ['si(?)ri?]

Lebanon ['leb?n?n]

Israel ['izreil]

Jordan ['d??:dn]

Turkey ['t?:k?]

Iraq [i'r?:k]

Iran [i'r?:n]

Study the pronunciation of the following proper names:

Cyprus ['saipr?s] - Кипр

Zagros Mountains ['z?gr?s] - Загрос (горная система в Иране)

Jericho ['d?er?k?u] - Иерихон (город в Палестине, на Западном берегу реки Иордан)

Tassili-n-Ajjer ['t?slin ?'d??:] - Тассилин Аджер

Tigris [?taigris] - р. Тигр

Euphrates [ju:?freiti:z] - р. Евфрат

Guess the meaning of the following words:

domestication, [d?‚mesti?kei?(?)n], n

era, [?i?r?], n

exploit, [ik?spl?it], [ek?spl?it], v

fresco, [?fresk?u], n

infanticide, [in?f?ntisaid], n

resident, [?rezid(?)nt], n

Study the following words and expressions:

ancestor, n [??ns?st?] - прародитель, предок

barley, n [?b?:li] - ячмень

chariot, n [?t??ri?t] - колесница

clay, n [klei] - глина

game, n [geim] - дичь

grain, n [grein] - зерно; хлебные злаки

harvester, n [?h?:vist?] - жнец

herd, n [h?:d] - стадо, гурт; v - пасти стадо

hut, n [h?t] - хижина, шалаш, барак

inhabit, v [in?h?bit] - жить, обитать; населять, заселять

inhabitable, adj [in?h?bit?bl] - пригодный для жилья

inhabitant, n [in?h?bit(?)nt] - житель, обитатель (syn. - resident)

lentil, n [?lent(?)l] - чечевица

rudimentary, adj [‚ru:di?mentari] - элементарный

sanctuary, n [?s??(k)t?u?ri]- святилище, алтарь

skull, n [sk?l] - череп

warfare, n [?w?:f??] - война, военный действия

worship, n [?w?:?ip] - поклонение, почитание; v - поклоняться, почитать, боготворить

ancestor worship - культ предков

bonds of kinship [?b?ndz ?f ?kin?ip] - узы родства

horse-drawn chariot [?h?:s?dr?:n] - колесница запряженная лошадью

infant mortality [?inf?nt m?:?t?l?ti] - детская смертность

life expectancy [l?if ik?spekt(?)n(t)si] - средняя продолжительность жизни

permanent settlement [?p?:m(?)n?nt ?setlm?nt] - постоянное поселение, колония

religious rites [ri?lid??s raits] - религиозные обряды, ритуалы, церемонии

to spell disaster [spel di?z?:st?] - сулить несчастье, беду

tool kit [?tu:l kit] - набор инструментов, орудий труда

trade patterns [?treid ?p?t(?)nz] - торговые модели

Read and translate the text using a dictionary if necessary:

Between 9000 B.C. and the beginning of the Christian era, western civilization came into being in Egypt and in what historians call Ancient Western Asia (modern-day Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Turkey, southwestern Russia, Iraq and Iran). The earliest permanent settlements occurred between 9000-6000 B.C. and were accompanied by the domestication of plants and animals. Between 4000-3000 B.C., the first cities appeared in response to the pressures of population growth, the organizational requirements of irrigation and the demands of more complex trade patterns. According to our previous definitions, these societies of Egypt and Ancient Western Asia correspond to what we would call civilization.

Around 10,000 B.C., many hunter-gatherers living along the coastal plains of modern Syria and Israel and in the valleys and hills near the Zagros Mountains between Iran and Iraq began to develop special strategies that led to a transformation in the human community. Rather than constantly traveling in search of food, people stayed in one region and exploited the seasonal sources of food, including fish, grain, fruits and game. At a community such as Jericho, people built and rebuilt their mud brick and stone huts rather than moving on as had their ancestors. In general, these communities began to focus on seasonal food sources and so were less likely to leave in search of new sources.

