Honors
World
Early
Empires
Section 1, p. 34
1)
Key Terms:
2) What
were the characteristics of the world’s first civilization?
A) The
world’s first civilization, Sumer, included 12 separate city=stated led by
complex governments that oversaw large=scale projects such as the building of
city walls; had a social hierarchy and a polytheistic religion; had cuneiform
writing; and began to develop astronomy and mathematics.
3) Sumerians
faced significant geographic challenges, such as floods. How do you think facing these challenges
played a role in the formation of a strong government?
A) Organizing
people to face these challenges would have required strong leadership, which
could have led to the establishment of a strong government.
4) How
might the invention of cuneiform writing have strengthened Sumerian government
and religious practices?
A) Government: by allowing it to preserve its records, laws,
and achievements; religious practices: by allowing priests to preserve prayers,
rituals, and beliefs about gods, goddesses, and the afterlife.
5)
Describe ways in which later peoples built on
Sumerian learning. Would this have been possible without the invention of
writing?
A) It may
have been difficult for later peoples to know about so much of Sumerian
learning if it had not been written down.
Section 2 Assessment, p. 43
1)
Key Terms:
2) How did
various strong rulers unite the lands of the Fertile Crescent into
well-organized empires?
A) By
appointing local rulers to oversee different regions, establishing law codes,
building roads to encourage communications, and establishing a single coinage
for an empire
3) What do
you think was the most important achievement of Sargon? Of Hammurabi?
Why?
A) Sargon
– establishing the first empire, because it reveals an ability to control
resources and organize people; Hammurabi
– establishing the law code because it set an examples about the effectiveness
of establishing and recording laws.
4) How do
you think Persian policy of tolerance helped the empire grow so large?
A) If the
Persians had not been tolerant of the customs of the people they conquered,
those people might have revolted.
5)
One effect of warfare and conquest was the
knowledge and beliefs spread among different peoples. How else did people of the ancient Middle
East spread their ideas?
A) Through
trade and the establishment of colonies
Focus Questions (1-13)
1)
Given the physical environment in which the
Fertile Crescent lies, why would Mesopotamia be a reasonable place for
civilization to arise?
A) Its
rivers and its nearness to the Persian Gulf were probably more favorable to
sustaining large populations than were the deserts or mountains in the
surrounding areas.
2) What
geographic challenges did early Sumerians face?
A) They
had to learn to control the flooding waters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers;
they had to build with clay, because they lacked timber or stone.
3) In
Sumer, which group was larger – artisans or peasant farmers?
A) Peasant
farmers
4) What
does the answer in number 3 indicate about how the society supported itself?
A) That
the society was largely dependent on agriculture.
5) How did
religion shape the daily activities of Sumerians?
A) Sumerians
focused on pleasing the gods, so they built large ziggurats, prayed, made
sacrifices, and performed rituals to honor the gods.
6) Which
of the following was the largest: Sumer, Akkadian, or Babylonian Empires?
A) Babylonian
Empire
7) Where
did the largest lie in relationship to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers?
A) It lay
between the rivers as well as beyond them, and it stretched farther along the
rivers than the other two civilizations did.
8) How do
you think the establishment of a codified law helped Hammurabi control such a
large territory?
A) The
outlining of clear laws and punishments would have helped to keep order in the
empire.
9) Do you
think there were advantages to dividing Babylonian law into two categories,
civil and criminal?
A) This
would have helped law enforcers sort out the different types of situations and
simplified the process of establishing punishments for crimes.
10)
About how much larger was the Persian empire
than the Assyrian empire?
A) About
three times larger (Darius maintained control over such a vast area because he
visited the regions, built and maintained roads for travel, and set out a code
of laws that incorporated laws from conquered peoples.)
11)
Why do you think it would be important to
respect the customs or laws of those you have conquered?
A) To show
you want to make them a part of your community and to keep them happy.
12)
Where did the Phoenicians carry and spread
Middle Eastern civilization?
A) To the
regions on all sides of the Mediterranean, which today are northern Africa,
Spain, and Italy; and north to Britain.
13)
What piece of culture passed from the
Phoenicians to the Greeks and still influences us today?
A) The
Phoenician alphabet
Vocabulary
1)
Fertile Crescent – region of the Middle East in
which civilizations first arose
2) Mesopotamia
– region within the Fertile Crescent that lies between the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers; Greek word meaning land between the rivers
3) Sumer –
site of the world’s first civilization, located in southern Mesopotamia
4) The Epic of Gilgamesh – Mesopotamian narrative poem that was first told in Sumer
5)
Hierarchy – system of ranking groups
6) Ziggurat
– in ancient Mesopotamia, a large, stepped platform thought to have been topped
by a temple dedicated to a city’s chief god or goddess
7)
Cuneiform – in the ancient Middle East, a system
of writing that used wedge-shaped marks
8) Sargon
– established first known empire by conquering his neighboring city-states of
Sumer
9) Hammurabi
– ruler of the First Babylonian Empire; first to publish the law; not knowing
the law was no longer an excuse for breaking the law
10)
Codify – to arrange or set down in writing
11)
Civil law – branch of law that deals with
private rights and matters
12)
Criminal law – branch of law that deals with
offenses against others
13)
Nebuchadnezzar – ruler of Second Babylonian
Empire; rebuilt Babylon as his capital; given credit for building the Hanging
Gardens of Babylon
14)
Barter economy – economic system in which one
set of goods or services is exchanged for another
15)
Money economy – economic system in which goods or services are paid for
through the exchange of a token of an agreed value
16)
Zoroaster – Persian philosopher who taught of
Ahura Mazda as a monotheistic god who fought evil; help to unite the large
Persian Empire
17)
Colony – territory settled and ruled by people
from another land
18)
Alphabet – writing system in which each symbol
represents a single basic sound
No comments:
Post a Comment