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WorksheetsCMS/RMS Ancient Mesopotamia
Total questions: 20
Worksheet time: 13mins
How did the location of the cities on the map effect trade?
They used the rivers as transportation.
The surrounding desert made travel easier.
They could only travel south on the rivers.
The cities were spread too far apart for trade.
Which feature of geography was the most important in the development of early river valley civilizations?
fertile soil from the rivers
high mountains
vast deserts
smooth coastlines
How did calendars contribute to growth in cities and agriculture in ancient Mesopotamia?
They notified more people of important feast days, which brought visitors and increased wealth to the cities.
They helped farmers plan their crops to avoid floods, which allowed them to grow more food and to feed more people in the cities.
They caused people who believed that the astronomers who created calendars could predict the future and therefore they moved closer to the cities to hear those predictions.
They helped leaders to predict when neighboring armies would attack, and defend the cities, allowing them to grow
Cuneiform writing provided the basis for the development of what?
subsistence farming
painting and sculpture
oral traditions
recorded history
Which is the best explanation for why Mesopotamians built canals?
They needed a way to control the river’s flow to prevent flooding and increase farming.
They needed a way to control water so people could wash their clothes.
They needed a way to control low water levels.
They needed a way to control the surplus.
How did the metal plow help to increase Mesopotamian trade with other civilizations?
Many farmers who had learned metalworking to make plows also made other metal goods for traders to sell.
Farmers could plant faster, so they had more free time to go to markets and buy from traders.
Farmers could plant faster, helping them plant larger areas and grow extra grain as a surplus for traders to sell.
Farmers who bought plows from traders found their new tools so helpful that they later bought many other goods from trade
Which of the following facts serve as evidence that the Mesopotamians were polytheists?
Mesopotamian government was centered on the city-state.
Goods made in India and Egypt were brought to Mesopotamia by traders.
The Sumerian story of the Great Flood is similar to the Bible story about Noah’s Ark.
The city of Ur had temples dedicated to worshipping the goddess Ishtar and the god Enki.
Who was the ancient Babylonian king who created the earliest known code of laws which focused on harsh punishments to keep order in society?
Sargon
Hammurabi
Eannatum
Nebuchadnezzar
High crop earnings in ancient Mesopotamia, which resulted in a surplus of food, contributed most directly to the development of what?
metal tools
irrigation systems
division of labor/specialized jobs
a network of roads
Based on the map above and its central location and time period, ancient Mesopotamian traders had connections with traders in what other civilizations?
Egypt
China
Australia
Greece
Some of the first writing was developed in Mesopotamia. Many social scientists credit the Sumerian people for this writing. The writing looked like symbols and was called cuneiform. The Sumerians wrote on clay tablets. Later, the Phoenicians, while still using cuneiform, began to produce their own 22-letter alphabet. This development made it easier for people of the ancient world to learn to read and write. In some ways, their alphabet looked like Egyptian hieroglyphics. The Greeks and Romans adapted the Phoenician writing form to create their own alphabet.
Writing was used in commerce. It was especially important communicating the history of people. It was also a powerful way of letting people know the laws. The first written set of laws was called the Code of Hammurabi.
What is the name of the Sumerian writing system?
hieroglyphics
cuneiform
Roman Numerals
Hammurabi's Code
Some of the first writing was developed in Mesopotamia. Many social scientists credit the Sumerian people for this writing. The writing looked like symbols and was called cuneiform. The Sumerians wrote on clay tablets. Later, the Phoenicians, while still using cuneiform, began to produce their own 22-letter alphabet. This development made it easier for people of the ancient world to learn to read and write. In some ways, their alphabet looked like Egyptian hieroglyphics. The Greeks and Romans adapted the Phoenician writing form to create their own alphabet.
Writing was used in commerce. It was especially important communicating the history of people. It was also a powerful way of letting people know the laws. The first written set of laws was called the Code of Hammurabi.
What was a result of the development of an alphabet in ancient times?
Trade routes opened up from Rome to the cities of China.
The Code of Hammurabi Code was declared useless for the average person.
No one ever used cuneiform again.
It was easier for people to read and write.
Which two land features gave Mesopotamia its name?
The Fertile Crescent and the Mediterranean Sea
The Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea
The Tigris River and the Euphrates River
The northern plateau and southern plateau
202. If any one strike the body of a man higher in rank than he, he shall receive sixty blows with an ox-whip in public.
203. If a free-born man strike the body of another free-born man or equal rank, he shall pay one gold mina.
204. If a freed man strike the body of another freed man, he shall pay ten shekels in money.
205. If the slave of a freed man strike the body of a freed man, his ear shall be cut off.
What can you determine about social class in Mesopotamia from Hammurabi's Codes?
