THE FIRST CITIES
These two rivers gave Mesopotamia its name as the land “between the rivers.”
What are the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers?
These people created a civilization of independent city-states in southern Mesopotamia.
Who were the Sumerians?
These seafaring traders of the eastern Mediterranean established colonies and spread an influential alphabet.
Who were the Phoenicians?
The belief in many gods, common throughout ancient Mesopotamia, is known by this term.
What is polytheism?
This powerful Anatolian people became famous for chariots, warfare, and an empire centered in modern-day Turkey.
Who were the Hittites?
This early Mesopotamian people established farming villages and built some of the region’s earliest temples before the rise of Sumer.
Who were the Ubaids?
This ruler of Akkad conquered Sumerian cities and created one of history’s first empires.
Who was Sargon of Akkad?
This valuable purple dye became one of the products for which Phoenician traders were famous.
What is Tyrian purple?
The belief that there is only one God is known by this term.
What is monotheism?
This ancient civilization developed east of Mesopotamia in what is now southwestern Iran.
Who were the Elamites?
These two Sumerian settlements grew into some of the world’s earliest major cities.
What are Ur and Uruk?
This term describes a large territory containing several peoples or regions ruled by one government or ruler.
What is an empire?
This Mesopotamian empire became famous for its powerful army, siege warfare, and brutal treatment of rebellious enemies.
What was the Assyrian Empire?
According to Israelite tradition, this agreement established a sacred relationship between God and the Israelites.
What is the covenant?
These nomadic horse peoples became famous across the Eurasian Steppe for mounted warfare and archery.
Who were the Scythians?
This massive stepped temple stood at the religious center of many Mesopotamian cities.
What is a ziggurat?
This Sumerian city became the center of a powerful revival known as the Third Dynasty of Ur.
What is Ur?
This Assyrian capital contained great palaces and one of the ancient world’s most famous libraries.
What is Nineveh?
These two kingdoms emerged after the united Israelite monarchy divided.
What is the Babylonian Captivity?
These two carefully planned cities were major centers of the Harappan or Indus Valley Civilization.
What are Harappa and Mohenjo-daro?
This writing system, created by pressing wedge-shaped marks into clay tablets, became one of the world’s earliest forms of writing.
What is cuneiform?
This king of Ur is associated with the great Ziggurat of Ur and the Neo-Sumerian revival.
Who was Ur-Nammu?
This Babylonian king is remembered for issuing one of the ancient world’s most famous written collections of laws.
Who was Hammurabi?
This conquest carried many people from Judah into captivity in Mesopotamia during the 500s BCE.
What is the Babylonian Captivity?
These Indo-European-speaking peoples brought Vedic traditions into northern India that helped lay foundations for Hinduism.
Who were the Indo-Aryans?