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6th Grade Social Studies
“The World”
Chap 2
Early Civilizations
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Read: Why We Remember
How would life be different if the basic principles of nationhood, writing, and law were
not developed thousands of years ago in the Fertile Crescent?
What country today occupies most of the land that the former Fertile Crescent occupied?
Lesson 1 The Fertile Crescent
How might your life be different if you lived in 3,500 B.C.? How would your family get
food? What might the towns be like?
Where Civilization Begins (Page 35)
1. Define: Civilizations
2. What sets our civilization apart from earlier civilizations?
3. Why was the area from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea called the Fertile
Crescent?
4. How does the name Mesopotamia describe part of the Fertile Crescent?
Climate and Rivers (Page 36)
5. What benefits did the Tigris and Euphrates River supply?
6. How did irrigation help the people of Mesopotamia grow crops?
7. What problem did people have to solve before they could start farming in southern
Mesopotamia?
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The People (Page 37)
8. How does the quote show knowledge of farming techniques?
9. How do you think having surplus crops would affect people’s lives?
10. How did the Mesopotamians solve the problem of scarce building materials?
Map Adventure (Page 38)
1. Answer
2. Answer
3. Answer
4. Answer
Growth of City-States and Trade (Pages 38-39)
11. As villages grew into city-states, how did they change?
12. What did the people of Mesopotamia have to trade with people of other regions who
had copper, stone, and timber?
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Lesson 1 Review
CAUSES
Rainfall was low in
Mesopotamia
Populations in Southern
Mesopotamia grew.
Mesopotamia lacked many
natural resources
EFFECTS
1. What was one of the major steps toward the rise of civilization in Southern
Mesopotamia?
2. Why do you think settlers from other parts of the Fertile Crescent came to southern
Mesopotamia?
Lesson 2
Mesopotamia (Page 40)
1. What was considered a treat for a person in early Mesopotamia?
Sumer and Akkad (Page 41)
1. Would Sumer or Akkad have probably won a war between them in 3000 B.C. ? Why?
2. What are some things that make Sumer and Akkad different from Algona?
3. Why were Mesopotamian ziggurats so tall?
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4. Why were most city-states surrounded by a wall?
Religion and Government (Page 42)
5. Define: polytheism
6. How did the Sumerians’ religion reveal their belief that gods were responsible for
people’s well being and the Lands fertility?
7. What does divine kingship mean?
Writing (Page 43)
8. What came first picture writing or cuneiform?
9. How does having a system of writing make it easier to conduct business?
10. What did cuneiform imprints stand for?
11. How does this quote compare to advice parents might give today/
Gilgamesh (Page 44)
1. What is an epic?
2. What does Gilgamesh want to find out?
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The Rise And Fall of The Akkadian Empire
12. How did Sargon build an empire?
13. Define: Empire
14. How did Sargon give power to his children?
15. What is a dynasty?
Sumer’s Final Days
16. What contributions did the Sumerians make to advance their civilization?
Chap 2 Review
Fill in the missing details of the lesson below.
Sumerian civilization was complex
The Sumerians developed
new technologies
1. How were Sumerian religion and Government connected?
2. How did the Sumerian writing system develop and change? Use the word cuneiform
in your answer.
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3. Describe an example of an idea or invention that shaped Mesopotamia civilization and
influenced other civilizations.
Sargon (Page 47)
1. Hoe=w accurate is the biographical story of Sargon?
2. What difficulties did Sargon have to overcome to become king of Sumer?
Lesson 3 Babylonia and Assyria
The Rise of Hammurabi and Babylonia (Page 49)
1. How was life in Babylonia similar to life in earlier times in Mesopotamia?
2. How did Hammurabi collect taxes?
3. What were some of the items that taxes paid for in Babylonia?
Use the map on page 49 to help answer question 4
4. Which landforms might have stopped the Babylonian empire from expanding?
Babylonia Civilization (Page 50)
5. Which people developed laws before Hammurabi?
6. How many different laws existed in the Code of Hammurabi?
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7. How has the Code of Hammurabi influenced modern law?
8. What is meant by the punishment should fit the crime?
9. In your own words what is meant by an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth?
Hammurabi (Page51)
1. How did Hammurabi increase his power in Mesopotamia?
2. Do you think Hammurabi was a good ruler? Explain.
3. Which words on Hammurabi’s monument reveal that Hammurabi wants to be
remembered as a ruler?
The Assyrians (Page 52)
10. What words in the quote show that people feared the Assyrians?
11. What made Ashurbanipal an unusual king?
Babylonia Grows (Pages 52-53
12. List some of the major achievements of the Babylonian culture?
13. Why would being able to predict eclipses of the sun and moon be important?
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14. When did Nebuchadnezzar 11 die?
Lesson 3 Review
The following events are not in order. Place the number one next to the first thing to
happen and number two next to the next thing to happen. Continue this pattern.
_________ Nebuchadnezzar 11 starts a series of building projects in Babylon.
_________ Hammurabi establishes his code of law.
_________ Ashurbanipal builds his library at Nineveh.
1. Who was Hammurabi?
2. What was the Code of Hammurabi?
3. How did the Assyrian culture differ from Babylonia culture? Use the word conquest
in your answer.
4. What contributions did the Babylonians make to civilization?
Lesson 4 Hebrews, Phoenicians, and Lydians
The Hebrews (Page 55)
1. Who is thought to be the first Jew?
2. What was the land that the Hebrews believe was given to them by God? For an extra
point what is this land called today?
3. Define: Monotheism
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4. How did Hebrews worship differ from that of other civilizations in the region?
5. In what two regions did the Hebrews live?
6. Which leader led the Hebrews out of slavery?
7. How do the Ten Commandments differ from the Code of Hammurabi?
The Hebrew Bible (Page 56)
8. What is the name for the first five books of the Hebrew Bible?
9. Why do you think Hebrews consider the Torah to be a sacred text?
Israel and Judah (Pages 56-57)
10. What was the capital city of David’s kingdom?
11. Why do you think the people of Judah continued to practice their beliefs even after
being conquered by Nebuchadnezzar II?
Judaism Today (Page 57)
12. What is Passover?
13. What is a synagogue?
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Use the map on page 57 to answer questions 14, 15 and 16.
14. Based on the map what seas border Israel?
15. Which two cities were in Israel?
16. Jerusalem became the capital of what ancient kingdom?
Phoenicians and Lydian’s (Pages 58 and 59)
17. What did the Phoenicians value more than building empires?
Use the map on page 58 to answer questions
18. How did the Phoenicians get to the Red Sea?
19. Why are most of the Phoenician trade routes located in the Mediterranean?
20. What was directly east of Phoenicia?
Chap 4 Review
Fill in the main idea for the following details
Main Idea
Detail
Detail
King David united the tribes The tribes of Israel defeated
of Israel
the Canaanites
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Detail
In about 1000 B.C., King
David founded the
Kingdom of Israel
1. What was one of the first monotheistic religions?
2. What was the purpose of Solomon’s Temple?
3. What did the Lydians invent that we use today?
4. How did the Phoenicians help spread new ideas from one part of the ancient world to
another?
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