Social Studies - Geography of the Fertile Crescent
City-State
A city and all the countryside around it.
Fertile Crescent
A large arc of rich, or fertile, farmland. The Fertile Crescent extends from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea.
Silt
A mixture of rich soil and tiny rocks.
Ziggurat
A pyramid shaped temple tower
Monarch
A ruler of kingdom or empire
Hammurabi's Code
A set of 282 laws that dealt with almost every part of daily life.
Alphabet
A set of letters that can be combined to form words.
Irrigation
A way of supplying water to an area of land.
Chariot
A wheeled, horse-drawn cart used in battle.
Scribe
A writer
How did the Fertile Crescent get its name?
Because it is the shape of a large arc with rich or fertile farmland.
Why did the Mesopotamians create irrigation systems?
Because when water levels were too low, their crops dried up.
What does Mesopotamia mean in Greek?
Between the Rivers
Mesopotamian farmers built _______ to irrigate their fields
Canals
Horse-drawn ____________ gave the Hittites an advantage during battle.
Chariots
Urban
City areas
Rural
Countryside areas
Instead of using pictographs, Sumerians developed a type of writing called ________________.
Cuneiform
The Babylonia king ____________ is famous for his code of laws.
Hammurabi
In what ways did a division of labor contribute to the growth of Mesopotamian civilization?
Having people available to work on different jobs meant that society could accomplish more.
canals
Human made waterways that connected basins to a network of ditches.
Another word for effect is _________.
Impact
Empire
Land with different territories and peoples under a single rule.
Where was Mesopotamia?
Lies between Asia Minor and the Persian Gulf.
Epics
Long poems that tell the stories of heroes
What is the area called between the Tigris and Euphrates?
Mesopotamia
Surplus
More than what is needed.
Gilgamesh
One of Uruk's kings who became a legendary figure in Sumerian literature.
Priests
People who performed religious ceremonies.
Pictographs
Picture Symbols
The people of Sumer practiced ___________, the worship of many gods.
Polytheism
Why did farmers need to develop a system to control their water supply?
So much rain caused the rivers to rise too high and then flooded the land, destroyed crops, killed livestock and washed away their homes.
Social Hierarchy
The division of society by rank or class.
What made civilization possible in Mesopotamia?
The early civilizations depended on two great rivers - the Tigris and the Euphrates.
Sargon
The first ruler to have a permanent army. He used the army to launch a series of wars against neighboring kingdoms.
Nebuchadnezzar
The most famous Chaldean king who rebuilt Babylon into a beautiful city.
Architecture
The science of building
What was the most important factor in making Mesopotamia's farmland fertile?
The silt that was brought to the land by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers flooding.
Division of Labor
The type of arrangement in which each worker specializes in a particular task job.
Polytheism
The worship of many gods.
How did Sargon build an empire?
They conquered northern Mesopotamia, bringing the entire region under his rule.
Sumerian society was organized in ______ which consisted of a city and the surrounding lands.
city-state
Impact
effect, result
While city dwellers were urban, farmers lived in ____ areas?
rural
