mesopatamia notes Flashcards
Fertile Crescent
located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (modern day Iraq); where there was more fertile soil
Mesopatamia
means “land between two rivers”; lots of unpredictable flooding and droughts; people built dams and channels to control the water
Religion
polytheistic; each city state had a god and built it a ziggurat; believed that the gods were responsible for everything that happened; it was important to keep the gods happy
city-states
a city and the surrounding farm land that was controlled by its own government
ziggurat
a temple or Church for the specific god; priest
Sumer
strict class system; cultural diffusion; Gilgamesh; cuneiform; invented the wagon wheel, potter’s wheel, and the sundial
Sumerian Class System
highest class (ruling family, high priest, high ranking government officials), middle class (lower officials and priests, artisans and merchants), lowest class (farmers), slaves (debtors, POWs)
cultural diffusion
a place where ideas, customs, religious beliefs, and technologies spread
Gilgamesh
an epic poem about a king and his heroic duties, possible the oldest epic poem ever
cuneiform
a system of writing developed by the Sumerians, each symbol represented a whole word, only scribes could read/write cuneiform
Akkad
first empire to conquer the fertile crescent, led by Sargon the Great
Hammurabi’s Code
the first written code of law, developed under the Babylonians
Hittites
were able to defeat Babylon because they had iron and horse-drawn chariots
Phoenicia
developed purple dye and the first alphabet (symbols represented sounds instead of words)
Assyria
were brutal and terrifying
