Studying Ancient History

The city-state was Sumer's most important political entity. The city-states were a loose collection of territorially small cities which lacked unity with one another. Each city-state consisted of an urban center and its surrounding farmland. The city-states were isolated from one another geographically and so the independence of each city-state became a cultural norm with important consequences. Each city-state was sacred since it was carefully guarded by and linked to a specific god or goddess. Located near the center of each city-state was a temple. Occupying several acres, this sacred area consisted of a ziggurat with a temple at the top dedicated to the god or goddess who "owned" the city. The temple complex was the true center of the community. The main god or goddess dwelt there symbolically in the form of a statue, and the ceremony of dedication included a ritual that linked the statue to the god or goddess and thus harnessed the power of the deity for the benefit of the city-state. Considerable wealth was poured into the construction of temples as well as other buildings used for the residences of priests and priestesses who attended to the needs of the gods. The priests also controlled all economic activities since the economy was "redistributive." Farmers would bring their produce to the priests at the ziggurat. The priests would "feed" and "clothe" the gods and then redistribute the remainder to the people of the community.

With its rather large pantheon of gods and goddesses animating all aspects of life, Sumerian religion was polytheistic in nature. Four deities were supreme, and there were numerous gods and goddesses below them. Unlike humans, these gods and goddesses were divine and immortal. But they were not all-powerful since no one god had control over the entire universe. Furthermore, humans were capable of devising ways to discover the will of the gods and to influence them as well. The relationship of human beings to the gods was based on subservience since, according to Sumerian myth, human beings were created to do the manual labor the gods were unwilling to do for themselves. As a consequence, humans were insecure since they could never be sure of the god's actions. But humans did make attempts to circumvent or relieve their anxiety by discovering the intentions of the gods; these efforts gave rise to the development of the arts of divination, which took a variety of forms.

Ex.1. Answer the following questions:

1. Where did the Sumerians come from?

2. What was the pictographic system of writing? How did it differ from the phonetic one?

3. How did the Sumerians use writing?

4. What was a Sumerian city-state like?

5. What was the role of priests in the life of the Sumerian city-state?

6. What attitude did the Sumerians have towards their gods?

7. How did the Sumerians see the role of humans regarding their gods?

Ex. 2. Give your own definitions to the following terms:

cuneiform

pictographic writing

phonetization

a scribe

a temple (ziggurat)

ceremony of dedication

redistributive economy

polytheistic religion

Ex. 3. Find words from the text which are meant by these definitions?

1. a building or place dedicated to the worship of a deity or deities

2. physical work as opposed to mental or mechanical

3. a god or goddess

4. a tool used in ancient times for writing on tablets, which was pointed at one end

5. all the gods collectively of a religion

6. a symbol used in a writing system, such as a letter of the alphabet

7. a slab of stone, wood, etc., esp one formerly used for inscriptions

Ex. 4. a) Note down as many words as you can connected with these categories:

1. cuneiform

2. religious life of the Sumerians

3. everyday life of the Sumerians

b) Put these words into category 1, 2 or 3:

clay tablets

deity

reed stylus

wedge-shaped impression

taxes

ziggurat

priestess

accounts

indestructible

tallies of cattle

priest

art of divination

sacred

c) Make up 3 sentences of your own using the words from each category.

Ex. 5. Translate from Russian into English:

1. Хотя Шумерская цивилизация доминировала в законодательстве, религии и искусстве Месопотамии, истоки ее не ясны.

2. Огромным достижением Шумерской цивилизации была клинопись: клинообразные надписи создавались с помощью тростниковой палочки на влажных глиняных дощечках, которые потом высушивались на солнце.

3. Изначально Шумерское письмо было пиктографическим, где каждый знак был похож на изображаемый объект и означал слово.

4. Развитие фонетизации стало следующим важным этапом в становлении письменности, где знак стал обозначать звук.

5. Клинописные дощечки использовались в повседневной жизни: при учете скота пастухами, для составления контрактов и списка налогов, при ведении счетов.

6. Шумерский город - государство включал в себя городской центр и прилегающие сельскохозяйственные земли и был изолирован от других географически.

7. Зиггурат находился в центре города-государства и был посвящен богу или богине, которая покровительствовала городу.

8. Священники контролировали экономику города, которая была перераспределительной: фермеры приносили продукцию в храм, а священники отдавали ее богам, распределяя остатки между людьми.

9. Политеистическая по своей природе, Шумерская религия обожествляла все стороны человеческой жизни: эти божества были бессмертны, но не всемогущи.

10. Согласно Шумерскому мифу, люди были созданы, чтобы выполнять ручной труд для богов; в результате люди стали искать способ узнать их намерения, что привело к развитию искусства гадания.

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

- Sumerian writing

- The religion of the ancient Sumerians

Text B. Digging in the Land of Magan

Read the following article without a dictionary and find the answers to the questions:

1. What proofs show that ancient cultures existed in Arabian Peninsula 8000 years ago?

2. What famous ancient city was discovered in the middle of the XX century? Where was it situated?

3. What artifacts were discovered near Jabal-Hafit?

4. Where might the legendary Land of Magan be?

Excavations yield evidence of cultures spanning some 8,000 years.

Oman's early settlers were Neolithic pastoralists and seafaring people who worked trade routes from Mesopotamia to the Indus Valley. Arrowheads found in Qatar in 1960 by Danish prehistorian Holgar Kapel and ash from ancient campfires found in Muscat in 1983 are the earliest evidence of the nomads who followed their flocks south from the Levant, settling the Arabian peninsula 8,000 years ago. Remains of Neolithic camps found during the past three decades suggest that as Arabia's climate became wetter, these herders thrived, roaming in widely dispersed groups from Syria and Iraq in the north to Dhofar in southern Oman.

