TCI Lesson 4: The Rise of Sumerian City-States

city-state

• arranged in a difficult way

• an early city that was like a small, independent country with its own laws and government

• to build; usually some kind of structure, such as a house

Euphrates River

• one of the two largest rivers in Southwest Asia that flow from the deserts in Turkey to the Persian Gulf

• one of the two largest rivers in Northwest Asia that flow from the mountains in Turkey to the Persian Gulf

• one of the two largest rivers in Southwest Asia that flow from the mountains in Turkey to the Persian Gulf

irrigation

• a means of supplying land with water

• a substance that lies between or above other things

• a means of supplying water with land

levee

• A dam

• a wall of earth built to prevent a river from flooding its banks

• A series of locks like the panama canal

Mesopotamia

• a single city located in present-day Egypt

• the name of a mountain range in Asia.

• in ancient times, the geographic area located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers

silt

• fine particles of rock

• a resource that can be used to make something else

• a wall of earth built to prevent a river from flooding its banks

Sumer

• an area in western Mesopotamia, where cities first appeared

• an area in northern Mesopotamia, where cities first appeared

• an area in southern Mesopotamia, where cities first appeared

Tigris River

• one of the two largest rivers in Southwest Asia that flow from the mountains in Turkey to the Pacific Ocean

• one of the two largest rivers in Southwest Asia that flow from the mountains in Turkey to the Persian Gulf

• one of the two largest rivers in Southwest Asia that flow from the deserts in Turkey to the Persian Gulf

The few Sumerians who learned how to write often held high positions in society as what?

• artisans
• scribes
• heads of households
• merchants

Sumer was mainly made up of..

• City States
• An empire
• Villages
• Farms