River Valley Civilizations of the Middle East Vocab

1. Pastoralism- the practice of raising livestock 2. Bronze Metallurgy- the study of the chemicals of the metal Bronze 3. Iron Metallurgy- the study of the chemicals of the metal Iron 4. Nile- gives people fresh water and is a major source for Egypt. The yearly activity is that it floods the river valley and moist fertile land is left behind. The resource the Nile has is the floodplain full of fertile land 5. Cataract- an unnavigable stretch of rapids and waterfalls 6. Delta- at one of the ends of rivers where the river spreads into many different streams 7. Silt- fine sand or clay that is easily carried by water 8. Papyrus- another type of paper that early civilizations used to write impotant info. It is thicker than paper 9. Irrigation- a process of saturating the land to be able to grow crops on it 10. Amun-Re- god of state and to whom common people turn to for adversity 11. Osiris- god of the underworld; his brother killed him and spread his body parts everywhere. His wife recovered them and gave him a proper burial. The gods were impressed and brought back to life Osiris, but as a spirit, or god of the underworld 12. Seth- god of chaos; brother of Osiris who killed Osiris 13. Horus- son of Osiris; associated with the pharaohs and the Sun 14. Ptah- the chief god of the ancient city of Memphis; he is a creator god and god of architecture and crafts 15. Isis- wife of Osiris; goddess that dealt with speaking to the dead, bring n]back the dead to life, curing the sick, and magic 16. Hathor- Cow- goddess of love and music 17. Ma’at- goddess of physical and moral law of Egypt, order and truth 18. Aten- god of the sun as in a solar disk that had rays coming towards earth which represented human hands reaching for ankh the pharaoh 19. Upper Egypt- up river or up the Nile river that reached the cataracts to Memphis 20. Lower Egypt- from Memphis to the delta part of the Nile River 21.