| A | B |
|---|
| Fertile Crescent | an area of rich farmland in Southwest Asia where the first civilizations began |
| silt | a mixture of fertile soil and tiny rocks that can make land ideal for farming |
| irrigation | a way of supplying water to an area of land |
| canals | a human-made waterway |
| surplus | more of something that is needed |
| division of labor | an arrangement in which each worker specializes in a particular task or job |
| rural | a country side area |
| urban | a city area |
| city-state | a political unit consisting of a city and its surrounding countryside |
| Gilgamesh | One of the Uruk's kings, became a legendary figure in Sumarian literature |
| Sargon | sought to extend Akkadian territory Sargon established the world's first empire |
| empire | land with different territories and peoples under a single rule |
| polytheism | the worship of many gods |
| priests | a person who performs religious ceremonies |
| social hierarchy | the division of society by rank or class |
| cuneiform | the world's first system of writting;developed in Sumer |
| pictographs | a picture symbol |
| scribe | a writer |
| epics | long poems that tell stories of heroes |
| architecture | the science of building |
| ziggurat | a pyramid-shaped temple in Sumer |
| monarch | a ruler of a kingdom or empire |
| Hammurabi's Code | a set of 282 laws governing daily life in Babylon;the earliest known collection of written laws |
| chariot | a wheeled,horse-drawn cart used in battle |
| Nebuchadnezzar | the most famous Chaldean king,rebuilt Babylon into a beautiful city. |
| alphabet | a set of letters that can be combined to form words |