Just why hunters and gatherers in this region of the ancient world turned to agriculture is difficult to say. And there are a variety of problems associated with this transformation. For one thing, specialization in a relatively small number of plants or animals could spell disaster during times of famine. Some scholars have argued that agriculture developed out of an increased population and the development of a political hierarchy. In settled communities, infant mortality decreased and life expectancy rose. This change may have occurred since life in a fixed community was less demanding. The practice of infanticide decreased since children could now be used in rudimentary agricultural tasks. And as population growth put pressure on the local food supply, gathering activities required more coordination and organization and led eventually to the development of political leadership. Settlements began to encourage the growth of plants such as barley and lentils and the domestication of pigs, sheep and goats. People no longer looked for their favorite food sources where they occurred naturally. Now they introduced them into other locations. An agricultural revolution had begun.

The ability to domesticate goats, pigs, sheep and cattle and to cultivate grains and vegetables changed human communities from passive harvesters of nature to active partners with it. The ability to expand the food supply in one area allowed the development of permanent settlements of greater size and complexity. The people of the Neolithic or New Stone Age (8000-5000 B.C.) organized fairly large villages. Jericho grew into a fortified town complete with ditches, stone walls, and towers and contained perhaps 2000 residents.

Although agriculture resulted in a stable food supply for permanent communities, the revolutionary aspect of this development was that the community could bring what they needed (natural resources plus their tool kit) to make a new site inhabitable. This development made it possible to create larger communities and also helped to spread the practice of agriculture to a wider area. Farmers in Turkey cultivated plants that came from hundreds of miles away. The presence of tools and statues made of stone not available locally indicates that there was also some trading with distant regions. Agricultural society brought changes in the organization of religious practices as well. Sanctuary rooms decorated with frescoes and sculptures of the heads of bulls and bears shows us that structured religious rites were important to the inhabitants of these early communities. At Jericho, human skulls were covered with clay in an attempt to make them look as they had in life suggesting that they practiced a form of ancestor worship. Bonds of kinship that had united hunters and gatherers were being supplemented by religious organization, which helped to regulate the social behavior of the community.

Around 1500 B.C., a new theme appears on the cliff walls at Tassili-n-Ajjer. We see men herding horses and driving horse-drawn chariots. These practices had emerged more than fifteen hundred years earlier in Mesopotamia, a desert plain stretching to the marshes near the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Chariots symbolized a dynamic and expansive phase in western culture. Constructed of wood and bronze and used for transport as well as for warfare, the chariot is symbolic of the culture of early river civilizations, the first civilizations in Ancient Western Asia.

Ex.1. Answer the following questions:

1. What caused the appearance of the first civilizations? When and where did it happen?

2. How did the settled communities differ from the communities of hunter - gatherers?

3. What problems could the settled way of life bring to people?

4. What positive sides did the life in a settled community have?

5. What results did the agricultural revolution bring?

6. How did the changes in agriculture influence economy and religious life?

7. What new image appeared among the rock paintings around 1500 BC? What does it symbolize?

Ex. 2. a) Give English equivalents to the following expressions and explain what spheres of life in the first civilizations they referred to:

1. постоянные поселения

2. продолжительность жизни

3. укрепленный город

4. алтарная комната

5. религиозные обряды

6. элементарные сельскохозяйственные задания

7. поклонение предкам

8. набор инструментов

9. узы родства

10. колесница, запряженная лошадью

11. детская смертность

12. сулить несчастье

b) Tell your partner about the life in the early communities using these expressions.

Ex. 3. Explain the difference in meaning between the following expressions:

Permanent settlement / settled community

Life expectancy / population growth

To domesticate plants and animals / to exploit seasonal food sources

Wheeled cart / horse-drawn chariot

Ex. 4. Complete the table with the forms of the words given. Use a dictionary if necessary:

Verb	Noun	Adjective
To inhabit
		settled
	domestication
	symbol
to trade
		growing
	cultivation	--------

Ex. 5. Insert the words and phrases given into the sentences. Translate the sentences into Russian:

seasonal food sources population growth frescoes trade patterns game warfare settled communities spell disaster life expectancy chariot mortality sanctuary rooms ancestor worship

1. ______________ and the demand for more complex _____________ were the reason for the appearance of the first cities.

