| A | B |
|---|
| code of law | a written sent of laws that apply to everyone under a government |
| aqueduct | a raised waterway |
| Assyria | an ancient country along the Tigris River in present-day Iraq. The country is centered around the city of Ashur in the 2200s BCE |
| Nineveh | ancient city on the Tigris River and capital of Assyria from 704 BCE to 612 BCE |
| Hammurabi | King of the Babylonian Empire; creator of one of the world's oldest know codes of law |
| Babylonia | an ancient Mesopotamian empire that extended throughout the eastern portion of the Fertile Crescent . |
| Judaism | the religion of the Jewish people |
| covenant | a special agreement |
| prophet | a person who is believed to speak for God |
| Torah | the first five books of the Hebrew Bible containing the laws and teachings of Judaism |
| monotheism | a belief in one God |
| Ten Commandments | According to the Hebrew Bible, the laws God gave Moses on Mount Sinai |
| Diaspora | the scattering of Jews to many parts of the world |
| Abraham | founder of Judiasm; led his family from Ur. to Canaan |
| Canaan | present-day Israel and Palestine in what was the southwestern portion of the Fertile Crescent, west of the Jordan River |
| Moses | prophet who led the Israelites our of slavery in Egypt |
| Mount Sinai | mountain where, according to the Bible, the Ten Commandments were given to Moses |
| David | king of Israel who made Jerusalem his capital |
| Jerusalem | an ancient city in western Asia; capital of present-day Israel |
| Solomon | son of David and king of Israel; built the temple at Jerusalem |
| Israel | a country in western Asia, created in 1948 as a home for the Jews; ancient kingdom of Israelites |
| silt | a mixture of tiny bits of soil and rock carried and deposited by a river |
| drought | a long period of dry weather |
| levee | a wall built along a riverbank to prevent flooding |
| irrigation | the watering of dry land by means of canals or pipes |
| erosion | the gradual wearing away of soil and rock by wind, glaciers, or water |
| cuneiform | a system of writing that used wedge-shaped symbols to represent sounds, ideas, and objects; developed in ancient Sumer |
| scribe | a professional writer who kept records and copied letters and official documents |
| city-state | a self-governing city, often with surrounding lands and villages |
| ziggurat | a large pyramid with several stories built by the ancient Sumerians, Assyrians, and Babylonians |
| polytheism | the belief in many gods and goddesses |
| empire | a group of lands and peoples ruled by one government |
| Fertile Crescent | a fertile region in southwestern Asia that includes Mesopotamia and the eastern Mediterranean |
| Tigris River/Euphrates River | a river in southwestern Asia that flows through the eastern part of the Fertile Crescent |
| Mesopotamia | the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; birthplace of the Sumerian and Babylonian civilizations |
| Enheduana | Sumerian priestess, poet, and daughter of Sargon |
| Sargon | king who united the city-states of Sumer to create an empire |
| Gilgamesh | legendary Mesopotamian king and hero |
