Unit 1 Test. Mesopotamia Flashcards
What are the 5 ways rivers were relied on?
- As a steady source of water
- For fertile soil
- Easy means of communication
- Fish
- Protection from enemies (like a moat)
What are the 6 significances of rivers?
- Allowed for larger populations to develop.
- Allowed for more material goods to be produced.
- Centralized government evolved to coordinate projects like irrigation and defence.
- Writing developed to initially keep records.
- People developed specialized skills, so left the fields to become expert craftspeople.
- Wealth increased, so people had more leisure time, which was spent on art, music and sports.
What are the 7 pillars of civilization?
- Centralized Government
- Agricultural Intensification
- Development of science and writing
- Merchants and Trade
- Occupational Specialization
- Class Structure
-
State Religion
CADMOCS
What 4 ancient civilizations flourished in Mesopotamia?
Babylon, Assyria and Sumer and Akkad.
What is Mesopotamia now known as?
Iraq
What 2 points of view do secular scholars view the Bible from?
Sacred and Historical. (They divide the Bible between the Historical part and the Miracle part)
What are the 2 reasons why secular scholars can’t split the bible into 2 parts (Sacred and historical)?
- The spiritual truth is grounded in historical reality.
- The historical is part of the sacred
What has shown that the Bible is accurate historically?
Cross references from other historical sources
What is the Moabite Stone?
Stone where the Moabites recorded their victory against Israel. Longest literary source outside of the Old Testament.
What is the significance of the Moabite Stone?
First time there was written confirmation of a story from the Bible.
⭐ When was the Temple of Solomon destroyed and Israel taken captive into Babylon?
In 586 B.C
What city was the capital of the ancient world?
Babylon
What was Babylon a melting pot for?
Different races and gods
What is the Hammurabi’s Law Code?
Set of Laws written on a stone pillar by King Hammurabi of Babylon. Has over 200 laws.
What is the significance of Hammurabi’s Law Code?
It is the First written law code
⭐ What is an Ordeal?
A physical test to determine ones guilt or innocence.
What empire were Babylon’s roots in?
Assyria
What was ancient Assyria like? 🤗
Bloody tyranny and cruel oppression. Land bathed in blood. Deadliest of all Mesopotamian armies.
⭐ When did the Assyria Empire fall?
Fell to Babylon in 612 B.C
What 2 things did A.H. Layard, the archaeologist, Discover?
- The Royal Palace of Nineveh
- The Library of Nineveh
What was found in the Library of Nineveh
Over 20,000 cuneiform tablets.
What was Nineveh known for?
It’s immorality
What rights did women have in Assyria?
Women had no rights and limited status.
What did the Assyrian accounts of the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem say?
The Israelites were trapped like caged birds.
What did the Biblical accounts of the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem say?
The Assyrians were kept out by the wall.
What was the world’s first Epic?
The Epic of Gilgamesh
What is the Epic of Gilgamesh?
A Sumerian version of a Babylonian story. Talks about the gods flooding the world to punish it.
What are 6 cool things the Sumerians invented?
- The wheel (pottery wheel)
- Government
- Gardening
- Writing
- Ziggurats
- The plow
⭐ What is a ziggurat?
A stack of platforms on top of each other getting smaller with each one. Also has a chapel at the top.
What city was the center of Sumerian civilization?
Ur
Why is Ur important?
It’s where Abraham lived
What was found the led some to claim evidence for the flood?
Layers of silt at the bottom of a city
What archaeological treasure was found at Ur?
The Royal Tombs of Ur
Where can we find the stories of the Assyrian exploits?
On the walls of their palace
What was the capital city of Assyria?
Nineveh
Where did the Assyrians originate from?
From the northern banks of the river Tigris, at a city named Asher.
When did warfare take place in ancient Mesopotamia?
After the planting of the seeds in the spring and before the harvest in the fall. Not wintertime due to unfavorable weather.
Who came to power in Assyria in 745 B.C.?
Tiglath Pileser III
What was Tiglath Pileser III known for?
Making the world’s first year-round army; a standing army. It was the most professional army the world had ever seen.
What allowed the Assyrians to travel 20 miles a day?
Roads they built, and granaries along the roads to supply food for the armies.
What is logistics?
How you supply an army
What happened in 701 B.C.?
Assyrian siege of Judah
What were the Assyrians most feared weapon?
Mobility; They had two-wheeled chariots
Who in the book of Judges had 900 chariots
Sisera
Why didn’t the Assyrians shoot horses?
So they could capture them for use in their own army
What was the new weapon the Assyrians developed?
The horseman; a cheaper version of the chariot
What 4 things did chariots and horses give you?
Speed, mobility, firepower and height
How did Assyria govern?
They didn’t, they terrorized.
What Biblical Prophet prophesized Assyria’s fall?
The prophet Nahum
What are the 3 categories of laws in the Ten Commandments?
