Art & Architecture
The most common material for Mesopotamian artists as well as home builders.
What is clay?
The development of the first form of writing is called.
What is Cuneiform?
This famous priestesses was the daughter of Sargon of Akkad.
What is Enheduanna?
The main Mesopotamian religion.
What is polytheistic?
The word Mesopotamia is formed from these greek words. Describe their meanings.
What is "Meso" which means 'between' or 'in the middle of' and "potamos" which means 'river'?
An important god that archaeologists never found representative art piece.
What is the god Anu?
This innovation of the Ox Cart served three purposes.
What is transportation of the wealthy, transportation of trade goods, and agricultural products?
The four social classes divide up Mesopotamian society. Name them and an example of each.
What is King: king, Upper-class: Priests, nobles, other government officials, Middle-class: Merchants, artisans, scribes, carpenters, blacksmiths. Lower-class: all other occupations and captures or sold into slavery?
List the seven main gods of Ancient Mesopotamia.
What is An the god of the sky, Enlil the god of wind, Enki the god of Abzu, Ninhursag the goddes of mountains, Nanna the god of moon, Shamash/Utu the god of sun, and Ishtar the goddes of love and war?
This important desert area lies to the south of Mesopotamia.
What is the Arabian desert?
Name the types of instruments that were made.
What is drums, lyres, harps, and lutes?
The invention of the plow was significant to early hunters and gatherers for these three reasons.
What is the plow allowed for people to stay in the same place, use agriculture for food rather than hunting, and the creation of a surplus of food that allowed for trade with neighboring cities?
Describe the duties of the Priests and Priestesses.
What is officiators of religions services, healers, doctors, dentists, temple administrators, and caring for the gods?
Depicted in these ways, this god was the god of kings and of the yearly calendar.
What is Anu who was typically depicted in a headdress with horns, a sign of strength?
Mesopotamia sits at the intersection of these three major continents.
What is Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Describe the general architecture of the homes in the Mesopotamian civilization. (hint: there are 4 features)
What is buildings consisting of a central courtyard flat roofs, outside staircases and high windows?
Transportation by water was both useful and challenging for these reasons.
What is the invention of the boat that extended trade roots but had to wait for the wind the blow in their favor?
During the first dynasty of Babylon, the code of Hammurabi echoed and improved upon these earlier empires.
What is the Sumerians, Akkadians, and Assyrian empires?
This structure was at the center of each city-state. Name this structure and its importance.
What is a Ziggurat? These were the temples to the main god of each city-state. This was not a place to worship the gods but rather seen as a place where gods actually dwelled. The top was a shrine to the gods, and only the priests could performs sacrifices and other rituals there. These were built high because they wanted to be as close to the heavens as possible.
The Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow out of this mountain range and into this body of water.
What is the Taurus mountains and the Persian gulf?
Describe the features and overall look of Sumerian sculptures and their purposes.
What is Sumerian sculptures that served as adornment or ritual equipment for the temples. There is no clearly identifiable cult statues of gods or goddesses that have been found. Male statues often stand or sit with hands clasped in an attitude of prayer. They were often naked above the waist and wore woolen skirts woven with unusual patterns that suggest overlapping petals.
The people of Ancient Mesopotamia created this mathematical system that is used to configure the modern day conception of time.
What is the Base 60 System that was used to create days, hours, minutes, seconds, and the divisions of each of these. The Ancient Mesopotamians also invented the 360 degree circle and learned how to convey the concepts of space?
The Hammurabi code consisted of 282 judgements of civil and criminal law. Describe the way in which they ordered society.
What is the principle of "an eye for and eye, a tooth for a tooth". The penalties vary from crime to crime as well as on the social status of the offender, although even slaves had some rights?
Describe the gods in Ancient Mesopotamia relating to cosmology.
What is the term An-ki which stands for the god An and the godddes kai. This term meant heaven-earth. Their son, enlil was the god of air.
The Tigris and Euphrates rivers provided these necessities and food sources that allowed the early settlers to prosper.
What is drinking and bathing water, irrigation for crops, mud along the banks, and an abundance of fish, and water birds?