The resources of the Arabian Gulf supported fishing communities along the coast. In the 1970s Italian archaeologists unearthed shell and fishbone middens, evidence of a 7,000-year-old fishing village at Ras al Hamra, a rocky promontory in Qurum, ten miles west of Muscat. Carbon dating indicates that these middens and burials were in continuous use from 6000 to 3000 B.C. A dearth of faunal remains suggests that the community was isolated from inland areas, where small game was abundant.

In the 1950s Danish archaeologists excavating grave mounds in Bahrain, northwest of Oman, found 4,200-year-old settlements and temples of the city-state of Dilmun, known as the city of the gods in ancient Sumerian literature. Their 1959 discovery on the island of Umm an-Nar off Abu Dhabi of a second, previously unknown culture contemporary with Dilmun was unexpected. At the site an outer wall enclosed circular graves, 15 to 40 feet in diameter and often two stories high, in which as many as 30 people were buried. Spurred on by the discoveries at Dilmun and Umm an-Nar, Danish archaeologists excavated 200 single-chambered burial cairns in 1961 near Jabal Hafit on the Oman-United Arab Emirates border. There they discovered a culture earlier than that of Dilmun or Umm an-Nar. Excavation yielded jars with geometric designs painted in black, white, and plum red; copper and bronze pins; and stone and faience beads. The jars were the same type as those used in southern Mesopotamia around 3000 B.C. Unfortunately there is little trace of the ancient settlements associated with these tombs.

Was Oman the land of Magan, which appears in Sumerian cuneiform texts ca. 2300 B.C. as a source of copper and diorite for the flourishing city-states of Mesopotamia? These texts tell us that ships with a cargo capacity of 20 tons sailed up the Arabian Gulf, stopping at Dilmun to take on fresh water before continuing to Mesopotamia. They also say that Magan lay south of Sumer and Dilmun, was frequented by Indus Valley travelers, and had high mountains from which diorite or gabbro for black statues was quarried. Research since the 1970s has located significant copper deposits and more than 150 medieval Islamic smelting sites. Excavations by the German Mining Museum have identified numerous Magan-period (2500-2000 B.C.) slag heaps under tons of medieval slag and third millennium remains from mining and smelting at the oasis village of Maysar in central-eastern Oman. A hoard of bun-shaped copper ingots found in a small fireplace indicates the form in which copper was traded.

Today, oil has taken the place of copper and frankincense as the source of Oman's wealth. Development has led to the destruction of many historical and ancient sites--some before they have been identified, let alone excavated. We can only hope that the remaining sites can be saved for excavation before they are swallowed up in the country's march toward modernity.

by M. Redha Bhacker and Bernadette Bhacker

the Archaeological Institute of America

Vol. 50 №3, May/June 1997

Ex. 1. Give a written translation of the text, paying attention to historical terminology.

Lesson 5

Text A. The Code of Hammurabi

Answer the following questions:

Do you know when the first laws appeared?

Who was Hammurabi?

What do you know about his laws?

Study the pronunciation of the following proper names:

Babylonia [b?bi?loni?] - Вавилония (древнее государство на юге Месопотамии).

Code of Hammurabi [k?ud ?v h?mu?ra:bi] - Кодекс Хаммурапи, Законы Хаммурапи.

Hammurabi [h?mu?ra:bi] - Хаммурапи (царь Вавилонии, 1792-1750).

Study the following words and expressions:

accuse [??kjuz], v - обвинять

accusation [?kju?zei?n], n - обвинение

artisan [?a:tiz?n], n - ремесленник, мастеровой

burglary [?b?:gl?ri], n - кража

dedicate [?dedikeit], v -посвящать

defendant [di?fend(?)nt], n - ответчик, подсудимый, обвиняемый

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

dowry [?dau?ri], n - приданое

gadabout [?g?d?baut], n - гулящий

inheritance [in?herit(?)ns], n - наследство

landholding [?l?ndholdi?], n - землевладение

loot [lu:t], v - грабить

party [?pa:ti], n - сторона

restitution [?resti?tju:?(?)n], n - возмещение убытков

retaliation [ri?t?li?ei?(?)n], n - оплата, возмездие

subservient [s?b?s?:vient], adj - раболепный, послушный

according to the code - согласно кодексу

to arrange marriages - устраивать браки

at the builder's expense - за счет строителя

to be dedicated to - быть посвященным

to be responsible for - быть ответственным за

to bring charge - выносить обвинение

to commit offenses - совершать правонарушения

to condemn [k?n?dem] to slavery - приговаривать к рабству

false testimony [?fЗ:ls ?testim?ni] - ложные показания, свидетельство

to make a tenfold restitution - возмещать убытки в десятикратном размере

to pay debts [dets] - платить долги

Read and translate the text using a dictionary if necessary:

Mesopotamian men and women viewed themselves as subservient to the gods and believed humans were at the mercy of the god's arbitrary decisions. To counter their insecurity, the Mesopotamians not only developed the arts of divination in order to understand the wishes of their gods, but also relieved some anxiety by establishing codes that regulated their relationships with one another. These law codes became an integral part of Mesopotamian society. Although there were early Sumerian law codes, the best-preserved Mesopotamian collection of law codes was that of Hammurabi (18th century B.C.).

