Geography & Location
The Tigris & Euphrates Rivers and the countries of Kuwait, Iraq, & Syria.
What are the two rivers that Mesopotamia is located between and what are the modern day countries that are in that area?
(1) A high-ranking group in control; (2) a system to force people to pay taxes or tribute.
What two things did the earliest agrarian states always have in common?
A massive multi-layered temple that is in the center of a city-state in which priest/priestess are in control.
What is a ziggurat?
This first form of writing was written by pressed wedge-shaped marks onto wet clay tablets.
What is cuneiform?
This system was created to help with time & measurement. A base-60 system; examples: 60 seconds per minute, 60 minutes per hour, 360 degrees in a circle.
What is a base-60 system; examples: 60 seconds per minute, 60 minutes per hour, 360 degrees in a circle?
The Fertile Crescent
The region between the Tigris and Euphrates is part of a larger fertile area often called what?
A city-state is a city that operates like its own country with its own government; examples: Vatican City, Monaco.
What is define "city-state" and give at least one modern-day example.
This consisted of many religious ceremonies, prayers, honoring many gods.
What was the main use of ziggurats in a Sumerian city-state?
These people wrote professionally for government or business using cuneiform; they kept records, accounts, and legal documents.
Who were scribes and why were they important to the Mesopotamian empire?
These rules were to establish a set rules and order for a large population covering safety, family life, professional responsibility, and property.
What was the purpose of the Code of Hammurabi?
Fertile soil for farming from river silt; water for irrigation; examples: predictable crops and food surplus.
Why was the location between rivers beneficial for early societies? Give two reasons.
The following people make up society scribes, priests, farmers, artisans, soldiers, rulers.
What is list three specialized roles or jobs you might find in a Mesopotamian city-state?
This is the belief in many gods; Mesopotamians worshiped many deities for different parts of life.
What does "polytheistic" mean and how did it apply to Mesopotamian religion?
This was the reason for the first type of writing; record-keeping and economic transactions
What was cuneiform first used for in city-states or Mesopotamia?
Laws consisted of Physical safety, family law, professional responsibility, property rights.
What are a few topics covered by Hammurabi’s laws (examples: family life, property, etc.).
Flooding / unpredictable water supply; they built irrigation canals and levees.
What is describe one geographical challenge Mesopotamians faced and one way they solved it.
To manage resources, collect taxes, organize labor, and maintain order for large populations.
What is to explain why centralized state control was important for Mesopotamian societies?
These are other buildings that make up Mesopotamian city like Ur or Uruk, temples, pyramids (public architecture), city walls, palaces.
What is two features of public architecture in early complex societies (besides ziggurats)?
These are the first two literary pieces of Mesopotamian literature that are heavily studied to understand ancient Mesopotamian myths and gods.
What is The Hymn to Inanna and the Epic of Gilgamesh?
Women were expected to help with domestic work and most scribes were male, limiting women from that role.
What is describe the everyday life expectation for women & how it affected who could be a scribe?
Increased trade due to surplus and location on trade routes; result: more wealth, specialized jobs, and cultural exchange.
Explain how trade increased in Mesopotamia and name one result of increased trade for society.
This social rank based on wealth and ancestry; consequences: unequal access to power/resources, inherited status.
What is to describe how social rank was determined in Mesopotamia and give two consequences of that ranking?
Priests often acted with government authority; temples were centers of economy and political influence.
How are religion and government were connected in Mesopotamian cities?
This person was a female priestess and poet, daughter of the king of Sumer, King Sargon the First first known to use "I" in writing and wrote the Hymn to Inanna.
Who was Enheduanna and why is she important in literary history and furthermore describe one thing that made her different.
Writing allowed detailed records of transactions and laws; laws provided rules for behavior — together they enabled administration, taxation, and dispute resolution.
How the combination of record-keeping (writing) and laws helped Mesopotamian cities manage large populations?