Cyrus the Great and the Persian Empire

Minutes 1-24 (stop when they mention the Greeks).

How does Cyrus describe himself below?  How does the Hebrew Bible describe him?

Primary Source from class on Cyrus the Great's decree freeing the Jews that Nebuchadnezzar took captive. 

Here is an interesting news article, Ancient Tablets Reveal Life of Jews in Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon.

Monday's Final Test (Map and Short Response Sections)

On Monday, you will have a test with two parts, a map quiz and a short response. Please see the "assigned work" page for the short response question, for which you may use the sources given (lecture, packet, and Judaism book excerpts).  On the map section, you will have to identify (1) the Nile Delta; (2) Upper Egypt; (3) Lower Egypt; (4) Giza (the location of Old Kingdom pyramids); (5) Memphis; (6) Amarna; (7) Thebes; (8) the First Cataract; (9) the Red Sea; (10) Canaan; (11) the Levant; (12) Sinai Desert; (13) Syria; (14) and the extent of the Assyria Empire; and (15) the Mediterrenean Sea.

Monday's class

Israelites and Judaism begins

National Geographic: Inside the Torah 

And our primary source "The Ten Plagues" (adapted), in Exodus: Jewish Virtual Library Version, 7-12.

EMAIL MS. GERST TO CONFIRM YOUR TICKET BY END OF THE DAY FRIDAY.  LEARN WHAT EXPERTS THINK ABOUT SYRIA AND THE GLOBAL REFUGEE CRISIS. The Chicago Council on Global Affairs has invited us to attend a panel discussion that will bring together Lina Sergie Attar, CEO of the Karram Foundation, Cameron Hudson, Director of the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide (United States Holocaust Memorial Foundation), Gregory Maniatis, Advisor to the United Nations Special Representative for Migration, and Professor Robert Pape of the University of Chicago on Tuesday, December 8th from 6:00-7:15 p.m. at the Standard Club in downtown Chicago.   As usual, a bus will pick us up in front of Blaine Hall at 5:00 p.m. and return us to school after the program.  You may also travel to and from the program on your own.  See Ms. Shapiro (UH 105), Ms. Gerst, (UH 106) or Ms. Martonffy (S222) immediately for further information and to receive a permission form.

New Kingdom

We are closing in on the end of our Egypt unit.  Today, we will look at the religious revolution wrought by Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti during the New Kingdom.  Our sources are below:

Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Three Daughters.

And our primary source side-by-side comparison of the Hymn to Aten and Psalm 104 is attached here.

Will they soon discover Nefertiti's tomb?

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/28/africa/possible-clue-nefertiti-tomb-egypt/index.html

Justify your Opinion Prompt: Should they let her lie undisturbed or excavate it?

And our last pharaoh: King Tut.