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Ancient Middle East Reading and Study Guide (p. 27)
Chapter 2, Section 1: City-States in Mesopotamia (pp. 27-32)
1. Define Fertile Crescent:
2. What does the term Mesopotamia mean?
3. What two rivers flowed through Mesopotamia?
4. Define silt:
5. What did silt allow farmers and populations to do?
6. Who were the first settlers and farmers in Mesopotamia 4500 years ago?
7. What three disadvantages did the Sumerians have living in Mesopotamia?
8. Define irrigation:
9. How did the Sumerians defend themselves and get the materials they needed?
10. What was the primary building material used by Sumerians?
11. Define city-state:
12. What was at the center of all Sumerian city-states?
13. What two major functions did ziggurats perform?
14. Who became the most important people in Sumer and what did this eventually evolve
into?
15. Define dynasty:
16. Define cultural diffusion:
17. Define polytheism:
18. What did Sumerians believe the afterlife would be like?
19. What long poem had a large impact on other cultures like the Hebrews and Greeks?
20. What four major social classes did Sumerian society have?
1.
2.
3.
4.
21. What was the status of women in Mesopotamian society?
22. What five major inventions did the Sumerians contribute to the world?
23. What developments in arithmetic and architecture were Sumerians responsible for?
24. What great achievement was Sargon of Akkad responsible for?
25. Define empire:
26. Who was Hammurabi and what city did he rule?
27. What is Hammurabi’s Code, how and where was it published, and how many laws were
there?
28. What areas of life and government were addressed by Hammurabi’s Code?
Chapter 4, Section 2: Assyria Dominates the Fertile Crescent (pp. 88-91)
29. How did Assyria accomplish the acquisition of a large empire by 850 B.C.?
30. Describe the weapons and armor of the Assyrians.
31. Provide three methods the Assyrians used to siege and invade a city.
32. What generally happened to the conquered people in cities attacked by the Assyrians?
33. How did Assyrians prevent future rebellions of conquered peoples?
34. What great Assyrian city was founded on the Tigris River and who built a great library
there?
35. What two powers eventually conquered the Assyrians and demolished Nineveh?
36. What city became the center of a new empire and who restored the city?
37. What did Nebuchadnezzar build which became one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the
World?
38. How high was the ziggurat built by Nebuchadnezzar there?
Chapter 4, Section 3: Persia Unites Many Lands (pp. 92-96)
39. In contrast to the Assyrians, what did the Persians base their empire on?
40. From where did the Persians ancestors come before arriving in ancient Iran?
41. What military genius conquered land from the Indus River to Anatolia?
42. Provide three specific examples of the kindness and wisdom of Cyrus the Great.
43. Who conquered Egypt for the Persians?
44. Who eventually took the throne of Persia with the help of the Immortals?
45. What was the great genius of Darius?
46. What did Darius allow local people to do in the provinces he set up?
47. Define satrap:
48. How did Darius ensure the loyalty of his satraps?
49. What two other tools did Darius use to hold his empire together?
50. What invention did Darius borrow from the Lydians of Asia Minor?
51. Who developed a religious system for the Persians?
52. What were the two gods of Zoroastrianism and what did each represent?
53. What is the holy book of Zoroastrianism called?
54. What were worshippers in the Zoroastrian religions required to choose and what would
be the result of this choice?
55. What modern world religions were heavily influenced by Zoroastrianism?