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Ancient Civilizations jinsha-river, JOSEPH ANGELES - Coggle Diagram
Ancient Civilizations 
Ancient Egypt
Location: In the text it said 90 percent of Egypt's land was covered by desert, which was called the Red Land. When the Nile would flood, it would begin the year for the Egyptian farmer by bringing deposits of silt. When the waters lowered, the farmers went to work and "the result was usually a good summer harvest." (Hart 8)
Writing: The book stated that Ancient Egyptian writing was called hieroglyphics. It consisted of many tiny pictures which made words. In the text it said, "Scribes had to be experts in writing hieroglyphs, an elaborate form of picture-writing with about 700 different signs." (Hart 34) It was very difficult to master and learn, because it was kept complicated. This was done so the scribes could keep their special positions.
Religion: The author states that the Ancient Egyptians were polytheistic much like the Mesopotamians. Also like Mesopotamia, there are more gods than I can list. In the text it says, "Each of the 42 different administrative districts (or 'nomes') had its own god, and there were many others besides. (Hart 24)
Architecture: the author states that the Ancient Egyptians made pyramids. These pyramids were made for a purpose, to bury pharaohs. Pyramids were very big. In the text it says, "The pyramids were intended to protect the bodies of the pharaohs buried deep inside them." (Hart 20) One of the most famous pyramids is the Great Pyramid of Giza, standing at 450 feet tall.
Art: In the book, there weren't very many pages on artwork of the Egyptians. So I chose the next best thing, jewelry. Egyptian jewelry was commonly made with gold. In the text it said, "You can see the glint of gold everywhere in Egyptian jewelry"
Government: The author states that Ancient Egypt, the leader was the pharaoh, a man who was the most important person in Egypt and thought to be a god. The name pharaoh is a word that respectfully calls him, "Great House". The text states, "He was known as the pharaoh--a word that derives from a respectful way of referring to the king by describing him as the 'Great House' (Hart 10)
Mesopotamia
Location: In the text it said that ancient Mesopotamia is part of modern day Iraq. Mesopotamia was also located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Also, according to the book, "much of the region is now a hot desert, but many areas were much more fertile in antiquity." (Steele 6)
Writing: In the text it says that the Mesopotamians didn't need writing when they were just hunting for food. But as cities arose, writing was needed for documentation of things. In the text it says, "As the first cities arose, people began to require records of ownership , business deals, and government." (Steele 12) This writing was called Cuneiform.
Government: In the text it stated that Mesopotamian government was based on a Mesopotamian family. Higher leaders in the government took the role as sort of a head of a household. In the text it says, "The family in ancient Mesopotamia, in fact, was the model for Mesopotamian government as the king and priest were understood as the 'head of a household' who were responsible for the 'extended family' of the people of the city-state, kingdom, or empire." (Mark 2nd paragraph)
Art: In the text it said that the Mesopotamians were very productive when it came to arts and technologies. In the text it also said, "The Mesopotamians mastered many technologies and crafts at an early point in their history." (Steele 28) They were very good at clay work.
Religion: The author stated that the Mesopotamians were polytheistic, meaning they worshipped many gods and goddesses. In the text it says, "They believed that the stars travelling the night sky were cows of Sin or Nanna, the horned Moon god. Enki, the god of water and wisdom, was thought to live in an underground ocean called the Aspu." (Steele 14) There are these gods, and more. Lots more. They would use ziggurats to worship these gods.
Architecture: The author said that ziggurats and temples are a structure that are really big. The word ziggurat comes from the Assyrian word zigguratu, which means height or pinnacle. In the text it says, "Ziggurats looked similar to the stepped pyramids of ancient Egypt " (Steele 24)
Ancient China
Art: One example of ancient Chinese art is the terracotta warriors. "The ghostly army of terracotta soldiers that guards the First Emperor's tomb is accompanied by life-size horses and chariots." (Cotterell 16) And the really cool thing is that the Warriors are portraits of real soldiers that were in the Qin army.
Writing: In the text it said, "The Shang King used oracle bones to consult the ancestral spirits." People would read the cracks in order to discover answers to questions. An ox bone or tortoiseshell was placed on a fire and scorched until it cracked. (Cotterell 11)
Religion: One of China's main religions, was Confucianism. It was started by a man named Confucius. "In his own lifetime he saw only growing disorder." (Cotterell 12) So Confucius got some new morals.
Architecture/Technology: One really cool invention from China is the wheelbarrow. "The Chinese invented the wheelbarrow between 221 B.C. and A.D. 265 during the period of the Three Kingdoms. This large handcart enabled a single person to transport a heavy load, which led to its Chinese name, the 'wooden ox.' " (Cotterell 22) This invention really helped Ancient China.
Government: One of the very famous rulers of ancient China is Emperor Qin. "He built the Great Wall to protect his empire from the northern nomads, and standardized Chinese script, coins, weights, and measures." (Cotterell 6) He had many benefits on ancient China.
Trade/Commerce: An example of Ancient Chinese trade was the Silk Road. "They controlled the entire length of the Silk Road, a series of trade routes that ran from Northern China across Asia." (Cotterell 58) The Silk Road was very beneficial to China. It spread resources, beliefs, and other things that might've been only in a certain area.
Location: Ancient China really benefited on where it was. "Vast deserts and mountain ranges cut off China from other cultures in India, West Asia, and Europe, and many hundreds of years passed before Chinese realized in 126 B.C. that other civilizations existed." (Cotterell 6) They were pretty safe. If they didn't know that other people existed, that means that no one knew they did either.
Indus River Valley
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Government: The government, was based on social classes. They called them varnas. These social classes came from the Aryans, who had a huge impact of India. In the text it says, "The religi on of the ancient Aryans, known as Brahmanism, was polytheistic and heavily influenced the later development of Hinduism. Both religions have much in common and share many rituals." (https://sites.google.com/mccsc.k12.in.us/history-of-south-asia/home/1500-bc-aryans)
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