Birth of Civilization

• City State

  an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory; autonomous nation
• Cuneiform

  a logo-syllabic writing system used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East
• Polytheism

  The belief/worship of more than one god
• Ziggurat

  An ancient Mesopotamian temple tower consisting of a lofty, stepped pyramidal structure with outside staircases and a shrine at the top
• axis mundi

  The mythological concept representing “the connection between heaven and the earth” or “higher and lower realms”’
• Necropolis

  A large designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments; ”city of the dead”
• Mastaba

  A type of ancient Egyptian tomb in the form of a flat-roofed, rectangular structure with inward sloping sides, constructed out of mud bricks and limestone
• Stepped pyramid

  An architectural structure that uses flat platforms, or steps, receding from the ground up, to achieve a completed shape similar to a geometric pyramid.
• White Temple/ Ziggurat of Uruk

  Warka, Iraq, Sumerians (city of Uruk), ~3000 BCE

  
• Settlement of Ur

  Iraq, Sumerians, around 3800 BC

  
• Ziggurat of Ur

  Ur-Nammu, Iraq, Sumerians (city of Ur), ~3800 BC

  
• Mohenjo-Daro

  Pakistan, Harappans, ~25 BC

  
• Saqqara

  Egypt, Old Kingdom, ~3000 BCE

  
• Stepped Pyramid of Djoser

  Imhotep, Egypt, Old Kingdom, ~2650

  
• Bent Pyramid

  Egypt, Old Kingdom, ~2600 BCE

  
• Great Pyramid of Giza

  Hemiunu, Egypt, Old Kingdom, ~2570 BCE