The CODE OF HAMMURABI reveals a society of strict justice. Penalties for criminal offenses were severe and varied according to the wealth of the individual. According to the code, there were three social classes in Babylonia: an upper class of nobles (government officials, priests, and warriors), the class of freemen (merchants, artisans, professionals, and wealthy farmers), and a lower class of slaves. An offense against a member of the upper class was punished with more severity than the same offense against a member of a lower class. The principle of retaliation ("an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth") was fundamental. It was applied in cases where members of the upper class committed criminal offenses against their own social equals. But for offenses against members of the lower classes, a money payment was made instead.

Mesopotamian society, like any other society, had its share of crime. Burglary was common. If a person stole goods belonging to the temples, he was put to death, and so was the person who received the stolen goods. If the private property of an individual was stolen, the thief had to make a tenfold restitution. If he could not do so he was put to death. An offender caught attempting to loot a burning house was to be "thrown into that fire."

Private individuals were often responsible for bringing charges before a court of law. To insure that accusations were not brought lightly, the accuser in cases of murder was responsible for proving his case against the defendant. If the accuser could not, he was put to death. Providing false testimony in a murder case meant the same fate.

Hammurabi's code took seriously the responsibilities of all public officials. The governor of an area and city officials were expected to catch burglars. If they failed to do so, public officials in which the crime took place had to replace the lost property. If murderers were not found, the officials had to pay a fine to the relatives of the murdered person.

The law code also extended into the daily life of the ordinary citizen. Builders were held responsible for the buildings they constructed. If a house collapsed and caused the death of its owner, the builder was put to death. Goods destroyed by the collapsed must also be replaced and the house itself rebuilt at the builder's expense.

Slavery was a common feature of Mesopotamian society. Slaves were obtained by war; others were criminals. Crimes such as striking one's older brother and kicking one's mother were punished by condemnation to slavery. A man could pay his debts by selling both his children and wife into slavery for a specified length of time. One could become a slave simply by going into debt.

The number of laws in Hammurabi's code dedicated to land and commerce reveal the importance of agriculture and trade in Mesopotamian society. Numerous laws dealt with questions of landholding, such as the establishment of conditions for renting farmland.

The largest number of laws in the Code of Hammurabi were dedicated to marriage and family. Parents arranged marriages for their children. After marriage, the party signed a marriage contract. Without this contract, no one was considered legally married. While the husband provided a bridal payment, the woman's parents were responsible for a dowry to the husband. Dowries were carefully monitored and governed by regulations.

Mesopotamian society was a patriarchal society, and so women possessed far fewer privileges and rights in their marriage. A woman's place was at home and failure to fulfill her duties was grounds for divorce. If she was not able to bear children, her husband could divorce her but he had to repay the dowry. If his wife tried to leave the home in order to engage in business, her husband could divorce her and did not have to repay the dowry. Furthermore, if his wife was a "gadabout, … neglecting her house [and] humiliating her husband," she could be drowned.

Women were guaranteed some rights, however. If a woman was divorced without good reason she received the dowry back. A woman could seek divorce and get her dowry back if her husband was unable to show that she had done anything wrong. The mother also chose a son to whom an inheritance would be passed.

Fathers ruled their children as well as their wives. Obedience was expected: "If a son has struck his father, they shall cut off his hand." If a son committed a serious enough offense, his father could disinherit him. It should be clear that the Code of Hammurabi covered virtually every aspect of an individual's life. Although scholars have questioned the extent to which these laws were actually employed in Babylonian society, the Code of Hammurabi provides us an important glimpse into the values of Mesopotamian civilization.

Ex.1. Answer the following questions:

1. Why did Mesopotamian people establish law codes?

2. When was the Code of Hammurabi drawn up?

3. What social classes were in Babylonia according to the code?

4. What spheres of life did the code cover? Give examples.

5. Did Mesopotamian women have any rights?

6. What were the penalties for criminal and civil offenses?

7. How do you understand the principle “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”?

Ex. 2. a) Give English equivalents to the following expressions:

согласно кодексу

выносить обвинение

ложные показания

устраивать браки

быть ответственным за

возмещать убытки в десятикратном размере

Ex. 3. Match the words with their definitions:

1. offense	A person against whom a charge is brought in a law court
2. justice	An act of wrongdoing, especially of breaking the law; crime
3. restitution	An amount of money paid as a punishment
4. burglary	Something which is owned; possession(s)
5. commit a crime	The act of returning something lost or stolen to its owner; or of paying for damage
6. property	The crime of entering a building by force with the intention of stealing
7. defendant	The quality of being just; fairness
9. fine	To do something illegal; to offend

Ex. 4. Form nouns from these verbs, using the suffixes -er, -or, -(a)tion, -enc, -ance, -ment. Consult the dictionary and the text:

To govern, to offend, to punish, to murder, to expect, to construct, to own, to condemn, to inherit, to obey.

Ex. 5. Translate from Russian into English:

1. Согласно кодексу Хаммурапи, наказания за преступления были суровыми и зависели от благосостояния человека.

2. Преступление против представителя высшего сословия наказывалось с большей жестокостью, чем то же самое преступление, но совершенное против человека низшего класса.

3. Принцип возмездия применялся в тех случаях, когда члены высшего сословия совершали преступления против представителей своего же класса.

4. Однако за преступления против представителей низшего сословия взимался лишь денежный штраф.

5. Если человек крал имущество, принадлежащее храму, его приговаривали к смертной казни, так же как и человека, который взял краденые вещи.

