August 19th, 2013

CW 1.6: Power Structures in River Valley Civilizations Page 1

Do First (3 minutes) and Share Out (2 minutes)

List the four major River Valley Civilizations. Why did these early civilizations grow up around rivers?
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Lesson Overview (1 minute)
Objective:

SWBAT analyze primary and secondary sources in order to synthesize information relating to power
structures, patriarchy, trade and governance Egypt and Mesopotamia
SWBAT compare and contrast Egypt and Mesopotamia

Mastery: At the end of this lesson, in addition to your exit ticket, you will need to write a thesis on this
prompt:
Compare and Contrast Egypt and Mesopotamia
Agenda (1 minute)
1.
2.
3.
4.

Do First and Share Out (5 minutes)

Art Show: What Is a Civilization (5 minutes)
Lesson Overview (2 minutes)
Key Ideas (6 minutes)

Key Ideas (6 minutes)

3.______________

5. Reading: Egypt and Mesopotamia (22 minutes)

6. Thesis Writing (5 minutes)
7. Exit Ticket (5 minutes)

1.__________

1. Two of the major River Valley Civilizations are:

Egypt, which developed in Africa along the Nile
River, and Mesopotamia, which developed in
modern-day Iraq, between the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers.
2. These two civilizations developed power structures
with some major differences and similarities. A
power structure refers to the way that
government and society are organized.

2.____________

3. Both Egypt and Mesopotamia were governed by

kings (monarchy) and had upper and lower
classes. However, Egypt developed as one large
state, while Mesopotamia developed as multiple
small city-states.
4. Both Egypt and Mesopotamia had state religions
that placed the kings in power by divine right.

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CW 1.6: Power Structures in River Valley Civilizations Page 2

Politically as well as culturally and environmentally, Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations differed sharply.
For its first thousand years (32002350 B.C.E.), Mesopotamian civilization, located in the southern TigrisEuphrates region known as Sumer, was organized in a dozen or more separate and independent city-states.
Each city-state was ruled by a king, who claimed to represent the citys patron deity and who controlled the
affairs of the walled city and surrounding rural area. Around 80 percent of the population of Sumer lived in
one or another of these city-states, making Mesopotamia the most urbanized society of ancient times. The
chief reason for this massive urbanization, however, lay in the great flaw of this system: frequent warfare
among these Sumerian city-states caused people living in rural areas to flee to the walled cities for protection.
With no overarching authority, rivalry over land and water often led to violent conflict.
These conflicts, eventually left Sumerian cities vulnerable to outside forces, and after about 2350 BCE,
stronger peoples from northern Mesopotamia conquered Sumers warring cities, bringing an end to the
Sumerian phase of Mesopotamian civilization. First the Akkadians (23502000 B.C.E.) and later the
Babylonians (19001500 BCE.) and the Assyrians (900612 B.C.E.) created empires that encompassed all or
most of Mesopotamia.
1. What power structure existed in early Mesopotamia (before 2350 BCE)?
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2. What is urbanization? Describe ancient Mesopotamia in terms of urbanization.

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3. What was the name of the first civilization in Mesopotamia? What happened to it?
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CW 1.6: Power Structures in River Valley Civilizations Page 3

Egyptian civilization, by contrast, began its history around 3100 BCE, with the merger of several earlier states
into a unified territory that stretched some 1,000 miles along the Nile. Cities in Egypt were less important than
in Mesopotamia, although political capitols, market centers, and major burial sites gave Egypt an urban
presence as well. Most people lived in agricultural villages along the river rather than in urban centers,
perhaps because Egypts greater security made it less necessary for people to gather in fortified towns. The
focus of the Egyptian state resided in the pharaoh, believed to be a god in human form. He alone ensured the
daily rising of the sun and the annual flooding of the Nile. All of the countrys many officials served at his
pleasure; the law of the land was simply the pharaohs will; and access to the afterlife lay in obedience to
him and burial in or near his towering pyramids.

1. What power structure existed in early Egypt?

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2. Describe Egypt in terms of Urbanization.

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Compare and Contrast: Egypt and Mesopotamia

Power in Egypt

Power in Mesopotamia (Sumer)

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CW 1.6: Power Structures in River Valley Civilizations Page 4

When the gods created Gilgamesh they gave him a perfect body. Shamash the glorious sun endowed him
with beauty, Adad the god of the storm endowed him with courage, the great gods made his beauty
perfect, surpassing all others, terrifying like a great wild bull. Two-thirds they made him god and one-third
man.
In Uruk he built walls, a great rampart, and the temple of blessed Eanna for the god of the firmament Anu,
and for Ishtar the goddess of love. Look at it still today: the outer wall where the cornice runs, it shines with
the brilliance of copper; and the inner wall, it has no equal.
Excerpted from The Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient poem about a Sumerian king

1. Based on the above text, what justification might a king give for being in power?
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City-state (n.)

Rural (adj.)

Flaw (n.)

Rivalry (n.)
Afterlife (n.)
Annual flooding of the
Nile

A city that is its own

country (state is a
synonym for country).
In the country

Affairs (n. plural)

In this case, affairs

means business.

Urbanization (n.)

The process of switching

from a society where
most people live in the
country to a society
where most live in the
city.
Overall

Something that makes a

Overarching (adj.)
thing less than perfect,
an error or mistake
An intense competition
Fortified (adj.)
Protected or
between two parties.
strengthened, like a fort.
What happens after you
Official (n.)
A person who works for
die (heaven, hell, etc)
the government.
Each year the Nile flooded its banks, depositing rich soil for farmers to grow crops.
The Egyptians depended on these floods in order to grow food.

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CW 1.6: Power Structures in River Valley Civilizations Page 5

Short Answer Response: Egypt and Mesopotamia

Write a thesis on the following prompt:

Compare and Contrast Egypt and Mesopotamia

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The following rubric describes how your thesis will be scored:
Thesis Rubric

Assertion/Topic
Sentence
Evidence
Examples/
Explanations

0
Thesis does not contain an
assertion.
Thesis contains 1 or fewer
pieces of evidence.
One or fewer of the pieces of
evidence is explained or has
examples.

1
Thesis contains a statement
that responds to the prompt
but it is not arguable.
Thesis contains 2 pieces of
evidence.
Two of the pieces of evidence
are explained or have
examples

2
Thesis contains an arguable
statement that responds to the
prompt.
Thesis contains 3 or more
pieces of evidence
Three or more of the pieces of
evidence are explained or have
examples.