Key Terms and People
Definition of city-state
A city and the surrounding land it controls
Definition of law code
A written set of laws
These two inventions made trading over long distances possible
Wheel and sail
The reason why the Sumerians kept their gods happy
They thought the gods were active in their daily lives
Who was part of the lower class?
Slaves
The meaning of the word Mesopotamia
The land between two rivers
A government headed by a king
Kingship
One of the challenges of farming
During the rainy season, the floodwaters would destroy crops
The first ruler to unite the Sumerian city-states.
Sargon the Great
Describe who was part of the upper class of Mesopotamia's social structure.
Ruler, officials, priests, wealthy merchants, large landowners
Writing by pressing wedge-shaped marks into wet clay
Cuneiform
Definition of scribe
A person who was trained to take notes and write records
This invention helped farmers get water to their crops more efficiently
Irrigation system
The king of Babylon who created a law code to make a strong government and used scribes to keep records of his troops' locations.
Hammurabi
Describe why writing was one of the most important inventions.
- Used to communicate
- Provided jobs (scribes)
- Record history/events
Definition of cultural borrowing
Transfer of ideas or customs from one culture to another
Definition of barter
Exchanging goods or services without money
This is what the development of irrigation allowed farmers to do
Carry water from rivers to the fields
The people groups modified the Egyptian alphabet before we got our modern alphabet
Phoenicians
Describe the relationship between priests and kings. Why were they dependent on each other?
- Priests communicated between gods and people and Kings controlled the people
- They were dependent on each other b/c they needed the other to stay in power
(Kings respected the priests, and the priests told the people the kings were sent by the gods)
Definition of technology
Applying intelligence to problems to do things in a better way
The definition of irrigation
A system for watering crops
Describe the religion of Mesopotamia
Who united Sumer and issued the first known law code?
Ur-Nammu
Describe the importance of scribes for Hammurabi
The scribes were able to record the location of Hammurabi's troops.