Literature of the Ancient World 3000 B.C.

1
Literature of the Ancient World3000 B.C. A. D.
500

• Spiritual Beginnings Mesopotamian, Egyptian,
  Hebrew Literature
• Writings from the oldest known civilization
• Epic of Gilgamesh
• Egyptian Book of the Dead
• Hebrew Bible
• These writings reveal the spiritual beliefs of
  these ancient cultures

2
Literature of the Ancient World3000 B.C. A. D.
500

• Sacred and Practical Teachings Literature of
  Ancient India
• Includes important Hindu scriptures Aryan hymns
  from the Rig Veda and Mahabharata and Ramayana
  epics which present religious ideals
• Secular stories from the Panchatantra, a
  collection of folk tales arranged as a practical
  guide for living

3
Making Connections

• In what way might writing make a dead man, or a
  dead civilization, alive in the mouths of any
  who read?

4
Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Hebrew
Literature(Refer to map on pp. 16-17)

• Why might the Jordan River have been less
  important to the Hebrews than the Nile to the
  Egyptians or the Tigris and Euphrates to the
  Mesopotamians?
• Answer

5
Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Hebrew
Literature(Refer to map on pp. 16-17)

• How far apart did the Mesopotamian cities of Ur
  and Uruk lie?
• How many miles did the first Hebrew cover in
  their migration from Ur to Haran and then from
  Haran to Canaan?

6
Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Hebrew
Literature(Refer to map on pp. 16-17)

• Is the Egyptian city of Memphis closer to Thebes
  or to Jerusalem?
• This unit includes literature from three cultures
  of the ancient Middle East that occupied a region
  called the Fertile Crescent. The Mesopotamian
  and the Egyptian are the oldest civilizations
  known. The Hebrew produced a body of literature
  that has been instrumental in shaping Western
  civilization.

7
Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Hebrew
Literature(Refer to How Cultures Survived, p.17)

• Each cultures way of existing in the region was
  radically different from that of the other two.
  The Egyptians were a single ethnic group in a
  single geographic area, the Mesopotamians
  different ethnic groups in a single area, and the
  Hebrews one ethnic group in a number of areas.
  As you read the rest of this intro, look for
  causes for these differences and ways the
  differences affected the cultures.

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Mesopotamia History, Arts, and Culture

• Study the painting on p. 19 and identify the
  following items mentioned under Architecture and
  Technology a decorated building, a garden, a
  ziggurat, a city wall, a city gate, a
  thoroughfare, a hanging garden, a fountain, a
  sail, and cuneiform writing. How are the symbols
  formed?

9
Mesopotamia History, Arts, and Culture

• Who can be thought of as the worlds first author
  because her writings are the earliest ones known
  to be connected with a particular person?

10
Egypt History, Arts, and Culture

• Explain the meaning of kingdom as it is used on
  pp. 20-21.
• How is the history of Egypt connected to the
  history of Mesopotamia as described on p. 18?

11
Egypt History, Arts, and Culture

• Who were the rulers of the
• Old Kingdom
• Middle Kingdom
• New Kingdom
• Who were the female rulers of these kingdoms? Who
  was the first female to rule as a pharaoh?

12
The Ancient Hebrews History, Arts, and Culture

• Identify the connections between the history of
  the ancient Hebrews and that of the Mesopotamians
  and Egyptians.

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The Ancient Hebrews History, Arts, and Culture

• The Temple After Cyrus freed the Jews from the
  Babylonian captivity, his successor, Darius I,
  allowed them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild
  the Temple. Darius also returned sacred objects
  stolen from the Temple by the Babylonian king
  Nebuchadnezzar, but the Ark of the Covenant and
  the tablets of Moses were lost forever. The
  second Temple still existed during the time of
  Jesus at the beginning of the first century A.D.,
  many incidents from his New Testament
  narratives take place there the 2nd Temple was
  destroyed by the Roman general Titus in A.D. 70.
  Part of the original Temple wall remains today
  and is one of the holiest sites of Judaism. At
  dusk on Friday, Jews gather at the site, known as
  the Wailing Wall, to welcome the Sabbath with
  song and prayer.

14
Searching for the Past(pp. 24-25)

• For each short essay listed below, describe the
  problem presented and how it was solved
• How Writing Was Invented
• No one understood the purpose of the clay tokens
  or why tablets were rounded.
• Breaking the Code
• No one could read Egyptian hieroglyphics.
• A Library in the Sand
• The Epic of Gilgamesh was lost.
• King Tuts Tomb
• Most pyramids had been looted, so their contents
  could not be studied.
• The Dead Sea Scrolls
• Bible texts from the time of Jesus did not exist
  the scrolls were not widely available for study.
• The Search Continues
• Only broken tablets had been found.

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Literary Terms to Know

• Myth
• Heroic literature
• Legends, epics
• Sacred verse
• Wisdom literature
• Proverbs, parables
• Folk tales
• Archetype

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Foundations of Early Literature

• What kinds of literature probably existed in
  early societies?
• What purposes would these kinds of literature
  serve?
• What similar literary forms exist in our own
  culture?
• What examples of literary forms in use today
  exist primarily in written form? In other forms
  (oral, etc.)