"The Literature of Ancient Mesopotamia" - RI.1 Checkpoint

The ancient Sumerians...

• lived in walled city-states

• had one powerful, central government

• based their economy mostly on art

• did not develop a very high level of culture

The Sumerians settled in Mesopotamia sometime between...

• 500 and 400 BC

• 20,000 and 15,000 BC

• 300 and 400 AD

• 5,000 and 4,000 BC

The natural resource of Mesopotamia that was most important to the Sumerians was...

• stone

• river mud

• lumber

• papyrus

Cuneiform is...

• an Egyptian invention

• a mathematical formula

• a system of writing achieved by pressing a stylus, or stick, into soft clay

• a type of building

The ziggurats are a good example of the Sumerians' advanced understanding of...

• government

• agriculture

• architecture

• medicine

When the Babylonians conquered the Sumerians, they...

• destroyed all traces of Sumerian writings

• preserved Sumerian writings in the Library of Nineveh

• adapted the Sumerian's script to their own Semitic language

• made Gilgamesh their king

Which of the following statements is true of ancient Mesopotamia?

• The ancient culture of the Sumerians was destroyed by the Egyptians.

• Many different groups of people successfully invaded the area.

• The Akkadian empire was the last great empire of Mesopotamia.

• No one reads the literature of the Mesopotamians today.

The Babylonian Code of Hammurabi can best be described as a...

• religious ceremony

• set of strict laws

• multi-layered class system

• document limited the powers of Hammurabi

The city of Nineveh, with its great library, was built by a war-like group from Asia Minor called the...

• Assyrians

• Sumerians

• Babylonians

• Hittites

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon...

• were built before the great flood

• were recognized by the Greeks as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

• were destroyed by the Gulf War

• were built by King Gilgamesh