Unit two: Ancient Civilizations
Mesopotamia
Location: In the text it said that "the ancient Greeks called it Mesopotamia, meaning between the rivers." Mesopotamia is now the location of modern day Iraq. (Steele 6) 
Writing: On page 12 it said, "At first they used picture symbols to represent objects such as cattle, grain, or fish." They used a lot of symbols and pictographs. (Steele 12)
Architecture: On page 46 it says "A series of rulers built luxurious palaces within their walls." There were different statues and carvings on the walls to represent different rulers and events (Steele 46)
Religion: On page 14 it says "They believed that the stars traveling across the night sky were the cows of Sin or Nanna, the horned Moon god." Each city had their own deity. (Steele 14)
Government: In the text it says " Gilgamesh of Uruk, became legendary and their history was entangled with all kinds of myths." Also Sumerian ruler liked having lots of power. (Steele 7)
Art: In the text it says "The Mesopotamians mastered many technologies and crafts at an early point in their history." They mainly used clay to make things but sometimes they would use copper. (Steele 28)
Ancient Egypt
Location: On page 8 it said that since desert covered 90 percent of Egypt, people lived on the banks of the Nile River. Also, in the text it said that "When the Nile water subsided, the farmers went to work sowing barely and emm er wheat. (Hart)
Writing: On page 34 it says "Scribes had to be experts in writing hieroglyphs, an elaborate form of picture-writing with about 700 different signs." Some scribes also used some different forms of writing. (Hart)
Architecture: On page 20, it says "The first pyramid was built as the burial place of King Djoser in c.2650 BCE, by his gifted architect Imhotep." The first pyramid also rose in 6 stages that is called the Step Pyramid. (Hart)
Religion: On page 24 it says"The Egyptians worshiped hundreds of different gods and goddesses, and sometimes it is difficult to work out who was who. It also talks about how many gods were represented by animals and what each animal represents or stands for. (Hart)
Government: In the text, it says "When people approached the king, they often kissed the ground at his feet." Also kings, queens, and gods were the only people allowed to carry a symbol which represented life. (Hart 12 and 13)
Art: On page 56 it says " You can see the glint of gold everywhere in Egyptian jewelry-mines between the Nile and Red Sea coast yielded large quantities of this precious metal." Also the gold was beaten into pattern or shapes and was created into art. (Hart)
Ancient China
Government: On page 18, it says that Gaozu was the first Han emperor and recruited the imperial civil service. The text states "Those who passed the top palace examinations could expect to be appointed as ministers or even marry princesses.Also In later dynasties, a bunch of examinations happened and they successful people from their communities and transferred them to an imperial place.
(Cotterell)
Technology: The text states that "Paper and printing were possibly the most important Chinese inventions." It also says that more inventions were made later on to help writing and drawing. (Cotterell, page 23)
Writing: On page 11, it said that the Shang Kings used oracle bones to communicate with ancestors about questions. Also, it states that "Cracks were then read to discover the answer to a question put to the ancestors." The answers to the questions were written on the ox bone or tortoiseshell. (Cotterell)
Commerce (Trade): On page 58, it says "The Mongol emperors ruled China from 1279 to 1368 and permitted merchants to trade freely throughout their empire." Also Chinese traded silk, spices, teas, porcelain, lacquerware. Another statement was the chinese merchants made profit from what was traded to be sold.
(Cotterell)
Art: The text says that Chinese were very big and popularly known for their arts and crafts. On page 56 it states "Although the manufacture of decorative objects involved sophisticated techniques, many were mass produced. Also after the scholars and the low class farmers, artisans were favored and called the most important group in society.
(Cotterell)
Location: The text states "In the later years of the Chinese Empire, towns and cities were built on less rigid structures." Also towns and cities were built using a grid system. (Cotterell 48) .
Religion: On page 12, it says "The king's authority was greatly reduced as ambitious lords fought each other for power." It also says from 1027 - 256 B.C Confucius believed that the Zhou Dynasty were in its years of social harmony. It also says subject have to respect and obey their leader in the Zhou Dynasty. (Cotterell)
Indus River Valley/Aryans
Location: In this article it talked about how a civilization was built about 5,000 years ago and it was built by the Indus river. It states in that artica that "In the 1920s, under layers of land and mounds of dirt, archaeologists discovered the remains of 4,000 year old cities, which existed at the same time as the Egyptians and Mesopotamians." Also the Indus river area has very rich soil. (Prentice Hall World Studies)
Architecture/Technology: In this article it talked about how the Indus people were really advanced with architecture and construction techniques. Along with that the text stated "Also, within many homes, some rooms had facilities in which waste water was directed to cover drains and these lined the major streets. This was VERY advanced for the time." These cities that they made were very well planned. (Prentice Hall World Studies)
Writing: This article talked about how writing can be very confusing because they use symbols for their letters. The text states that "One of the most confusing aspects of this ancient civilization is that the writing cannot be deciphered." Also writing was found on many different types of materials. (Prentice Hall World Study)
Government: In the article about the government it talked about the Aryan civilization had a big impact on modern day India. It stated in the article that For example, one Aryan influence on modern-day India was the development of the caste system." It is a group of people you were born into a social group that you can't come out of. (Prentice Hall Worlds Studies)
Religion: In the article about religion it talked about how they came from a sacred text that was called the Vedas and how it was the most religious text. Also in the article it stated that "The religion of the ancient Aryans, known as Brahmanism, was polytheistic and heavily influenced the later development of Hinduism." They also said that these religions were very similar. (Prentice Hall World Study)