2. Instead of moving from one place to another, people stayed at the same location and used ___________________, including grain and ________.

3. During the famine in ________________ a relatively small specialization on plants and animals could ____________.

4. In settled communities ______________ rose and _______________ decreased.

5. ________________ were decorated by __________ and sculptures, which suggests a form of ________________.

6. The images of a ___________ - the symbol of ___________ - were found in the region of the Tigris and Euphrates.

Ex. 6. Translate from Russian into English:

1. Самые ранние постоянные поселения появились примерно в 9 тысячелетии до н. э. и были связаны с одомашниванием растений и животных.

2. Охотники и собиратели, которые жили вдоль прибрежных равнин, стали все чаще обращаться к земледелию, что привело к трансформации их образа жизни.

3. Выполнение элементарных сельскохозяйственных заданий привело к снижению практики детоубийства.

4. Культивирование новых злаковых культур, таких как ячмень и чечевица, а также выращивание овощей, привело к развитию постоянных поселений большего размера и сложности, что, в результате, вызвало развитие политической иерархии.

5. Постоянные сообщества использовали местные природные ресурсы и свой набор инструментов, чтобы сделать новое место обитаемым. Со временем такие поселения перерастали в укрепленные города.

6. При раскопках, в комнате для религиозных обрядов были найдены рисунки с изображением людей, пасущих лошадей, а также найдены покрытые глиной черепа людей.

Ex. 7. Choose a topic and make a brief report using the vocabulary from the text:

- Life of the hunter-gatherers in the earliest settled communities

- The revolution made by agriculture

Text B. Who Were the Hurrians?

Before reading the text, answer the questions:

1. What ancient civilizations do you remember? At what period of history did they exist?

2. What languages did these civilizations speak?

3. What were their earliest achievements?

Read the following article without a dictionary and find out if the following information is True or False:

1. The Hurrians appeared in the Middle East long before the Mesopotamians.

2. Scientists prove the fact that the Hurrians arrived and settled down about 2500 BC with the help of archaeology.

3. The Hurrians lived in the mountains and had very primitive civilization.

4. Nowadays the rituals, language and sculpture of the Hurrians are preserved.

New discoveries in Syria suggest a little-known people fueled the rise of civilization

(1) With its vast plaza and impressive stone stairway leading up to a temple complex, Urkesh was designed to last. And for well over a millennium, this city on the dusty plains of what is now northeastern Syria was a spiritual center for a puzzling people called the Hurrians. All but forgotten by history, their origin remains obscure, but excavations led by husband-and-wife UCLA archaeologists Georgio Buccellati and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati over the past quarter century reveal that the Hurrians were far more than just another wandering tribe in the fractious Middle East. And during last year's season, they found compelling evidence that the Hurrians not only strongly influenced the language, culture, and religion of later peoples, but also may have been present 1,000 years earlier--just as nearby Mesopotamians began to create the first cities.

(2) That idea is at odds with a long-held belief among scholars that the Hurrians arrived much later from the Caucasus or some other distant region to the northeast, drawn to the fringes of civilization after the rise of the great southern Sumerian centers of Ur, Uruk, and Nippur. Scholars long assumed that the Hurrians arrived in the middle of the third millennium B.C., and eventually settled down and adopted cuneiform as a script and built their own cities. That theory is based on linguistic associations with Caucasus' languages and the fact that Hurrian names are absent from the historical record until Akkadian times.

(3) But Piotr Michaelowski, an Assyriologist at the University of Michigan, notes that Hurrian, like Sumerian, is a language unrelated to Semitic or Indo-European tongues that dominated the region during and after the third millennium B.C. Perhaps, he suggests, the Hurrians were earlier inhabitants of the region, who, like the Sumerians, had to make room for the Semitic-speaking people who created the world's first empire based at Akkad in central Mesopotamia around 2350 B.C.

