Ancient Middle East Study Guide

Name___________________

Ancient Middle East Study Guide (p. 30)

Section 1: City-States of Ancient Sumer

1. Define Fertile Crescent:




2. What was the result of a lack of barriers in the Ancient Middle East?







3. What does the term Mesopotamia mean?







4. What two rivers flowed through Mesopotamia?




5. Where is Sumer?6. What was key to major developments in Mesopotamia?







7. What event relating to these rivers was described in the Epic of Gilgamesh?







8. What was necessary to control flood waters in Mesopotamia? Provide some specific examples.







9. What was the primary building material used by Sumerians?







10. Name two early cities of theSumerians.










11. What great invention may be attributed to the Sumerians?







12. With what two far-away places did Sumer trade?




13. How many separate city-states made up the Sumerian civilization?







14. Who became the most important people in Sumer and what did this eventually evolve into?







15. List 5 important things rulers ofSumerian city-states were responsible for.

1.




2.




3.




4.




5.



16. Define hierarchy:







17. Who made up the highest class in Sumeria?







18. Who made up the small middle class in Sumeria?







19. What did the majority of people in Sumeria do?







20. In what two ways didmost slaves become slaves?







21. What was the status of women in Mesopotamian society?







22. In what one area could women be powerful and influential?







23. What general form of religious worship did Sumerians practice?







24. How did Sumerians view their gods? Did they see them positively or negatively?







25. What was thehighest duty of the people of Sumer?







26. Define ziggurat:







27. Describe the Sumerian view of the afterlife.










28. Define cuneiform:







29. Describe what it was like for a scribe in school learning their skill.










30. Approximately when was Sumerian civilization replaced by other civilizations?31. List Sumerian contributions which were carried on by later civilizations in the following areas:

a. Writing:







b. Science:







c. Mathematics and Time Measurement:







d. Literature:







32. Through what two major civilizations were many Sumerian advances passed on to the Western world?




33. Read the Epic of Gilgameshsection on page 35.

a. Why does Gilgamesh pick the plant that Utnapishtim has described? What does he want it to do for him?










b. Which physical characteristic of a snake makes it work well as the character who ends up benefiting from the plant?







c. In what other important foundational story you may have heard, does a snake take away paradise from a human(or pair of human) beings?





Section 2: Invaders, Traders, and Empire Builders: p. 36

34. Although some simply raided the ancient Middle East, what did others do?




35. Who is Sargon and what city did he rule?



36. What great achievement is Sargon known for?



37. What happened after the death of Sargon?




38. Who is Hammurabi and what city did herule?



39. What is Hammurabi’s code, how and where was it published, and how many laws were there?



40. Define codify:



41. Define civil law:

42. What did Hammurabi’s Code say about women and property?




43. What did it say about trouble within a marriage?



44. What powers did the code give a father over his children? Why?



45. What other...