| A | B |
|---|
| Sumer is located in what modern day country? | Iraq |
| Were they polytheistic or monotheistic? | Polytheistic - they believed in many gods |
| When were the first cities and towns formed in Sumer? | 5,000 BCE |
| Where was Sumer located? | In southern Mesopotamia |
| Between what two river was Sumer located? | The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers |
| The Sumerians were the first people to...? | Farm the land |
| Sumer was not an empire, it was a group of... | city-states |
| Walls were built around the cities... | to protect them from invaders and warring neighbors |
| What were their temples called? | Ziggurats |
| Where were the ziggurats located? | In the center of Sumerian cities |
| Why were ziggurats important? | For religious purposes; for elaborate rituals and ceremonies |
| Each city state had its own... | ruler (like a king or governor) |
| Sumer also had a complex | government with officials who helped to run the city |
| Cuneiform was... | the first form of writing |
| How was cunieform written? | By pressing a wedge shaped stick called a stylus into wet, soft clay, forming triangular shapes & lines |
| Was the cuneiform system an alaphabet or pictographs | Pictographs |
| A pictograph represented... | an entire word |
| The capital city state of Sumer was... | Ur |
| A ziggurat looked like a... | step pyramid with a flat top |
| Why do historians believe that Sumerians invented the wheel? | Because the earliest artwork that shows the wheel is credited to the Sumerians |
| Name a few of their inventions besides writing and the wheel? | The 60 minute hour/60 second minute, an accurate 12-month calendar, the 360 degree circle, and the 12-inch foot |
| The first known city on Earth was thought to be... | Eridu |
| Why was Mesopotamia known as the "Cradle of Civilization"? | Because the first civilization began there, in Sumer |
| What was the number system based on? | The number 60 |
| Building in Sumer were made from... | sun-dried bricks |
