Download Mesopotamia

Chapter One (1c): Mesopotamia
I. Where is Mesopotamia, the land between the rivers, located?
A. SW Asia
B. Middle East
C. Iraq
1. Tigris River
2. Euphrates River
II. Who settled in Mesopotamia?
A. Sumerians
1. Settled in southern Mesopotamia, or Sumer
2. Created world’s earliest known civilization
B. Assyrians
1. Conquered Mesopotamia about 1,000 years after Hammurabi ruled
2. Ruled using terror and intimidation
C. Chaldeans, or Babylonians
1. Conquered the Assyrians
2. Called themselves Babylonians because most were descendents of people who
made up Hammurabi’s empire
III. How did the Sumerians control their environment?
A. Built dams and levees to control flood waters
B. Used canals to irrigate crops
IV. What did the Sumerians grow?
A. Barley
B. Wheat
C. Sesame
D. Flax
E. Fruit trees
F. Date palms
V. What materials did the Sumerians use to make bricks?
A. Mud
B. Crushed reed
VI. What did a Sumerian city-state look like?
A. Protective walls encircled the city
B. Farmland surrounded the city
C. The city’s temple, or ziggurat, protruded from the city’s center
VII. How were the city-states ruled?
A. Initially, each city-state was ruled by a priest-king
B. Each city-state had an assembly made up of free men
1. Assembly advised the priest-king
2. Eventually assembly members took place of priests as permanent kings
VIII. How did the Sumerians worship?
A. Believed all forces of nature were alive
B. Viewed all forces of nature as gods because they could not be controlled
C. Honored gods frequently in order to please them
IX. How were Sumerian children educated?
A. Sons of the rich attended tablet houses, or schools
1. Learned cuneiform
2. After graduating, worked as scribes
B. Poorer boys worked in the fields or learned a trade
C. Girls were taught at home by their mothers
X. Why did the power of Sumer fade?
A. Water overusage
B. Wars over water
XI. Who conquered Sumer?
A. Sargon I of Akkad, northern Mesopotamia
1. Conquered Sumer, southern Mesopotamia
2. United city-states with Akkad
3. Created world’s first empire
4. Ruled for fifty years
B. Hammurabi of Babylon
1. After Sargon I died, individual city-states rose to power again
2. About 1800 B.C./B.C.E., Amorites entered Mesopotamia
3. Amorites built their own cities including Babylon
4. Babylonian king, Hammurabi, conquered Akkad and Sumer
a. Created one of the world’s first law codes
b. Ruled for over forty years
c. Ruled during the “Golden Age of Babylon”
XII. What are some of the contributions that the Sumerians and Babylonians are famous?
A. Cuneiform
B. Wheel
C. Plow
D. 12-month calendar
E. Number system based on sixty
1. 60-minute hour
2. 60-second minute
3. 360-degree circle
F. Water clock
G. Sailboat
Greenblatt, Miriam, and Peter Lemmo. Human Heritage. New York: Glencoe
McGraw-Hill, 1999.
Spielvogel, Jackson J. Journey Across Time: The Early Ages. New York:
Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2008.