Download Reading Q and A on Sumeria

Name: _______________________________________________Date_____
Reading on Mesopotamia and Sumer
Directions: Read the textbook pages 33 -37. Answers to the questions - do not have to be in complete sentences.
1) Page 33 - The Inside Story - Why were the crowds filling the streets? Where were the people going? What was the
festival's main rite? Why was it important?
Geography Promotes Civilization
2) What is the large area of fertile land called in Southwest Asia?
3) What was the land called between the two rivers - Tigris and Euphrates? What is the source of the rivers? Where do
they end? What place do they flow through?
4) List a reason why Mesopotamia was good for agriculture? What were two crops grown there?
5) What were two problems farming there?
6) What did they do to control the water? (3 things)
7) What organization things had to be completed by people to control the water?
Sumer
8) Who were the first people to develop a civilization .
The Cities of Sumer
9) What natural resource was used to build the cities?
10) What kind of building was at the center of each city? What was its purpose? What was it called?
11) What were these early Political Units - the city and its land called? As they grew what did they fight over?
Religion and Government
12) What was the worship of many gods called? What did the gods control? What did they protect?
13) What was done to please the Gods?
14) Who held high status? Who replaced them as rulers? What s a dynasty?
Sumerian Culture
15) What invention caused humankind to move from Prehistory into the Historical age?
Writing
16) What was the writing called? How was it produced?
17) What was writing used for at first?
18) What was a scribe? And what was good about being a scribe?
Math and Science
19) What was their math based on ? What do we still use today that they started?
20) What was another math subject they learned to build elaborate structures like Ziggurats and irrigation systems?
21) What were some other inventions? Which one might have helped keep the water clean?
The Arts
22) What were some artistic achievements?
Trade and Society
23) What materials did Sumerians have to trade for?
24) List the social classes of sumeria - with ranking number (5 classes)
Empires in Mesopotamia
25) Why even after being conquered did Sumerian Civilization influence life in Mesopotamia
Sargon's Empire
26) Who was Sargon - What were some of his achievements? How long did it last?
The Babylonian Empire
27) Who was Hammurabi? What were some of his achievements? What is his most famous achievements? What did he
do so people would know what his laws were?