Seven Keys
The first key of civilization was developed to record crop yields in ancient Sumer.
What is writing or written language?
The legendary king of Uruk and subject of the great first epic
Who is Gilgamesh?
The modern country that now occupies most of what was once Mesopotamia
What is Iraq?
The Cradle of Civilization, or the "land between the rivers".
What is Mesopotamia?
The most advanced stage of human social and cultural development and organization.
What is civilization?
The name of the first written language developed in Sumer
What is cuneiform?
The Mesopotamian Base-60 system included these two enduring time measurement innovations
What is the 60 second-minute and 60-minute hour?
The name of the world's first farming region.
What is the Fertile Crescent?
The Babylonian king famous for his 282 laws etched in stone
Who is Hammurabi?
A long poem about a hero's adventures
What is an epic?
It started out as polytheistic and became more and more monotheistic over the millennia.
What is (organized) religion?
The two combined metals that make bronze.
What is copper and tin?
The modern country of Iran inherited the territory and history of this once great empire
What is Persia?
The time period, or era, that came before the Iron Age and after the Copper Age.
What is the Bronze Age?
The stick used to inscribe cuneiform onto wet clay
What is a stylus?
The leadership team of a nation, state, or community
What is (organized) government?
The Assyrian weapon that made city-state walls shake until they crumbled.
What is a battering ram?
The great sea linking the continents of Asia, Africa, and Europe.
What is the Mediterranean Sea?
Hereditary rule passed on from one generation to the next in a kingdom.
What is a dynasty, or monarchy?
Pyramid-like Mesopotamian temple located inside the city-state walls.
What is a ziggurat?
This key of civilization divided people in the social pyramid based on their occupation.
What is job specialization?
The king of Assyria built this to store 30,000 clay tablets of Mesopotamian literature, including the Epic of Gilgamesh
What is a library?
The mountains north of Mesopotamia where the first settlers came from to farm the land between the rivers.
What are the Zagros Mountains?
The "Great" Persian Empire founder who proclaimed himself the "perfect" leader for the lands he conquered.
Who was Cyrus the Great?
Military strategy of surrounding the city-state, while cutting off resources and continually attacking until the inhabitants surrender or are annihilated.
What is a siege?