Ex. 6. Discuss the following statements in groups:

1. Punishments under the Hammurabi's code were always fair.

2. Crime doesn't pay.

3. Judge not least you be judged.

Text B. Laws of Babylon

Read the text without a dictionary and try to understand its general content. Answer these questions:

1. What does the text deal with?

2. Have you found any new information here?

3. Why do you think laws appeared?

4. What issues did the early laws emphasize? Why?

One of the most detailed ancient legal codes was drawn up in about 1758 B.C. by Hammurabi, a king of Babylonia. The entire code, consisting of 282 paragraphs, was carved into a great stone pillar, which was set up in a temple to the Babylonian god Marduk so that it could be read by every citizen.

The pillar, lost for centuries after the fall of Babylon in the 16th century B.C., was rediscovered by a French archeologist in 1901 amid the ruins of the Persian city of Susa. Hammurabi's words were still legible. The pillar is now in the Louvre museum in Paris.

The laws laid down by Hammurabi were more extensive than any that had been before. They covered crime, divorce and marriage, the rights of slave owners and slaves, the settlement of debts, inheritance and property contracts; there were even regulations about taxes and the prices of goods.

Punishments under the code were often harsh. The cruel principle of revenge was observed: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, which meant that criminals had to receive as punishment precisely those injuries and damages they had inflicted upon their victims. Not only murderers but also thieves and false accusers faced the death penalty. And a child who hit his father could expect to lose the hand that struck the blow. The code outlawed private blood feuds and banned the tradition by which a man could kidnap and keep a woman he wanted for his bride. In addition the new laws took account of the circumstances of the offender as well as of the offence. So a lower-ranking citizen who lost a civil case would be fined less than an aristocrat in the same position - though he would also be awarded less if he won.

Nevertheless, Hammurabi's laws represented an advance on earlier tribal customs, because the penalty could not be harder than the crime.

Ex. 1. Write down Russian equivalents for the words and expressions in bold type. Consult a dictionary if necessary.

Ex. 2. Match the English words and expressions with the Russian ones:

death penalty

to injure

to kidnap

thief

property contracts

false accuser

to damage

to be awarded

offender

blood feud

вор

смертная казнь

клеветник

правонарушитель

кровная месть

наносить ущерб

наносить увечья

похищать

имущественные контракты

получать компенсацию

Ex. 3. Do the following tasks on this text:

a) divide the text into logical parts

b) give a title to each part

c) give the contents of each part in 1 or 2 sentences

d) give a summary of the whole text.

Ex. 4. Make a presentation on Laws of Babylon using all necessary vocabulary from exercises 2 and 3 and your own knowledge of this theme.

Lesson 6.

Text A. Egyptian Civilization

Answer the questions in pairs:

What associations does the word “Egypt” call to mind?

Make a list of ideas and compare your notes.

Study the pronunciation of the following proper names:

Egypt [?i:d?ipt] - Египет

Egyptian [i?d?ip?(?)n] - египетский, египтянин

Ethiopia[?i:?i??upi?] - Эфиопия

Giza [?gi:z?] - Гиза (плато ок. Каира, местонахождение древних пирамид)

Khartoum [ka:?tum] - Хартум (город в Африке, столица Судана)

Khufu ['ku:fu] - Великая пирамида Хеопса (Куфу)

Mediterranean Sea [?medit?reini?n si:] - Средиземное море

Macedonian [?m?si?d?uni?n] - македонский, македонянин

Memphis [?memfis] - Мемфис (древний центр нижнего Египта на Ниле)

Nile, the [?nail] - р. Нил

Re [rei] - Ра (бог солнца в древнеегипетской мифологии)

Guess the meaning of the following words:

alluvial [??lu:vi?l], adj

archaic [a:?keiik], adj

caste [kast], n

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

hierarchy [?hai?ra:ki], n

papyrus [p??pair?s], n

pharaoh [?fe?r?u], n

uninhabitable [??nin?h?bit?b(?)l], adj

Study the following words:

arid [??rid], adj - сухой, засушливый

carving ['ka:vi?], n - резьба по дереву или камню, орнамент

determine [di?t?:min], v - определять, решать

divine [di?vain], adj - божественный

evidence [?evid(?)ns], n - доказательство, свидетельство

exalted [ig?zo:ltid], adj - возвышенный

supremacy [su:?prem?si], n - верховенство, господство, превосходство

swell [swel], v - раздувать, увеличивать

tangible [?t?nd?ib(?)l], adj - осязаемый, ощутимый

yield [ji:ld], v - приносить

Read and translate the text using a dictionary if necessary:

The basic element in the lengthy history of Egyptian civilization is geography. The Nile River rises from the lakes of central Africa as the White Nile and from the mountains of Ethiopia as the Blue Nile. The White and Blue Nile meet at Khartoum and flow together northward to the Nile delta, where the 4000 mile course of this river spills into the Mediterranean Sea.

Less than two inches of rain per year falls in the delta and rain is relatively unknown in other parts of Egypt. Most of the land is uninhabitable. These geographical factors have determined the character of Egyptian civilization. People could farm only along the banks of the Nile, where arid sand meets the fertile soil. Of course, each summer the Nile swells as the rains pour down and the snow melts on the mountains. The river overflows its banks and floods the land with fresh water and deposits a thick layer of rich alluvial soil. The land would then yield two harvests before winter. This yearly flood determined more than just the agricultural needs of early Egypt. It also determined the lifecycle of society and helped to create the world view of ancient Egyptian civilization.

The basic source of Egyptian history is a list of rulers compiled in c.280 B.C. by Manetho for the Macedonians who ruled Egypt. Manetho divided Egyptian kings into thirty dynasties (a 31st was added later) in the following manner:

Period	Dynasty	Years
Archaic Period	1-2	3100-2700 B.C.
Old Kingdom	3-6	2700-2200 B.C.
Intermediate Period	7-10	2200-2050 B.C.
Middle Kingdom	11-12	2050-1800 B.C.
Intermediate Period	13-17	1800-1570 B.C.
New Kingdom	18-20	1570-1085 B.C.
Post-Empire	21-31	1085-332 B.C.

