Name: __________________________________
Mesopotamia Vocabulary
Directions: Use this list to study your vocabulary. Put a check mark beside the words you know, circle the
number beside the words you do not know.
1. Mesopotamia: Land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers; located in present-day Iraq.
2. Silt: a mixture of rich soil good for farming; covered Mesopotamia when the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers flooded.
3. Fertile Crescent: a large arc of rich, or fertile, farmland that includes Mesopotamia.
4. Irrigation: supplying water to an area of land; used to water crops for farming.
5. Cuneiform: the world’s first system of writing.
6. City-State: a city and all the land around it; a city that is like a small country.
7. Division of Labor: each worker specializes in a particular task or job.
8. Hammurabi’s Code: Written by King Hammurabi; one of the oldest sets of laws in the
world, “an eye for an eye”.
9. Polytheism: belief in more than 1 god.
10.
Ziggurat: a pyramid-shaped temple located in each city-state.
Fertile Crescent