These quiz notes are not meant to be the “right answers” so much as information relevant to the arguments you might make in response to these questions.

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Quiz #1

1. The Nile River impacted the Egyptians by

a. never flooding, aiding trade and irrigation

b. rarely flooding, but always destructively, forcing Egypt to rebuild

c. flooding unpredictably, leaving Egyptians fearful and uncertain

d. flooding every year, leaving fertile soil and suggesting a world of cycles and benevolent gods(true)

The annual flooding of the Nile provided permanent, reliable agricultural fertility to the Egyptians. Unlike the Sumerians, they did not have to struggle against nature simply to achieve sustenance from the land. As such they saw nature, and the gods, as benevolent and nurturing.

2. All of the following were true of the pharaohs… EXCEPT:

a. The government revolved around the pharaoh, who owned the land and everything it produced

b. The pharaohs were considered full-fledged gods, identified with Ra, Horus, and Ptah

c. The pharaoh’s wife was usually an unrelated noble from a nonroyal clan(not true)

d. Even the pharaoh was bound by ma’at, the system of order, justice, and harmony mandated for all by the gods

The pharaoh held all power and controlled the government and the land. That said, in an orderly world of cyclical permanence, a worldview that resulted from and was constantly symbolized by the annual flood of the Nile, the Egyptians saw everything as working unchangingly and forever, according to harmony and balance (ma’at). The god with the responsibility to guarantee this balance was Horus, whose agent and manifestation in the human world is the pharaoh. Therefore, the pharaoh had to uphold harmony and benevolence as a manifestation of the gods. As a god, and to preserve the divine bloodline, pharaohs normally married the closest possible relatives, their siblings.

3. Egypt was unified as a single kingdom

a. from the beginning

b. when the king of Upper Egypt conquered the rest(true)

c. only metaphorically, in myth and literature

d. by outsiders from Kush, to the far south of Egypt

Lower and Upper Egypt were separate kingdoms for some centuries before the king of Upper Egypt at Abydos, known variously as Menes or Narmer, conquered Lower Egypt and founded what is known as the First Dynasty of the unified kingdom of Egypt.

4. All of the following are true of the Egyptian system of hieroglyphs… EXCEPT:

a. It was an ancient writing system of ideograms with over 7,000 symbols

b. The Egyptians developed no way to show proper names and foreign words (not true)

c. A cursive form was used on papyrus, a kind of paper made using the hollow stem of a particular plant

d. Its origins lay in the little-known early centuries of Egyptian civilization

Names and foreign words were spelled out using a cartouche, inside which hieroglyphs could be read as sounds, not words.

5. In Tablet 6 of The Epic of Gilgamesh, the goddess Ishtar proposes to Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh

a. accepts, succumbing to her beauty

b. accepts, but on behalf of Enkidu, not himself

c. refuses, citing her mistreatment of past lovers(true)

d. refuses, saying he must first love himself

Ishtar is entranced by Gilgamesh’s beauty and wants to mate with him, but Gilgamesh spurns her advances. He lists the terrible fates of her previous lovers, criticizing her for her capriciousness and vindictive cruelty.

Ultimately he fears the loss of what he has achieved as a man—his identity. Even if Ishtar does not cast him aside, by becoming the consort of a goddess Gilgamesh will leave the society of mortals and so lose his mortal identity.

Optional Extra Credit

EC. Why do you think Egypt was able to unify, but not Sumer?

The main point here is that the city-states of Sumer were in competition for limited resources, and so remained in rivalry with each other and were often hostile. In Egypt, however, the environment provided plenty for all, so there was no need to compete for resources, and everyone had in common the protection and nurturing of the gods—eventually manifested as a single god-king.

Quiz #2

1. The Nile delta is found in

a. Nubia

b. Kush

c. Lower Egypt(true)

d. Upper Egypt

The delta is where the Nile empties into the Mediterranean. This is downstream (Lower Egypt).

