欧洲文明简史 Chapter1 Civilizations in the Acient Near East FOCUS QUESTIONS答案.doc

1. In what ways did geography influence the historical development of civilizations in Mesopotamia and Egypt? (1) Mesopotamia: Firstly, the Tigris and Euphrates create many small plains and lowlands, although to the north of Mesopotamia lays the mountainous Iranian plateau and to its south the Syrian desert, thanks to the rivers, Mesopotamia is hot but humid and fertile, it is good for people to live in. Secondly, every year in late spring or early summer, snow melted and it caused the flooding of the rivers, then rich soil down from the mountain to the plain, the rich soil and humid climate provided a wonderful environment for early agriculture, so, this also do well to the civilization development in Mesopotamia. Thirdly, the annual floods between April and June were irregular and the tremendous heat would cause rapid evaporation of the river water, these make farming impossible. In order to solve both problem, people in Mesopotamia built irrigation systems .As systematic agriculture began to provide a consistent food surplus, populations grew and small villages developed into larger town and cities . More complex social structures appeared in these town and cities. The first human civilization was born.(2)Egypt: The historical development of civilization in Egypt was strongly influenced by the geography. Firstly, Egypt is called as “the gift of the Nile”. The Nile was the lifeline of the ancient Egyptian civilization. In some way, all Egyptians depended on the Nile for water, food and transportation. And the Nile helped the ancient Egyptians was in trade. Secondly, Egypts unique natural environment played an important role in its peace and stability in its political history. The Niles regular flooding made people can produce enough food which provided the economic basic for internal stability. The Niles valley, surrounded by deserts and seas, the Sahara desert, the Mediterranean and the Red sea, all served as excellent natural defenses. All this ensured great continuity in Egyptian civilization. 2. What were the similarities and differences in the religious belief of the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Hebrews?Similarities:I just found a general similarity in the religious belief among Sumerians, Egyptians, and Hebrews, that is, they all believed in god or gods. Whats more, they also believed that god or gods created and governed the nature or the universe. However, I did find some similarities when comparing two of them. Compared with Egyptians and Sumerians, I found three similarities between them. First, they were polytheistic, in other words, they both believed in many gods and goddess. Second, both of them believed in the existence of human souls. Third, they believed that gods had a human body.Differences:(1) As for Hebrews, they believed in only one God, but Sumerians and Egyptians supported polytheistic. Secondly, Hebrews monotheistic religion is based on moral principles and rules in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh. Thirdly, they thought that Jehovah, the only real God for the Hebrews, was not created above nature. Fourthly, they saw nature as an example of Gods handiwork; it was no longer supernatural, but natural. Fifthly, they had developed an awareness of self or the “I” men must have the freedom to choose. Sixthly, Hebrew faith is that God had made a special agreement with his people.(2) As for Sumerians, they believed that the earth was a flat disc and God created human beings in their own image. Secondly, they believed that man had a soul, but once he died, it would perish. Thirdly, they did not believe in life after death, and their funerals were simple.(3) As for Egyptians, they built temples to worship the gods and they had a thought that the sun god and the lord of the universe were depicted in human form. Secondly, they believed life after death, so they often prevented the bodies of the dead from rotting. Thirdly, they thought that a persons thoughts and emotions were located in the heart instead of the brain.3. In what ways did civilizations and cultures in the ancient Near East influence the development of European civilization? Civilization and Cultures in the ancient Near East influenced the development of European civilization mainly through Greek Culture which is commonly took as the origin of European civilization. The civilization in the ancient Near East contributed to Greek culture a lot which at last led to an influence on European civilization.The first thing we have to mention is language. Sumerians who live in the area of Mesopotamia plain created the first known writing system in human history which is pictographic. And after that they invented cuneiform which is more abstract. Later, Egyptians invented their own writing system Hieroglyphics which was lately used and improved by Greeks and then became Latin which had been widely used through Europe. The invention of language provided a way for the inheritance and development of European culture. And also made it more possible for the second thing were going to talk about to spread and influenced Greek and Europe.That is religion. Religion actually took an important part in European culture and its developments as well as the Near East ones. The religion in Mesopotamia causes the birth of the first mythology. But Egypt religion actually made a bigger influence. Most Greek gods and goddess were named after Egyptian gods or places. However, the only one which was still frequently heard nowadays is Israelite religion Judaism in Hebrew. It developed into the worldwide religion Christianity lately because Jews paid too much attention on tribe. And as we all known Christianity is one of the biggest religions all around the world and most