Mesopotamia - Middle School and High School

This vocabulary list will take you back to the Bronze Age! Learn all about the ancient Mesopotamian civilizations that developed between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. You'll explore the politics, religious traditions, and agricultural practices of the region, as well as the ancient writing known as cuneiform and structures like the stele and the ziggurat.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. agriculture
    the practice of cultivating the land or raising stock
  2. Alexander the Great
    king of Macedon
  3. artisan
    a skilled worker who practices some trade or handicraft
  4. Ashurbanipal
    king of Assyria who built a magnificent palace and library at Nineveh (668-627 BC)
  5. Assyria
    an ancient kingdom in northern Mesopotamia which is in present-day Iraq
  6. astronomy
    the branch of physics that studies celestial bodies
  7. Babylon
    the chief city of ancient Mesopotamia and capital of the ancient kingdom of Babylonia
  8. barter
    exchange goods without involving money
  9. bronze
    an alloy of copper and tin and sometimes other elements
  10. Bronze Age
    (archeology) a period between the Stone and Iron Ages, characterized by the manufacture and use of bronze tools and weapons
  11. Canaan
    an ancient country in southwestern Asia on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea; a place of pilgrimage for Christianity and Islam and Judaism
  12. canal
    long and narrow strip of water for boats or for irrigation
  13. Chaldea
    an ancient region of Mesopotamia lying between the Euphrates delta and the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Desert; settled in 1000 BC and destroyed by the Persians in 539 BC; reached the height of its power under Nebuchadnezzar II
  14. city-state
    an independent nation comprised of a single town
  15. civilization
    a society in an advanced state of social development
  16. code
    a set of rules or principles or laws
  17. crop
    a cultivated plant that is grown commercially
  18. cuneiform
    an ancient wedge-shaped script used in Mesopotamia
  19. Cyrus
    Persian prince who was defeated in battle by his brother Artaxerxes II (424-401 BC)
  20. Darius I
    king of Persia who expanded the Persian Empire and invaded Greece but was defeated at the battle of Marathon (550-486 BC)
  21. Darius III
    king of Persia who was defeated by Alexander the Great
  22. deity
    a supernatural being worshipped as controlling the world
  23. diaspora
    the dispersion of something that was originally localized
  24. drought
    a shortage of rainfall
  25. dynasty
    a sequence of powerful leaders in the same family
  26. empire
    the domain ruled by a single authoritative sovereign
  27. epic
    a long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds
  28. erosion
    the process of wearing or grinding something down
  29. Euphrates
    a river in southwestern Asia
  30. famine
    a severe shortage of food resulting in starvation and death
  31. fertile
    marked by great fruitfulness
  32. Fertile Crescent
    a geographical area of fertile land in the Middle East stretching in a broad semicircle from the Nile to the Tigris and Euphrates
  33. Gilgamesh
    a legendary Sumerian king who was the hero of an epic collection of mythic stories
  34. Hammurabi
    Babylonian king who codified the laws of Sumer and Mesopotamia (died 1750 BC)
  35. Hebrew
    of or relating to or characteristic of the Hebrews
  36. idol
    a material effigy that is worshipped
  37. inscription
    the activity of carving or engraving letters or words
  38. Iron Age
    the period following the Bronze Age
  39. irrigation
    the act of supplying dry land with water by artificial means
  40. Ishtar
    Babylonian and Assyrian goddess of love and fertility and war; counterpart to the Phoenician Astarte
  41. lapis lazuli
    a deep blue gemstone with tiny gold specks
  42. levee
    an embankment built to prevent a river from overflowing
  43. library
    a place containing books and other materials for reading
  44. Macedonia
    the ancient kingdom of Philip II and Alexander the Great in the southeastern Balkans that is now divided among modern Macedonia and Greece and Bulgaria
  45. Marduk
    the chief Babylonian god; his consort was Sarpanitu
  46. Mesopotamia
    the land between the Tigris and Euphrates
  47. migrate
    move from one country or region to another and settle there
  48. migration
    the movement of persons from one locality to another
  49. monotheism
    belief in a single God
  50. Nebuchadnezzar
    (Old Testament) king of Chaldea who captured and destroyed Jerusalem and exiled the Israelites to Babylonia (630?-562 BC)
  51. Nineveh
    an ancient Assyrian city on the Tigris across from the modern city of Mosul in the northern part of what is now known as Iraq
  52. nomadic
    relating to persons or groups who travel in search of food or work
  53. Persia
    an empire in southern Asia created by Cyrus the Great in the 6th century BC and destroyed by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC
  54. pictograph
    an image or drawing used to represent a word or phrase
  55. plow
    a farm tool for breaking up or turning over soil
  56. polytheism
    belief in multiple gods
  57. priest
    a person who performs religious duties and ceremonies
  58. province
    the territory in an administrative district of a nation
  59. resource
    a new or reserve supply that can be drawn upon when needed
  60. sacrifice
    the act of killing in order to appease a deity
  61. satrap
    a governor of a province in ancient Persia
  62. scribe
    someone employed to make written copies of documents
  63. Sennacherib
    king of Assyria who invaded Judea twice and defeated Babylon and rebuilt Nineveh after it had been destroyed by Babylonians (died in 681 BC)
  64. Shamash
    the chief sun god
  65. siege
    an action of an armed force that surrounds a fortified place
  66. silt
    mud or clay or small rocks deposited by a river or lake
  67. slavery
    the practice or system of owning people as property
  68. specialization
    making something suitable for a particular purpose
  69. stele
    an ancient upright stone slab bearing markings
  70. stylus
    a pointed tool for writing, drawing, or engraving
  71. Sumer
    an area in the southern region of Babylonia in present-day Iraq; site of the Sumerian civilization of city-states that flowered during the third millennium BC
  72. tablet
    a slab of stone or wood on which something is inscribed
  73. taxation
    imposition of charges against a citizen's person or property
  74. technology
    the practical application of science to commerce or industry
  75. temple
    a place of worship
  76. textile
    artifact made by weaving or felting or knitting fibers
  77. Tigris
    an Asian river; a tributary of the Euphrates River
  78. trade
    the commercial exchange of goods and services
  79. tribe
    a group of people with shared ancestry and customs
  80. tribute
    payment by one nation for protection by another
  81. Ur
    an ancient city of Sumer located on a former channel of the Euphrates River
  82. warfare
    the waging of armed conflict against an enemy
  83. wheel
    a simple machine consisting of a circular frame with spokes (or a solid disc) that can rotate on a shaft or axle (as in vehicles or other machines)
  84. ziggurat
    a rectangular tiered temple or terraced mound
  85. Zoroaster
    Persian prophet who founded Zoroastrianism
  86. Zoroastrianism
    system of religion founded in Persia in the 6th century BC by Zoroaster; set forth in the Zend-Avesta; based on concept of struggle between light (good) and dark (evil)
Created on Thu Jan 12 09:16:27 EST 2017 (updated Mon Apr 03 16:02:40 EDT 2017)

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