2. All of the following are true of the pyramids EXCEPT:

a. They are associated with the earliest period of united Egypt, the Old Kingdom

b. They were intended to protect the mortal remains of the pharaoh buried within

c. They could only have been constructed by alien gods from outer space(not true)

d. The largest and most famous, the Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops), took 23 years to build

The pyramids were visible symbols of the pharaoh’s divine rule, unifying the people’s shared identity and religion. They represented power unlike any human’s and so reinforced the pharaoh’s divinity. Pyramids were also the ultimate in prestige and luxury, which was controlled by the pharaohs, and so showed precedence over all classes and over past kings as well. They employed huge numbers of people, impressing the people directly with his power and keeping them busy between harvests. They served as temples for the worship of pharaohs after death.

Like all monumental building (e.g., the ziggurats) they displayed Egypt’s (and so the pharaoh’s) immense economic power—to its own people and to outsiders as well, as well as serving as a visual focal point for a strong central identity as Egyptians and a home to a protective patron deity, in this case the pharaoh as a manifestation of Horus.

3. Akhenaten was famous for

a. religious reforms focusing on the supremacy of one god, Aten(true)

b. having no wife

c. being born in Arizona before moving to Babylonia

d. sharing the throne with his cousin Amenhotep

Akhenaten was an Egyptian pharaoh of the New Kingdom (during the 18th Dynasty). He and his queen, Nefertiti, sought to bring about religious reform in Egypt by shifting the focus of worship to Aten, calling him more important than the other gods. This brought about a form of polytheism in which one god is greatly predominant called henotheism. Akhenaten pushed the exclusive worship of Aten by changing his regnal name from Amunhotep IV to Akhenaten, building a new royal city sacred to Aten, and instituting new rituals and priesthoods.

In so doing, Akhenaten sought to undo the shift in religious power from the pharaohs, who had held unquestionable religious authority in the Old Kingdom, to the priests, who now held much greater power in the New Kingdom. The priests emphasized the significance of Amun-Ra, the sun god, in the pharaoh’s rule, so by associating the kingship with Aten he sought to wrest power from the priests. It was too late for that, however: the authority of the priests was now too well established, and the pharaoh’s power too diminished from the absolute in the New Kingdom. Egyptian religion reverted the control of the priests after the deaths of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, as signified by the regnal name of his son and eventual successor, Tutankhamun.

4. The collection of spells that was wrapped around a mummy is known as

a. “The Spells of Ra”

b. “The Tale of Sinuhe”

c. “Book of the Dead” (true)

d. “Osiris Among the Shades”

The Book of the Dead was what was used to ensure the passage of the spirit to the lands of the dead.

5. All of the following are true of the Semitic invaders who dominated Egypt between the Middle and New Kingdoms EXCEPT:

a. The Egyptians called them the Hyksos, meaning “foreign rulers”

b. They embraced and preserved Egyptian culture

c. They ruled peacefully over Egypt for many thousands of years(not true)

d. They fought using horses and chariots, bronze weapons, and complex bows

The Hyksos only ruled for about a hundred years. Despite being foreigners from the Semitic east, they embraced and promoted Egyptian culture and religion enthusiastically.

Optional Extra Credit

EC. The death of Enkidu involves a series of events and visions. What moment stands out to you? What does it suggest to you about Sumer?

Enkidu is distraught at first that his death will not be meaningful—that he will waste away rather than while achieving something great for Uruk and leaving a legacy by which he overcomes death. In his grief he blames Shamhat for civilizing him, but later repents and praises her for the gift she gave him.

The House of Dust is the term used to refer to the Sumerian afterlife; the name underlines that it is what is left after the ending of life, and not a place where life continues. In his dream, Enkidu sees (among other things) past kings who were powerful and constructive during their lives, but impotent and pathetic, bemoaning the loss of their ability to achieve.

Answers only