| A | B |
|---|
| Hierarchy | system of ranks within society |
| Epic of Gilgamesh | an epic poem recounting the adventure of a Sumerian hero |
| Mesopotamia | the region of the Fertile Crescent |
| Sumer | an early civilization of city-states in Mesopotamia around 3200 B.C. |
| ziggurat | a type of pyramid temple built by Sumerians |
| cuneiform | an early form of Sumerian writing |
| cuneus | meaning wedge shaped |
| criminal law | the branch of law that deals with offenses against others such as robbery and murder |
| civil law | the branch that deals with private rights and matters |
| tolerance | term meaning acceptance |
| barter economy | the exchange of one set of goods or services for another |
| money economy | the exchange of goods or services for some token of an agreed value such as a coin |
| colony | a territory settled and ruled by people from another land |
| alphabet | symbols that represent spoken sounds |
| Akkad | the first empire in Mesopotamia |
| Sargon | the great Akkad leader |
| Nineveh | Assyrian city with great library |
| Hanging Garden | one of the ancient wonders of the world built in Babylonia by Nebuchadnezzar |
| Nebuchadnezzar | a great Babylonian leader who restored Babylon but destroyed the Temple of the Israelites |
| Darius | was a great Persian leader who standardized the weights and measures of the Persian Empire |
| Hittite | a group of people who were the first to smelt iron |
| Phoenicians | a people known as the carriers of civilization and they developed the alphabet that our language is based on today |
| Assyria | “was a very intolerant civilization; this empire incorporated all of Mesopotamia and Egypt and destroyed the nation of Israel” |
| Persia | the largest Mesopotamian Empire stretching from India to Egypt |
| Babylonian II | a very intolerant civilization of Mesopotamia the nation of Judah was captured and this period is known as the Babylonian Exile |
| codify | arrange and set down in writing the laws that govern a state |
| satrap | governor of a Persian province |
| Hammurabi | a great Babylonian ruler who is known for first writing down the code of law an eye for an eye is a well known section of this law code |
| Assurbanipal | leader of Assyria that built the library in Nineveh |
| Cyrus the Great | the first ruler to conquer all the great land holdings of Persia |
| Zoroaster | a Persian thinker who developed religious beliefs in one god and in the concept of good vs. evil |
| bureaucracy | a system of managing government through various bureaus or departments run by appointed officials |
| Fertile Crescent | another name for Mesopotamia |
| Babylonian I | early Mesopotamia Empire in which law was first codified |
