Ostraca
1.
2.
3.
4.
Broken pottery
Found at a dig
Used to help date sites in archeology
Have writing on them
*Dilmum
1.
2.
3.
4.
Called “Garden of Gods”
Compared to the biblical garden of Eden
Skeletons found there seemed to show inhabitants were stronger and lived longer
The place Gilgamesh was trying to reach in the Epic of Gilgamesh
**The Dead Sea Scrolls
1.
2.
3.
4.
Ancient documents found in clay jars
Discovered by a shepherd
Found in a cave after he had thrown a rock into it
A complete scroll of Isaiah was included
**Mesopotamia
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Means “land between rivers”
Within the fertile crescent
Bordered by the rivers Tigress and Euphrates
First civilization and writing started here
Rich and fertile land
**Hammurabi
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Babylonian King
Wrote law-code
Law code consisted of “eye-for-an-eye” code
Also called Hammu-rapi
Some scholars say his laws were copied by Moses
**Ur
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Located in Mesopotamia
On the mouth of the Euphrates river
Death pills were found here
Ur-Nammu was king and he developed law codes
Settled by the Ubaidians
Abraham was from there
*Anthropomorphism
1. Men make God in their image
2. Humanization of God(gods) to make them more relatable to the people who worship them
3. Gods may rape because people do it, example Enlil raping his sister Ninlil
4. Sistine chapel in Rome as an example
Lacish
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Ancient town
In Judea
Attacked by the Assyrians in 701 B.C.
Citizens were either flayed alive or exiled
1,500 bodies were found in a pit in the ruins
**Sennacherib
1.
2.
3.
4.
Great king of the Assyrian Empire
Tried to defeat Jerusalem when Hezekiah was king
His army was stricken by a great plague
He withdrew to Nineveh
*Carchemish
1.
2.
3.
4.
Location of the battle between the Babylonians and Egyptians
Babylonia won
605 B.C.
Nebuchadnezzar was the general
*The Ishtar Gate
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Built in honor of the goddess of love-Ishtar
Made of blue stone with bulls and dragons on them
In the city of Babylon
Constructed at Nebuchadnezzar’s order
Built in a way that if the city was under attack people could be trapped inside the gate and
attacked
The Hanging Garden
1.
2.
3.
4.
One of the 7 wonders of the Ancient World
Built for a homesick princess to mimic her homeland
Constructed at the order of Nebuchadnezzar
In the city of Babylon
**Cyrus the Great
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
King
Ruled during the Persian Empire
Defeated Babylonian empire
Allowed the Hebrews people to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple
One of the main kings, along with Darius and Xerxes
Carbon 14
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Radioisotope used to
Date
Archeological finds
What was once alive
Has a half-life of 5600 years
*Marduk
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Babylon god
Have a special ceremony for him on New years
Patron deity of the city Babylon
Head god of the heavens and earth
Creator god
Samaria
1.
2.
3.
4.
Capital of Israel
Fell around 722 B.C.
Last king was Hoshea
The Assyrians took them over
Nineveh
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Capital of Assyria
One King of Nineveh was Sennacherib
Jonah was sent there by God
Most famous capital city
Fell in 612 B.C.
22,000 clay tablets were unearthed there
*Nebuchadnezzar
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
King of Babylon
Built the hanging gardens for a homesick princess-one of the 7 wonders of the world
Built the Ishtar Gate
King during Israelites Babylonian captivity- Daniel
He was exiled and lived like an animal for 7 years for rejecting God
*Cuneiform
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Wedge-shaped
Writing in Mesopotamia
Done with s stylus used in clay
Came after the pictograph
Was found in 3 different languages
Stratigraphy
1. An archeological study
2. Looks at the different layers of ruins
3. It helps date finds in each dig
4. Ex: The dig at Ur used stratigraphy, a shaft that was dug represented 25 centuries of civilization
*When God “created” the world he created it “ex nihilo”. What does that literally mean?- “Out of
nothing”
**In an archaeological dig a mound of layered debris is called a - Tell
In archeological the study of the layers of a city or ruin is called- Stratigraphy
What mythical “garden of the gods” or paradise, is mostly equivalent to the biblical garden of Eden in
ancient Mesopotamia literature?- Dilmun
*What feature differentiates between a shard (potsherd) and an ostracon? - Writing
What is the name of the body of water immediately south of Mesopotamia? - Persian Gulf
*What god (of the air or atmosphere) made up the universal laws but lost them because he raped his
sister Ninlil? - Enlil
*What were these universal laws called? - Me
*What terms designates natural objects that are interpreted to be signs of the wills of the gods? Omens
*In what modern-day country may the ancient city of Babylon be found? - Iraq
Approximately how many years were the Jews exiled in “The Babylonian Captivity.” - 70
Upon what did a Sumerian school child write with a stylus to take notes? - Clay tablets
*What term describes the earliest forms of writing, often found on tomb walls? - Pictography
