Test Flashcards
Describe the sequence of events that led up to the development of Mesopotamia
- 12,000 years ago hunter - gather groups first settled in Mesopotamia
- Eventually people learned how to plant and grow their own crops
- floods ever year brought silt which made the land good for farming
- large amounts of good food allowed the population to grow which formed villages
- early villages developed Mesopotamia
What does Mesopotamia mean in Greek?
Made of two Greek words - mesos or middle and potamos or river
What two rivers delineate this area?
Tigris River and Euphrates River
What is a surplus?
More than they needed
What were the canals used for
They connected to ditches and the ditches brought the water to the fields
When did the first cities develop in Mesopotamia
Between 4000 and 3000 BC
What are hunters and gatherers
People who hunt animals, and gather wild plants, seeds, fruits, and nuts to survive
What is a city-state
Consisted of a city and all the countryside surrounding it
Why would city-states fight each other?
To gain more farmland
Who was the first group to come to power after Hammurabi?
The Hittites and Kassites
Who served the role between the Sumerians and the gods
Priests
What did people do with surplus food
More people left farming and picked up or created other jobs
What were scribes? Were they powerful?
Scribes - a writer, powerful - yes, allowed you to move up in social class, hired to keep track of items people traded and they could be hired by government officials and temples to keep their records
Why was Mesopotamia an ideal place for a civilization to develop?
The soil was rich so it was good for farming, they also had advanced technology for their time period
Name one Sumerian technical advance and tell how it made people’s lives easier
Cuneiform - writing system, kept track of items
Wheel - easier to move items with
Do you think Hammurabi was a good ruler? Why or why not?
Yes, he was a Great War leader and he brought all Mesopotamia into his Empire
This Gulf can be found at the mouth of the Tigris Rivet and the Euphrates River.
Persian Gulf
Who developed the world’s first civilazation?
Sumerians
This King was a legendary figure in Sumerian literature.
Gilgamesh
Sumerians used these to etch cuneiform into clay tablets.
Styluses - sharp tools
Which group is known as purple people? Why?
Phoenicians- they used purple dye for royalty robes
Which group of invaders had the first Iron Weapons?
Hittites and Kassites
What are civilizations?
People in a village who have advanced technology work together to live in an organized way of living
Discus the importance of irrigation. What is it?
Irrigation - ensures a constantly supply of water which is necessary to grow crops, irrigation - artificial application of water to the land or soil
What was the first major civilazation called?
Mesopotamia
What is the oldest piece of literature known to man?
The Epic of Gilgamesh
Name some Sumerian inventions
The invention of writing- cuneiform, developed math system based on 60, the wheel
Who wrote the first code of laws that we know of?
Hammurabi- Hammurabi’s Code
What is unique about city- states?
They have their own form of civilazation and each city - state had it’s own way of doing things
What are the 8 Features of a Civilazation and be able to describe each?
- Public Works - the work of building nessecary items in order to run a civilazation
- cities - starts with growing crops, population grows as food grows
- organized central government- people try to figure out how make their city or area better
- complex religions - religious leaders conduct huge ceremonies to appease and insure a good harvest
- job specialization - the work of figuring out which job you are allowed to have
- social class - the rank in which you are placed in society based on your job
- writing - used to keep track of items
- art and architecture- expressed beliefs and values of the civilazation
What is a map key
Where all the symbols and meanings are located
What are symbols
Drawings that represent something on the map
What is a compass
Tells directions on map
Large area of good farmland
Fertile Cresecent
A mixture of rich soil and tiny rocks
Silt
A way of supplying water to an area of land
Irrigation
Human made waterways
Canals
More than people need
Surplus
An arrangement where each worker specializes in a particular task or job
Division of labor
Countryside
Rural
City
Urban
Consisted of a city and all the country side surrounding it
City- state
One of Uruk’s Kings
Gilgamesh
Wanted to extend Akkadian territory
Sargon
Land with different territories and peoples under a single rule
Empire
The worship of many gods
Polytheism
People who performed religious ceremonies
Priests
The division of society by rank or class
Social hierarchy
The world’s first writing system
Cuneiform
Picture symbols
Pictographs
Writer
Scribe
Long poems that tell the stories of heroes
Epics
The science of building
Architecture
A pyramid shaped temple tower
Ziggurat
A ruler of a kingdom or empire
Monarch
A set of 283 laws that dealt with almost every part of daily life
Hammurabi’s Code
A wheeled, horse drawn cart used in battle
Chariot
The most famous Chaldean King, rebuilt Babylon into a beautiful city
Nebuchadnezzar
A set of letters that can be combined to form words
Alphabet
Something that becomes a part of your daily life
Role
Something that changes you through thoughts and or actions
Impact
Why did cops grow well in Mesopotamia?
It laid between two rivers
