History 110

Study Guide for Exam #1

Your exams will be your choice of either multiple choice OR essay and ID’s. There will be approximately two to three essay questions presented; you will answer one of them. You will have a choice of ten ID terms and will write approximately one paragraph per term that includes a definition and the historical significance/context. In all cases, the primary source materials should be considered for the construction of your argument and explication of evidence.

Topics that are ‘fair game’ for the exam (subject to modification on how far we get in the class) include:

From what sources do we obtain history?

(Infra)structures of civilization

Fertile Crescent zone:

· Mesopotamia

· Sumer

· Babylon

o Government

o Religion (polytheism)

o Architecture

o Texts

o Economics

o Military

o Intellectual/cultural picture

The Big rulers: What they accomplished

Egypt:

· Government

· Concepts that make Egypt different than other areas

· Mythology/religion

· Social hierarchies

· Hyksos invasions

· Treaties

Israel:

• The Abrahamic tradition
• Covenant
• Canaan
• Exodus from Egypt/Moses
• Monotheistic revolution
• Sources of info, problems those post
• Development of infrastructure/govt/laws
• Kings
• Destruction of the Temple
• Babylonian Captivity

Persia and the 5 Near East Kingdoms build an empire

Assyria

Comparison of empires: what factors make an empire?

Contact with ‘the west’

Indus Valley

· Harrapan civilizations – Prevedic

· Aryan (Vedic)

· Literature (Vedas, Brahmanas, Upanashids)

· How do we know what we know about this?

· Early Hinduism

China:

· Xia, Shang, Zhou dynasties

· Environment in the Yellow and Wei river valleys

· Social organization

· Feudalism? Post-zhou fragmentation

· Confucian society, Analects

· Mencius, Legalism

· Daoism

· (possibly rise of the Qin Dynasty)