(4) The discovery of a sophisticated city with monumental architecture, plumbing, stonework, and a large population contradicts the idea that Hurrians were a roving mountain people in a strange land. Far from being yet another rough nomadic tribe, such as the Amorites or Kassites who were latecomers to the Mesopotamian party, the Hurrians and their unique language, music, deities, and rituals may have played a key role in shaping the first cities, empires, and states. The language has died, the music faded, and the rituals are forgotten. But thanks to the sculptors, stone masons, and seal carvers at Urkesh, Hurrian creativity can shine once again.

by Andrew Lawler

the Archaeological Institute of America

Vol. 61 № 4, July/August 2008

Ex.1. For each part (1)-(4) choose a title A-D which best fits its meaning:

A The origins of the Hurrians

B. The mysterious civilization

C. The achievements of the Hurrians

D. The language of the Hurrians

Ex. 2. Write out the key words from each paragraph.

Ex. 3. Write down a brief summary of the text in English.

Lesson 3

Text A. Mesopotamian Civilization

Answer the following questions:

How could living near a river influence the life of an early civilization?

What spheres of life could it affect?

Study the pronunciation of the following proper names:

Gilgamesh [?gilg??me?] - Гильгамеш (легендарный шумерский царь)

Fertile Crescent [?f?:tail ?kres(?)nt] - «Плодородный Полумесяц» (полоса плодородных земель в Передней Азии; месторасположение древнейших земледельческих поселений; колыбель древних цивилизаций)

Guess the meaning of these words:

canal, n [k??n?l]

ceramic, adj [si?r?mik]

isolate, v [?ais??leit]

kingship, n [?ki??ip]

metallurgy, n [me?t?l?d?i]

official, n [??fi?(?)l]

textile, n [?tekstal]

urbanization,n [??:b(?)nai?zei?(?)n]

city-state [?sitisteit]

Study the following words and expressions:

alluvial, adj [??lu:vi?l] - аллювиальный, наносный, намывной

dike, n [daik] - 1. дамба, плотина 2. сточная канава, ров

ditch, n [dit?] - 1. канава, ров 2. канал: irrigation ditch -- оросительный канал

ebb, n [eb] - отлив

engrave, v [in?greiv] - гравировать; резать, вырезать (по камню, дереву, металлу); высекать

fertile, adj [?f?:tail] - плодородный

flow, n [fl?u] - прилив

hinder, v [?hind?] - задерживать, затруднять; мешать, препятствовать (чему-л.)

laborer, n [?leib(?)r?] - (неквалифицированный) рабочий

merchant, n [?m?:t?(?)nt] - купец, торговец

pottery, n [?p?t?ri] - гончарные изделия, керамика; гончарное дело

river bed, n [?riv? bed] - русло реки

surplus, n [?s?pl?s] - избыток, излишек, остаток

unpredictable, adj [??npri?dikt?bl] - непредсказуемый

wheel-made, adj [?wi:l meid]- сделанный с помощью гончарного круга (potter's wheel - гончарный круг)

ziggurat, n [?zigu?r?t] (also: zikkurat, zikurat) - зиггурат, зиккурат (ступенчатая культовая башня в архитектуре Древней Месопотамии)

cylinder seal [?silind? si:l] - цилиндрическая печать

division of labor [di?vi??n ?f ?leib?]- разделение труда

flash flood [?fl??fl?d] - ливневый паводок, внезапное наводнение

land ownership [?l?nd ??un??ip] - собственность на землю, земельная собственность

torrential rain [t??ren??l]- проливной дождь

Read and translate the text using a dictionary if necessary:

The history and culture of Mesopotamian civilization is inextricably connected to the ebb and flow of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The earliest communities developed to the north but since rainfall in that area was so unpredictable, by 5000 B.C. communities had spread south to the rich alluvial plain. The economy of these communities was primarily agricultural and approximately 100-200 people lived in these permanently established villages. The alluvial plain in southern Mesopotamia ("land between the rivers") was far more fertile than the north but because there was little rainfall, irrigation ditches had to be constructed. Furthermore, the river beds of the Tigris and Euphrates rise and fall with the seasons and they change their course unpredictably. Southern Mesopotamia also had its share of flash floods which could destroy crops, livestock and village homes. Floods and torrential rains were a significant theme in Mesopotamian literature as depicted in the “Epic of Gilgamesh”.

