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HISTORY > Chapter 3 (Ancient Mesopotamia) > Flashcards

Chapter 3 (Ancient Mesopotamia) Flashcards

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1
Q

What’s the name of the 2 rivers that the Fertile Crescent follows?

A

Tigris river & Euphrates river

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2
Q

What do historians call the place around the Fertile Crescent and the 2 rivers?

A

Mesopotamia

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3
Q

What is Mesopotamia’s geography?

A

It’s flat and fertile

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4
Q

What does Mesopotamia mean?

A

Land between the rivers

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5
Q

Which river had a faster flow?

A

Tigris River

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6
Q

What did the Mesopotamians call the Tigris river?

A

Swift river

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7
Q

What were the consequences of the Euphrates frequently changing course?

A

The riverside settlements were left without water

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8
Q

Were the rivers predictable or unpredictable?

A

The rivers flooded unpredictably

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9
Q

What was one positive thing about the rivers?

A

They deposited silt

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10
Q

What is silt?

A

An especially fine and fertile soil

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11
Q

What was one positive effect of the thriving farms?

A

The population grew and cities developed

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12
Q

What were some problems farmers in Mesopotamia had to deal with?

A

Flooding, hot summers, unreliable rainfall

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13
Q

What crops did the region’s fertile soils promise?

A

Wheat, barley, figs

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14
Q

What did Mesopotamians make to control the water supply?

A

Irrigation

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15
Q

What is irrigation?

A

Watering fields using human-made systems

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16
Q

From where where did irrigation canals carry water?

A

From the rivers to the fields

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17
Q

What did farmers use stored rainwater for?

A

to build walls from mounds of earth to hold back floodwaters

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18
Q

What did the ox-driven plow do?

A

It broke up the hard-baked summer soil and prepared large areas for planting

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19
Q

Why could Mesopotamians afford to develop art, architecture, and technology?

A

Because of the plentiful food from successful agriculture

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20
Q

What did the agricultural surpluses allow to develop?

A

A great civilisation

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21
Q

Where did Mesopotamia’s first civilisation arise?

A

Sumer

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22
Q

What does a city-state include?

A

The city and its surrounding lands & settlements

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23
Q

How many city-states did Sumer have?

A

12

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24
Q

Why were wars frequent between city-states?

A

To protect fertile land, natural resources, and trade routes

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25
Q

What natural resources did Sumer lack?

A

Tin & copper

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26
Q

How did Sumerians acquire tin and copper?

A

Through trade

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27
Q

Why was tin & copper so important?

A

Because combined, they produce bronze

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28
Q

Why was bronze so important?

A

Most tools and weapons were made of bronze

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29
Q

What was made to manage a lot of people?

A

Government systems

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30
Q

What did administrators do?

A

They supervised taxes

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31
Q

What was the Sumerian society organised by?

A

Social class

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32
Q

What is social class based on?

A

Power and wealth

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33
Q

Who was 1st and 2nd by social class?

A

Kings, then priests

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34
Q

What are artisans?

A

People who are skilled at making things by hand

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35
Q

What do you call belief in many gods?

A

polytheism

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36
Q

Why did Sumerians worship hundreds of gods?

A

Because they believed gods had the power to control natural forces they couldn’t (floods, etc)

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37
Q

Who was the storm god?

A

Ishkur

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38
Q

What did Sumerians offer to gods in public rituals?

A

Temple tax

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39
Q

What are rituals?

A

Formal series of acts always performed in the same way

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40
Q

How did Sumerians try to predict what the gods were planning?

A

By observing natural events (sun, moon, stars)

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41
Q

What did Sumerians develop by observing natural events?

A

Calendar, astronomy, mathematics

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42
Q

What was the most important building within a city-state?

A

ziggurat

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43
Q

What does ziggurat mean?

A

Mountaintop

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44
Q

Where did Sumerians believe the deity lived?

A

A shrine, on top of the ziggurat

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45
Q

Who was responsible for conducting religious practices at the ziggurat?

A

Priests

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46
Q

What did the practices include?

A

Offering food to god/goddess

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47
Q

Where was the statue representing the deity placed in?

A

The adytum (holy place)

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48
Q

Why were meals set on a table before the statue?

A

Sumerians believed the god/goddess would eat the meal

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49
Q

What is purification/cleansing?

A

rituals using holy water

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50
Q

Who was purification often used on?

A

Kings

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51
Q

What is the name of the earliest form of writing, invented by Sumeriams?

A

Pictographs (images of objects)

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52
Q

What did pictographs evolve into?

A

Cuneiform

53
Q

What did Cuneiform represent?

A

Sounds

54
Q

Who formed words and combined them into sentences?

A

Scribes

55
Q

Who was an inspirational Mesopotamian ruler?

A

Sargon the Great

56
Q

What is not known about Sargon?

A

His past, only rumours

57
Q

Why was Sumer weakened while Sargon gained power?

A

Due to internal wars and invasions

58
Q

Sargon’s armies conquered Sumer, and parts of Mesopotamia. What did these conquests create?

A

The world’s first empire

59
Q

What is an empire?

A

A group of different lands and people governed by one ruler

60
Q

How many years did the Akkadian empire last?

A

150 years

61
Q

How many years did Sargon rule?

A

56 years

62
Q

What did Sargon allow in the lands he conquered?

A

the people to keep their local rulers and customs

63
Q

What did the people ruled by Sargon have to do?

A

Obey him and pay a protection tax

64
Q

What’s the name of the protection tax?

A

tribute

65
Q

What was the result of Akkad’s farmers managing agriculture so well?

A

100 years without famine

66
Q

What’s a famine?

A

Widespread hunger

67
Q

What did Akkad trade with distant suppliers for?

A

Timber, metal

68
Q

What were Sargon’s wars concentrated on?