Early Egypt was divided into two kingdoms, one in Upper Egypt (Nile Valley), and one in Lower Egypt (Nile delta). Remember, the Nile flows from south to north.

Egyptian Dynasties

Menes (or Narmer) unified Upper and Lower Egypt and established his capital at Memphis around 3000 B.C.. By the time of the Old Kingdom, the land had been consolidated under the central power of a king, who was also the "owner" of all Egypt. Considered to be divine, he stood above the priests and was the only individual who had direct contact with the gods. The economy was a royal monopoly and so there was no word in Egyptian for "trader." Under the king was a carefully graded hierarchy of officials, ranging from the governors of provinces down through local mayors and tax collectors. The entire system was supported by the work of slaves, peasants and artisans.

The Old Kingdom reached its highest stage of development in the Fourth Dynasty. The most tangible symbols of this period of greatness are the three enormous pyramids built as the tombs of kings at Giza between 2600 and 2500. The largest, Khufu (called Cheops by the Greeks), was originally 481 feet high and 756 feet long on each side. Khufu was made up of 2.3 million stone blocks averaging 2.5 tons each. In the 5th century B.C. the Greek historian Herodotus tells us that the pyramid took 100,000 men and twenty years to build. The pyramids are remarkable not only for their technical engineering expertise, but also for what they tell us about royal power at the time. They are evidence that Egyptian kings had enormous wealth as well as the power to concentrate so much energy on a personal project.

The priests, an important body within the ruling caste, were a social force working to modify the king's supremacy. Yielding to the demands of the priests of Re, a sun god, kings began to call themselves "sons of Re," adding his name as a suffix to their own. Re was also worshipped in temples that were sometimes larger than the pyramids of later kings.

In the Old Kingdom, royal power was absolute. The pharaoh (the term originally meant "great house" or "palace"), governed his kingdom through his family and appointed officials. The lives of the peasants and artisans was carefully regulated: their movement was limited and they were taxed heavily. Luxury accompanied the pharaoh in life and in death and he was raised to an exalted level by his people. The Egyptians worked for the pharaoh and obeyed him because he was a living god on whom the entire fabric of social life depended. No codes of law were needed since the pharaoh was the direct source of all law.

The Egyptians also developed a system of writing. Although the idea may have come from Mesopotamia, the script was independent of the cuneiform. Egyptian writing began as pictographic and was later combined with sound signs to produce a difficult and complicated script that the Greeks called hieroglyphics ("sacred carvings"). Though much of what we have today is preserved on wall paintings and carvings, most of Egyptian writing was done with pen and ink on fine paper (papyrus).

Ex.1. Answer the following questions:

1. What is the main factor in the history of Egyptian civilization? Can you explain why?

2. How did Manetho classify Egyptian kings?

3. What is known about the reign of Menes?

4. What pyramids were built during the reign of the Fourth Dynasty? What did they serve for?

5. What did the term “pharaoh” originally mean?

6. What system of writing did the Egyptians develop?

Ex. 2. Give English equivalents to the following expressions:

длинная история Египетской цивилизации

плодородная почва

список правителей

основать столицу

королевская монополия

огромное благосостояние

правящая каста

назначать чиновников

Ex. 3. Give definitions to the following terms:

dynasty

hierarchy

slave

evidence

priest

tomb

Ex. 4. Form adjectives from these nouns:

Geography

Fertility

Agriculture

Length

Inhabitation

Energy

Religion Evidence.

Ex. 5. Translate from Russian into English:

1. Около 3000 г. до н.э. Менес объединил земли Верхнего и Нижнего Египта и основал столицу в Мемфисе.

2. Египетский царь считался божеством на земле и был единственным человеком, который мог напрямую общаться с богами.

3. Под властью фараона располагалась четко организованная иерархия чиновников, от губернаторов провинций до сборщиков податей.

4. Эта сложная система зиждилась на труде рабов, крестьян и ремесленников.

5. Поскольку фараон являлся непосредственным источником всех законов, никаких правовых кодексов не существовало.

6. Известно, что египтяне писали ручкой и чернилами на тонкой бумаге (папирусе), однако большинство фрагментов письменности древних египтян, сохранившихся до наших дней, это настенные рисунки.

Ex. 6. Speak about the society in Ancient Egypt using the active vocabulary from the text.

Text B. Egyptian Religion

civilization asia mesopotamian hammurabi

Read the text without a dictionary and find the answers to the following questions:

a) What was the role of the pharaoh in Ancient Egypt?

b) Why were animals carefully buried?

c) Name the main Egyptian deities. What did they symbolize?

Religion was integral to Egyptian life. Religious beliefs formed the basis of Egyptian art, medicine, astronomy, literature and government. The great pyramids were burial tombs for the pharaohs who were revered as gods on earth. Magical utterances pervaded medical practices since disease was attributed to the gods. Astronomy evolved to determine the correct time to perform religious rites and sacrifices. The earliest examples of literature dealt almost entirely with religious themes. The pharaoh was a sacrosanct monarch who served as the intermediary between the gods and man. Justice too, was conceived in religious terms, something bestowed upon man by the creator-god. Finally, the Egyptians developed an ethical code which they believed the gods had approved.