Civilization emerged in Mesopotamia because the soil provided a surplus of food. With this surplus, people could settle down to village life and with these new settlements, towns and cities began to make their appearance, a process known as urbanization. With settlements and a surplus of food came an increase in the population, a well-defined division of labor, organization, cooperation and kingship. The emergence of cities involved interaction between people. Most cities evolved from smaller farming villages and with the practice of irrigation, which was necessary for villages distant from the Tigris and Euphrates, a stable food supply was produced. This, in turn, allowed increases in the number of people who inhabited each settlement.

Because the land closest to the river was the most fertile, there was a variation in terms of the wealth of these early farmers, which led to distinct social classes. At the same time, the construction of canals, ditches and dikes essential to irrigation demanded cooperation between different social groups. Decision-making, regulation and control of all food production and herding meant cooperation. And because more food could be produced by less people, some people gave up farming and became craftsmen, laborers, merchants and officials and this too required cooperation. The Mesopotamians built massive temples or ziggurats which housed the priestly class, the human representatives of the gods. The priests controlled the religious life of the community, the economy, land ownership, the employment of workers as well as the management of long distance trade.

Mesopotamian villages and towns eventually evolved into independent and nearly self-sufficient city-states. Although largely economically dependent on one another, these city-states were independent political entities and retained very strong isolationist tendencies. This isolationism hindered the unification of the Mesopotamian city-states, which eventually grew to twelve in number.

By 3000 B.C., Mesopotamian civilization had made contact with other cultures of the Fertile Crescent (a term first coined by James Breasted in 1916), an extensive trade network connecting Mesopotamia with the rest of Ancient Western Asia. Again, it was the two rivers which served as both trade and transportation routes.

The achievements of Mesopotamian civilization were numerous. Agriculture, thanks to the construction of irrigation ditches, became the primary method of subsistence. Farming was further simplified by the introduction of the plow. We also find the use of wheel-made pottery. Between 3000 and 2900 B.C. craft specialization and industries began to emerge (ceramic pottery, metallurgy and textiles). Evidence for this exists in the careful planning and construction of the monumental buildings such as the temples and ziggurats. During this period (roughly 3000 B.C.), cylinder seals became common. These cylindrical stone seals were five inches in height and engraved with images. These images were reproduced by rolling the cylinder over wet clay. The language of these seals remained unknown until to 20th century. But, scholars now agree that the language of these tablets was Sumerian.

Ex.1. Answer the following questions:

1. What made the earliest communities change their location?

2. How did the new place differ from the previous one?

3. What caused the process of urbanization?

4. What results did the appearance of the first cities bring?

5. How did geographical position influence the structure of Mesopotamian society?

6. What were the Mesopotamian city-states like?

7. How did the Tigris and Euphrates rivers expand the contacts of Mesopotamian people?

8. What are the main achievements of Mesopotamian civilization?

Ex. 2. Form nouns from these verbs using the suffix -ion:

To predict -

To isolate -

To cultivate -

To unify -

Ex. 3.Explain the difference (if any) between the following words or expressions:

1. the ebb of the river / river bed

2. flash flood / torrential rain

3. canal / ditch

4. craftsman / laborer

5. wheel-made pottery / ceramic pottery

6. kingship / kinship

Ex. 4. Guess what words from the text are meant by these definitions:

1. highly productive; rich; abundant

2. a fine-grained fertile soil consisting of mud, silt, and sand deposited by flowing water on flood plains, in river beds, and in estuaries

3. an embankment constructed to prevent flooding, keep out the sea, etc

4. the position or authority of a king

5. a quantity or amount in excess of what is required

6. the scientific study of the extraction, refining, alloying, and fabrication of metals and of their structure and properties

7. a device impressed on a piece of wax, moist clay, etc. as a mark of authentication.

