Download Mesopotamia Study Guide ANSWERS Vocabulary

Mesopotamia Study Guide ANSWERS
I.
Vocabulary- Be sure that you understand the following terms:
1. City-state- a political unit that contains the Cities and the surrounding territories
2. Ziggurat- A temple located in the center of a city-state
3. cuneiform - the first writing system used wedge shaped symbols
4. Mesopotamia –Land between the two Rivers
5. Code of Hammurabi – the first written laws created by King Hammurabi
6. Barter- exchanging goods without the use of money
II.
Geography Information
7. Identify the 2 rivers that surround Mesopotamia. –Euphrates and Tigris
8. Explain why people had to move to Mesopotamia from the valley of the Zagros Mountains.- B/c
of an increased population and not having a stable food supply, people moved to
Mesopotamia b/c it provided fertile soil with silt providing good farmland
9. Describe the climate and conditions of the land in Mesopotamia.- it was hot, fertile soil, and
uncontrollable flooding
10. How did the Sumerians make farming easier?- plows, canals and irrigation systems
11. Explain the importance of irrigation. Were there any problems?- it brought water to land
that did not have a water source. Yes, irrigation ditches would get clogged and
different groups would fight over keeping it clear.
III.
Government Information
12. Describe what makes up a city-state.-ziggurat is in the center, then upper class houses ,
then middle classes, then out from that a protective wall, then farmland and
irrigation ditches
13. Who rules the city-states? A king-chosen by the gods
14. What were the responsibilities of the rulers? Collect taxes, enforce laws, lead armies,
ordered the construction of ziggurats and maintained irrigation systems
IV.
Religion Information
15. Describe the importance of the ziggurat. It was their temple for worshipping Gods and
also used as a tomb for Kings/Priests.
16. Where was the location of each city-states ziggurat? in the center of the city-state
17. Were the Sumerians religious? How can you tell? Yes, they had ziggurats in the center of
their cities which shows that religion was central to their lives as well as all aspects
of their daily lives revolved around religion. They also created devotional statues
and held religious ceremonies that included human sacrifices
V.
Civilization Information
18. Identify 7 ways to determine if a society is considered civilized. Stable food supply, system
of government, religion, social structure, highly developed culture, advanced
technology & written language
19. Was Sumer a civilization? Look in your Notebooks pages 70-72. Provide reasons for all
7 ways-(ie They had a Stable Food Supply b/c they invented/created irrigation and
the plow to make farming easier.)
20. Identify and Explain Sumerian Contributions- (Use pages 72 in your notebooks.)cuneiform, arch, ziggurat, metalworking, music, organized armies, citystates/kings, plow, sailboat, wheel
VI.
Daily Life Information
21. Be able to draw a diagram of the social structure. Know the 3 classes and who makes up each class.
Kings
Priests and
Nobles
Craftspeople and merchants
Farmers
Slaves
22. Be able to identify what type of people live in specific houses. Upper class had elaborate 2 stories
houses in the middle of the city, middle class had mud brick near the edge of the city-state,
lower class lived in master’s homes
23. How could you tell if a person in Mesopotamia had Power- people who could read/write had
power
24. Know the 1st type of writing-who knew how to write, why did they create a written language, how did
the idea of written language spread throughout the world? –Scribes learned to write over 2000
symbols- it was created to record trade transactions-by trading with other people in the
world, they learned how important writing and keeping records are
Code of Hammurabi Information
25. Describe the Code of Hammurabi & King Hammurabi. –Set of 282 Laws that King made up to
govern daily life that had severe punishments for breaking the laws; King Hammurabi
conquered lots of land but was a cruel king when it came to how he ran the empire.
26. Explain why we have laws and punishments. To prevent crimes and punishments so that people
won’t do crime again as well as restore order and peace to society; protect people
27. Be able to give examples of different laws that were in the Code of Hammurabi. If you steal
something, your hand is cut off