{
 "source": "https://peabody.kids/flashcards/world-mesopotamia",
 "id": "world-mesopotamia",
 "title": "Ancient Mesopotamia",
 "category": "history",
 "subject": "World History",
 "levels": [
  "3-5",
  "6-8"
 ],
 "description": "The land between the rivers: Sumer, Babylon, Assyria and their inventions.",
 "tags": [
  "mesopotamia",
  "sumer",
  "babylon",
  "cuneiform"
 ],
 "frontLabel": "Term",
 "backLabel": "Meaning",
 "cards": [
  [
   "Mesopotamia",
   "Greek for 'between the rivers'; the land between the Tigris and Euphrates"
  ],
  [
   "Tigris and Euphrates",
   "The two rivers that watered Mesopotamia"
  ],
  [
   "Fertile Crescent",
   "Curved area of fertile land from the Nile through Mesopotamia"
  ],
  [
   "Sumer",
   "Southern Mesopotamia, home of some of the first cities"
  ],
  [
   "Sumerians",
   "People who built the first known cities and invented writing"
  ],
  [
   "Uruk",
   "One of the world's first great cities"
  ],
  [
   "Ur",
   "Sumerian city with a large ziggurat"
  ],
  [
   "City-state",
   "A city and surrounding land with its own government"
  ],
  [
   "Ziggurat",
   "Stepped temple tower of Mesopotamian cities"
  ],
  [
   "Cuneiform",
   "Wedge-shaped writing pressed into clay"
  ],
  [
   "Stylus",
   "Reed pen used to press marks into wet clay"
  ],
  [
   "Clay tablet",
   "Slab of clay used for writing"
  ],
  [
   "Scribe",
   "Person trained to write and keep records"
  ],
  [
   "Epic of Gilgamesh",
   "One of the oldest known stories, about a king and his friend Enkidu"
  ],
  [
   "Gilgamesh",
   "Legendary king of Uruk in the oldest epic"
  ],
  [
   "Irrigation",
   "Canals carrying river water to fields"
  ],
  [
   "Surplus",
   "Extra food beyond what people need"
  ],
  [
   "Barley",
   "Main grain grown in Mesopotamia"
  ],
  [
   "Wheel",
   "Invented in Mesopotamia about 3500 BCE"
  ],
  [
   "Plow",
   "Farm tool used to turn the soil, early versions pulled by oxen"
  ],
  [
   "Sailboat",
   "Used on the rivers for trade"
  ],
  [
   "Sexagesimal system",
   "Base-60 counting that gave us 60 minutes and 360 degrees"
  ],
  [
   "Lunar calendar",
   "Calendar based on the Moon's cycles"
  ],
  [
   "Sargon of Akkad",
   "Built the first known empire about 2300 BCE"
  ],
  [
   "Akkadian Empire",
   "Empire created by Sargon, joining many city-states"
  ],
  [
   "Hammurabi",
   "Babylonian king famous for his written laws"
  ],
  [
   "Code of Hammurabi",
   "One of the earliest written law codes, about 1754 BCE"
  ],
  [
   "Babylon",
   "Major city on the Euphrates; capital of Hammurabi's kingdom"
  ],
  [
   "Hanging Gardens of Babylon",
   "Famed gardens, thought to be one of the Seven Wonders"
  ],
  [
   "Nebuchadnezzar II",
   "Babylonian king who rebuilt Babylon around 600 BCE"
  ],
  [
   "Ishtar Gate",
   "Blue glazed brick gate of Babylon"
  ],
  [
   "Assyrians",
   "Fierce warriors from northern Mesopotamia who built a large empire"
  ],
  [
   "Nineveh",
   "Assyrian capital with a great library"
  ],
  [
   "Ashurbanipal",
   "Assyrian king who collected thousands of tablets in a library"
  ],
  [
   "Persians",
   "Conquered Babylon in 539 BCE under Cyrus the Great"
  ],
  [
   "Cyrus the Great",
   "Persian king who took Babylon"
  ],
  [
   "Epic",
   "A long story about heroes"
  ],
  [
   "Polytheism",
   "Belief in many gods"
  ],
  [
   "Temple",
   "Building for worship, also a center of business in Sumer"
  ],
  [
   "Priest",
   "Religious leader who served the gods"
  ],
  [
   "Patron god",
   "God believed to protect a particular city"
  ],
  [
   "Enlil",
   "Sumerian god of air and storms"
  ],
  [
   "Inanna",
   "Sumerian goddess of love and war, later Ishtar"
  ],
  [
   "Marduk",
   "Chief god of Babylon"
  ],
  [
   "Mud brick",
   "Common building material"
  ],
  [
   "Dynasty",
   "Rulers from one family"
  ],
  [
   "Empire",
   "Many lands ruled by one government"
  ],
  [
   "Tribute",
   "Payment from conquered people to their rulers"
  ],
  [
   "Trade",
   "Mesopotamians traded grain and cloth for metal and stone from far away"
  ],
  [
   "Silver shekel",
   "Weight of silver used as money"
  ],
  [
   "Contract",
   "Written agreement; many were recorded on tablets"
  ],
  [
   "Law code",
   "A written set of laws"
  ],
  [
   "Eye for an eye",
   "Hammurabi's principle of matching punishments to harm, with different rules by class"
  ],
  [
   "Social classes",
   "Kings and priests, then wealthy people, then commoners, then slaves"
  ],
  [
   "Enheduanna",
   "Priestess of Ur and the first author known by name"
  ],
  [
   "Cylinder seal",
   "Carved stone roller that pressed a design in clay to mark ownership"
  ],
  [
   "Royal Standard of Ur",
   "Decorated box found in a Sumerian royal tomb"
  ],
  [
   "Lyre",
   "Stringed instrument found in Sumerian tombs"
  ],
  [
   "Hittites",
   "People of Anatolia who fought Babylon and Egypt"
  ],
  [
   "Chaldeans",
   "Also called Neo-Babylonians; rebuilt Babylon after Assyria fell"
  ],
  [
   "Sumerian King List",
   "Ancient list of rulers, mixing history and legend"
  ],
  [
   "Tell",
   "A mound formed by ruins of ancient settlements built on each other"
  ],
  [
   "Modern Iraq",
   "Most of ancient Mesopotamia lies in present-day Iraq"
  ],
  [
   "Medicine",
   "Babylonian doctors wrote lists of illnesses and cures on tablets"
  ],
  [
   "Astronomy",
   "Babylonians kept careful records of stars and planets"
  ],
  [
   "Plimpton 322",
   "Clay tablet showing advanced Babylonian math"
  ],
  [
   "Mathematics",
   "Babylonians solved problems with fractions, squares and early algebra"
  ],
  [
   "Library",
   "Assyrian kings gathered tablets to preserve knowledge"
  ],
  [
   "Victory stele",
   "Carved stone slab recording a ruler's win"
  ],
  [
   "Standard of weights",
   "Merchants used set weights to trade fairly"
  ]
 ]
}