Ex. 5. Translate from Russian into English:

1. Экономика регионов, где находились богатые наносные равнины, была в основном сельскохозяйственной и неразрывно связывалась с приливами и отливами рек Тигр и Евфрат.

2. Процесс урбанизации начался благодаря тому, что земля могла производить излишек продуктов, что, в свою очередь, привело к росту населения, четкому разделению труда и организации.

3. Появление социальных классов было вызвано более высоким уровнем достатка местных фермеров.

4. Четкое взаимодействие требовалось при принятии решений, построении каналов, контроле над производством продукции и при выпасе скота.

5. Часть населения отошла от сельскохозяйственной деятельности и обратилась к торговле, ремеслу и религии.

6. Класс священнослужителей считался человеческим представителем богов на земле и контролировал религиозную жизнь сообщества.

7. Города - государства Месопотамии были практически самодостаточными политическими образованиями.

8. Две реки в регионе Плодородного Полумесяца служили торговыми и транспортными путями и образовывали оживленную систему, связывающую Месопотамию с остальной часть Древневосточной Азии.

9. Многочисленные достижения цивилизации Месопотамии включали в себя использование плуга в сельском хозяйстве, создание керамической посуды, металлургию, текстиль, строительство храмов и зиггуратов, а также использование цилиндрических печатей.

Ex. 6. Make a brief report on one of the following topics:

- The geography of ancient Mesopotamia and its influence on the local population

- The achievements of Mesopotamian civilization

Text B. Before reading, answer the following questions:

1. How did geography influence the development of Mesopotamian civilization?

2. Why do you think ancient civilizations could flourish and then go into decline?

Read the following text quickly without a dictionary and choose the best title:

A. The history of Mesopotamian cities

B. The process of irrigation in ancient Mesopotamia

C. Mashkan-shapir - the reason of collapse

Mesopotamia was known as the land between two rivers, the Tigris to the north and the Euphrates to the south. Rains were seasonal in this area, which meant that the land flooded in the winter and spring and water was scarce at other times. (1)___________ In ancient times, many resources in Mesopotamia were scarce or absent, which stimulated trade within the region and beyond. Supported by lucrative trade with its neighbors, Mesopotamia grew to become a powerful empire.

Mashkan-shapir was a typical Mesopotamian city, located about 20 miles from the Tigris River and connected to the river by a network of canals. (2)____________. What could have caused this rapid demise?

Along with factors such as war and changes in the environment, scientists now believe irrigation techniques played an important role in Mashkan-shapir's collapse. The same process that allowed farming in this region also eventually made it impossible to farm. Irrigation has a Catch-22: if irrigation water is allowed to sit on the fields and evaporate, it leaves behind mineral salts; if attempts are made to drain off irrigation water and it flows through the soil too quickly, erosion becomes a problem. Scientists believe that Mashkan-shapir's collapse was caused in part by destruction of the fields by mineral salts. (3)______________.

In Mesopotamia, irrigation was essential for crop production. The rivers were higher than the surrounding plain because of built-up silt in the river beds, so water for irrigation flowed into the fields by gravity. Once the water was on the fields, it could not readily drain away because the fields were lower than the river. (4)_______________. Over time, the soil became toxic and would no longer support crops. By about 2300 B.C., agricultural production in Mesopotamia was reduced to a tiny fraction of what it had been. Many fields were abandoned as essentially useless. Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets tell of crop damage due to salts.

These sentences have been removed from the text. Choose one of the sentences a-d which best fits each gap 1-4.

a. When mineral salts concentrate in the upper levels of the soil, it becomes poisonous for plants.

b. Farming in the region depended on irrigation from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

c. As the water evaporated, it not only left its dissolved mineral salts behind, but also drew salts upward from lower levels of the soil.

d. Despite a flourishing civilization, Mashkan-shapir was abandoned within only 20 years of its settlement.

