Download Mesopotamia Study Guide with answers

Mesopotamia Study Guide
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Vocabulary: Fertile Crescent, cuneiform, ziggurat, scribe, Irrigation, Silt, Citystate, Sumer, Trade, Polytheism, Deity, Artisan, Patriarchal, Empire, Babylon
1. Explain the FULL process involved in creating the rich soil found in Ancient
Mesopotamia. Snow melts in the Zagros Mountains, runs to the Eurphrates and
Tigris Rivers, the rivers flood, silt spreads over the land along with the flood
water.
2. Which aspect of Mesopotamian life led to the wealth and power of the ancient
city-states of Mesopotamia? Explain. Mesopotamia’s surplus food supply
enabled them to trade food not needed for consumption. This ability to trade,
led to wealth and power for many city-states in ancient Mesopotamis.
3. What problem did ancient Mesopotamians have to solve in order to protect
their cities? They needed to figure out how to predict when the floods would
happen and they needed to figure out how to control the flood waters so they
wouldn’t destroy their cities. They also needed to figure out how to store the
water for times of drought.
4. Why were Mesopotamians able to maintain a surplus food supply?
Mesopotamians had fertile soil good for farming. They figured out how to
domesticate plants and animals and their innovations (plows, dams, levees…)
helped to create enough food that they could trade what they didn’t need.
5. Where were most major cities of ancient Mesopotamia located? Why? Near
the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers because the rivers provided fresh water for
drinking and for irrigating their crops. The flooding of the rivers also created
fertile soil good for farming.
6. The surplus of food supply allowed ancient Mesopotamians to do what?
Mesopotamians were able to create enough food to store in the event of a bad
crop season. They were able to trade additional food for resources not
available in Mesopotamia.
7. Explain the purpose and significance of each of these innovations and how they
look (are used) today:
a. dams- Mesopotamians used dams to control and store water to be used
during times of drought. Today dams are often used for hydroelectricity.
b. levees- Mesopotamians used levees to keep rivers from overflowing.
Levees are built differently today, but are used for the same purpose.
c. wheel- The first wheels were made of wood and were important for
transporting goods, weaving fabrics and creating artwork.
d. use of metal- Metal in ancient Mesopotamia was used to strengthen
plows, making farming a quicker and more efficient. Metal today is still used in
making metal.
e. seeder plow- The seeder plow was an important innovation in
Mesopotamia because it made farming more efficient and allowed for more
food production. Domesticated animals were also significant as they pulled the
plows.
f. calendar- Calendars helped the ancient Mesopotamians predict flood
and drought seasons. They followed the phases of the moon and similar to
today, they had 12 months. Each of their months had 30 days.
8. Who was King Hammurabi? What is he known for? Hammurabi was the king
of Babylon. He is known for creating the first recorded set of laws. His laws
were class specific and rigid and served as the framework for the judges of the
time.
9. An “Eye for an Eye” is a statement from Hammurabi’s code, how does that
translate in our language today? The punishment fits the crime.
10. What was the purpose of the design of the ziggurat? The ziggurats had stair
step sides designed to invite the gods down from the heavens to Earth.