Geography of the Fertile Crescent
How did the Fertile Crescent get its name?
It is crescent shaped and has lots of fertile farmland.
What is a city-state?
political unit that consists of all the city and the countryside around it
What does Hammurabi’s Code reveal about Babylonian society?
People could read the laws, they had a government, they were well organized, they cared about order
What star did the Phoenicians use navigation?
The North Star
Why did peoples conquered by Cyrus the Great rarely rebel?
He allowed them to keep their own customs and religions
What is silt? Why is it important?
Mixture of rich soil and tiny rocks brought to the land by floods, it kept the farmland fertile
What was the world's first system of writing?
Cuneiform
What technical achievement of the Hittites marks the beginning of the Iron Age?
They were the first people to master iron working
What choices did the Phoenician leaders make for their economy based on the limited resources of the area?
It made them look toward the sea for trade, cedar trees were a primary export
When Cyrus conquered Babylon, what people did he free, and where did they go?
He freed the Jews, and many of them went back to Jerusalem
Why did farmers need to develop a system to control their water supply?
When it rained, rivers would flood and destroy crops. Otherwise the crops would get no water, so they set up irrigation systems with canals
Who built the world’s first empire, and what did that empire include?
Sargon built the worlds first army, and it included a permanent army, irrigation systems and canals, and it stretched from the Persian gulf to the Mediterranean sea
What was the significance of Hammurabi’s Code in Babylon?
Became more powerful because of the codes, helped solve problems kept everyone in order and specified consequences, covered both civil and criminal law
How did Phoenicia increase communication throughout the Mediterranean?
Trade routes doubled as communication routes
How did the Greeks use strategy to defeat a larger fighting force?
Formed alliances with other Greek city states, set people to block a narrow area so the Persians got stuck at Salamis
How did Mesopotamian irrigation systems allow civilization to develop?
Amount of construction required them to be organized and work together, fewer people needed to farm so people could do different jobs
Irrigation helped them grow crops which helped them grow their economy
Farming allowed the people to stay where they were and not migrate
Politically, how was early Sumerian society organized? How did that organization affect society?
City states were monarchies, each ruled by a king or queen, society had a social hierarchy, which meant people had different statuses related to their jobs
Why did several peoples band together to fight the Assyrians?
The Assyrians were taking over everything, the people wanted to shut down the invading armies, the Assyrians were heavily taxing the people, the groups were stronger together and had a better chance of fighting the Assyrians
What were two important developments of the Phoenicians?
They created the first alphabet, navigation techniques (with the north star), trade and communication routes, glassblowing, purple dye
How did Darius I change Persia’s political organization?
He divided Persia into 20 provinces called satraps
How might running large projects prepare people for running a government?
Managing large projects requires organization and everyone filling their role, which is similar to running a government.
Why is writing one of history’s most important cultural advances?
Writing allows us to study the history of a place, it shows us what they value enough to permanently write down
Why is Hammurabi so honored for his code of laws?
Important because the laws were written down and dealt with every part of daily life, social class didn’t matter in the laws, we still use some of the laws today, he wanted the laws to be fair for all people
What is one difference between the Phoenician alphabet and the English alphabet?
The Phoenician alphabet has 22 letters while the English alphabet has 26
Why did Persia want to invade Greece?
Their Greek territories had rebelled years earlier and damaged Persian forces, so the Persians wanted revenge