Mesopotamia Word Search Flashcards
Akkadian
An inhabitant of Akkad.
The Semitic language of Akkad.
Aqueduct
An artificial channel for conveying water, typically in the form of a bridge across a valley or other gap.
Assur
The supreme national god of the ancient Assyrians, chiefly a war god, whose symbol was an archer within a winged disc.
One of the chief cities of ancient Assyria, on the River Tigris about 100 km (60 miles) downstream from the present-day city of Mosul.
Assyria
An ancient kingdom of N Mesopotamia: it established an empire that stretched from Egypt to the Persian Gulf, reaching its greatest extent between 721 and 633 bc. Its chief cities were Assur and Nineveh.
Babylonia
The southern kingdom of ancient Mesopotamia: a great empire from about 2200–538 bc, when it was conquered by the Persians.
Chariot
A two-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle used in ancient warfare and racing.
City-state
A city that with its surrounding territory forms an independent state.
Civilization
The society, culture, and way of life of a particular area.
Code Of Hammurabi
The Hammurabi code of laws, a collection of 282 rules, established standards for commercial interactions and set fines and punishments to meet the requirements of justice. Hammurabi’s Code was carved onto a massive, finger-shaped black stone stele (pillar) that was looted by invaders and finally rediscovered in 1901.
Cuneiform
Denoting or relating to the wedge-shaped characters used in the ancient writing systems of Mesopotamia, Persia, and Ugarit, surviving mainly impressed on clay tablets.
Cylinder Seal
A small, barrel-shaped stone object with a hole down the center and an incised design or cuneiform inscription. It was originally rolled on clay when soft to indicate ownership or to authenticate a document and was used chiefly in Mesopotamia from the late 4th to the 1st millennium BC.
Dynasty
A line of hereditary rulers of a country.
“the Tang dynasty”
or
A succession of people from the same family who play a prominent role in business, politics, or another field
Empire
An extensive group of states or countries under a single supreme authority, formerly especially an emperor or empress.
“the Roman Empire”
or
Supreme political power over several countries when exercised by a single authority.
Fertile Crescent
The Fertile Crescent is the boomerang-shaped region of the Middle East that was home to some of the earliest human civilizations. Also known as the “Cradle of Civilization,” this area was the birthplace of a number of technological innovations, including writing, the wheel, agriculture, and the use of irrigation.
Gilgamesh
A legendary Sumerian king
(A legendary Sumerian king, the hero of Sumerian and Babylonian epics.)
Irrigation
The supply of water to land or crops to help growth, typically by means of channels.
Lyre
A stringed instrument like a small U-shaped harp with strings fixed to a crossbar, used especially in ancient Greece. Modern instruments of this type are found mainly in East Africa.
Marduk
Marduk was the patron god of Babylon who presided over justice, compassion, healing, regeneration, magic, and fairness, although he is also sometimes referenced as a storm god and agricultural deity. His temple, the famous ziggurat described by Herodotus, is considered the model for the biblical Tower of Babel.
Mesopotamia
The word “Mesopotamia” is formed from the ancient words “meso,” meaning between or in the middle of, and “potamos,” meaning river. Situated in the fertile valleys between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the region is now home to modern-day Iraq, Kuwait, Turkey, and Syria.
Mina
The mina, or minah, was a basic standard of weight among the ancient Hebrews. In the sacred system of weights, the sacred mina was equal to 60 shekels, and 60 sacred minas equaled 1 sacred talent.
Nebuchadnezzar
A very large wine bottle, equivalent in capacity to about twenty regular bottles.
Persia
Persia, a historic region of southwestern Asia associated with the area that is now modern Iran. The term Persia was used for centuries and originated from a region of southern Iran formerly known as Persis, alternatively as Pārs or Parsa, modern Fārs.
Scribe
A person who copies out documents, especially one employed to do this before printing was invented.
Shekel
A silver coin and unit of weight used in ancient Israel and the Middle East.
Stylus
An ancient writing implement, consisting of a small rod with a pointed end for scratching letters on wax-covered tablets, and a blunt end for obliterating them.
Sumer
Sumer was an ancient civilization founded in the Mesopotamia region of the Fertile Crescent situated between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Known for their innovations in language, governance, architecture, and more, Sumerians are considered the creators of civilization as modern humans understand it.
Ziggurat
(In ancient Mesopotamia) a rectangular stepped tower, sometimes surmounted by a temple. Ziggurats are first attested in the late 3rd millennium BC and probably inspired the biblical story of the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11:1–9).
Zoroastrianism
A monotheistic pre-Islamic religion of ancient Persia founded by Zoroaster in the 6th century BC.
