Ancient River Valley Civilizations

The term civilization separates cultures that were more developed and settled than the previous hunter-gatherer societies. The first civilizations arose around 4000 BC in four river valleys across the globe.

Coach Gilmer's Description: This website is a digital resource provided directly by the Georgia Department of Education. Page after page of content on Ancient Civilizations includes essential questions, vocabulary, infographics, videos and more. This resource is great for students to review for assessments, but can also be used a direct lesson guide for educators. It is great to have a resource that is so closely tied to the standards of the content and the summative assessments.

Vocabulary words for Ancient River Valley Civilizations. Includes studying games and tools such as flashcards.

Coach Gilmer's Description: Being able to speak the language is half the battle is seems with historical topics. Quizlet is a fantastically interactive resource that will introduce and subsequently test students' knowledge of vocabulary that is critical to the understanding of knowledge that is being conveyed through the standards. The students can use quizlet as a study tool via flashcards, games, and even tests that are user friendly and can be formatted in many different was to meet the needs of all students.

Find out more about the history of Hammurabi, including videos, interesting articles, pictures, historical features and more. Get all the facts on HISTORY.com

Coach Gilmer's Description: What better resource than history.com right? The web presence of the the history channel is a wonderful resource that describes how a man whose reign only lasted for 42 years could have such a lasting impact. Most people are at least briefly familiar with Hammurabi's Law Code, but this resource does a great job of providing background of the entire Babylonian Dynasty and also touches on the expansion of the kingdom under Hammurabi. The strict laws of this brief reign, along with the build up on infrastructure and the militant and political advances of the time made for a very significant period of ancient history. Students can utilize the article and the videos on this link to further their knowledge of the ancient leader.

In which John Green teaches you about the Indus Valley Civilization, one of the largest of the ancient civilizations.

Coach Gilmer's Description: Through quit whit and humor John Green introduces the foundation of what all civilizations are built upon. Abundance of food, specialization, commerce, and various social orders are just some of the main points that are pinpointed throughout. Water was crucial to the lives of the Indus Valley Civilization and was the main reason for the large success of the early ancient civilizations through advanced irrigation and agricultural techniques.

In which John presents Mesopotamia, and the early civilizations that arose around the Fertile Crescent.

Coach Gilmer's Description: The importance of water and natural resources are explained in this video. The balance between the power of humans and the power of gods is explored and territorial kingdoms come into play. Religion and politics become very prominent features of ancient society and all of this is explained by the very clever and enthusiast John Green. This video, like all Crash Course videos, would serve students greatly as both an anticipatory hook to a lesson or a brief, but thorough, review for an upcoming assessment.

Babylon is the most famous city from ancient Mesopotamia whose ruins lie in modern-day Iraq 59 miles (94 kilometres) southwest of Baghdad.

Coach Gilmer's Description: Babylon was a very influential city in ancient times. The kingdom of Babylon was home to one of the first and most strict law codes in history. The city and kingdom are rooted in the history of the world's population as it is mentioned in several historical and religious texts.

Monotheism (from the Greek: μόνος- One, and θεός -God) refers to the belief, found in a great many cultures, in a single, universal God. Many religions in the world are classified as monotheistic, and the preeminent examples are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Forms of monotheism can also be found in other religions including Zoroastrianism, Sikhism, and the Bahá'í Faith.

Coach Gilmer's Description: This is a great resource that introduces the concept of monotheism as is relates to the World History standards for the class. The posting of this resource is meant in no way to influence the religious beliefs of any student and does not depict any certain beliefs of the instructor one way or another. Zoroastrianism, which is one of the world's earliest monotheistic religions, it covered within this encylopedia entry and so are the concepts of monotheism in the Hebrew culture and later on Christianity and Islam. The resource does a great job of giving background and substance to the topic for the average history student and goes deep enough to enthrall the history buff.