Characteristics
of Mesopotamian Civilization
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Ziggurats
Cuneiform Writing
Sumerian Religious Structure
Characteristics of Mesopotamian Civilization
a. Temple
Towers known as Ziggurats b. Clay
Tablets with Cuneiform Writing c. Sumerian
Religious Structure |
The
civilization that was centered on ancient Iraq is known as Mesopotamian civilization. The word “Mesopotamia” is a Greek word
meaning “land between the rivers.” In
Iraq, Mesopotamia is the combined valleys of the Tigris River and the Euphrates
River, which now join together and flow into the Persian Gulf.
If you decide to read more on your own
about the ancient Mesopotamian civilization of Iraq, you may see it referred to
as “Sumerian” or “Babylonian” civilization.
It is also sometimes called “Sumero-Akkadian civilization.
There are at least three characteristics
that make the ancient Mesopotamian civilization unique:
Temple Towers known as Ziggurats
Like the Egyptian pyramids, ziggurats
were ____________ buildings. Some scholars think of ziggurats as man-made
mountains built to bring humans closer to heaven. The Bible story, “ The Tower of Babel,” may be about the great
ziggurat in the city of ____________. Egyptian pyramids were houses of the dead,
but Mesopotamian ____________ were
busy, lively places. Ziggurats were ____________ to the chief god of each
city. In Babylon, the ziggurat was the ____________ of Marduk who was
believed to make love to young
women chosen to wait for him in the top chamber.
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temples monumental temple ziggurats Babylon |
Clay Tablets with Cuneiform Writing
Unlike Egypt, Mesopotamia did not have much
stone. Their buildings were made of clay. They also wrote on clay. For these
reasons, some ____________ call ancient
Mesopotamia a “civilization of clay”. ____________ have uncovered libraries
filled with thousands of clay tablets covered with writing. These ____________ contained inventories,
contracts, poems, songs, stories, mathematics, and all kinds of lists. The ancient Mesopotamians listed their gods,
their myths, their kings, their battles, and their
laws.
They loved lists. Ancient
Mesopotamia could also be called a “____________ of
lists.”
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tablets civilization Archaeologists
scholars |
The ____________ on
these tablets is very special. It is
called cuneiform which means, “wedge shaped.”
Cuneiform writing is ____________
to be the oldest form of writing that we know
of. It is very possible that the
ancient Mesopotamians were the first people to invent writing. By ____________ clay
tablets of different ages, scholars can see how cuneiform writing
developed. It began as simple little
pictures, but evolved into a very abstract system of symbols ____________ ideas
and sounds. Cuneiform writing had hundreds of symbols and was probably very
difficult to learn. It was not a true ____________ which consists of a very few
letters that only represent sounds.
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studying writing
alphabet representing
believed |
Sumerian Religious Structure
Sumer is the ____________ part of Mesopotamia.
The Sumerian ____________ was
the first to be written in cuneiform.
The stories of Sumerian gods and legendary heroes were ____________ on clay tablets. These stories were passed down from
generation to ____________. Even
after Sumerian was no longer spoken by ordinary Mesopotamians, the language was
still taught in schools and used in religious ____________ until their civilization came to an end.
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recorded ceremonies language southernmost generation |
The ancient Mesopotamians ____________ that humans were created
to serve and feed their gods. Even the
kings were servants to the gods.
Ancient Mesopotamians believed in hundreds of gods. Each city had its own chief god, but there
were many ____________ gods. At the end, the ____________ Mesopotamian god was Marduk, the chief god of Babylon
which ruled all the other ____________. Partly because of their writing system, many
ancient Mesopotamian legends and religious ideas were
passed on to other peoples
like the ancient ____________ and
the Hebrews.
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believed Greeks supreme
cities lesser |
Characteristics of Mesopotamian Civilization
Sentence Combining
Rewrite the following sentences by combining
them into one grammatically correct sentence.
The first one has been done for you.
1. Egyptian pyramids were houses of the dead. Mesopotamian ziggurats were lively places.
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Egyptian pyramids were houses of the dead, but
Mesopotamian ziggurats were lively places |
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2. Egyptian pyramids were monumental structures. Mesopotamian ziggurats were monumental
structures.
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3. Egypt had a lot of stone for building. Mesopotamia did not have much stone for
building.
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4. Scholars study clay tablets of different ages. Scholars study these clay tablets to learn
how cuneiform writing developed.
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5. Mesopotamian students were taught how to read
Sumerian. They were also taught how to
write Sumerian. This continued long
after ordinary Mesopotamians no longer spoke Sumerian.
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Characteristics of Mesopotamian Civilization
a.
Temple Towers known as Ziggurats b.
Clay Tablets with Cuneiform Writing c.
