Near East - CH 1

Question 1

Mesopotamia

Answer 1

means “the land between the rivers”. It is located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in the middle east.

Question 2

Cuneiform

Answer 2

(Sumerians/meso) type of communication, not an alphabet, represents ideas, times, amounts, important during seasons, every summer the rivers overflow & provide nutrients to the land

Question 3

Ziggurat

Answer 3

(sumerians/meso) massive terraced tower made of rubble and brick. Spiritual center of Mesopotamian city-state. 100 ft, Purpose? To get closer to the gods

Question 4

Bull-headed Lyre of Queen Ur

Answer 4

(sumerians/meso) 17 inches. Hand held harp, Lapis Lazuli stone, We value beauty more than utility

Question 5

Standard of Ur

Answer 5

Visual evidence of the social order and division of labor. 8 inches, Two sides, War side, Winner side (peace side)

Question 6

Epic of Gilgamesh

Answer 6

a long narrative poem that was first told in Mesopotamia about a hero Gilgamesh.

Gilgamesh 2/3 god 1/3 man, blessed by the gods with beauty/courage. G denies Queen of Heaven, Ishtar & she then kills his best friend Enkidu as punishment. G looks for everlasting life. G encounters Utnapishtim, who was given eternal life and he told him theres no such thing. But U guides him to a plant that restores lost youth but G guards it poorly once found and a serpent (ancient symbol of rebirth) takes it and then fails to find everlasting life & has haunting vision of death.

Question 7

Bronze Head of Nineveh

Answer 7

Head of Akkadian ruler Sargon 1. Lost wax method of metal-casting, (cire-perdue)

Question 8

Hammurabi’s Legal Code

Answer 8

(meso) 1st person to set legal set of law, used cuneiform script, 282 Regulations (farming, marriage, minimum wage), Individuals weren’t equal, human worth was defined in terms of wealth/status in society, Basic tenet: “retaliation in kind” -eye for an eye, 196: if a man has destroyed the eye of a free man, his own eye shall be destroyed.

Question 9

Ishtar Gate

Answer 9

Nebuchadnezzar II wanted to create a proper entrance way to (Chaldeans) Neo-Babylonian Empire. 48 feet, glazed brich. Drawings of sirrush(dragons) and auroch (cattle)

Question 10

Royal Road

Answer 10

Persian Gulf to Asia Minor (1600 miles). Imperial postal system. built by the Persian king of kings Darius