Ch. 3 Vocabulary Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent

Fertile Crescent: large arc of rich farmland in Mesopotamia Silt: a mixture of rich soil and tiny rocks brought to the land by the flooding of the rivers. Irrigation: a way of supplying water to an area of land. Canals: human-made waterways. surplus: an amount that is more than needed division of labor: an arrangement in which each worker specializes in a particular task or job.

rural: countryside areas urban: city areas city-state: a city and all the countryside around it empire: land with different territories and peoples under a single rule polytheism: the worship of many gods priests: people who performed religious ceremonies

social hierarchy: the division of society by rank or class cuneiform: the world’s first system of writing created by the Sumerians pictographs: picture symbols scribe: a writer who would be hired to keep track of the items people traded epic: a long poem that tells the stories of heroes architecture: the science of building

19. ziggurat: a pyramid shaped temple tower that rose above each Sumerian city monarch: a ruler of a kingdom or empire chariot: a wheeled horse-drawn cart used in battle potter’s wheel: a device that spins clay as a craftsman shapes it execration: to curse something plunder: to take the property of others by force

Epic of Gilgamesh: the world’s oldest epic story. Hammurabi’s Code: a set of 282 laws created by King Hammurabi to be the first code of law Nebuchadnezzar: Chaldean King who built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, an ancient wonder of the world. Sargon – Leader who conquered and created the world’s first empire Sumerians: People who are believed to have created the world’s first civilization in Mesopotamia.