Ancient Middle East Flashcards
Result of lack of barriers in Middle East?
The region became a crossroad where people and ideas met and mingled
Fertile Crescent
A region of the Middle East named for its rich soils and golden wheat fields
What does Mesopotamia mean?
Land between two rivers
What two rivers flowed through Mesopotamia?
Tigris and Euphrates
Where is Sumer
Southeast Mesopotamia
Key to major developments in Mesopotamia?
Control of the two rivers
What event relating to the two rivers was in the epic of Gilgamesh?
The great flood
Two early cities if the Sumerians
Ur and Uruk
What was the primary building material used by the Sumerians?
Clay and water
What great invention may be attributed to the Sumerians?
The wheel
What two far away places did Sumer trade?
Egypt and India
How many separate city states made up the Sumerian civilization?
12
Who became the most important people in Sumer and what did this eventually evolve into?
War leaders
It evolved into hereditary rule
5 important things rulers of Sumerian city states were responsible for
- Maintaining city walls
- Leading armies into war
- Enforcing the laws
- Employing scribes to carry out functions like collecting taxes and keeping records
- Maintaining irrigation systems
Hierarchy
System of ranking groups such as highest and small middle classes
Who made up the highest class in sumeria?
The ruling family, leading officials, and high priests
What did the majority of people in sumeria do?
Most people were peasant farmers
In what two ways did most slaves become slaves?
Most had been captured in war, but some sold themselves into slavery to pay their debts
Status of women in Mesopotamian society?
Women held a higher social standing, but never held legal rights equal to those of men
In what one area could woken be powerful and influential?
High in religious aspects
What general form of religious worship did Sumerians practice?
Polytheism. These gods were thought to control every aspect of life
What was the highest duty of people of Sumer?
To keep the gods happy
Ziggurat
A large, stepped platform thought to have been topped by a temple dedicated to the city’s chief god or goddess
Sumerian view of afterlife
All people lived in a grim underworld from which there was no release
Cuneiform
The earliest known form of writing. Consisted of wedge shaped marks on clay tablets
Approximately when was Sumerian civilization replaced by other civilizations?
Approx 1900 BC
Through what two major civilizations were many Sumerian advances passed on to the western world?
Greeks and Romans
Why did Gilgamesh pick the plant?
It will grant him immortality
Characteristic of snake after eating plant?
Sheds skin
What other story did a snake take paradise away from a human?
Adam and Eve
Some simply raised the Middle East, what did others do?
Stayed to rule
Who is Sargon and what city did eh rule?
Ruler of Akkad. Also conquered many city states
What great achievement was Sargon known for?
Building the first empire
What happened after the death of Sargon?
Other invaders swept into the valley, tumbling his empire to ruin
Who was Hammurabi and what city did he rule?
King of Babylon who brought much of Mesopotamia under his empire.
What is Hanmurabi’s code, where was it posted, and how many laws were there?
It was a set of 282 laws carved in a stele for all to see
Codify?
To arrange or set down in writing
Civil war?
The branch of law that deals with private right and matters
What did it say about women and property?
Women could own property and pass it on to her children
What did it say about trouble within marriage?
If a woman were found blameless for the troubles, then she could leave the marriage, but if she were found guilty then she could be thrown in a river
The main god of the Hittites was…
Puduhepa, the weather god
An ancient religious structure of Sumeria is a…
ziggurat
Sumerians and Babylonians believed that you went here after death
a dark, dusty hole in the ground
Name the primary activity of the Phoenicians.
Trading
This word means “wedge-shaped writing”
cuneiform
Phoenicians helped make the world more democratic by
simplifying language
Cyrus was the first great
persian emperor
This city was an important Phoenician establishment:
Carthage
Who is said to have led the Hebrews out of Egypt?
Moses
What was the capital of the Kingdom of Israel?
Jerusalem
What is the name of the part of the Bible in which the early history of the Hebrews was written?
Old Testament
The Hittite leader Mursilis I is best known for
Sacking Babylon
This consort of Innana helps to explain winter
Dumuzi
On which Mediterranean coast were the Phoenician city-states located?
Eastern
Assurbanipal is best-known for
his library
Which Hebrew General defeated the Philistines?
David
Farming in the Hittite Empire was made possible by
fertile volcanic ash deposited onto the plateau
Name the road used by Persians to control their vast empire.
The Great Royal Road
The Persian Empire is most known for
allowing self government in provinces
The leader of Ancient Babylonia that built the Hanging Gardens.
King Nebuchadnezzar
He is the evil spirt of Zoroastrianism
Ahriman
These people’s script replaced cuneiform.
Pheonecian
How many cuneiform tablets, making up the huge library created by the Hittites, were found?
22,000
The Assyrians were most known for their expertise in
siege warfare
Name of the city where a vast cuneiform library was found.
Nineveh
The Hittite’s primary military structure was
a system of horses, chariot warriors, and mercenaries
The second of two major leaders of Persia that divided the vast Persian empire into provinces.
Darius
What important item helped us to decipher cuneiform writing in 1915?
The Behistun Inscription
Which of the following was the Sumerian god of water?
Enki
What innovations allowed the Hittites to dominate neighboring peoples?
Spoked wheels and iron
What is a covenant?
a binding agreement
Which of the following was not a Sumerian god or goddess? Enlil Innana Shamash Anu
Shamash
If you choose to join him, you can live forever in paradise
Ahura Mazda
He is the evil spirt of Zoroastrianism
Ahriman
Who developed a new system of numbers which made it far easier to record various transactions and measurements.
Babylonians
How did King Solomon create great resentment among his people?
taxed them
The name of provinces used to divide up the vast Persian empire.
Satrapies
Sargon II was a
Assyrian leader
Who seized Judah and sent Hebrew slaves to Babylon?
Nebuchadnezzer
The Persian Empire is most known for
allowing self government in provinces
