Читать книгу Western Civilization - Paul R. Waibel - Страница 18

1 1 Approximately four centuries later, around 3100 BC, civilization appeared in the Nile River Valley of Egypt. It then appeared in the Indus River Valley of India around 2500 BC, and in the Huang Ho (or Yellow) River Valley of China about 1500 BC. The spread of civilization in ancient history, and contacts between ancient civilizations is an interesting topic, but beyond the scope of this survey. Dates of events in ancient history are always approximate and vary widely from one source to another.

2 2 A city and the surrounding territory controlled by it are commonly referred to as a city-state, kingdom, or city-state kingdom.

3 3 The term “Indo-European” refers to a group of languages that originated in the Eurasian Steppes about 6000 years ago.

4 4 The cataracts are shallow sections of the Nile River where rocks, small islands, and whitewater rapids make navigation difficult or impossible. There are six cataracts.

5 5 The name of the unifier of Egypt is disputed. Some credit Menes, or Scorpion II, rather than Narmer. The consensus appears to be that Menes and Narmer were the same person, and Scorpion II was a king during the pre-dynastic period. The title “pharaoh” was not used for the Egyptian kings until the reign of Thutmose III (c. 1479–1425 BC) during the period of the New Kingdom, or Empire.

6 6 The authenticity of the famous Nefertiti bust was called into question in 2009 in a somewhat sensationalized news release by the Swiss art historian Henri Stierlin (Fake claims 2009). Stierlin has since been proven to be mistaken (Dell'Amore 2009).

7 7 Ramses II is remembered for his remarkable family. He may have had as many as 200 wives and fathered as many as 100 sons and 60 daughters, two of which were included among his wives.

8 8 Most scholars consider the Hebrew Scriptures to contain passages of reliable history and an indispensable primary source for studying Ancient Near Eastern history.

9 9 Dates for Moses are largely speculative and bound up with the problem of dating the Hebrew exodus from Egypt. According to the Jewish calendar, Moses was born on the seventh of Adar of the year 2368 from creation or c. 1393 BC. The same difficulty arises when trying to determine the dates for Abraham, Joseph, Jacob, and Joshua.