Geography
The word ‘Mesopotamia’ literally means BLANK. And Mesopotamia got this name because of BLANK and BLANK!
What is 'The Land Between Two Rivers; the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
THIS invention let potters make pots much faster — but the reading says the pots actually became LESS beautiful as a result...
THIS Babylonian king was famous for creating one of (though not the first!) law codes.
Who is Hammurabi?
THIS semicircular stretch of land curves from Mesopotamia through the eastern Mediterranean coast to Egypt. In addition to describing a shape, the name reveals something about how civilization emerged there...
What is the Fertile Crescent?
THIS wedge-shaped writing system was invented by the Sumerians! And it's original purpose was...
What is cuneiform? Used for record keeping!
After Sargon of Akkad conquered Sumerian cities, he did THESE two things to make sure they couldn't rebel.
What are tearing down their defensive walls / appointing his own sons as rulers of the cities?
The ancient town of Eridu is now stranded in the middle of a desert. It's so far from the water today because...
Why did the Euphrates River change its course over time / shift its path?
Mesopotamians needed THIS to label and protect their trade goods from thieves. What small carved object did they roll across soft clay to leave a one-of-a-kind design?
What is a cylinder seal?
According to Hammurabi's code, no marriage was considered legal without THIS!
What is a contract?
By 2500 BCE city-states in Mesopotamia were building walls and fighting wars. What resource were these wars probably about, and why?
What is water? Because when one city-state irrigated, it reduced or changed the river flow for others downstream.
The earliest writing wasn't wedge-shaped at all -- it was drawings of objects on clay. What are these early signs called?
What are pictographs?
Sargon spoke a different language than the Sumerians (Akkadian). But Akkadian became important far beyond his empire. According to the reading, what role did it play?
What is becoming the diplomatic language used across a wide area (people throughout the region used it to communicate in writing)?
THIS large body of water is to the west of Mesopotamia, and THAT large body of water is to the south-east! (NOT rivers!)
What are the Mediterranean sea and the Persian Gulf?
Sargon's daughter Enheduana is famous for a historical first. What did she do that historians believe no one before her had ever done?
What is being the first author in history to put their name on a written work (hymns to the goddess Inanna)?
Hammurabi's code dealt heavily with agriculture. If a tenant neglected the irrigation canals and another farmer's crops were destroyed, what happened? And if the tenant couldn't pay?
What is enslavement?