Mesopotamia Historical Snapshot Quiz

1. Geography: According to the reading, Mesopotamia's location in the Fertile Crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers is part of what two modern countries?

• Iraq and Kuwait

• Iraq and Iran

• Kuwait and Egypt

• Rome and Egypt

2. Geography: Which statement(s) in the excerpt above best supports the topic sentence, “Farming was ideal in Mesopotamia?"

• Statement 1 - "It had flat land around the rivers which allowed farmers to plant crops,"

• Statement 2 - "...seasonal floods made the rivers overflow, depositing fertile silt onto the farmlands."

• Statement 3 - "Eventually, farmers in this area built canals and irrigation systems to control the flooding and to water their crops, allowing for large-scale farming."

• Statements 1 and 2

3.Government/Leadership: How does the reading describe a City-State?

• One massive city

• Farming settlements clustered around a larger city

• Cities clustered around a religious center

• None of the above

Government/Leadership: King Hammurabi's Code, which was transcribed for all of his subjects to read, consisted of what system?

• A. A system of levers to open a canal

• B. A system of punishment for thieves only

• C. A system of 282 laws which governed his people's lives

• D. None of the above

How did the Sumerian's form of writing called Cuneiform differ from earlier writing systems?

• A. The Sumerians used series of ones and zeros instead of twos

• B. Cuneiform symbols represented syllables or parts of words instead of objects

• C. Cuneiform was written on skin, not paper

• D. None of the above

Religion: Which two statements in the excerpt above explain who had religious influence in Sumerian society?

• A. Statement 1 and Statement 3

• B. Statement 1 and Statement 2

• C. Statement 4 and Statement 3

• D. Statement 2 and Statement 4

Social Class: According to the reading, who made up the social class with the King and his family in Sumer's hierarchical pyramid?

• A. Priest and military leaders

• B. Merchants

• C. Farmers

• D. Slaves

Achievements: How does the reading define surplus in the following statement: "...large-scale farming created a surplus..."?

• A. Not enough

• B. More than they needed

• C. Diversity

• D. None of the above