Early Civilizations
This age began around 8000 BCE with the development of farming.
What is the Neolithic Age?
Sumerian communities were called this because each had its own ruler and surrounding farmland.
What are city-states?
This empire, founded by Sargon, was the first to unite all of Mesopotamia.
What is the Akkadian Empire?
This Mesopotamian invention made the use of chariots possible.
What is the wheel?
Mesopotamia was located between these two rivers.
This region, known for its fertile soil, was the site of many early settlements in Mesopotamia.
What is the Fertile Crescent?
This term describes the Sumerian social structure with distinct classes and levels.
What is hierarchial?
This empire was known for its military prowess and cruel tactics.
What is the Assyrian Empire?
This agricultural tool, invented by the Mesopotamians, greatly improved farming efficiency.
What is the plow?
Sumerians built these systems to manage water resources, including dams, reservoirs, and canals.
What are irrigation systems?
This animal was one of the first to be domesticated, primarily for meat and milk.
What is a goat?
These professional record-keepers and writers played a crucial role in Sumerian society.
Who are scribes?
This empire was responsible for the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem and the Babylonian Captivity of the Jews.
What is the Neo-Babylonian Empire?
This Babylonian king's famous set of laws greatly influenced future legal systems.
These structures were built along rivers to prevent flooding in Mesopotamian cities.
What are levees?
These two activities were the primary means of obtaining food in the Paleolithic Age
What is hunting and gathering?
This was the primary building material used by Sumerians for constructing houses and city walls.
What are mud bricks?
This Babylonian ruler is famous for his comprehensive set of laws.
Who is Hammurabi?
This writing system, using wedge-shaped marks, was developed by the Sumerians.
What is cuneiform?
This environmental factor made farming challenging in Mesopotamia without technological innovations.
What is the lack of rainfall (or arid climate)?
This development allowed Neolithic people to live in larger, permanent communities.
What is agriculture (or, farming)?
These massive, stepped structures were centers of religious and economic activity in Sumerian cities.
What are ziggurats?
This wonder of the ancient world was said to have been built by Nebuchadnezzar II for his homesick wife.
What are the Hanging Gardens of Babylon?
This decorative object, discovered in a royal tomb, depicts scenes of Sumerian life in peace and war.
What is the Standard of Ur?
This material, carried by rivers and deposited during floods, both enriched the soil and created challenges for irrigation systems.
What is silt?