Ancient Mesopotamia

Question 1

Ur Nanshe

Answer 1

King of Lagesh in ancient Mesopotamia.
~2500 BCE.
City was located in the South along  a trade route with Susa.
Had a shaved head and beard.
Builder.
City God was Ningirsu.
Fought and defeated Ur and Umma and started 200 year dynastic war with them. 
Had 9 successors in his dynasty.
Created a remarkably stable dynasty.

Question 2

Lugalzagesi

Answer 2

King of Umma in ancient Mesopotamia.
2350 BCE.
Ambitious ruler.
Sacked Lagesh.
Brought by neck stock to his death by Sargon, King of Agade.

Question 3

Sargon

Answer 3

King of Agade in ancient Northern Mesopotamia.
~2300 BCE.
Spoke Akkadian, a Semitic language.
Claimed to be “King of the Universe”.
Conquered Lugalzagesi of Umma.
Name means “Legitimate King”.
Probably rose from being a commoner.
Established Akkadian Empire.
Remembered for thousands of years.

Question 4

Naram-Sin

Answer 4

King of Akkadian Empire in ancient Mesopotamia.
2150 BCE.
Grandson of Sargon.
Ruled with fear.
Broke many traditional taboos.
Destroyed a temple, but built a larger on in its place.
Rebellions, drought, and a Gutian invasion led to his fall.

Question 5

Gudea

Answer 5

King of Lagesha after the fall of the Akkadian Empire.
Pious king.
Didn’t rule with fear.
Didn’t conquer lands.
Wanted to protect people.
One of the last powerful rulers of Lagesh.

Question 6

Ur-Namma

Answer 6

King of Ur during 3rd dynasty.
2112 BCE.
Build an empire.
Claimed to “liberate” conquered lands.
Standardized weights and measures.

Question 7

Shamshi-Adad

Answer 7

King of Ekallatum in ancient Mesopotamia.
~1700 BCE.
Exiled to Babylon, but returned and conquered other lands.
Saw himself as “King of the Universe”.
Short lived empire.
Dies in 1776 BCE.

Question 8

Zimri-Lim

Answer 8

King of Mari in ancient Mesopotamia 1775 BCE.
22,000 tablets have been found from his city.
Careful diplomat, strong commander, meticulous administrator, caring husband and father.
Had 11 daughters.
Lost power when Hammurabi of Babylon invaded in 1762 and burned all of Mari, which was then left desolate forever.

Question 9

Queen Shiptu

Answer 9

Wife of Zimri-Lim of Mari in ancient Mesopotamia
Took care of palace while husband was away on military campaigns.
Trusted advisor to her husband.

Question 10

Shulgi

Answer 10

King of Ur during 3rd dynasty in Ancient Mesopotamia.
Son of Ur-Namma.
One of the great Mesopotamian kings.

Question 11

Hammurabi

Answer 11

Amorite king of Babylon from 1792-1750 BCE.
Destroyed Mari.
Claimed to bring peace by fighting.
Reigned for 30 years before attacked by the Elamites.
Elam’s defeat gave him confidence to attack other cities.
Created the largest empire since Sargon.
Wrote laws toward the end of his reign.

Question 12

Tushratta

Answer 12

King of Mittani.
~1300 BCE.
Placed on the throne as a puppet by his brothers assassin.
Eventually got revenge when he grew up and killed assassin.
Killed by one of his sons.

Question 13

Tadu-Hepa

Answer 13

Mittani princess.

Married Amenhotep 3 of Egypt.

Question 14

Suppiluliuma

Answer 14

Hittite prince who killed his brother the king in ~1300BCE.
Upended international stability by invading Mittani cities.
Gained half the Hittite empire.
Known as an oath breaker.
Killed by a plague caught by Canaanite prisoners of war after attacking Egyptian lands.

Question 15

Amminaia

Answer 15

Queen of Arapaho in Mittani.

~1300 BCE

Question 16

Adad-Nirari 2

Answer 16

King of Assur.

Began Neo-Assyrian period.

Question 17

Ashurnasirpal 2

Answer 17

Grandson of Adad-Nirari 2.
Assyrian king from 883-859 BCE.
Rebuilt Kalho into incredible city in 15 years.
Saw himself as a trampler, smasher, and subduer.
Expanded Assyrian Empire.

Question 18

Sin-lequ-unninni

Answer 18

Author of The Epic of Gilgamesh.
~1200 BCE.
Wrote it from oral poem passed down.

Question 19

Asherbanipal

Answer 19

King of Assyrian Empire
668-630 BCE
Created massive library at Nineveh 
Singularly focused on scholarship
His brother rebelled and was defeated

Question 20

Tiglath-pilesar 3

Answer 20

Rebel who became king of Assyria in ~750 BCE
Created fast messenger system
Height of Assyrian power

Question 21

Sennacherib

Answer 21

King of Assyria from 704-681 BCE
Sacked Babylon and destroyed temple
Assassinated by his son in 681 BCE

Question 22

Esarhaddon

Answer 22

Favorite son of Sennacherib
Fought and killed his brother in a civil war after his brother killed his father
Conquered Egypt in 671 BCE
Died on his way home from Egypt in 669 BCE of an illness
Lost Egypt, which led to the first seeds of the fall of Assyria

Question 23

Nabopolassar

Answer 23

King of Babylonia
Conquered part of Assyrian Empire in 617 BCE
Took over the rest of Assyrian Empire in 612 BCE
Died in 605 BCE
Father of Nebuchadnezzar

Question 24

Nebuchadnezzar 2

Answer 24

Son of Nabopolassar
King of Babylon
Great general during conquest of Assyria
Conquered Judah in 587 BCE after they stopped paying tribute to Babylon
Great builder
Restored centuries old buildings
Died in 562BCE

Question 25

Nabonidus

Answer 25

King of Babylon
Not from royal family
Took throne in 556 BCE, shortly after Nebuchadnezzar’s death
Campaigned for 10 years while his son Belshazzar became coregent
Didn’t respect festivals and religious traditions

Question 26

Zarathustra (Zoroaster)

Answer 26

Persian prophet
All human experience is a battle between good and evil
Believed all God’s were reincarnations of Ahura Mazda

Question 27

Cyrus the Great

Answer 27

King of Persia in 559 BCE
Under control of the Medes
Attacked Lydian capital of Sardis in Turkey
Took Babylon in 539 BCE without a fight
Started Persian Empire
Rules for love, not fear. 
Let Jews return to Canaan.