Roots Chapter 2 Flashcards
Mesopotamia lies in the valley formed by what 2 rivers?
Tigris
Euphrates
Where does the word Mesopotamia come from and what does it mean?
The name is derived from the Greek words mesos (middle) and potamoi (rivers) and means literally “between the rivers.”
What period of Mesopotamian culture occurred during c. 4000–2350 B.C.?
Emergence of Civilization
What is the name given to the rich lowlands of the Tigris/Euphrates valley which forms the eastern part of a large semicircular region whose western extremity runs along the eastern Mediterranean coast?
Fertile Crescent
What desert lies just south of the Fertile Crescent?
Arabian Desert
Two groups of people wanted the lands of the Fertile Crescent. Who were they?
The northern hill people and the southern desert people.
What were some advantages and some problems facing people who lived in the Fertile Crescent?
Its soil, replenished annually by the rich silt of the flooding rivers, was fertile.
But the swamps had to be drained, the water of the rivers had to be distributed over the dry land, and, above all, the destructive floods had to be mastered.
In Mesopotamia, the river would flood in the spring, often killing new plants. How did they solve this problem?
The Mesopotamians had to devise a system of canals and storage basins to let water into the fields in the desired amounts.
What made it possible for the Mesopotamian city-states to expand?
Organized community effort to solve the flooding problem led to farming surplus. This allowed some people to live away from the land and focus on war, administration, manufacturing, trade, and service to the gods.
Who were the people who built the earliest civilization in Mesopotamia?
The Sumerians
Where did the Sumerians live?
The Sumerians lived in towns and cities in southern Mesopotamia roughly between Nippur and the Persian Gulf.
What is important to remember about the Sumerians’ language?
It was the first human tongue to have been expressed in writing.
Why was the outlook of the Sumerians pessimistic?
They were faced with constant uncertainty due to
- Harsh environment with flooding alternating with blistering heat, winds and dust storms
- Raids from northern hill people and people from southern deserts
How did the Mesopotamians view the afterlife?
They saw it as a state of darkness and gloom.
How did the Mesopotamians view nature and the gods?
Mountains, trees, rivers, and even sticks and stones were alive and had will. Awed and terrorized by nature, the Sumerians saw themselves as its servants. They were weak before its invincible power, subject to the whims of the gods. They were slaves to the gods.
Who was the chief deity of the Mesopotamians?
ANU–sky god
Who was the most beloved god of the Mesopotamians?
The earth goddess, INANNA, who symbolized fertility
Who was ENLIL?
The god of storms, symbolized destruction, wildness, and violence. He represented the terrifying, unpredictable side of nature.
How did the Sumerians honor their gods?
They built great temples in the centers of their city-states. (Individual cities tended to regard themselves as the dwelling places of a particular goddess or god, such as Inanna at Uruk or Enlil at Nippur.)
Who controlled much of the land and labor of the city-states?
Temple priests
What were the earliest examples of monumental architecture?
The Sumerian temples.
How were most of the Sumerian temples constructed?
Most of them were built of clay bricks arranged in terraced, artificial mounds and are called “ziggurats.”
What do we think the Sumerian ziggurats were supposed to represent and why?
These constructions may have been intended to represent mountains. To the Sumerians, the mountain was the source of the earth’s potency and was an intensely significant religious symbol.
The first Sumerian writing was done by whom and why?
Temple scribes, who began to keep accounts of the economic resources of their temples.
Why do some people say “history begins at Sumer,” ?
One definition of history, is the reconstruction of the past from written sources, and our first strictly historical written evidence is Sumerian.
What was used to form Mesopotamian writing?
wedge-shaped marks inscribed on clay tablets with a reed stylus
Where did Mesopotamian writing start?
the Sumerian city of Uruk
What is Mesopotamian writing called?
cuneiform–after the Latin word cuneus (wedge).
How did the form of writing evolve?
- Pictograms— little pictures of the objects being described.
- Ideograms (standard figures representing objects or abstract concepts).
- Added syllabic symbols representing various sounds
Why was writing the monopoly of a small, highly trained scribal elite.
The cuneiform symbols were numerous and complex and it took a long time to learn them.
