Vocab
Sumer
Babylonia
Assyria
social class
100

To train and domesticate animals to be useful to humans

What Is Domestication?

100

The Sumerians created the world’s first civilization. They are famous for so many “firsts” in early Mesopotamia.

Who are the Sumerians?

100

 Babylonians were the first to build massive double and triple walls around their city. This gave Babylon protection from other states and people who were jealous or resentful.

Why did Babylon use these big walls around their city?

100

The Assyrians developed the world’s first major empire.

What made the assyrian's major empire?

100

High priest, kings, nobles, and government officials.

What are the higher social classes?

200

the business of farming, growing crops, and raising animals

What Is Agriculture?

200

One original invention that helped Sumerian city-states to fight one another was the wagon — a structure with wheels.

How did Sumerians fight wars?

200

Some of Babylonia’s wealth came from conquering its neighbors.

How did Babylonians gain their wealth?

200

Eventually, starting around 900 BCE, Assyrian kings began conquering their neighbors and controlling their lands.

Where did the assyrian empire start invading?

200

Merchants, Farmers, and fishers.

What are the middle classes?

300

a large area of land where multiple groups of people are ruled by the same laws and government

What is Empire?

300

The Mesopotamian soldiers captured in war were some of the first enslaved people in ancient history.

What happened to fallen soldiers?

300

The first large settlement 

What is a metropolis?

300

What made it possible for Assyria’s leaders to form a giant empire? They were the first in the world to make weapons and body protection from iron. Iron is a strong and heavy metal. Iron weapons helped them conquer other armies.

What made this empire big?

300

servers, Laborers, and peasants.

What were the lower classes?

400

 the geographic area in between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, also known as the “land between two rivers”

What Is Mesopotamia?

400

They most likely fought over crops, animals and land.

What is the reason the Sumerians were Fighting?

400

This ancient city of Babylon (today in the modern nation of Iraq)

Where is Babylon located now?

400

One benefit of the empire (for some people) was better trade. The conquered states and people had to make regular payments to the Assyrians. The Assyrians built long roads for their soldiers and tax collectors to move around; these also helped the economy grow.

What made the economy grow?

400

Kings, and priest used Hammurabi's code to enforce laws.

Why did they use Hammurabi's code?

500

the two largest rivers in Southwest Asia that reaches from the mountains in Turkey to the Persian Gulf.

What is the Tigris and Euphrates river?

500

One theory is that Mesopotamian states fought over crops, animals, or land.

Why were they fighting?

500

One of the early and powerful Babylonian kings had a creative idea to build power. Historians believe that King Hammurabi was the first leader to write a code of laws for an empire and post them where everyone could see them.

What was the reason Babylonia had Laws?

500

But historians do wonder if the conquered people questioned the empire’s fairness.

Are Assyrian's fair?

500
Priest used temples to worship Gods. They often used human sacrifices.

Why did Priest do human sacrifices?

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