Download World History: Societies of the Past

Grade 8 History
St.John Brebeuf School
Mrs. McClintock 2011-2012
World History: Societies of the Past
Early Societies of Mesopotamia
Chapter 3: Part I
Mesopotamia
1. Where is Mesopotamia located?
2. What does the word Mesopotamia mean?
3. What is the name given to the people who live Mesopotamia?
4. What other groups occupied Mesopotamia?
5. Where is Ancient Mesopotamia located in the modern world?
Where the Sumerians Lived
1. Describe the climate and physical geography of the Ancient
Mesopotamia?
The Importance of Rivers
1. What happens each spring in the valley of Tigris and Euphrates? What
effect does this have on the land?
2. While most of the word still hunted and gathered, what where the
people of ancient Mesopotamia doing?
Government
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
How was each society organized and why?
Why were Sumerian cities called “city-states”?
What specialized job was known to have a role of leaders?
How did more recent leaders of Sumeria become kings?
What roles did kings have?
Who was Gilgamesh and what was his contribution to the city-state of
Uruk?
Grade 8 History
St.John Brebeuf School
Mrs. McClintock 2011-2012
World History: Societies of the Past
Early Societies of Mesopotamia
Chapter 3: Part II
Social Organization/Food/Fashion
1. What is the social order in Ancient Mesopotamia? Describe the
different roles of each group or member?
2. Describe the Sumerians’ staple diet.
3. What did they use instead of sugar for sweetener?
4. How was the farmers’
5. Using a table chart format, compare how rich men and women looked
compared to poor men and women in Sumerian.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Life in Ur
Define a scribe?
Why was it difficult to become a scribe?
Why were priests important in Ur?
Why was there no need for most people of Ur to read or write?
The Development of Writing
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
What is the purpose or the significance of writing?
Define pictograph. What was lacking in pictographs?
Describe the evolution of pictographs?
Define cuneiform.
Define stylus.
What are some of the advantages of writing on clay?
Grade 8 History
St.John Brebeuf School
Mrs. McClintock 2011-2012
World History: Societies of the Past
Early Societies of Mesopotamia
Chapter 3: Part III
Religion
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Why were deities deemed important? Provide an example.
How did Sumerians please their deities?
Define ziggurats. Specify an example of a ziggurat?
The role of the priests by this time evolved solely on spiritual tasks.
What are some of these tasks?
How did the priests/priestesses predict the future? Why do you think
they want to know the future
Medicine
1.
2.
3.
How did the Sumerians cure themselves?
How did they make their medicines?
What else did Sumerians do to cure themselves?
The Legacy of the Sumerians
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
What are some of the contributions or inventions that Sumerians came
up with?
Which of these inventions help build houses?
How was bronze made?
What are some implications of bronze tools/materials?
What made Sumerians successful farmers?
How did they keep track of the best time to plant and harvest?
Other societies
1.
Create a chart for all the other societies (Akkadians, Babylonians,
Assyrians, and Persians) with the headings: WHO, WHAT, WHERE.
Describe each of the groups using these headings.