J. A. Wilson in his “The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man, 1943” once remarked that if one were to ask an ancient Egyptian whether the sky was supported by posts or held up by a god, the Egyptian would answer: "Yes, it is supported by posts or held up by a god or it rests on walls, or it is a cow, or it is a goddess whose arms and feet touch the earth". The ancient Egyptian was ready to accept any and all gods and goddesses that seemed appropriate. For instance, if a new area was incorporated into the Egyptian state, its gods and goddesses would be added to the pantheon of those already worshipped.

From its earliest beginnings, Egyptian religious cults included animals. It is no accident that sheep, bulls, gazelles and cats have been found carefully buried and preserved in their own graves. As time passed, the figures of Egyptian gods became human (anthropomorphism) although they often retained the animal's head or body. Osiris, the Egyptian god who judged the dead, first emerged as a local deity of the Nile Delta in Lower Egypt. It was Osiris who taught the Egyptian agriculture. Isis was his wife, and animal-headed Seth, his brother and rival. Seth killed Osiris. Isis persuaded the gods to bring him back to life, but thereafter he ruled below. Osiris was identified with the life-giving, fertilizing power of the Nile, and Isis with the fertile earth of Egypt. Horus, the god of the sky, defeated the evil Seth after a long struggle. But Horus was only one kind of sky god. There was also Re, the sun god, later conjoined with Amen, and still later Aten. The moon god was the baboon-headed Thoth, who was the god of wisdom, magic and numbers. In the great temple cities such as Heliopolis ("city of the sun"), priests worked out and wrote down hierarchies of divinities. In the small communities of villages, all the forces of nature were deified and worshipped. One local god was part crocodile, part hippopotamus, and part lion.

Despite the ever-increasing number of deities which could be added to this hierarchy of deities, one thing is certain: Egyptian religion, unlike the religion of Mesopotamia, was centralized. In Sumer, the temple was the focus of political, economic and religious organization. Indeed, it was often difficult to know where one aspect began and another ended. By contrast, the function of an Egyptian temple was focused on religion.

Ex. 1. Make up a plan of the text.

Ex. 2. Write out the key words of each part.

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

Ex. 4. Give a written translation of the text in Russian.

Lesson 7

Text A. The Akkadian Kingdom

Answer the following questions:

What do you know about Mesopotamia?

Who were the Sumerians?

What does the concept of “Fertile Crescent” refer to?

Study the following proper names:

Akkad ['?k?d] - Аккад (древний город в Месопотамии)

Akkadian Kingdom [?'keidi?n 'ki?d?m] - Королевство Аккад

An ['a:n] - Ан (шумерский бог неба)

Enlil ['e:nlil] - Энлиль, шумерский бог воздуха

Nanna ['n?:n?] - Нанна, шумерский бог Луны

Sargon of Akkad ['sa:g?n ?v'?k?d] - Саргон Аккадский (царь Аккада и Шумера, основатель династии Аккаде)

Utu [u:tu:] - Уту, шумерский бог Солнца

Guess the meaning of the following words and expressions:

anthropomorphic ['?ntr?up?'m?:fik], adj

battle ['b?tl], n

inhabit [in'h?bit], v

priest [pri:st], n

temple ['templ], n

Universe (the) ['ju:niv?:s], n

code of ethics [k?ud?v'e?iks]

permanent communities [['p?:m(?)n?nt k?'mju:niti]

semitic-speaking [si'mi:tik 'spiki?]

Study the following words:

assume [?'sju:m], v - брать на себя, принимать

embrace [im'breis], v - принимать, выбирать, пользоваться

encounter [in'kaunt?], v - встретить, столкнуться, натолкнуться

incorporate [in'k?: p?r?t] - объединять, соединять, включать в состав

mediator ['mi:dieit?], n - посредник

Read the text below using a dictionary if necessary

The Sumerians were not the only people to inhabit the Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia . There were other groups of people who lived in permanent communities and who interacted with the Sumerians in times of peace and in war. By 2350 B.C., Semitic-speaking people united northern Mesopotamia with the Sumerian city-states and a new capital was set up at Akkad. The result was a centralized government under the authority of the king, his royal court, and the high class of priests.

The man most responsible for this development is assumed to be Sargon of Akkad. Sargon, whose name is taken to mean "the king is legitimate," carried out more than thirty battles against the Sumerian city-states and eventually, these city-states were incorporated into the Akkadian kingdom.

The foundation of the Akkadian state was economic. Sargon and his royal court served as the focal point of all economic activity. At Sumer, this task was assumed by the priests of the temple. Sargon brought vast amounts of wealth to the capital city - he also brought a huge number of royal servants and administrators, thus creating a bureaucratic organization to help rule his kingdom.

The Akkadian kingdom, like most Ancient Near Eastern kingdoms, also embraced a polytheistic religion. Their gods were anthropomorphic, that is, the gods took human form. And because the gods took human form, they also had human qualities: the gods could be foolish, intelligent, shy, humorous, jealous, angry or silly. Among themselves, the gods also had unequal status. The gods were derived from the world of nature for the simple reason that life in Mesopotamia was controlled or conditioned by the seasons. Theirs was a world of nature and in order to understand nature, the Mesopotamians gave human shape to the forces of nature. So, we encounter An, the sky god, Enlil, the god of air, Nanna, the moon god and Utu, the sun god. The Mesopotamians believed these gods were responsible for creating the universe and everything it contained, including humankind. The gods were also responsible for the smooth running of that world. The gods ruled the world of men through their earthly representatives, and in the case of the Akkadian kingdom, this meant Sargon. The status of the temple priests at Akkad decreased. Although they still exist, and continue to serve a vital role, the mediator between the gods and ordinary men and women, is now Sargon.

