Mesopotamia lesson

most of the people of sumer were _ .

farmers

the sumerians feared their gods because they believed that the gods had the power to destroy their cities with _ .

floods

because plenty of _ was being produced, many people were able to work as traders and artisans.

food

the farmers grew grain, vegetables, and dates, and raised cows, sheep, and _ .

goats

the sumerians, like many other ancient peoples, believed in polytheism- the worship of many _ .

gods

what was a freed man in sumer?

a slave who had been freed

in which continent would you find mesopotamia?

asia

only upper class _ received an education.

boys

houses were made of sun-dried clay _ .

bricks

early farming villages grew into twelve city-states each consisting of a _ and its surrounding farmlands.

city

each of the twelve _ of sumer were thought to belong to a different god or gods.

city-states

archaeologists believe that the oldest _ on earth began in mesopotamia about 3500 B.C.

civilization

in the cuneiform method of writing, about 600 different symbols were drawn on soft _ tablets which eventually dried and became hard.

clay

where did sumerians store their contracts?

clay envelopes

whats the reason someone in sumer would have a contract?

if someone in sumer bought,sold,married, or went to court the contract would be needed

what do we call mesopotamia today?

iraq

mesopotamia was located in the eastern part of the fertile crescent an arc of fertile land that stretched from the _ sea to the persian gulf

mediterranean

weakened by a lack of unity, the city-states of sumer were conquered by hammurabi and other invaders who periodically swept into _ .

mesopotamia

the sumerians wrote on clay because they didnt know how to make _ .

paper

they also invented the arch to support heavy walls over doorways and windows, and they made the worlds first _ to prepare their fields for planting

plow

_ managed the gods land, directed worship, and governed the city.

priests

_ were set up in the temples and run by priests.

schools

the sumerians divided a circle into 360 degrees, an hour into 60 minutes, and a minutes into 60 _ .

seconds

there were three social classes in sumer 1)priests,government officias, and wealthy nobles 2)merchants and artisans 3)peasants and _ .

slaves

why is it important to write laws down?

so the judge wont be able to change or interpret laws as they chose.

is sumer in north or south mesopotamia?

south

the most important subjects were writing and _ .

spelling

rather than destroying the early civilization of mesopotamia, begun by the _ , the invaders adopted sumerian ways and built upon them in the years which followed.

sumerians

to please the gods, a _ with a massive step-like tower--called a ziggurat-- was erected in the center of each city

temple

what is democracy?

the most important decisions were made by free adult men

the southern part of mesopotamia was called sumer after the sumerian nomads who settled in the valleys of the _ and euphrates river.

tigris

The word Mesopotamia means "between rivers." What are the two rivers?

tigris and euphrates

individual city-states sometimes fought _ against each other

wars

what was the job description of a scribe in sumer?

write down everything said in court

it is believed that the sumerians were the first people on earth to invent a system of _ .

writing

what is cuneiform?

writing based on pictures

how would the sumerians know that it was illegal for widows and orphans to be taxed?

written laws