Vocab
the exchange of goods and services
trade
How did ancient Mesopotamia benefit from the flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers?
It made the soil fertile from the silt
This is the belief in many gods.
Polytheism
What tools did the Mesopotamians use for writing?
Stylus
The land between the rivers
Mesopotamia
they kept records and wrote on clay tablets
Scribes
Why was Mesopotamia such a good area for growing crops?
the rivers flooded and deposited rich soil
Besides the ruler, who had the highest position in the social hierarchy?
priests
How did the Sumerians keep time?
Lunar calendar
These people were not taught how to read and write so they could not become scribes.
Women
The system of writing in Mesopotamia. The symbols represented sounds.
Cuneiform
This helped the Mesopotamians provide water for crops during times of drought
irrigation systems
What did the Sumerians do to support the priests and kings?
Paid taxes
This gave the Sumerians more freedom of movement
The wheel
Why did Hammurabi have copies of his Code carved into stone and placed at important locations throughout Babylon?
to make sure that everyone could see and follow the same set of laws and they knew their rights
The social organization of a particular society. The people with the most wealth and status are at the top. The people with the least money and the lowest social position are on the bottom.
Social Pyramid/Hierarchy
How did the Sumerians solve the problem of flooding?
These were built as temples to honor the gods and goddesses
Ziggurats
The ancient Babylonian king who created the earliest known code of laws.
Hammurabi
This helped farmers plan their crops to avoid floods, which allowed them to grow more food and to feed more people in the cities
calendar
a mixture of rock and soil that is carried by water
silt
What was the first thing that the Sumerians accomplished?
Farming and domestication of animals
This governed surrounding lands and had its own ruler. It was an important Sumerian innovation that allowed people to work together to meet basic needs.
City-state
Name 3 Sumerian innovations.
Wheel, plow, system of writing
The number of laws in Hammurabi's Code.
282