Download Test Three: Mesopotamia Study Guide

Name ______________________________
Period ______
Date _____________
Sixth Grade
Social Studies—Ms. Wroble
Test Three—Mesopotamia
***STUDY GUIDE***
PART I. KEY TERMS MATCH-UP
Directions: Match the term in Column A with its appropriate definition in Column B. Write
the corresponding letter on the line.
COLUMN A
COLUMN B
1. ______
irrigation
A. belief in more than one god
2. ______
empire
B. a group of merchants traveling together for safety, usually
with a large number of camels
3. ______
caravan
4. ______
polytheism
5. ______
cuneiform
C. a system of writing developed by the Sumerians that used
wedge-shaped marks made in soft clay
D. a system/technology that supplies dry land with water
through ditches, pipes, or streams; first developed and used by
Sumerian farmers
E. a large territory or group of many territories governed by one
ruler
PART II. IDENTIFICATIONS MATCH-UP
Directions: Match the person in Column A with his/her appropriate description in
Column B. Write the corresponding letter on the line.
COLUMN A
1. ______
Marduk
2. ______
Sargon I
3. ______
Nebuchadnezzar
4. ______
Sumerians
5. ______
Hammurabi
COLUMN B
A. the group of people who lived in a southern region of
Mesopotamia and who built the first cities in southwest Asia
B. According to Mesopotamian mythology, he was the god of
Babylon who defeated Tiamat and used her eyeballs to make
the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
C. ruler of Akkad who sent armies into Sumer to defeat each of
its remaining city-states; eventually became king of all
Mesopotamia and leader of the world’s first empire
D. king of the Babylonian Empire; best known for creating a set
of laws for his empire called “The Code of Hammurabi”
E. king of the new Babylonian Empire and son of
Nabopolassar; re-built the city of Babylon and brought
prosperity to his empire through trade
PART III. MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
1. True or False: The first civilizations in Mesopotamia began on the plain between the
Euphrates River and the Mediterranean Sea?
2. What technologies/methods did Mesopotamian farmers use to control the seasonal
floods AND keep their crops watered during the summer and fall?
3. How was seasonal flooding beneficial/helpful to Mesopotamian farmers?
4. True or False: Sumer is a city in southeast Mesopotamia?
5. What was located in the center of a typical Sumerian city-state?
6. True or False: The people of Mesopotamia were polytheists?
7. Who governed Sumerian city-states?
8. What is hereditary rule?
9. Why did the Sumerians invent a writing system?
10. List several technologies and/or inventions that were first developed and used by
the Sumerians.
11. Who formed the world’s first empire AND how did he do so?
12. How was Hammurabi’s Code different from law codes that had preceded/come
before it?
13. What tactics and technologies did the Assyrian Empire employ in building its large
and powerful military?
14. True or False: Assyrian kings divided their empires into provinces to make governing
such a large area more manageable?
15. Why were the Chaldeans able to seize power from the Assyrians around 627 B.C.?
16. What city did the Chaldeans choose as the capital of their new Empire AND why?
17. Why was the New Babylonian Empire more prosperous/wealthier than the Assyrian
Empire had been?
PART IV. EXTENDED RESPONSE
Directions: On your test, you will answer ONE of the three questions below in a
thoughtful, well-crafted paragraph. All three will be on your test, BUT you are only
required to answer ONE. Each question requires you to take a side on a particular issue
and to defend it. REMEMBER: A paragraph should be AT LEAST four to six sentences in
length 
1. Which Sumerian invention do you think was more important: cuneiform OR the
wheel? EXPLAIN with details.
2. Do you think that King Hammurabi’s laws were just? Why or why not? EXPLAIN with
details.
3. Which king do you think was the most successful: Sargon I, King Hammurabi, or King
Nebuchadnezzar? Why? EXPLAIN with details.