1. Unit 2 Vocabulary

2. Ancient Civilization Vocabulary Words Definitions City-State
An independent state that includes a city and its surrounding territory. Each city-state had its own government and laws and each had its own main god.
Cuneiform
A writing system created by the Sumerian priests that uses triangular-shaped symbols to stand for ideas or things
Irrigation
Technology used by the Sumerians to supply water to their crops. They dug canals to bring water from rivers to their fields
Fertile Crescent
A region of the Middle East that stretches in a large, crescent-shaped curve from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea. This plain lies between two great rivers
Tigris/Euphrates Rivers
Two great rivers where Mesopotamia existed. Mesopotamia means the “land between the rivers”. Where the world’s first civilization began to form
Ziggurat
Brick, pyramid-shaped Mesopotamian temple where the priest lived in and ran

3. Continuation of Vocab. Words
Vocabulary Word
Definition
Nebuchadnezzar
King of Babylon. He built great walls, gates, and temples. His most famous project was the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Sumer
The world’s first civilization to form in Mesopotamia (present day Iraq)
Babylonia
A city on the Euphrates river near present day Baghdad, Iraq, under King Hammurabi
Hammurabi Code
A set of laws that governed life in the Babylonia empire. Hammurabi’s Code includes nearly 300 laws.
Social Hierarchy
The division of society by rank or class
Scribe
Egyptian writers and teachers
Assyria
Lay north of Babylonia, along the Tigris River. They were a military state. Assyria’s armies included some of the world’s earliest cavalry, or soldiers who fight while riding horses.

4. Description in your words
Definition
Description in your words
A sentence using vocabulary word
A Picture