| A | B |
|---|
| Civilizations | complex societies with cities, organized governments, art, religion, social class divisions, and a system of writing |
| Mesopotamia | the eastern part of the Fertile Crescent and what is current-day Iraq; "the land between the rivers" |
| Irrigation | a way of bringing water to crops |
| Sumer | a region in southern Mesopotamia that become organized in about 3,000 B.C |
| City-state | an organization of government that was not part of a larger empire or government; self-contained in a city |
| Artisans | skilled worker who made such things a metal products, woven cloth, made pottery or other items that required a high level of skill and practice |
| Cuneiform | a Sumerian system of writing that consisted of hundreds of wedge-shaped marks that were cut into soft clay tables |
| Scribes | people who were highly trained, generally from the wealthiest families, who knew how to write (cuneiform); these were the record keepers of Sumer |
| Sargon | King of the Akkadians in about 2,340 B.C. ; conquered all of Mesopotamia and his empire lasted more than 200 years |
| Empire | the grouping of many different lands under the command or rule of a single government or ruler |
| Babylon | a great Mesopotamian city near the Euphrates River; near present-day Baghdad; in 1792 B.C. became a center for regional trade |
| Hammurabi | a Babylonian King who is best remembered for establishing written laws (Hammurabi’s Code, pp. 24 and 25). |
