Egyptian Civilization Dbq

The civilizations that flourished in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Palestine were located in river valleys or along the Mediterranean coast. These civilizations developed highly complex cultures that shared many common characteristics. Egyptians were a very advanced civilization due to their inventions and technology. The Old Kingdom, which first began in 2650 B.C as stated in the timeline of Document 1, was defined by its many great pyramids and monuments. From there on in the ancient Egyptian timeline, Egyptians surpassed other civilizations through their many remarkable advancements and achievements. Egyptians used a written form of communication, one of the characteristics of any civilization, based on pictures called hieroglyphics which was

This displays an important characteristic of a civilization; job specialization. Job specialization is imperative in maintaining a functioning civilization because each occupation holds a small but specifically important contribution towards that civilization. Furthermore, an excerpt from The Book of the Dead displays another characteristic of civilization; religion. The excerpt describes a “soul giving testimony and awaiting Osiris’s judgment.” Egyptian religion included the belief of an afterlife and one of their gods was Osiris who is believed to be the god of the dead and the ruler of the underworld. In the text, this soul/individual claims to have led a moral life because the lines “May no evil happen unto me” and “I am pure” as well as the mention of the “Hall of Double Right and Truth” suggest that if you lived a life of sin you were condemned but if you led a moral life you are rewarded in the afterlife. Additionally, one important achievement of the Egyptians was their agriculture which made their economy flourish and allowed for a surplus of products. Similar to how the Egyptians made a

Hebrew civilization began in 1792 B.C when a mass of Hebrews departed from Egypt. Hebrews held major religious and moral contributions to future civilizations. Whereas many earlier religions were polytheistic, Hebrew religion was define by monotheism as supported by the third commandment in The Ten Commandments that states “You shall have no other gods before me.” In addition, The Ten Commandments are very different from Hammurabi’s Code in the fact that it did not focus on punishment. It emphasized justice and fairness as displayed in commandments 13-17 declaring “You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against you neighbor. You shall not covert your neighbor’s house; you shall not cover your neighbor’s wife… or anything that is your neighbor’s.” These commandments are still very present in modern law and society proving that the morals that prohibit murder, adultery, thievery, lying, and etc. are a lasting contribution of The Ten Commandments. Moving on, Persian civilization became significant when one of the Persian kings, Cyrus II, began conquest of the Asia Minor in 550 B.C. Years later, the Persian Empire becomes an immensely dominant and powerful civilization due to its conquests. One of the achievements of the Persians was maintaining a vast empire which would require a vast