Mesopotamia -- Society 1

Multiple Select

Which landforms were part of Mesopotamia?

PICK 2

• Rivers

• Desert

• Mountains

• Ocean

Multiple Choice

Which two rivers surrounded Mesopotamia? 

• Tigris and Euphrates

• Jerico and Nile 

Multiple Choice

What continent was Mesopotamia on?

• Africa

• Asia

• North America

Multiple Choice

The Sumerians believed in:

• one god

• two gods

• many gods

• no gods

Multiple Choice

What did Mesopotamians attach to carts (hint - they were the world's oldest)

• chairs

• boxes

• wheels

• flags

Multiple Choice

Cuneiform is...

• a form of fancy cooking

• a dance to attract a mate

• a way of writing

• a way of singing

Multiple Choice

What is trading?

• buying and selling of materials and services

• banking money

• inventing new products

Multiple Choice

Mesopotamia's money

• pesos

• dollars

• shekels

• pounds

Multiple Choice

Why is Hammurabi well known?

• He was a scribe and wrote down information.

• He wrote the first laws for an empire.

Multiple Choice

Who was Hammurabi?

• A king

• A scribe

• A lawyer

​King

• The King was believed to have gotten his power from the gods.

• The King had many responsibilities

  • religion

  • safety

  • making laws

  • collecting taxes

  • leading the army

Open Ended

List one job the king had in Mesopotamia.

Priests

• Priests were very powerful and important. 

• They told people how to behave to keep the gods happy. 

• The priests shaved their heads so that everyone knew they were priests.

Scribes

• As Mesopotamians developed a writing system called cuneiform, scribes, or public writers, became very important members of society.

• Scribes were in charge of writing everything down and kept important records.

Open Ended

What was the job of a scribe?

Merchants

​

• Merchants in the Mesopotamian were in charge of traveling to trade with other cities.

  ​

• They traded grains, cooking oil, pottery, leather goods, baskets, clothing, blankets and jewelry

Open Ended

What did merchants do?

Artisans

• Artisans were crafts people who specialized in making particular goods to trade.

  ​

• Some examples of Artisans in Ancient Mesopotamia were bakers, potters, iron workers and weavers.

Men in Mesopotamia

• Mesopotamia was a patriarchal society which means the men held the power in matters of government and family.

• Men made up most of the political and religious leadership as well as making the household decisions such as who did what work and who marries who.

Farmers

• Farmers were in charge of farming the land and giving certain amount of the crops the King, priests and nobles.

• They grew barley and wheat, beans, peas, lentils, cucumbers, leeks, lettuce and garlic, as well as fruit such as grapes, apples, melons and figs

Enslaved People

• Enslaved people were at the bottom of the social pyramid.

• People could be enslaved for several reasons:

  • 1) prisoners that were captured during a war

  • 2) criminals ordered into slavery for their punishment

  • 3) people who fell into debt.

Open Ended

List one reason people were enslaved in Mesopotamia.

Reorder

Reorder the following. Put the person on top of the social pyramid first.

• King

• Priest

• Scribe

• Farmers

• Slaves

1

2

3

4

5

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Match

Match the following to their job.

• King

• Scribe

• Merchants

• Artisans

• Farmers

made rules

wrote down information

traded with other cities

made things that were traded (pottery)

made sure there was enough crops

• made rules

• wrote down information

• traded with other cities

• made things that were traded (pottery)

• made sure there was enough crops