Ancient Sumerian Civilization Study Guide
1. What does the name Mesopotamia mean?
~land between two rivers
2. Describe a Sumerian city-state.
~Early Sumerian cities were walled settlements surrounded by farmland. The
strong city walls were built of sun baked bricks. Moats, or ditches filled with
water, surrounded the walls.
3. Why did the Sumerians have moats and walls?
~They protected the city-states from attack
3. What change, caused by farming in northern Mesopotamia, led people to move south?
~The population increased, and there wasn't enough food.
4. What did Sumerians use to control the amount of water in the valley?
~Canals, dams, and levees
5. What happened when people from many villages used Sumerian irrigation systems?
~They got clogged and the people in the villages had to work together to take
care of the system.
6. Why were Sumerian settlements called city-states?
~Each settlement had its own ruler and farmland. They were self-sufficient.
7. Why didn't Sumerians continue living in small villages, as their ancestors had?
~They had to live together to protect themselves from outsiders.
8. What made it harder to live in Sumer than in the Zagros foothills?
~Sumer lacked natural barriers to keep out enemies.
9. What was the biggest problem the Sumerian farmers faced?
~uncontrolled water supply
10. Name two inventions of the Ancient Sumerians that helped them maintain a stable food
supply.
~Plow, irrigation system
11. How were Sumerian religion and government connected?
~Sumerians believed that the king got power from the gods.
12. What did the Sumerians invent that made it possible for their armies to use chariots?
~wheels
13. Whose duty was it to do these jobs: build temples, lead the army, and enforce laws?
~The king’s
14. Name the seven characteristics of a civilization
~Stable food supply
~Social structure
~Government
~Religion
~The Arts
~Technology
~Writing
15. Give one piece of evidence for each of the characteristics of a civilization that shows
that ancient Sumer was a civilization.
~Stable food supply (irrigation system, plows)
~Social structure (wealthy people had fancy houses, lower classes had small
brick houses)
~Government (written laws, kings)
~Religion (ziggurats, temples to gods)
~The Arts (sculptures and music)
~Technology (wheels, plow)
~Writing (records on clay tablets, stone seals with Cuneiform)
16. Describe the housing and location of farmers in ancient Sumer.
~Small, mud bricked, edge of city
17. Describe the housing and location of government officials in ancient Sumer.
~Large, luxurious, two stories, whitewashed mud walls, center of city
18. Describe the housing and location of craft people and merchants in ancient Sumer.
~Middle sized, contained some luxuries, mud walls, middle ring of the city
19. What is one problem the city-states of Sumer faced by remaining independent?
~they were unable to defend themselves against larger, stronger groups.
20. List the four early Mesopotamian empires in order.
~Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian
21. What type of power did the Akkadians use to conquer Sumer?
~military
22. What is Hammurabi best known for?
~his code of laws, they are believed to be one of the first written codes,
they unified and strengthened his empire
23. Describe the lives of women and slaves in the Babylonian empire.
~women were allowed to own property but couldn’t pick their own husbands
~slaves were owned by a master but could buy their freedom
24. After the fall of Sumer, all four Mesopotamian empires had the same problem. What
was this problem?
~It was difficult to control such a large area of land
25. Why did the Assyrians build palaces on tall mounds?
~They looked up to their leaders and placed them above the common folks
26. Below are drawings of four trophies, one for each of the Mesopotamian empires. Fill in
the plaque on the base of each trophy with two important achievements from that
empire.
~Akkadians – creating the world’s first empire, sculpting steles
~Babylonians – developing a written code of laws, developing Babylon as a
trading center, postal service, roads
~Assyrians – new weapons and war strategies (battering rams, siege warfare,
moveable towers), bas-relief
~Neo-Babylonian – sundial, astronomy, building protective walls and a moat
around Babylon, building the hanging gardens of Babylon