Download Chapter 3 Study Guide

Chapter 3 – Study Guide
alphabet: world’s first system of writing
canals: human-made waterways
chariot: a wheeled horse-drawn battle cart
city-state: a city and its surrounding country side
empire: land with different territories under a single rule
epics: long poems that tell a story of a hero
Division of Labor: able to do other jobs than farming
cuneiform: world’s first writing system
Fertile Crescent: land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
scribe: writer
silt: a mix of soil and small rocks
surplus: more food than is needed
irrigation: a way of supplying water to the land
ziggurat: Summerian temple
social hierarchy: a division of society by rank of class
Sargon I: defeated all the city-states of Sumer and conquered Mesopotamia; first leader with
permanent army
Name three important Mesopotamian inventions.
plow, wheel, irrigation, canals, writing, laws, etc.
What were the names of the two important rivers where civilization began?
Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
Why did crops grow well in Mesopotamia?
fertile soil from flooding
What enabled people to do other work than farming?
surplus of food and/or Division of Labor
What was the importance of canals and dikes?
a way to control the water’s flow
What purpose was building a wall around the city?
protection from outsiders
Which group of people grew more powerful because of trade?
Pheonicians
What was Mesopotamian society based on, even with the growth of cities?
farming
What technologies did the Hittites and Assyrians use in battle that made them very powerful?
iron weapons and chariots
Which group of people in Mesopotamia developed the first civilization?
Sumer
Who was Hammurabi?
King of Babylon that set up a code of 282 laws
Explain how gods and religion were important to the Mesopotamians?
Everything they believed were related to religion or gods
What can you conclude about that scribes had power in Sumerian society?
People that could read and write were very important