Mesopotamia

Euphrates

River in Mesopotamia.

Tigris

River in Mesopotamia.

Uruk

An early urban center in Mesopotamia, with a population of around 50,000 circa 2900 BC.

Eridu

An early urban center in Mesopotamia, with a population of around 4,000 circa 4000 BC, famous for its temple possibly linked to the Tower of Babel.

Epic of Gilgamesh

An epic story of a Sumerian king seeking immortality.

Innana/Ishtar

Goddess of love and fertility in Mesopotamian religion.

An

Sumerian sky/creator god.

Shamash

The sun god and god of justice.

Eanna complex

Temple complex dedicated to Inanna at Uruk, worked on by 15,000 laborers for five years.

Akkad

Urban center in northern Mesopotamia that became dominant around 2350 BC.

Sargon

Akkadian king who created the first territorial kingdom in Mesopotamia.

Hammurabi

Babylonian king known for his code and for creating a large empire centered on Babylon (1792-1750 BC).

ziggurat

A Sumerian temple.

Amorite and Aramaic

Semitic languages spoken in northern Mesopotamia.

bala taxation system

Advance budgeting system used by the city of Ur, calculating each province's contribution based on agricultural potential.

Hittites

People from Anatolia who mastered chariot warfare and sacked Babylon in 1595 BC.

Suppiluliuma I

The founder and most successful Hittite ruler of the New Kingdom (1344-1322 BC).

Hurrians

Population group in northern Mesopotamia; they developed their own state called Mittani and emphasized horsemanship.

Nabuchadnezzar I

King of Babylon during the Isin Dynasty (1125-1104 BC) known for taking revenge on Elam and recovering Marduk's statue.