*Which of the three great empires should the Hanging Gardens be identified - Babylon
*Which of the three great empires had Ecbatana and Persepolis as its capital cities? - Persia
*Which of the three great empires was ruled by Darius and Xerxes? - Persia
What was the strong-walled city of the southern kingdom of the Jews were the temple of Solomon once
was? - Jerusalem
What radioisotope is used to date old archaeological finds? - Carbon 14
*What was the most famous capital city of ancient Assyria (which fell in 612 B.C. and were 22,000 clay
tablets were unearthed by an archaeologist?) - Nineveh
What river flowed through the ancient city of Babylon? - Euphrates
What is the common designation for a step-like temple-tower (like the one at Babylon, for example?) Ziggurat
Who was the most famous king of the Neo-Babylonian (Chaldean) empire? - Nebuchadnezzar
What was the most important capital city of ancient Persia? - Persepolis
By what name (what nation) is ancient Persia known today? - Iran
What term designates natural objects that are interpreted to be signs of the wills of the gods? - Omens
What radioisotope with a “half-life” of around 5600 years been used to date archaeological finds? Carbon 14
What was (and still is) the name of the palace-fortress built by King Herod 1 overlooking the Dead Sea
where archaeologist Yigael Yadin proved Jewish historian Jpsephus’ account of 960 Jews committing
suicide resisting Roman domination. - Masada
What “northern kingdom” was the object if Isaiah’s dire prophesy of dispersion and repopulation by the
Assyrians, later scorned by the Jews as unfaithful half-breeds? - Israel
Which of the 3 great empires did Shalmaneser, Assurbanipal, and Tiglath-Pileser III (Pul) rule over as
kings? - Assyria
Archaeologists with their site digs:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Robert Koldewey- Babylon
Sir Henry Rawlinson- Persia
Sir Leonard Woolley- Ur
Austin Henry Layard- Assyria
Ancient gods with sphere of domain
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Babylonian god of creation account- Marduk
Sun god in the Epic of Gilgamesh- Shamash
Early Mesopotamia god of the sky- An (Anu)
Dominant early Mesopotamia god (Lord Air)- Enlil
Babylonian goddess of love and war- Ishtar
Early Mesopotamian god of water- Enki
The oldest Biblical city excavated in our reading was- Jericho
The earliest inhabitants of southern Mesopotamia were, according to our text- The Ubaidians
**The ancient Babylonian creation account is known as the- Enuma Elish
A “lugal” was most nearly the equivalent of an ancient- Tribal chief
**Around 2700 B.C. Gilgamesh was an actual “king” in the riverine city of- Uruk
**Perhaps the greatest conqueror of the third millennium B.C. was an Akkadian military leader (with a
Moses-like legendary birth) named- Sargon
Assurbanipal was a prominent king of- Assyria
The me were- Universal laws
**An edubba was a Sumerian- school
The rock of Behistun become our source for translating ancient- cuneiform
**The most contemporary discovery that mentions biblical cities never before recorded in documents
outside of the bible (therefore independently confirming their existence) was the discovery of the- the
Ebla tablets
*What sea forms the western boundary of the “cradle of civilization?” – The Mediterranean sea
*The southern kingdom of the Jews was known as- Judea
*The ancient Babylonian goddess of love was- Ishtar
*The ancient Babylonian god of the sun was- Shamash
*The conquerors of the Old Babylonian Empire around 1500 B.C. were from “Anatolia” which today is
known as turkey. Who were they?- the Hittites
What nation’s army did the Neo-Babylonians defeat at Carchemish in 605 B.C.?- Egypt
*What is the common designation for a step like temple tower?- a ziggurat
The poem of the Righteous Sufferer is most nearly the equivalent of what biblical book? - Job
What British archaeologists did the excavations at Ur? Sir Leonard Woolley
What British archaeologists did the excavations at Nineveh? - Henry Layard
What German archaeologists excavated at Babylon- Robert Koldewey
In what European city is the Pergamon Museum where the famous gate entering into Babylon is
reconstructed- Berlin
What kind of worship is indicated by the term “chthonic” religion? –Fertility Cult
*List any one of the three biblical books that were written specifically and only about events related to
the Persian Empire- Esther, Ezra, and Nehemiah
*What melancholic Psalm (#) was written during the Babylonian Captivity of the Jews which laments
their absence from their homeland and their resolve not to forget “Zion”?- 137
In what modern American city may one find The Oriental Institute, which contains many archaeological
finds from the ancient Near East?- Chicago
*What biblical book is similar to the ancient Mesopotamia Poem of the Righteous Sufferer- Job
What mountain palace-fortress overlooking the Dead Sea did King Herod have built and fortified in case
the Jews revolted against himWhen God created the universe “ex nihilo”, what does that mean?- “out of nothing”
The first “city” to unite Sumer by conquest around 3000 B.C. was kish, which reached its zenith under a
king named- Etana
What people were a significant force in the area of Syria/Palestine around 1500 BC after the fall of the
Old Babylonian empire left somewhat of a vacuum there?- The Hittites