Geography
Rise of Sumerian City-States
Was Ancient Sumer a Civilization?
Four Empires of Mesopotamia
Vocabulary
100
Mesopotamia is located between these two rivers.
Tigris and Euphrates
100
Small, independent countries that date back to about 3500 B.C.E.
City-states
100
A culture marked by developments in arts, sciences, government, and social structure.
Civilization
100
In ancient Mesopotamia, rulers recorded their greatest achievements on a ___________, or a stone slab on which an illustration or inscription has been carved.
Stele
100
A city that is the center of government.
Capital
200
This modern day country was once named Mesopotamia.
Iraq
200
This is where Sumerians moved to when they experienced food shortages in the Zagros foothills. This region became known as Sumer.
Plains
200
Sumerian city states were ruled by _________, who were believed to have been chosen by the gods to rule in their place.
Kings
200
Known for his powerful military strategies, he was the first ruler of the Akkadian Empire.
Sargon
200
Ancient Mesopotamians believed in multiple gods, therefore they were ________________.
Polytheistic/Polytheism
300
Cities first appeared in the southern part of Mesopotamia, an area called _________.
Sumer
300
Farmers in Sumer faced times of flooding and drought. They built ___________ ___________ to supply the land with water, creating a steady water supply.
Irrigation Systems
300
An ancient Mesopotamian temple tower. It was where Sumerians expressed their religious beliefs.
Ziggurat
300
This king of the Babylonian Empire is best known for his code of laws, which were used to unify his empire and to preserve order.
Hammurabi
300
A large territory where several groups of people are ruled by a single powerful leader or government.
Empire
400
Area good for farming and important rivers stretching in an arc from the Nile to the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
Fertile Crescent
400
Fine particles of rock.
Silt
400
The Sumerians created a written language called ____________. This was based on an earlier form of writing that used ____________, symbols that stand for real objects.
Cuneiform, Pictographs
400
Like other groups in Mesopotamia, the Assyrians dug canals to irrigate their land and keep it fertile. They also built some of the earliest _____________. (A pipe or channel that brings water from distant places).
Aqueduct
400
A person who writes and helped record laws.
Scribe
500
People began farming in the rolling foothills of the _________ Mountains in northern Mesopotamia.
Zagros Mountains
500
Over time, Sumerians learned to control the supply of water. They did this by constructing __________ that shaped the paths the water took, __________ that blocked the water, forcing it to collect in pools, and _________ that were built along the sides of the river to prevented flooding.
Canals, Dams, and Levees
500
Panels from the __________________ artifact show scenes of war and peace in ancient Sumer.
Standard of Ur
500
After the fall of Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrian Empire, the Babylonians regained control over Mesopotamia. They established a new empire, the _______________ Empire. The most famous king was __________________.
Neo-Babylonian, Nebuchadnezzar.
500
The Assyrians were feared for their military might and their cruelty. Their greatest achievements were their new weapons and war strategies. They became extremely good at ________ warfare. In this type of warfare, soldiers would camp outside a city and attack it over and over again until the city fell or surrendered.
Siege Warfare
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