Mesopotamia Flashcards
B.C.
Before Christ
A.D.
Anno Domini (Latin for Lord)
C.E.
Common Era ( non-christian way to say A.D.)
B.C.E
Before the Common Era ( non-christian way to say before Christ)
Circa (c. or ca.)
Used for approximate dates and often used for older dates.
Consisted of a central city and all the countryside around it
City-state
Land with different territories and people under a single rule
Empire
The worship of many gods
Polytheism
People who performed or led religious ceremonies
Priests
The division of society by rank or class
Social hierarchy
The process by which a cultural trait, object, idea, or behavior is spread from one society to another
Cultural diffusions
Pulled by oxen
Plow
Ships propelled by oarsmen
Galleys
Steps to Civilization (for the essay on the test)
Hunting and gathering, subsistence farming(on your own), settlements near rivers, large scale farming, food surpluses and storage, urban centers, laws, government, organized religion and worship
Who invented writing?
The Sumerian’s
Who made cuneiform- the world’s first system of writing? (‘wedged shape”)
The Sumerian’s
Who made pictographs-picture symbols?
The Sumerian’s
A writer and becoming a scribe was a way to move up a social class
Scribe
Long poems that tell the stories of heroes
Epics
What were the Sumerians most important developments?
The wheel, clocks, plow, wheeled vehicles, makeup and jewelry
What math inventions did the Sumerians make?
They divided a circle into 360 degrees and calculated the areas of rectangles and triangles
Who had tablets of animals, plants and minerals?
The Sumerian’s
The science of building
Architecture
What is the name of the Sumerians pyramid?
Ziggurat
