MCAS questions for Mesopotamia.
Mesopotamia: Site of Several Ancient River Civilizations (M)
1. What is the Fertile Crescent? Where is it? What modern day
countries now occupy that land? In order, what empires
controlled the land of the Fertile Crescent in ancient times?
Fertile
The Fertile Crescent is a quarter-moon shaped region that extends
Crescent
from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf.
Or one could say the Fertile Crescent includes the Nile River region
extending north along the coast of the eastern Mediterranean until it
meets the source of the rivers and travels south along the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers.
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Mesopotamia Literally means “the land between two rivers”. Mesopotamia is the
area of land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
The counties that now occupy the land include: Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon,
Syria, Turkey, and Jordan.
Empires of the Fertile Crescent
An empire is many peoples and lands under the control of one ruler.
Akkadian
Sargon
He was the first person to build an empire.
Babylonian Empire
Hammurabi
He created the first code of law.
Assyrian Empire
Ashurbanipal
He is credited with the construction of a library at
Ninevah.
Assyrians were known to be fierce fighters.
Medes and Chaldeans joined forces to create the new
empire.
Nebeuchadnezzar built the Hanging Gardens of
Babylon for his wife.
Cyrus united the Persians and expanded the empire.
New Babylonian
empire
Persian
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2. Describe the religious beliefs of the people in Mesopotamian
civilizations.
Polytheistic
 Belief in many gods
 Many gods existed, each city state had their
own gods
 People worshipped their own gods and the gods
of other city states
 Sumerians thought of the gods as rich land
owners
Ziggurat
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Priests
People
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Center of city life.
Served as both a temple/church and the city
hall.
Usually three tiers tall, with the uppermost level
reserved for religious purposes.
Prominent in a city state.
Were members of a high social class.
Priests were thought to have contact with the
gods
Priests interpreted events for the populace
Priests worked to satisfy the gods.
Religious rituals and offerings were presented to
gods by members of all social classes.
Sumerians viewed events as rewards or
punishments from the gods.
The people worked hard to please the gods,
offerings were presented to gods.
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3. What three inventions contributed to the growth of the
civilizations in Mesopotamia? Explain how each of them
contributed to the growth of Mesopotamian civilizations.
Wheel
Major advancement
Served 2 purposes
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Sail
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Plow
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Allowed for transportation over land of
goods and people
 Used in making pottery “potter’s wheel”
 Used by potters to speed up the process of
making clay pots
Allowed the movement of heavy items via a boat
without significant physical effort by people.
Travel by boat was preferred to travel over land,
it was safer and easier
This device was being improved continuously
Plows loosened soil allowing water to penetrate
deeper into the soil
Plows also reduced the effort required to yield
crops
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4. What four factors helped Mesopotamia to flourish? Explain how
each factor contributed to the growth of the Mesopotamian
civilizations.
Irrigation
 Irrigation allowed man to settle further
from the water source and still be able to
water crops. Extended farmable land
 Increased farmable land meant even
greater food production
 Water needed to grow crops could travel
to the land via canals
Metalsmithing
 Gradually over time tools were improved.
 With improved tools craftsmen and
farmers were able to produce more
products or products of improved quality
 The use of bronze made tools stronger
 Improved tools lasted longer
Slavery
 Used to do the hard or dangerous work
 Free labor
 Obtained in wars and also sold into slavery by
family
Domestication of
animals
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Animals were used to aid in farm labor.
Animals were utilized for the products they
produced, eggs, wool.
Animals were used as a direct source of food.
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5. Hammurabi developed a code explain the reasons why he
developed the code and why the code was important.
Basis
 “eye for an eye”
 Punishment is related to the crime
Why is this
important
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Goal
How accomplished
Example of a law
This is the first set of laws
Code established the idea that government should
provide protection and justice for the people.
Introduced the idea that the law should apply to all
people “rule of law”
 Fair treatment (justice) for all people
 Hammurabi believed a code of law would help
him control the empire

Hammurabi sent representatives into the
empire to gather existing laws
 Using the existing laws Hammurabi created a
code for the empire.
 Code was posted prominently on pillars near a
temple.
 282 laws were created
Law 197 - If a man break another man’s bone, his bone
shall be broken.
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6. Describe the THREE important achievements of Mesopotamian
civilization.
Achievements are the big ideas that mark a civilization.
Writing
A system of writing emerged from record keeping.
Writing was first used to track food supplies. Over
time writing was used for tax collection and the
recording of other information. Cuneiform is the
form of writing associated with the Mesopotamian
area.
Monumental
The ability to construct multi story buildings and
Architecture
other large structures is an indicator of the success
of the culture. Examples are the ziggurat, Ishtar’s
Gate, Library at Ninevah, and Hanging Gardens of
Babylon.
Art
Three forms of art are associated with Mesopotamia,
relief sculptures, mosaics and cylinder seals.
Relief sculptures are raised images on stone.
Mosaics are small pieces of glass or stone assembled
into an image.
A cylinder seal is a cylinder engraved with a 'picture
story', used in ancient times to roll an impression
onto a two-dimensional surface, generally wet clay.
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7. Identify and explain the characteristics of a civilization.
Advanced cities
Specialized workers
Complex Institutions
Record keeping
Advanced technology
Places to store and trade surplus agricultural
products and other resources. Many more
skilled people existed in the cities, and there
was a greater variety of skilled tradesmen in
the cities.
Food surpluses lead to specialized workers.
For the first time in history everyone did not
need to acquire food themselves. With
surpluses, it became possible for people to
specialize in a skill and trade for the
necessary food or other new materials.
Examples of specialized skills include:
herdsman, potter, metal worker, scribe,
boatman, trader, and weaver.
Institutions are groups of people with a
purpose; often the purpose was to help
society meet its needs. Early examples are
governmental and religious institutions.
Maintaining proof of matters within the city.
Record keeping was first used to keep track
of the food supply. Over time more
information was collected (taxes). Eventually
keeping records led to the emergence of
written language.
Technology is the application of knowledge,
tools, or inventions to better meet their
needs. In cities technology continued to
evolve. Cities were the places where new
technology emerged.
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