Mesopotamia Unit Test Study Guide

MESOPOTAMIA UNIT TEST STUDY GUIDE

(USE THIS AS A SUGGESTED TOOL)

TUESDAY

 Reread textbook pages 148 – 161

 Study skeletal notes - Mesopotamia

 Continue working on Essay

WEDNESDAY

 Study skeletal notes – Mesopotamian Religion and Writing

 Continue working on Essay

THURSDAY

 Study skeletal notes – Later Mesopotamia

 Finalize and print out Essay AND BRING WITH YOU TO SCHOOL ON FRIDAY

MESOPOTAMIA

I. The Land Between Two Rivers

A. Region known as “The Fertile Crescent”

B. Located between Tigris and Euphrates rivers

C. Rich soil

D. Area would flood easily

II. Sumerians

A. Created written symbols to meet needs of tracking goods they traded

1) Over time it developed into Cuneiform

B. Worshipped 4 main gods - Polytheism

1) About 3,000 lesser gods also reigned in Sumer

C. Gilgamesh

1) Probably the world’s first epic 2) First written down approximately in 2,000 BC

3) King of Uruk

III. The First Empires

A. Akkad

1) Sargon

a) He created the world’s first empire

b) Conquered Northern Mesopotamia and far east lands – His kingdom may have

reached present-day Egypt.

B. Assyria

1) Shamshi-Adad

a) Ruled from about 1813 – 1781 BC

b) Traded goods within Mesopotamia such as cloth for tin, copper, and silver

C. Babylonia

1) Hammurabi

a) Rose to power in about 1792 BC

b) Conquered and united 24 city-states within Mesopotamia

c) Capable ruler and created The Code of Hammurab – set of 282 laws

2) Ziggurat

a) The wealthier you were, the closer you lived to the Ziggurat

b) Majestic structure within the City-State

D. Rise and Fall of Assyria and Bablonia

1) Both groups of people did not treat the people they conquered well

2) People were exiled

3) The Conquered people began to set up rebellions to overthrow the Assyrians

and Babylonians.