Vocabulary
small particles of soil
What is silt?
a way to supply dry land with water through ditches, pipes, or streams
What is irrigation?
Mesopotamia means what?
"the land between two rivers"
What was a key part of Sumer's economy?
What is trade?
After years of training, some students became what? *official record keepers*
What is a scribe?
an independent nation made up of a city and the land around it
What is a city-state?
a pyramid-shaped tower with a temple at the top
What is a ziggurat?
What season did the rivers overflow and become dangerous?
What is spring?
To honor its god, a city-state often included a large temple called what?
What is a ziggurat?
Sumerian calendars were based on the cycles of the what?
What is the moon?
a Sumerian writing system that used wedge-shaped marks made in soft clay
What is cuneiform?
a person who copies or writes out documents; often a record keeper
Who is a scribe?
The two rivers in Mesopotamia are
The Tigris and Euphrates
In the early days, who ruled the city-states?
Who are priests?
Sumerians were also the first to make what metal out of copper and tin.
What is bronze?
a long poem that tells the story of a hero
What is an epic?
a belief in more than one god
What is polytheism?
Over time, people in Mesopotamia learned to build what to help control flood waters?
What are dams?
Who claimed they received their power to rule from the city's god?
Who are Sumerian kings?
Why did the Sumerians invent a writing system?
The invented a writing system to record business dealings and other important information.
an amount that is left over after a need has been met
What is a surplus?
Review:
government that is led by a king or queen
What is a monarchy?
This is the location where Mesopotamia began *hint - it talks about the shape and the soil*
What is the Fertile Crescent?
Written more than 4,000 years ago and still studied today, this story is called
What is the Epic of Gilgamesh?
Sumerians watched the positions of the stars. This shows them the best time to do what two things?
Plant crops and hold religious ceremonies