| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Fertile Crescent | The arc of fertile farmland between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers |
| Mesopotamia | The name of the land in the Fertile Crescent; "land between the rivers" |
| city-state | an ancient city that is run like a country, with its own gov't and ruler |
| polytheism | the belief in many gods (the Sumerians believed in over 300 gods) |
| cultural diffusion | the spread of ideas, knowledge, etc from one culture to another |
| empire | a kingdom that gets bigger by conquering other lands |
| dynasty | a series of rulers from the same family |
| arch | a curved structure over an opening (like a door, hall, or window) |
| Hammurabi | a Babylonian king noted for his Code of Laws |
| irrigation | a canal system used to get water to fields |
| Gilgamesh | A mythical Sumerian king who went on a quest for immortality. |
| cuneiform | ancient Sumerian writing which is produced by pressing a stylus into wet clay |
| ziggurat | a Sumerian step pyramid |
| Epic of Gilgamesh | 1st written story; it tells of a great flood |
| Assyria | "A land bathed in blood;" people noted for brutal war tactics |
| Hittites | People noted for being the first to smelt iron; they ushered in the Iron Age |
| Babylon | Fabulous multi-cultural city-state; where the Israelites first wrote down the Bible |
| Sumer | Oldest civilization--people invented plow, arch, wheel, sail, etc. |
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