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mesopotamia
Question | Answer |
---|---|
What is Mesopotamia | the land between Tigris and Euphrates River |
? was the first city in the world | Sumer |
In what modern country is Mesopotamia located? | Iraq |
What type of climate does Mesopotamia have? | desert |
Why did the Mesopotamians need to practice irrigation? | They lived in a desert so there was little rain |
What causes the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers to flood? | Melting snow in the mountains |
Why couldn’t the Mesopotamians farm during the flood? | Their fields were under the flood water |
How were the Mesopotamians able to get fertile soil in a desert? | he melting snow brought fertile soil from the rivers |
Where was the only place that the Mesopotamians could plant their crops? Why there? | They could only plant crops along the sides of the rivers because that’s where the flood water dumped the fertile soil. |
brought water from the river to the fields | Canals: |
prevented too much flood water from drowning the plants | Dams |
could be opened to flood an entire field | Gates |
used to water individual plants | Shaduf: |
to store flood water to be used at time when there was little water | reservoir |
Why did the Mesopotamians need to flood their fields? | Because the soil was hard |
What agricultural tool was invented by the Mesopotamians? What is its purpose? | Plow – to dig rows to plants seeds in |
Define artisan | skilled worker |
Give two examples of artisans. | Weaver, pottery, blacksmith |
How did the invention of irrigation lead to the existence of artisans? | Since there was extra food, not everyone was needed to farm. So people could have other jobs. |
In ancient Mesopotamia, how did people obtain items that they could not make? | They traded. |
Why did the Mesopotamians invent writing? | To keep track of items that were traded (like receipts) |
Define city-state | city that is it’s own country |
Why wasn’t Mesopotamia a country? | Each city-state was its own country |
What did the Mesopotamians construct building out of? Why did that use that material? | mud brick – since they lived in a desert, there wasn’t much wood or stone |
What is a ziggurat? | A temple tower |
In what shape are ziggurats built? | A pyramid with steps on the sides |
What were ziggurats built out of? | Mud bricks |
What was located at the top of the ziggurat? | The temple |
Who were the only people allowed inside ziggurats? Why only them? | Priests – Mesopotamians believed that a god lived inside a ziggurat, so only the priests could be in the god’s home. |
What empire did Hammurabi rule as king? | Babylonian |
A code is a collection of written | laws |
How did Hammurabi ensure that all people in his kingdom knew the laws? | He had the laws read aloud on important days, such as festivals |
What are written laws necessary? | To keep order in society |
When talking about the Code of Hammurabi, why is the phrase “an eye for an eye” is often used? | The punishment was often the same as the crime |
Give three specific examples from the Code of Hammurabi to prove that the different social classes received different punishments for the same crime. | A. If an upper class person broke the arm of an upper class person, his arm would be broken. B. If an upper class person broke the arm of a lower class person, he would pay the lower class person a small amount of gold or silver. C. If a lower cla |
What is a ziggurat? | A temple tower |
Why was a ziggurat built up high like a tower? | To be closer to the gods |
The two purposes of a ziggurat were to | worship__ the __gods___ and to store _____food_________. |
Who was allowed inside of the building at the top? | priests and kings |
Only those people were allowed inside because the ziggurat was believed to be a home for the | god |
What is a city-state? | A city that is its own country |
What did all of the city-states in Mesopotamia have in common? | language, gods, writing |
What is a monarchy? | Government in which a king or queen rules |
Why did the Mesopotamians obey the leader in a monarchy? | They believed the king got his power from the gods |
How is the next leader in a monarchy chosen? | The oldest son of the king |
What is an empire? | A country and all the lands it has conquered |
Which wonder of the ancient world was located in the capital city of the Babylonian Empire? | The Hanging Gardens of Babylon |
Which Babylonian scientists made the first observations of the stars and planets? | astronomers |
Why was the Babylonian calendar less accurate than our modern one? Hint: think about what it was based on versus what ours is based on. | Their calendar was based on the moon while ours is based on the sun |
What invention involved in the planning of a day did the Babylonians create? | hour |
In what language did the Mesopotamians write? | Cuneiform |
What shape were the symbols in that writing system? | wedges |
Who did people have to pay to do the reading and writing for them? | scribes |
Why didn’t people do the reading and writing themselves? | Most people couldn’t read or write |
What did they write with? | stylus (sharpened reed) |
What did they write on? | Clay tablets |