All people were given equal punishments.
Slave's punishments were less harsh than others.
People of lower social class had harsher punishments.
Social class did not determine punishment.
53. If any one be too lazy to keep his dam in proper condition, and does not so keep it; if then the dam break and all the fields be flooded, then shall he in whose dam the break occurred be sold for money, and the money shall replace the corn which he has caused to be ruined.
54. If he be not able to replace the corn, then he and his possessions shall be divided among the farmers whose corn he has flooded.
55. If any one open his ditches to water his crop, but is careless, and the water flood the field of his neighbor, then he shall pay his neighbor corn for his loss.
56. If a man let in the water, and the water overflow the plantation of his neighbor, he shall pay ten gur of corn for every ten gan of land.
How did Hammurabi's Codes reflect the importance of agriculture?
If a person causes crop damage, he is not responsible.
Corn was not valued in Ancient Mesopotamia.
Farmer had to replace the value of the corn that he destroyed.
The city was responsible if a farmers crops were destroyed.
Note: In 1754 B.C.E., Hammurabi conquered and united all the cities of Mesopotamia under his rule. Although he was a brutal warrior, his greatest achievement was his code of laws, which he had engraved on a towering stone monument. Hammurabi’s Code was not the first, but it was the most complete set of laws that has survived. It is important because it created a set of rules that helped to govern a civilization while trying to protect people even if they had little political power. It called for different punishments based on the class of the lawbreaker and the victim of the crime. In the Code, punishments often fit the crime by demanding and “eye for and eye” or a “tooth for a tooth”.
The following are three of the 282 laws in the Code of Hammurabi.
Source: Code of Hammurabi 1754 B.C.E.
229. If a builder builds a house for some one, and
does not construct it properly, and the house
which he built falls in and kills its owner, then
that builder shall be put to death.
230. If it kills the son of the owner the son of that
builder shall be put to death.
231. If it kills a slave of the owner, then he shall pay
slave for a slave to the owner of the house.
According to the document, which response identifies the significance of Hammurabi writing down his set of laws?
Written laws remained constant and visible for all citizens
Writing down laws took time away from other jobs
The laws were not enforced or followed by the citizens
Unable to read, most citizens ignored the set of laws
The people of Mesopotamia believed that their world was controlled by gods and goddesses, demons and monsters. There were hundreds of gods who were responsible for everything in the world, from rivers and trees to making bread and pottery.
Using the reading above, which word below describes Mesopotamian religion?
Nativisitic
Monotheistic
Polytheisitic
Abrahamic
In ancient Mesopotamia, a land of blazing sun and very little rainfall, irrigation was vital for farming. Centuries before the beginning of known history, the Sumerians undertook the stupendous task of building embankments to control the floodwaters of the Euphrates River. Gradually they drained the marshes and dug irrigation canals and ditches. Large-scale cooperation was needed to build the irrigation works, keep them in repair, and apportion the water.
Due to the need for “large-scale cooperation” to build the irrigation works, what feature of civilization was necessary?
Government, Laws and Public Works
Culture and Religion
Art and Social Hierarchy
Trade and long distance communication
Note: In 1754 B.C.E., Hammurabi conquered and united all the cities of Mesopotamia under his rule. Although he was a brutal warrior, his greatest achievement was his code of laws, which he had engraved on a towering stone monument. Hammurabi’s Code was not the first, but it was the most complete set of laws that has survived. It is important because it created a set of rules that helped to govern a civilization while trying to protect people even if they had little political power. It called for different punishments based on the class of the lawbreaker and the victim of the crime. In the Code, punishments often fit the crime by demanding and “eye for and eye” or a “tooth for a tooth”.
The following are three of the 282 laws in the Code of Hammurabi.
Source: Code of Hammurabi 1754 B.C.E.
229. If a builder builds a house for some one, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built falls in and kills its owner, then that builder shall be put to death.230. If it kills the son of the owner the son of that builder shall be put to death.
231. If it kills a slave of the owner, then he shall pay slave for a slave to the owner of the house.
As described in the document, which definition explains the meaning of "an eye for an eye," or "a tooth for a tooth"?
An eye of the criminal was traded for a tooth of the victim
Punishments are based on the severity of the crime
Doctors expected payment with teeth or eyes
Criminals went to jail and lost a tooth and an eye
When the rivers of the Fertile Crescent flooded (Tigris and Euphrates Rivers), they brought lots of fertile mud; this helped to grow an abundance of crops.
What is the name for that fertile mud?
fertile mud
river mud
crop dust
silt