Men and women were created by the gods to serve the gods - to feed and clothe them, to honor and obey them. One thing absent from this religion, however, was that the gods did not specify any code of ethics or morality. Issues of good and evil were left to men and women to discover on their own. In the end, the gods gave the inhabitants of these early river civilizations an answer to the basic question - why are we here? what is our role? And the answer was equally simple - to serve the gods.

Ex. 1. Answer the following questions:

1) Who besides Sumerians inhabited the Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia?

2) How was the Akkadian state founded?

3) Who was responsible for the set up of the new capital at Akkad?

4) What kind of religion dominated in the Akkadian kingdom?

5) What role did the gods play in life of the Mesopotamians?

6) Who was the mediator between the gods and ordinary Mesopotamians?

7) What was the underlying idea of the religion adopted by the Mesopotamians?

Ex. 2. Arrange the words below into three categories:

Akkadian	religion	Sargon

Mesopotamia, Sumerian city-states, semitic-speaking people, priests, royal servants, anthropomorphic, polytheistic, mediator, temple, administrators, bureaucratic organization, kingdom, capital city, forces of nature, good and evil, ordinary men and women.

Ex. 3. Give your own definitions to the following words:

Sargon of Akkad

mediator

to incorporate

illegitimate

capital city

permanent community

bureaucratic organization

polytheistic religion

Ex.4. Find words from the text that are defined as follows:

- a number of individuals living in the same locality and having common ties and interests;

- to unite or combine so as to form one body;

- one who directs or manages;

- having a human form, ascribing human form or attributes to beings or things not human;

- material possessions in all their variety, abundance of something;

- a clergyman, a person selected to perform sacred functions;

- a person, spirit or object, worshipped or adored, to whom supernatural powers are attributed;

-a permanent resident, one who inhabits.

Ex. 5. Complete the chart with the appropriate forms of the words if possible:

VERB	NOUN	ADJECTIVE
		responsible
	development
decrease
		bureaucratic
	organization
adore
		vital
	inhabitant
condition

Ex. 6. Translate from Russian into English:

1. Месопотамию населяли не только шумеры, но и другие группы людей.

2. После объединения Месопотамии и шумерских городов-государств возникла новая столица Аккад.

3. Шумерские города-государства вошли в состав Аккадского королевства благодаря Саргону Аккадскому.

4. При правлении Саргона столица Аккадского королевства стала процветать.

5. В Аккадском королевстве доминировала политеистическая религия: боги имели человеческий облик и были наделены чертами человеческого характера.

6. Жители Месопотамии считали, что боги сотворили Вселенную и всё, что есть на ней, в том числе и человека.

7. Боги создали людей, чтобы те их кормили и одевали, одним словом, служили им.

8. Однако политеистическая религия не предусматривала этических и моральных законов для людей, вопросы добра и зла были полностью возложены на людей.

Ex. 7. Divide into two groups - pro and con - to discuss the following point: “Sargon of Akkad: progress or regress for the Akkadian Kingdom?”. Prepare your arguments for and against the ruling of Sargon. Use the active vocabulary from the text.

Text B. Sargon of Akkad

Legendary King of Mesopotamia

Read the text without a dictionary and answer the following questions:

1) What legends about the birth and upbringing of Sargon do you know?

2) What kind of state was Sumer before Sargon placed it under his own command?

3) How long did Sargon reign?

4) When was the Akkadian empire suddenly defeated?

5) Who reigned when it happened?

Sargon of Akkad reigned from 2334 to 2279 BC, creating an empire that united all of Mesopotamia since the Tower of Babel. He was an Akkadian Semite from the line of Noah's son Shem, like the later Assyrians, Babylonians, and Hebrews. When he conquered the dominant Sumerians, he created the first great Semitic empire. Although Sargon began his life as an orphan adopted by a gardener and not in a royal family, he rose up in power and conquered all the great kings around him. Rebellions surfaced during his life and the life of his sons but did not tear the empire apart until the reign of his grandson. Soon after, the Akkadian empire fell.

There are many legends surrounding the birth and upbringing of Sargon, though they probably have varying degrees of truth. When the events from the legends are combined, we see that Sargon's rise to emperor was a huge accomplishment. While the identity of his father is not clearly known, the legend states that his mother was a temple priestess. Giving birth to him in secret and setting him in a basket to float, she abandoned him to the Euphrates river. Akki, a gardener, rescued him from the river and raised him. After working as a gardener for Akki, Sargon rose to the position of cup-bearer to Ur-Zababa, the king of Kish. One legend tells how Ur-Zababa rose to power, appointed Sargon as cup-bearer, and then attempted to murder him. An and Enlil, Sumerian gods, decided to oppose the reign of Ur-Zababa and to remove his wealth from him. Then, fearful because of a dream that the goddess Inanna would give Sargon his kingdom, Ur-Zababa attempted to murder him. When this attempt failed, Ur-Zababa sent Sargon with a note to Lugalzagesi, king of Uruk, containing instructions to kill Sargon. Here the legend stops, but history continues. Instead of being killed by Lugalzagesi, Sargon later made war against Lugalzagesi's empire, and became emperor in his place.

