Chapter 2 Vocab - Honors World History

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Ziggurat

a massive stepped tower in which temples were built atop

Theocracy

a government by divine authority

Cuneiform

a wedge shaped system of writing

Empire

a large political unit or state

Patriarchal

male dominated society

Tigris River

northern point of Mesopotamia

Euphrates River

Southern point of Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia

the land “between the rivers”

Fertile Crescent

an arc of land from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf

Sumerians

the creators of the first Mesopotamian civilization

Uruk

independent city in southern Mesopotamia

Akkadians

north of the Sumerian city-states, spoke a Semitic language

Sargon

leader of the Akkadians, overran the Sumerian city-states and set up the first empire in world history

Babylon

city-state south of Akkad where Hammurabi came to power

Hammurabi

gained power in Babylon and controlled Sumer and Akkad, thus creating a new Mesopotamian kingdom. After his death in 1750 B.C.; a series of weak kings started