Sumerian Religious Structure |
Word Bank 1
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noun |
adjective |
verb |
adverb |
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belief |
believable, believed |
believe |
believably |
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Greek |
Greek |
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city |
citified, urban |
citify |
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less, least |
less, least |
lessen |
|
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record, recording |
recorded |
record |
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|
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southernmost |
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|
generation |
|
generate |
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studies |
studious |
study |
studiously |
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writing, writer |
written |
write |
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representative |
representative, represented |
represent |
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tablet |
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civilization |
civilized, civil |
civilize |
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archaeologist, archaeology |
archaeological |
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archaeologically |
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scholar |
scholarly |
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scholarly |
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temple |
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monument |
monumental |
monumentalize |
monumentally |
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ziggurat |
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Babylon |
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peninsula |
peninsular |
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complex |
complex |
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decade |
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Characteristics of Mesopotamian Civilization
Across
5 (n) the time it takes for babies to grow up and have their own
babies 10 (n) someone or something that stands for someone or something else 15 (n) a complex culture
where people can live in cities 17 (adj) behaving in a
polite, formal, or civilized way 18 (adj) a place to which
every other place is northerly 19 (n) a person from the
peninsula between Italy and Turkey |
Down
1 (n) ten year (one tenth of
a century or one hundredth of a millennia) 2 (adj) not as much (the
opposite of "more") 3 (adj) long lasting,
memorable, very large in size 4 (v) to write down, to
store information to be used later 6 (adj) not simple, having
many parts, involving many angles or problems 7 (n) a scholar who digs up
objects from the past 8 (n) the most remembered
city of ancient Mesopotamia 9 (n) an ancient Mesopotamian
temple that towered over a city 11 (n) land jutting out into
water so that three sides of it are bordered by water or sea 12 (n) something thought to
be true 13 (n) a place where tens of
thousands of people live for years or decades 14 (n) a hard surface for
writing (in Babylonia, these were made of clay) 16 (n) a building used for
religious purposes |
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archaeologist |
(n)
a scholar who digs up objects from the past |
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Babylon |
(n)
the most remembered city of ancient Mesopotamia |
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belief |
(n)
something thought to be true |
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city |
(n)
a place where tens of thousands of people live for years or decades |
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civil |
(adj)
behaving in a polite, formal, or civilized way |
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civilization |
(n)
a complex culture where people can live in cities |
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complex |
(adj)
not simple, having many parts, involving many angles or problems |
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decade |
(n)
ten year (one tenth of a century or one hundredth of a millennia) |
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generation |
(n)
the time it takes for babies to grow up and have their own babies |
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Greek |
(n)
a person from the peninsula between Italy and Turkey |
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less |
(adj)
not as much (the opposite of “more”) |
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monumental |
(adj)
long lasting, memorable, very large in size |
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peninsula |
(n)
land jutting out into water so that three sides of it are bordered by water
or sea |
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record |
(v)
to write down, to store information to be used later |
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representative |
(n)
someone or something that stands for someone or something else |
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southernmost |
(adj)
a place to which every other place is northerly |
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tablet |
(n)
a hard surface for writing (in Babylonia, these were made of clay) |
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temple |
(n)
a building used for religious purposes |
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ziggurat |
(n)
an ancient Mesopotamian temple that towered over a city |
Mesopotamian
Civilization
Crossword II
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Across 6 a set of symbols each representing a particular sound first developed in Phoenicia (ancient Lebanon) 9 the system of writing developed in ancient Sumeria and used in Mesopotamia until the adoption of the Phoenician alphabet 12 referring to the first civilization to develop along the Nile
River 13 stories usually describing the adventures of heroes (and
sometimes gods) 15 the most important city in ancient Mesopotamia 18 the Christian Holy Book 21 the past participle of teach 22 a stiff sheet of writing material 24 a culture that has achieved a high degree of specialization 25 a telling or narrative, an explanatory myth or theory 26 a store of books or writings,
a structure built to hold writings or books 27 a single ruler (chosen by inheritance or priestly election), a
monarch or sovereign 29 (in very ancient times) the southern part of Mesopotamia, (in
later ancient times known as Babylonia) 31 a settlement home to tens of thousands of people with
specialized buildings, occupations, and infrastructure 36 room, small enclosure, bedroom 38 divine beings, deities - they are often immortal with
superhuman powers 39 everyday, neither unusual nor important 41 the ancient name for Iraq 45 having to do with reverence and worship of gods or deities 46 ten to the second power, ten to the power of two, ten times ten 47 very old, extremely antiquated 48 ten times one hundred (one hundred ten times), ten to the third
power 49 (once seafaring raiders), a people famous for inventing
systematic scientific thinking (and also vowels for the alphabet they
borrowed from the Phoenicians) |
Down1 Mesopotamian temple tower 2 adult female humans 3 heavy wet sticky soil, a fine grained material occurring
naturally in soils and sediments 4 the abode of the gods (in Sumerian mythology, the region
above the sky) 5 (once pastoral nomads) a people famous for first believing in
a monotheistic (only one god) religion which placed extreme importance on
moral and ethical behavior 7 bipedal primates scientifically known as homo sapiens 8 associated with herds or flocks of domesticated animals 10 the time it takes for an infant to mature
and
become a parent 11 an arrangement, an ordered or structured set of rules which
often takes into account what is more important and what is less important
(and has ways of preventing and detecting errors) 13 one of many human speech systems 14 highest, most important or powerful 16 rules for good conduct enforced by a government 17 a series of items that usually does not indicate which items
are more or less important 19 ancient Lebanon - this word is the root word for our words
"phonetic" and "phonics" 20 places where reading, writing, mathematics and, sometimes,
other skills are taught 22 a structure built to emphasize its height 23 building material made of clay and dried in the sun or hardened
by fire 28 to itemize, to arrange words or phrases one after another but
often without regard to order or importance 30 the chief god of Babylon 32 a list of goods held in storage or for sale 33 a legal agreement usually witnessed by a third party 34 dug up, revealed 35 a 3 dimensional triangular building 37 are usually constructed for human habitation 40 written, (information stored for later retrieval) 42 rock used as structural or building material 43 the most important, the one in charge 44 a story that cannot be factually verified, a religious belief
no longer respected |
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Word Bank II
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chamber Egyptian pyramid ziggurat tower humans Bible brick |
chief Marduk city women heaven stone buildings clay |
library tablet inventory contract (v) list myth gods |
civilization laws ancient king thousand uncovered (n) list |
hundred system supreme legends Greeks Hebrews pastoral |
Mesopotamia Sumer language cuneiform story generation ordinary |
taught recorded schools religious alphabet Phoenicia Babylon |
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alphabet |
a set of
symbols each representing a particular sound first developed in
Phoenicia (ancient Lebanon) |