Ancient Mesopotamia: Vocabulary
fertile - rich in nutrients; helps plants to grow
hunter/gatherer - hunts/collects food; doesn’t stay in one place long - nomads
irrigation - method of bringing water to dry land using pipes/canals
levee - something to hold back water
shadouf - irrigation tool made of a bucket at the end of a lever
ziggurat - temple built like a pyramid (step pyramid)
class system - social pyramid; based on economics/power/education
cuneiform - form of writing using pictures for sounds and words
scribe - professional writer; requires a lot of education; wrote laws, letters, records
zodiac - stars/constellations; astrological signs; predict happenings on Earth
Tigres/Euphrates Rivers - Ancient Mesopotamia is located between these two rivers
city-state - a self-governing city with its surrounding lands and villages (ex. Sumer)
Nippur - Ancient city in Mesopotamia.
Sumer - 1st civilization; agriculture based; near today’s southern Iraq
Babylon - Ancient city on the Euphrates River - Capital of Babylonia
Assyria - upper part of Tigres River in northern Mesopotamia; were powerful warriors
Hanging Gardens of Babylon - beautiful gardens; may be a fable; one of the 7 wonders
ancient world; made by King Nebuchadnezzar for his wife.
Sargon - powerful King of the world’s first empire.
Hammurabi - King of Babylonia; wrote the Code of Laws (the first written laws);
“Eye for an eye”.
Nebuchadnezzar - known to have built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
polytheism - belief in many gods
Ur - ancient Sumerian city on the Euphrates River.