Vertical laws, the horizontal laws and the hinge law
What are the vertical laws, and why?
Laws 1-4. These laws put God above you. Vertical
What are the horizontal laws, and why?
Laws 6-10. These laws put other people equal to you. Horizontal
What is the hinge law, and why?
Law 5. This law puts your parents above you, yet they are also equal to you. Hinges the first four and the last five laws together
What is the definition of history?
Knowledge of the past based upon testimony
What are the 3 types of testimony?
Written, oral and physical
What does ‘autographa’ mean?
The original of something
What are the 5 points, on why we can believe the Bible?
- Reliability
- Archaeology
- Prophecy
- View of Christ
-
Uniqueness
RAPVU
How do we know the Old Testament is reliable (as in it wasn’t changed over time)?
All manuscripts, no matter when or where they were from, agree to a great extent
What the the Ketef Hinnom Amulets?
The oldest copies of the Old Testament we found. It’s an amulet people wore and had a few verses of numbers on it.
What were the 2 ways the Jews kept the Old Testament writings so consistent?
Jew tradition made sure that:
1. Nothing could be written from memory
2. Any copy with even just one mistake was destroyed
What is a bibliographical test?
A test to figure out the reliability of a manuscript
How do we know the New Testament is reliable (as in it wasn’t changed over time)?
We have over 5000 manuscripts to compare, and some of them date very close to the originals
What’s 1 example of archaeology proving the Old Testament?
Jericho: The bible says that God made “ the wall of the city will fall down flat.” Archaeology has discovered that the walls of Jericho fell outwards not inwards. Which isn’t possible, but it happened
What’s 1 example of archaeology proving the New Testament?
Archaeological findings proving the census that took place during Jesus’s birth
Over how many messianic prophesies were fulfilled through Jesus?
Over 300
Which prophet made a prophecy about the city Tyre?
Ezekiel
What prophesy was made about Tyre?
Many nations would be against Tyre. Tyre would be destroyed, and it’s stone and rubble would be thrown into the sea
How did the prophecy about Tyre come true?
Babylon destroyed coastal Tyre. Then Alexander the Great came along and used the demolished coastal Tyre’s rubble to build a pathway to Island Tyre (It’s rubble was literally thrown into the sea)
How did Jesus confirm the validity of the Old Testiment?
He continuously made references to it and spoke of it as having divine authority
How did Jesus confirm the validity of the New Testament?
Jesus promised his teachings would be remembered and understood and that additional truths would be given to the apostles
Why does Jesus verifying the bible matter?
If Jesus is God, and God always speaks the truth, and Jesus said the Bible is divine, then the entire Bible is proved to be from God
What are 3 ways in which that make the Bible unique?
- More copies produced than any other book ever
- Translated in more languages than any other book ever
- Has more manuscript evidence than any other ancient writing ever
What is a pantheon?
A collection of gods
What does ‘lugal’ mean?
Strong man
Who were Sargon of Akkad’s children?
Rimush and Manishtusu
How did Rimush, son of Sargon, rule?
How ruled a rule of terror
Who was Enheduana?
Daughter of Sargon; a poet
What 3 things were Assyria’s economy based on?
- Agriculture
- Animal husbandry
- Foreign trade
Who was Assyria’s chief god?
Ashur
What is a cult?
A system of religious beliefs and rituals
Who was Babylon’s chief god?
Marduk
Which Babylonian king saw a human hand appear out of nowhere and write on the wall?
King Belshazzar
What is a primary source?
An unprocessed document
What is a secondary document?
A processed document
What is historiography, the study of?
The study of how history has been written
What is a myth?
A story with no truth in it
What is a legend?
A story with a grain of truth
What is stratigraphy the study of?
The study of the layers of rocks
What is radio-carbon dating?
Determining the age of an organic material by measuring carbon levels
What is chronology?
The placing of events in the order of them happening
Why is the question historians are most concerned with in history?
Why?
What 3 kinds of locations are organic artifacts best preserved?
Dry, frozen and waterlogged places
What is the problem with dating artifacts through stratigraphy?
Artifacts can move to different layers of rock over time
How do liberals see history?
As a conquest for progress, always moving forwards
How do Marxists see history?
A struggle between classes and shifting powers
How do Post-Modernists see history?
That all history is biased and there is no such thing as truth
Who was Nabonidus?
The Babylonian king who built the first museum
Who was Emmanuel Maurice de Lorraine?
Prince of Austria who paid for the excavation of Pompei
Who were James Hutton and Charles Lyell?
They are the fathers of geology and they created the idea of stratology
What did C.J. Thomson do?
He categorized artifacts into the Stone, Bronze and Iron Age
What did Francois Champollion and Henry Rawlinson do?
They are credited for deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics
What did Sir William Pete do?
He used broken peices of ancient pottery to date artifacts
What did Mortimer Wheeler and Dame Kathleen Kenyon do?
