Ancient Mesopotamia
This arch shaped region of fertile land in the Middle East stretches from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea
What is the Fertile Crescent?
This formal writing system writing system used by Ancient Egyptians relied on pictorial symbols carved into stone or written on papyrus
What are hieroglyphics?
The Hittites gained a major military advantage over their enemies by mastering the smelting of this metal, which was harder and cheaper than bronze
What is iron?
Unlike their polytheistic neighbors, the ancient Israelites practiced this form of religion centered on the belief in one God
What is monotheism?
A political unit in which a single central authority rules over many distinct territories, nations, or peoples is called this
What is an Empire?
The name "Mesopotamia" comes from a Greek phrase meaning this.
What is "the land between two rivers"
This period of Ancient Egyptian history is famously known as the "Age of the Pyramids"
What is the Old Kingdom?
This empire was famous throughout the ancient world for using extreme psychological warfare, siege tactics, and mass deportations
Who are the Assyrians?
In Jewish history, this term refers to a sacred promise or agreement between God and His people
What is a Covenant?
Babylon's King Hammurabi is famous for compiling this publicly displayed set of 282 legal rulings
What is Hammurabi's Code?
Developed by the Sumerians, this wedge-shaped writing system was pressed into soft clay tablets with a reed stylus
What is cuneiform?
This pharaoh changed Egyptian history by outlawing traditional polytheism to force the worship of a single sun deity, Aten
Who is Akhenaten?
This famous military battle between Pharaoh Ramses II and the Hittites ended in a standstill and led to the world's first recorded international peace treaty
What is the Battle of Kadesh?
Received by Moses at Mount Sinai, these set the moral and religious laws for the Hebrew people
What are the Ten Commandments?
Besides writing, name two key inventions created by the ancient Sumerians
What are the wheel, sailboat, the plow, or time system?
The Mesopotamians built these massive stepped pyramid-temples at the center of their city-states to honor their primary deities.
What is a Ziggurat?
These three natural geographical features provided Egypt with natural protection against foreign invaders, unlike Mesopotamia's open geography
What are deserts, seas, and River cataracts?
While the Hittites operated out of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), the Assyrians built their vast empire starting from
What is modern day Iraq (northern Mesopotamia)?
These two famous kings ruled during the united Kingdom of Israel—one established Jerusalem as the capital, and the other built the First Temple
Who are King David and King Solomon?
Ancient Egyptian geography was divided into two distinct regions; this region sat in the north where the Nile emptied into the Mediterranean Sea
What is Lower Egypt (or the Nile Delta)?
Because the flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates River was violent and unpredictable, Mesopotamia constructed what.
What are irrigation systems (canals/dams)?
This ritual process of artificial preservation was designed to keep a deceased person's spirit (Ka) intact for the afterlife
What is mummification?
The Hittites and Egyptians engaged in formal negotiations, treaties, and foreign relations—a political practice known by this 9-letter term
What is diplomacy?
During the Diaspora and Babylonian Exile, these local houses of worship allowed Jewish communities to preserve their faith without needing the central Temple
What are Synagogues?
The belief in and worship of multiple gods or goddesses is known by this term
What is polytheism?