GEOGRAPHY
What does Mesopotamia mean?
The land between the rivers
What is a Ziggurat?
Temples used for worshipping meaning “mountain of fish” or “hill or heaven”
How did Sumerians build their irrigation system?
Made levees even higher and poked holes in them to make channels in the soil to make canals
What did each Sumerian city-state have its own of?
A chief god and government
Who are Sumerians?
Groups of people begin migrating into Mesopotamia - earliest civilization known on earth
What were Euphrates and Tigris?
The two rivers that surrounded Mesopotamia
What did Sumerians believe in about gods?
That all forces of nature were gods because they could not be controlled and created humans from mud to serve them.
What is a cuneiform?
Sumerian writing - hundreds of markings with sharp ended reeds on clay tablets
What are reasons one city-state would go to war with another?
Boundary lines and proving strength
What happened at the courts/ziggurat?
The center of Sumerian life where artisans worked, children went to school, goods were stored, poor fed, and great events celebrated
Where do those rivers empty into?
Persian Gulf and part of Iraq
What was Gilgamesh searching for after Enkidu dies and why?
Searching for a way to live forever and that only gods can
How did Sumerians build cities?
Mixed mud from the river with crushed reeds to make bricks and left out in the sun to bake
What did Sumerian priests do?
Very powerful, ran schools, and controlled and administered the land in the god’s name
Who were the upper, middle, & lower classes?
Upper:Priests/merchants. Middle: Government/skilled. Lower: Farmers/unskilled
Who was Sargon?
A ruler from northern Mesopotamia, moved his armies south to conquer and unite the city-states of Sumer, and create the world's first empire
Who worshipped the Sumerian gods?
The Akkadians and Babylonians
Who is Gilgamesh of Uruk?
The oldest known story in the world about and documented creation of literature
Describe Hammurabi's Code
The best laws from each city-state's code put together as one code for everyone to live and believed innocent until proven guilty
What did rich men of Sumeria do?
Went to school as a boy and later a scribe working for the temple, palace, government, army, or merchant
Who was Hammurabi?
The King of Babylon that conquered Akkad and Sumer to become the ruler of a great new empire and extended his rule to the Mediterranean Sea
What two changes united the people?
The law and raising the god of Babylon
What were Sumerian inventions?
wheel, plow, and sailboat, 12 month calendar based on cycles of the moon, a number system based on 60 for hour /minute /circle, clock
What trading system did the people of Babylonia use?
Exchanged their surplus for money or goods
What rights did women of Sumeria have?
Did not go to school but had rights, could buy and sell property, run businesses and own/sell enslaved persons but could be sold/rented as enslaved persons