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What did scribes learn to do?
Write
More than is needed.
What is a surplus?
The belief in many gods
polytheism
a society with its own government, religion and laws that was independent from one another
City-State
Capital and largest city in the Fertile Crescent
Babylon
What is a fertile crescent?
land that was good for crops to grow shaped like a cresent
Why did people settle and begin communities in this area?
Excellent land for growing crops
A story about a king traveling the world and killing a monster.
What is the Epic of Gilgamesh?
Fish, rich topsoil, clay for building and reeds to make boats
What are the benefits of the river?
What were the earliest set of laws called?
The Code of Hammurabi
The people of Sumer thought that floods and natural disasters were signs of what?
What is the gods were angry with them?
Mesopotamia is known as the "Cradle of __________"
Civilization
What are the names of the two rivers Mesopotamia is between
Tigris and Euphrates
What types of people would be found in the highest level of Mesopotamian society?
Kings or people with lots of money.
Why were ziggurats built so high up?
To be closer to their gods
The largest building in most Sumerian cities was a huge mud brick temple called?
What is a ziggurat?
What is Mesopotamian writing called?
Cuneiform
What type of people would be found in the lowest class of Mesopotamian society?
slaves / peasants / (sometimes farmers)
Sweeping away people, animals and houses and the fact that floods were not predictable.
What are the hardships of living near the river?
What came before farming and civilizations? What were people doing before?
Early Humans - hunter gatherers and farming / Nomadic lifestyle
King who rebuild Babylon, built massive walls around the city, and built a hanging garden for his wife.
Nebuchadnezzar II
Mesopotamia is Greek for:
Land Between Two Rivers
The scribes of Sumer marked picture symbols in pieces of what?
What is wet clay?
Who was the first emperor of the Akkadian Empire / Mesopotamia?
Sargon
The Babylonians were also skilled in what?
Mathematics and astronomy, medicine, literacy