Mesopotamia Quiz

1. Which two rivers created the boundary for Mesopotamia?

• Tigris and Euphrates
• Nile and Euphrates
• Tigris and Nile
• Persian Gulf and Nile

2. Which one of the following was NOT a major problem Mesopotamians faced?

• food shortages
• uncontrolled water/floods
• attacks by neighboring city-states
• all were problems faced by Mesopotamians

3. Walled towns of Sumer were like independent countries called ?

• Ziggurats
• Empires
• city-states
• counties

4. Mesopotamia means

• land between the lakes
• land of no rain
• land between the rivers
• water runs through it

5. If you were in ancient Sumer, you might see a levee beside a river. Why was the levee built?

• to load barges
• to irrigate crops
• to prevent floods
• to control workers

6. Why did the villages of Sumer depend on each other?

• They formed caravans to safely visit the mountains.
• They cooperated to keep the water systems working.
• They exchanged different kinds of natural resources.
• They had to fight off attacks from empires to the east.

7. Which Sumerian belief about the king helped strengthen the social order?

• He was supported by the gods.
• He cared most about the poor.
• He consulted with wise advisers.
• He wanted everyone to be happy.

8. Records of the goods people exchanged were made on clay tablets in what language?

• hieroglyphics
• Sanskrit
• English
• Cuneiform

9. The Sumerians were a civilization but not an empire. What feature did Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian empires have that Sumerians lacked?

• One government ruled several groups.
• Rulers claimed to get power from the gods.
• Many beautiful works of art were produced.
• Public works such as irrigation were organized.

10. Which of these did the Akkadians use to gain power over Sumer?

• military strategy
• economic wealth
• religious teachings
• complex technology