1. Mesopotamia Vocabulary

2. Mesopotamia
in ancient times, the geographic area located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In Greek, it means “land between two rivers”

3. Sumer
an area in southern Mesopotamia, where cities first appeared. This is thought of as the first civilization.

4. Tigris River Euphrates River
one of the two largest rivers in Southwest Asia that flow from the mountains in Turkey to the Persian Gulf
Euphrates River
one of the two largest rivers in Southwest Asia that flow from the mountains in Turkey to the Persian Gulf

5. City-state
an early city that was like a small, independent country with its own laws and government

6. Levee
a wall of earth built to prevent a river from flooding its banks

7. Silt
fine particles of rock that clogged Sumerian irrigation systems

8. Irrigation
a means of supplying land with water

9. Civilization
a society marked by developed arts, sciences, government, and social structure (as well as religion, technology, written language and stable food supply)

10. Social Structure
the way a civilization is organized into social and economic groups

11. Technology
the use of tools and other inventions for practical purposes

12. Merchant
a person who makes money by selling goods

13. Artisan
a worker in a skilled trade, especially one that involves making things by hand

14. Scribe
a person who writes and keeps records

15. Ziggurat
an ancient Mesopotamian temple tower with outside staircases and a shrine at the top

16. Culture
the beliefs and behaviors of a society or group of people

17. Cuneiform
writing system developed in ancient Sumer that uses wedge-shaped characters

18. Pictograph
early Sumerian form of writing where a symbol stands for an object