Geography
This pair of rivers run through the Fertile Crescent and helped farmers grow crops.
Tigris and Euphrates
A city-state often began as this type of community where people grew food.
Agricultural community (or farming community)
Before organized civilizations, people lived as these people who hunted and gathered food.
Hunter-gatherers
People in ancient Mesopotamia believed in more than one god. This belief is called what?
Polytheism (they were polytheistic)
Hammurabi ruled in this empire in Mesopotamia.
Babylonian Empire (Babylon)
The name "Mesopotamia" literally means this phrase in English.
"Land between the rivers"
As city-states grew, what two groups moved in and added skills to the area? (two-word answer)
Merchants and artisans
Fill in the blank: Kings and priests belonged to the ____ Class.
Upper
The large temple at the center of a city was called a _____.
Ziggurat
Cuneiform was the first form of this humans used to record information.
Writing (or a system of writing)
Each year these rivers would do this, leaving behind fertile soil called silt.
Flooded (or flood)
City-states fought to control access to what important natural resource?
The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (or river water)
Which social class included artisans and craftsmen?
Middle Class
Only this group of people were allowed inside the ziggurat.
Priests
His code was written down so everyone could see the laws and their _____. (one-word answer)
Punishments (or consequences)
By the time of early civilizations here, farmers used this method to bring river water to their fields.
Irrigation
When several city-states are ruled by a single leader, that collection is called this.
Empire
Name one job/role of the Lower Class.
Slaves (or laborers)
People thought the ziggurat acted like a ____ for the gods to come down to earth.
Ladder
Hammurabi’s Code is often summed up by the idea of punishment that is equal to the crime. Give the short phrase used to describe this idea.
"An eye for an eye"
Today the region that used to be called Mesopotamia is commonly called this.
The Middle East
Name the ancient Mesopotamian civilization considered one of the first true civilizations (they invented the wheel).
Sumer (Sumerians)
Explain briefly why social classes formed after people settled into larger communities.
Because settled life and farming produced surplus food, populations grew and different jobs developed, creating social roles and classes
Which civilization started the tradition of building ziggurats that others adopted across Mesopotamia?
Sumer
Explain how cuneiform changed from drawing pictures to writing words or sounds.
Pictures simplified into symbols and then into signs representing sounds and words, forming a writing system