mesopotamia Flashcards
what were the 4 river valley civilizations?
mesopotamia, egypt, india, and china
where was mesopotamia?
between the tigres and euphrates rivers
what was the fertile crescent?
land from mesopotamia to egypt that has good soil for farming
what was sumer?
world’s first empire with a political and social structure
what is a city-state?
city and surrounding countryside under one government
what is limited social mobility?
hard to move up the class structure (social order)
was slavery acceptable?
forced labor accepted
what was the bronze age?
metalworking invented with bronze tools
what is polytheism?
belief in many gods
what were ziggurats?
temples built to honor the gods
what were pictographs?
earliest form of writing using symbols
what were cuneiforms?
wedge shaped symbol writing from mesopotamia
what did the phoenicians do?
invented the alphabet and traded purple dye on the med. sea
what did king sargon do?
conquered sumer after it fell to internal warfare
what was hammurabi’s code?
first written law code, known for extremely harsh punishments
what was judaism?
first monotheistic religion
who was judaism founded by, and where?
founded by Abraham in an area called canaan (main city - jerusalem)
who is yahweh?
God in judaism
what was the covenant?
belief that yahweh promises the jews ownership over canaan (the promised land) if they followed the torah and the ten commandments
what is the torah?
written records and beliefs of judaism
what are the ten commandments?
moral and religious rules for judaism
what did moses do?
freed the jews from egypt, delivering the ten commandments
what was the jewish diaspora?
jews spread out from homeland after being exiled by the babylonians
what did the hanging gardens of babylon do for the economy?
shows cultural, architectural, and political achievement