Ex. 1. Do the following tasks based on the text B:

- divide the text into logical parts

- give a title to each part

- summarize the contents of each part in 1-2 sentences

- give the summary of the text

Ex. 2. Answer the following questions:

1. Do you know other civilizations that flourished and then went to ruin?

2. How do the historians tend to explain their collapse?

Lesson 4

Text A. Ancient Sumer

Answer the following questions:

When was the system of writing first introduced?

What was the ancient system of writing like?

Why were the gods important for ancient people?

Study the pronunciation of the following proper names:

Sumer [?su:m?] - Шумер (древняя цивилизация в Месопотамии)

Sumerian [su:?mi?ri?n] - Шумерский

Guess the meaning of these words and expressions:

farmland, n [?fa:m?l?nd]

pantheon, n [?p?n?i?n]

phonetization, n [f?u?neti?ze?n]

pictographic, adj [?pikt??gr?fik]

polytheistic religion [?p?li?i?istik]

redistributive economy [?ri:di?stri:bjutiv]

tablet, n [?t?blit]

urban center [??b(?)n]

Study the following words and expressions:

character [?k?r?kt?] - буква, иероглиф; цифра; письмо; знак, символ

circumvent, v [?s?:k?m?vent] - обмануть, обойти, перехитрить

cuneiform, n [?kju:ni?f?:m] - клинопись

deity, n [?deiti] - божество, бог

divination, n [?divi?nei?(?)n] - гадание, ворожба; предсказание

harness, v [?ha:nis] - впрягать, запрягать; укрощать

herdsman, n [?h?:dzm?n] - пастух, скотник

sacred, adj [?seikrid] - священный; святой

scribe, n [skraib] - писец; переписчик (документов, рукописей)

sign, n [sain] - знак; символ

subservience, n [s?b?s?:vi?ns] - подчинение; покорение; угодничество

transaction, n [tr?n?z?k?(?)n] - дело; сделка, соглашение

wedge-shaped, adj [?wed??eipt] - клинообразный, клиновидный

ceremony of dedication [?serim?ni ?v ?dedi?kei?(?)n] - церемония посвящения

manual labor [?m?nju?l ?leib?]физический труд; ручной труд

political entity [?entiti] - политическое образование, субъект

reed stylus [?ri:d ?stail?s] - тростниковая палочка, стило

tally of cattle [?t?li ef ?k?tl] - учет, подсчет скота

Read and translate the text using a dictionary if necessary:

The Sumerians inhabited southern Mesopotamia from 3000-2000 B.C. The origin of the Sumerians is unclear -- what is clear is that Sumerian civilization dominated Mesopotamian law, religion, art, literature and science for nearly seven centuries. The greatest achievement of Sumerian civilization was their CUNEIFORM ("wedge-shaped") system of writing. Using a reed stylus, they made wedge-shaped impressions on wet clay tablets which were then baked in the sun. Once dried, these tablets were virtually indestructible and the several hundred thousand tablets which have been found tell us a great deal about the Sumerians. Originally, Sumerian writing was pictographic, that is, scribes drew pictures of representations of objects. Each sign represented a word identical in meaning to the object pictured, although pictures could often represent more than the actual object.

The pictographic system proved cumbersome and the characters were gradually simplified and their pictographic nature gave way to conventional signs that represented ideas. For instance, the sign for a star could also be used to mean heaven, sky or god. The next major step in simplification was the development of phonetization in which characters or signs were used to represent sounds. So, the character for water was also used to mean "in," since the Sumerian words for "water" and "in" sounded similar. With a phonetic system, scribes could now represent words for which there were no images (signs), thus making possible the written expression of abstract ideas.

The Sumerians used writing primarily as a form of record keeping. The most common cuneiform tablets record transactions of daily life: tallies of cattle kept by herdsmen for their owners, production figures, lists of taxes, accounts, contracts and other facets of organizational life in the community. Another large category of cuneiform writing included a large number of basic texts which were used for the purpose of teaching future generations of scribes. By 2500 B.C. there were schools built just for his purpose.