Fertile Crescent
A crescent shaped area where one of the first civilizations began. It covers the present day countries of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. The first civilizations began here.
Mesopotamia
Means "the land between the rivers". It is located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in the middle east. The first civilization began here. (Today the countries in this location are Iraq, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Israel,Jordan, and Kuwait)
Plateau
An area of elevated flatland
Cuneiform
The first form of writing used by the Sumerians.
City-state
Ancient area with its own independent government and culture.
Ziggurat
a Sumerian temple shaped like a pyramid
Sumer
One of the Mesopotamian city-states
Monotheism
The belief in one god only. Judaism is a monotheistic religion because Jews believe there is only one God.
Scribe
A person who is a professional writer. These were usually school boys who learned to write. Woman typically did not learn to write.
A.D.
An abbreviation used with date, indicating how many years have passed since the birth of Jesus. It stands for Anno Domini, a Latin phrase meaning "in the year of our Lord.
Akkad
A city-state in northern Mesopotamia. The ruler of this city-states formed the world's first empire. It is called the ________ Empire.
Ancient History
The first civilization that wrote and kept records - 3500 BC to 476 AD
Assyrian
Ancient Mesopotamian empire was called Babylon and it was also called The ______ Empire
Babylon
Ancient Mesopotamian empire was called the Assyrian Empire and it was also called ___________. The Babylonians came up with mathematics, astronomy, and the first calendar system.
B.C.
The period of ancient history before the birth of Christ
Canaan
Area where the first Hebrews lived
Civilization
A complex society that has language, religion, a division of labor, and a social hierarchy. There is also a food supply and a political system.
Empire
A large area of city-states controlled by one ruler
Gilgamesh
The epic story of the king who searched for immortality. This is a Sumerian legend and is believed to be the first story ever recorded. ___________ was the name of a king during Mesopotamian times. The story was found written on a clay tablet.
Hammurabi Code
A set of laws put together by babylons most powerful king
Judaism
The religion practiced by the Hebrews, who were the ancestors of Jewish people. It is believed that the religions called Christianity and Islam both stem from the religion called __________.
Kingdom of Israel
The second kingdom of Israelites (Hebrews) established by king David around 1000 B.C. (At that time Hebrews were called Israelites.)
Prehistory
The time before recorded history.
Torah
The sacred text of Judaism made up of the first five books of the Bible. The first book called Exodus tells the story of the Jews as slaves and then gaining freedom from the Egyptians. Every copy of the ______ in the world has been hand written by a scrib
Hammurabi
One of the most powerful kings of Babylon who came up with 282 laws
Egyptians
This group of people forced the Jews to live as slaves for hundreds of years.
Sumerians
The people who are responsible for inventing cuneiform (a system of writing)
Ur
This city is famous for being an important center for trade and commerce. This city became wealthy because of the working class of skilled craftsman.
Nebuchadnezzar
This ruler/king built the terraced garden which is known as the Hanging Garden of Babylon. He ruled the Assyrian Empire
The Cradle of Civilization
___________________ is another nickname for Mesopotamia because it is the area in which the first civilizations were established.
Written Record
Ancient history began with the first ________ _________
Prehistoric
These people did not live in civilizations. They lived in groups, but they were not considered civilizations. They were called ____________ people.
3500 BC and 476 AD
The ancient world is considered to be the time between which years?
Anno Domini
This means "in the year of our lord" and it means after the birth of Christ.
Tigris and Euphrates
The two rivers that surround The Mesopotamia are named what?
The land between two rivers
The word Mesopotamia means what?
Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria
What are the seven countries of today that sit on the land that used to be called Mesopotamia?
Ur, Kish, and Nippur
The three earliest city-states in the Fertile Crescent were called what?
Rivers
Ancient civilizations often develop on the banks of _____ because they provide food and water and the soil in the area is very fertile
The Ziggurat of Ur
Which ziggurat is still standing today?
Sumerians
Which group invented the wheel?
Akkad
The ________ empire was the first empire in the world.
Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, and Assyria
What is the name of each of the four major civilizations we are studying in this unit about Ancient History? (State them in the order of which these civilizations came about. Which came 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th?)
Babylonians
The ___________ made many contributions to mathematics and astronomy.
Clay Tablets
An archeologist found thousands of ______ ______ that contain writings of many civilizations from the Mesopotamian times. One of the writings the archeologist found was Gilgamesh.
Judaism
Christianity and the Islam religion are believed to have started with this other religion called ______ which eventually split off and started Christianity and Islam.
cities
built neighborhoods, villages, cities, states,
organized governments
written laws, taxes, king or other leader was thought to have been chosen by God
complex religions
city-state had own god ; 7 forces of nature; Ziggurats were priests, statues, prayers, certain offerings
job specialization
once a place could grow enough food, people could specialize (priests, farmers, craftsmen, fishermen)
social classes
Kings, priests, scribes, helpers, merchants/shop keepers, craftsmen, farmers, slaves
writing
stylus (pointed reed) wrote on wet clay = Cuneiform (WRITERS=SCRIBES, WRITING=CUNEIFORM)
art / architecture
art onto walls of temples
history - learned about it and wrote it down
created sculptures
worshipped gods
public works
homes used mud clay irrigation systems to build levees
astronomy
the study of the moon, stars, and other objects in space
canals
human-made or artificial waterways
City-state
an ancient city that ruled itself independently
civilizations
societies that have writing and keep track of records
commandment
orders from God, especially one of the TEN COMMANDMENTS
Cuneiform
ancient writing that uses small wedge-shaped characters like the writing that was used in Mesopotamia and Persia
famine
a severe shortage of food resulting in widespread hunger
irrigation
moving water to help crops grow
levees
natural or human-made walls built along rivers to prevent flooding
navigation
directing the course of a ship
nomads
people who move from place to place
scribes
men who wrote in cuneiform
silt
fine-grained sediment found at the bottom of a river or lake
societies
a group or community with common interests
stylus
a special writing instrument used for writing on clay tablets
Ziggurats
pyramid-like temples
Division of labor
dividing different tasks among workers