Geography
What two rivers did people in Mesopotamia settle between?
What is Tigris and Euphrates
What were two staple crops grown in Mesopotamia?
What is wheat and barley.
What did the Sumerians invent that helped keep records on clay tablets?
What is cuneiform writing.
Who was the ruler that created the Akkadian Empire and is mentioned in the text?
Who is Sargon the Great.
What is a city-state?
What is a city that governs itself and the land around it.
What is the large fertile region between these rivers often called?
What is Mesopotamia or the Fertile Crescent
What system did Mesopotamians use to water their fields when rain wasn't enough?
What is irrigation.
What famous epic poem was written in Akkadian?
What is The Epic of Gilgamesh.
What role did Enheduanna hold in the city of Ur?
What is high priestess.
Why did city-states sometimes go to war with each other?
What is to compete for resources like water and land.
Why did people settle along river valleys?
What is the rivers deposited fertile soil and provided water for crops.
Name two jobs or roles people in Mesopotamian society might have had.
What is farmer, scribe, merchant, artisan, soldier, priest/priestess.
Who is the world’s first named author mentioned in the text?
Who is Enheduanna.
Name one thing Sargon the Great created to help control his empire.
What is first standing army, first postal system, roads, standardized weights/measures.
Give one environmental reason that could cause a Mesopotamian empire to weaken.
What is uncontrollable flooding, soil salinization, crop failure.
Name one problem that made farming difficult in Mesopotamia over time.
What is flooding was unpredictable or salt buildup in soil.
Why did some people become enslaved in Mesopotamia?
What is they were captured in war or sold themselves into slavery to pay debts
What tool did scribes use to make wedge-shaped marks in clay?
What is a reed stylus.
How did Sargon help the Akkadian Empire with language?
What is he made Akkadian the empire’s official language.
What happened to the Akkadian Empire after Sargon’s dynasty weakened?
What is famine and nomadic people from the Zagros Mountains defeated them and city-states regained independence.
Where do the Tigris and Euphrates rivers begin and end (mountain range to body of water)?
What is they flow from the Zagros Mountains toward the Persian Gulf.
How did trade help Mesopotamian city-states when they had surplus food?
What is they traded surplus for goods like metals, wood, and precious stones such as lapis lazuli.
What time-keeping invention from Mesopotamia do we still use today?
What is the 24-hour day with 60-minute hours and 60-second minutes.
Name one later ruler or empire that looked to Sargon as a model.
Who is Hammurabi of Babylon or Sargon II of Assyria.
By about 331 BCE, which famous conqueror had taken control of the region?
Who is Alexander the Great.