A

Controlling trade centers, and protecting natural resources

69
Q

Why were Sargon’s sons unable to control the empire after his death?

A

Because the empire became too big to control

70
Q

Why did the Akkadian Empire come to an end?

A

Famine, attack from enemies, rebellion of city-states

71
Q

After the fall of Sargon’s Akkadian Empire, what tribe invade Mesopotamia?

A

the Amorites

72
Q

Where did the Amorites establish their capital?

A

Babylon (a city-state overshadowed by powerful neighbours)

73
Q

Who became the 6th king of Babylon?

A

Hammurabi

74
Q

What did Hammurabi spend the first 29 years of his rule?

A

Working on domestic improvements

75
Q

What did Hammurabi build up?

A

A network of alliances (partnerships)

76
Q

How many years did it take for Hammurabi to take over Mesopotamia?

A

8 years

77
Q

What title did Hammurabi claim?

A

King of Sumer and Akkad

78
Q

What did Hammurabi make to help unite his empire?

A

The Code of Laws

79
Q

What is The Code of Laws often based on?

A

A person’s social class

80
Q

What happened to the Babylonian Empire after Hammurabi’s death?

A

Rapidly declined and disappeared

81
Q

What were the Assyrians united by?

A

Their worship of the god Ashur

82
Q

What 2 things helped the Assyrians conquer all of Mesopotamia, and parts of Asia and Egypt?

A

A strong agricultural economy and a large professional army

83
Q

What gave Assyrian armies an advantage?

A

destructive iron weapons
iron>bronze

84
Q

Who used horse-drawn chariots and soldiers who used bows&arrows?

A

Assyrians

85
Q

What did Assyrian soldiers often do to conquered land and people?

A

kill or enslave captured people, then burn their cities

86
Q

Why was the Assyrians eventually weakened?

A

People were tired of being treated unfairly and violently. Internal power struggles

87
Q

Who were the Chaldeans?

A

Seminomadic people from Babylonia

88
Q

Who conquered all of Mesopotamia after overthrowing the Assyrians?

A

the Chaldeans

89
Q

Who was the most famous Chaldean king?

A

Nebuchadnezzar II

90
Q

How many years did Nebuchadnezzar rule for?

A

43

91
Q

What were some personality traits of Nebuchadnezzar?

A

Cruel

92
Q

What did Nebuchadnezzar do to Babylon?

A

He rebuilt the city and added beauty to it

93
Q

What is the Nebuchadnezzar’s most famous accomplishment?

A

hanging gardens of Babylon

94
Q

What name did babylon claim, thanks to Nebuchadnezzar?

A

Babylon, gate of god

95
Q

What did the narrow strip of coast along the eastern Mediterranean contain?

A

Natural resources & good harbors

96
Q

What was the combination of Natural resources & good harbors perfect for?

A

Industry & trade

97
Q

What did Greeks call the people from around the Mediterranean coast area?

A

Phoenicians

98
Q

What does Phoenician mean?

A

Purple dye people

99
Q

How did Phoenicians produce purple dye?

A

They processed local shellfish

100
Q

What did Phoenicians export to Egypt and Mesopotamia?

A

Wood from cedar trees

101
Q

What did Phoenicians import, and what did they use it for?

A

Raw materials, crafted it into luxury goods for trade

102
Q

What did Phoenicians use to record trade transactions?

A

their own 22 letter alphabet

103
Q

Were Phoenicians shipbuilders?

A

yes

104
Q

The Phoenicians became one of the first Mediterranean people to sail on which ocean?

A

The Atlantic Ocean

105
Q

Despite their talents and enormous wealth, why did the Phoenicians eventually absorbed into the New Babylonian Empire?

A

They were militarily weak

106
Q

Where is the region of Persia located in the present?

A

Iran

107
Q

What were the Persians ruled by?

A

The Medes

108
Q

Who led a successful uprising against the Babylonian empire?

A

Cyrus the Great

109
Q

What did the lands under Persian rule think of it?

A

They enjoyed the 200 years of peace and economic well-being

110
Q

What was the secret if Cyrus’s success?

A

Tolerance and sympathy for the beliefs and practices of others

111
Q

What did Cyrus do to the kings of the lands he conquered?

A

He allowed them to keep their thrones

112
Q

How much tribute did Cyrus ask of the people?

A

Only an amount that they could afford

113
Q

After Cyrus’s death, his son took over. What did his son do?

A

He added Egypt and Libya to the empire

114
Q

Who ruled after Cyrus’s son?

A

Darius I

115
Q

What did Darius do?

A

He divided his empire into 20 smaller provinces

116
Q

What were the provinces ruled by?

A

Satraps (governors)

117
Q

What form of payment did Darius introduce?

A

Currency

118
Q

Why did Darius build the Royal Road?

A

He knew communication was essential for good government

119
Q

What did the Royal Road do?

A

It made messenger’s lives easier, and it helped unify the people and culture

120
Q

What was the name of the new capital Darius built?

A

Persepolis

121
Q

What did Persepolis symbolise?

A

the magnificence of the Persian empire

122
Q

What was the Persian empire?

A

The largest, most stable, most powerful empire of ancient Mesopotamia

123
Q

What does legacy mean?

A

Cultural and technological things left to us from the past

124
Q

What did Hammurabi’s Style of government highlight?

A

the importance of law

125
Q

What did Cyrus’s Style of government highlight?

A

the power of tolerance

126
Q

What did the ox-drawn plow do?

A

Made it easier to cultivate large areas of land

127
Q

What did the wheel revolutionise?

A

Transportation and trade on land

128
Q

What was the abacus?

A

a device that uses sliding beads for counting

129
Q

What number did Mesopotamians devise number systems on?

A

60 (time)

HISTORY (5 decks)

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