GEOGRAPHY & LOCATION
This Greek word, meaning "land between the rivers," describes the region between the Tigris and Euphrates.
What is Mesopotamia?
This first civilization settled in southern Mesopotamia and lived in separate city-states.
Who are the Sumerians?
This type of government has one person, like a king or queen, ruling a civilization.
What is a monarchy?
This term means "more than what is needed" and allowed people to specialize in different jobs.
What is surplus?
The Sumerians invented this method of supplying water to crops through human-made waterways.
What is irrigation?
This larger region of rich farmland extends from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea.
What is the Fertile Crescent?
King Sargon established this first empire in world history after conquering Sumer.
What is the Akkadian Empire?
This is a city and its surrounding territory that functions as an independent state.
What is a city-state?
This arrangement allows workers to specialize in particular tasks rather than everyone farming.
What is division of labor?
These human-made waterways transported controlled amounts of water from rivers to fields.
What are canals?
These two major rivers provided water for irrigation in ancient Mesopotamia.
What are the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers?
This king created one of the oldest written law codes in history with 282 laws.
Who is Hammurabi?
This is a group of states or countries under the authority of a supreme ruler.
What is an empire?
Before money existed, Sumerians used this system to directly trade items without coins.
What is the barter system?
This Assyrian invention was a wheeled, horse-drawn cart used in battle.
What is a chariot?
This continent and region was home to the world's first civilization.
What is Southwest Asia?
This Persian king conquered vast territories and allowed subjects to keep their religions and customs.
Who is Cyrus the Great?
Originally, these religious leaders were in charge of cities and made decisions based on "signs" from gods.
Who are priests?
Mesopotamians traded grain surpluses for these three types of materials they lacked.
What are lumber, metals, and precious stones?
This Persian road system extended 1,600 miles and included postal stations for messages.
What is the Royal Road?
Farmers in Mesopotamia relied on flooding from rivers that originated in this mountainous region.
What is Asia Minor?
This Persian king created standard currency and required provinces to pay tribute.
Who is Darius I?
This famous collection of 282 written laws covered agriculture, theft, and women's rights.
What is Hammurabi's Code?
This specific amount of money that provinces had to pay was determined by Persian officials based on wealth.
What is tribute?
This collection of over 30,000 clay tablets was the largest library in history at the time.
What is the Library of Ashurbanipal?