They invented the Wheeler-Kenyon method to dig for artifacts better
What is the belt of farmland the stretches from the Persian Gulf to the Nile River called?
The Fertile Crescent
What is a levee?
Embankments produced by the build up of sediments over lots of years, they gently slope downward from a river
Does despotic mean?
A system of government where the ruler has absolute power and authority
What 3 problems did the Sumerians face?
Water problems, defence problems and resource problems
How did Sumerians solve their water problem?
They build irrigation ditches
How did the Sumerians solve their defence problem?
They built walls
How did the Sumerians solve their resource problem?
They traded for resources
What is an Issiakkus?
A city ruler
Who was it that attacked Sargon of Akkad?
Lugal-Zage-Si
What is Manishtsusu, son of Sargon, best known for?
A monument called the Obelisk of Manishtusu which records the kings land purchases
What did Sargon build to increase trade in Akkad?
A canal all the way up to Akkad for ships to sail by without worry and trade
What was Enheduana known for?
Sargon’s daughter; being an accomplished poet and also priestess
What was Sargon’s job before he became king?
An ordinary fruit grower but then he rose to become cupbearer to the king of Kishi
What happened to the 10 tribes of Israel (excluding Judah)?
Assyria conquers them and they become lost in history; we don’t know what happens to them after this
What do we call the 10 tribes of Israel that became lost in history?
The lost tribes of Israel
What did the Assyrians have that made them much more well off than the Sumerians and the other civilizations?
Rainfall
What was the kings role in the Assyrian army?
Commander-in-chief
What was the favourite pass time of kings in Mesopotamia?
Hunting lions
Who was Ishar?
Assyrian goddess of love and war
What was Assyrian religion influenced by?
Babylonian religion
Who worked on the large estates owned by the aristocracy in Mesopotamia?
The peasants
Under which ruler did Assyrian start to expand its empire vastly?
Ashurnasirpal II
(Ash-ur-na-sir-pal II)
What was the backbone of the Assyrian army?
Iron
What odd way did the people in Mesopotamia cross rivers?
They inflated animal skins to use like rafts
What were the Assyrians first weapon in taking over a city?
Threats
During the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem, what did King Hezekiah build to make sure water was provided for the city?
He built an underground channel
What was Ashurbanipal (Ashur-bani-pal) known for?
For his library, he was an Assyrian king btw
What ancient World Wonder is Babylon known for?
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
What did Tukulti-Ninurta carry off from Babylon?
Their image of the god Marduk
Who made the hanging Gardens in Babylon?
Nebuchadnezzar II
Is astronomy scientific or occultish?
Scientific; astrology is occultish
Is astrology scientific or occultish?
Occultish; astronomy is scientific
How many departures of Jews to Babylon were there?
3 departures
Who took over Babylon?
Cyrus the Great of Persia
What was the end of Babylon, also the end of?
The end of the Mesopotamian empires as a whole; Babylon was the last Mesopotamian empire
Who was more powerful in Babylon, the king or the chief priest?
The chief priest, once a year the chief priest would slap the king in his face and pull his ears to show his authority over the king
What did nations do to their enemies gods when they defeated them?
They put their enemies god into their own temple. This is because they would pray to their enemies’s god to let them defeat them
Why did the Israelites bring the Ark of the Covenant to the battle field against the Philistines?
They had lost the previous battle and wanted the bring the Ark of the Covenant to use like a good luck charm in the next battle
What did the Philistines do with the Ark of the Covenant when they had captured it?
They put it in the temple of their own god, Dagon
What sacrilegious act did King Belshazzar do?
He drank wine with all his wives from the goblets from the temple of God, while praising their gods
Who was Belteshazzar?
Daniel
What did King Belshazzar say you’ll become if you read the writing on the wall written by the floating hand?
The third highest ruler in Babylon
Why was Daniel anointed third highest ruler in Babylon by King Belshazzar, not second!
Because King Belshazzar was just standing in as king for his father Nabonidus. Nabonidus was first in command, Belshazzar was second and Daniel would be made third
What were the 4 steps of Nebuchadnezzar II’s spiritual progression?
- Polytheistic; We beat you, our gods are better than your God
- Polytheistic; Your God is pretty good
- Your God is better than ours
- Monotheistic; God is the one and only true God
What made Nebuchadnezzar II accept the Jew’s God is pretty good?
Daniel having interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams
What made Nebuchadnezzar accept that the Jew’s God is better than their gods?
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego surviving the burning furnace
What makes Nebuchadnezzar not polytheistic anymore?
His dream of the tree
What made Nebuchadnezzar believe in the one True God?
Having been given over to insanity for 7 years for being arrogant
How many verse would be missing if we lost the entire New Testament and had to reconstruct it with only quotes from the early church leaders?
Just 11
What Assyrian king was seen as sacrilegious?
Naram-Suen for deifying himself
Who was Josephus?
A Jewish historian working for the Romans in the first century
