Sumer
This geographic region, meaning “land between the rivers,” was located between the Tigris and Euphrates.
Mesopotamia
This ruler founded the Akkadian Empire, one of the world's first empires.
Sargon of Akkad
This river was the most important geographic feature of ancient Egypt.
Nile River
This religious practice was believed by most people in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt.
(Think "multiple")
polytheism
Sumerians built these large stepped temples as places of worship.
Ziggurats
This Babylonian king is famous for creating one of the earliest written law codes.
Hammurabi
Egyptians relied on the yearly flooding of the Nile to provide this for their crops.
Fertile soil
This Egyptian belief held that a person's soul could continue living after death.
afterlife
This invention allowed Sumerians to keep records, write laws, and preserve information.
Cuneiform
The Assyrians became famous throughout Mesopotamia for their powerful army and this method of warfare.
Brutal/conquering warfare; siege warfare
Egypt's New Kingdom became powerful partly because it developed a strong army and used this technology.
Chariots
Egyptians preserved dead bodies using this process because they believed the body was important in the afterlife.
Mummification
Sumerian civilization developed in this part of the Fertile Crescent, where irrigation helped farmers produce large amounts of food.
Southern Mesopotamia
The Persian Empire was divided into provinces called satrapies, which were controlled by these officials.
Satrapies were controlled by governors called satraps
This pharaoh expanded Egypt's empire and was one of the most powerful rulers of the New Kingdom.
Ramses II
Egyptian pharaohs were considered both political rulers and this type of religious figure.
Religious leader/high priest
Name two Sumerian innovations that had a lasting influence on later civilizations.
writing/cuneiform, wheel, plow, irrigation, mathematics, calendar, astronomy
Explain how conquest by different Mesopotamian empires helped spread ideas, technology, and culture throughout the Middle East.
Conquest connected different peoples and allowed ideas, technologies, religions, and cultural practices to spread
Explain how Egypt's geography helped protect it from invasion while also encouraging trade and agriculture.
The Nile provided food and transportation while deserts and cataracts offered protection from invasion.
Explain how Egyptian religious beliefs influenced at least two aspects of everyday life or government.
pyramids/tombs, mummification, pharaoh's authority, religious rituals, temples, burial practices, social organization.