Before Sargon became emperor, Sumer consisted of many city-state governments. Lugalzagesi, king of Uruk, marched through Sumer and conquered the city-states one by one, uniting all of Sumer under his authority. Sargon began his rise to power by attacking Lugalzagesi and his Sumerian empire. Sargon conquered him, stripping him of kingship and placing all of Sumer under his own command--establishing the first empire to cover all of Mesopotamia. As the kingship of the united Sumer transferred to Sargon, the individual city-states took advantage of the ensuing confusion. They rebelled against Sargon, their new ruler, and forced him to support his claim as king through military might. After his defeat of Lugalzagesi he traveled throughout Sumer conquering one city-state after another. Not content with ruling the land of Sumer and Akkad, he expanded his empire as far as Lebanon and the Taurus mountains of Turkey. He continued to encounter uprisings as city-nations rose up against his authority. Nearly three-thousand years later, the Babylonians will tell of the kings who rose against Sargon, and his rescue by Inanna, the moon goddess (known in the Bible as Ishtar). Later he boasts about his prowess: “In my old age of 55, all the lands revolted against me, and they besieged me in Agade `but the old lion still had teeth and claws' I went forth to battle and defeated them: I knocked them over and destroyed their vast army. `Now, any king who wants to call himself my equal, Wherever I went, let him go'!”

According to the Sumerian king list and other records, Sargon reigned for fifty-six years, and then the kingship was passed to his son, Rimuc, who battled endless rebellions for nine years. The kingship then passed on to Sargon's other son, and finally to his grandson, Naram-Suen. During his reign, the empire began to unravel as city-states broke away from the empire. Soon after, a barbaric tribe from the Zagros mountains to the east invaded and conquered the Akkadian empire.

Ex. 1. Divide the text into logical parts.

Ex. 2. Give a title to each paragraph of the text.

Ex. 3. Tell the content of each paragraph in 1-2 sentences.

Ex. 4. Summarize the text in brief.

Ex. 5. Discuss the question in pairs: How you evaluate the activity of Sargon as a warlord.

Lesson 8

Text A. Dark Ages and Greek Renaissance

Answer the following questions:

What period in men's history is called “Renaissance”? Define the term.

What do you know about the Dark Ages?

How can the idea of “Dark Ages” be applied to the history of Greece?

Give Russian equivalents to the following proper names:

Aegean Sea [i:'d?i:?n'si:]

Asia Minor ['ei??'main?]

Crete [kri:t]

Knossos ['kn?:s?s]

Mycenae [mai'si:ni:]

Minos ['main?s]

The island of Thera ['?i?r?]

Troy [tr?i]

Study the pronunciation of the following proper names and expressions:

Dark Ages ['da:k'eid?iz] - мрачное средневековье

Doric Greeks ['d?rik'gri:ks] - Дорийцы (жители Дориды - области Древней Греции)

Greek Mainland ['gri:k'meinl?nd] - Греческая Равнина

Greek Renaissance ['gri:k r?'neis(?)ns] - Греческий Ренессанс (Возрождение)

The Minoans [mi'n?u?n] - Минойцы

Give Russian equivalents to the following words:

bureaucrat ['bju?r?ukr?t], n

destroy ['dis'tr?i], v

pottery ['p?tter?], n

remains [ri'meinz], n

tidal wave ['taidl'weiv], n

trade [treid], v

warrior ['w?ri?], n

Study the following words and expressions:

abrupt [?'br?pt], adj - резкий, внезапный, неожиданный

burial ['beri?lz], n - похороны

decipher [di'saif?], v - расшифровывать, разгадывать, распутывать

decline [di'klain], n - упадок

earthquake ['???kweik], n - землетрясение

engulf [in'g?lf], v - затапливать, поглощать

halt [h? :lt], n - прекращение

invader [in'veid?], n - захватчик

invasion [in'vei?(?)n], n - вторжение, захват

ornate [?: 'neit]. adj - пышный, богато украшенный

script [skri:pt], n - рукописный текст, манускрипт

surround [s?'raund], v - окружать

valley ['v?li], n - долина

Read and translate the text using a dictionary if necessary:

The first important society in the Greek world developed on the large island of Crete, just south of the Aegean Sea. The people of Crete were not Greek but probably came from western Asia Minor well before 3000 B.C. In 1900, the English archeologist, Arthur Evans (1851-1941), excavated Knossos, the greatest city of ancient Crete. There he discovered the remains of a magnificent palace which he named the Palace of Minos, the mythical king of Crete (and so, Cretan civilization is also known as Minoan). The palace bureaucrats of Crete wrote in a script called Linear A and although their language has not been fully deciphered, it is assumed that they may have been a member of the Indo-European family of languages, which includes Greek and Latin.

With an estimated population of 250,000 people (40,000 in Knossos alone), the Minoans traded with the people of the Fertile Crescent. Their palaces became the centers of economic activity and political power. The palaces themselves were constructed with rooms of varying sizes and functions and it seemed as if there were no apparent design (the Greeks later called them labyrinths). Although the Minoans were remarkable for their trade networks, architecture and the arts, their civilization eventually declined. Although historians have not agreed on an exact cause, it has been suggested that a large earthquake on the island of Thera may have created a tidal wave that engulfed the island of Crete. Whatever the cause of their decline, Minoan society was transformed by invaders from the Greek mainland.

How the Greeks settled on the Greek mainland is significant for their future development. Greece is a mountainous country and full of valleys. Greece is also nearly surrounded by water. Because of their geography, the Greeks were encouraged to settle the land in independent political communities. These communities would soon come to be known as city-states. Each city state or polis had its own political organization and thus was truly independent. The largest and most powerful of all the city-states in the period 1600-1100 was that of Mycenae and this period of time has come to be called the Mycenaean Age.

By the 16th century Mycenae was an extremely wealthy, prosperous and powerful state. Archeological discoveries of the area have uncovered swords, weapons and the remains of well-fortified city walls showing that this city-state was indeed a community of warriors. Each city-state in the Mycenaean period was independent and under the rule of its own king. The only time the city-states may have united was during the war with Troy in Asia Minor.