`Name________________________________________________Date: ________________Period______

Mesopotamia Unit Test

(modified)
Section 1: Circle the letter of the correct answer.

1) Cuneiform is best defined as:

a) pictures of ancient people drawn on walls.
b) one of the first writing systems made by the Sumerians.

2) The creation of writing helped Sumerians by

a) improving communication for trading.
b) making it more difficult to trade.

3)
a)
b)
c)

A city-state must have

an independent government.
control of the area surrounding the city.
both of the above

4) Hammurabi was
a) the Emperor of Persia.
b) the King of Babylon.

5) The Persian Empire controlled their huge empire by

a) forcing people to change to their religion and culture .
b) allowing people to keep their own religion and culture.

6) One of Zoroastrianism's main beliefs was:

a) that people could choose to go to heaven by doing good deeds.
b) that there were many gods.

7)
a)
b)
c)
d)

Hammurabis Code had laws about:

personal injury.
property.
family life.
all of the above

8) In Ancient Babylon, what was the correct order of the social pyramid, starting with the most powerful group?
a) Slaves, free people, free men that owned land
b) Free men that owned land, free people, slaves

9) The Persian Empire collected a certain amount of tribute from each conquered territory based on
a) the same amount from each territory.
b) how wealthy each territory was.

10) If territories did not pay tribute to the Persian Empire, what would happen?
a) The army would come to take their tribute...and maybe even more.
b) Nothing. There was no penalty or consequence.

(test continued on next page)

Section 2. Fill in the blanks using the word banks.

punishments

innocent

weak

1. What are two (2) reasons Hammurabis Code was JUST?

Hammurabis Code was just because it protected the
__________________________ and the _______________________.
It spelled out the laws and the __________________________ for
breaking the laws.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

men

free

cruel

2. What are two (2) reasons Hammurabis Code was UNJUST?

Hammurabis Code was unjust because the punishments were
__________________. The laws were also unjust because they
favored _______________ and _______________ people.

(test continued on next page)

Section 3. Use all but one word in each Word Bank to fill in the blanks below it.

These paragraphs explain the sequence of kingdoms in Mesopotamia.

Word bank: (Use all except one word.)
Persia

Sumer

government

city-states

weak

attacks

competed

army

Civilizations in ancient Mesopotamia rose and fell. The first civilization was called ________________. It
was made up of many ________________________________, and each one had its own well-organized
____________________________. Instead of cooperating with each other, they
_______________________ against each other. They had no standing _______________. Their central
government was __________ and they were open to ________________ by________________________.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Word bank: (You will use all except one word.)
Sumer

Babylonians

Hammurabi

kingdom

strong

weak

lands

divide

It was the ______________________________________ who conquered Sumer. They had

a strong leader named _____________________________________. They also had a strong standing
army and a ____________________ central government. They worked together to ___________________
and conquer the city-states of ______________. They took other ________________ , too, and this
allowed Babylonia to rise up as a big and powerful _________________________.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------weak

Sumer

Babylonian

decisions

Neb

guards

outsiders

attack

After Hammurabi died, there were other strong leaders of the ___________________________________
Kingdom. One was King __________________. Unfortunately, when this king died, he left poor leaders in
charge. They fought against each other, so the central government became ___________________. They
did not make good _____________________. While everyone partied, they had no __________________

protecting the walls around the capital city. They were weak and open to ___________________________
by outsiders.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------control

Cyrus the Great

Babylonia

conquering

Immortals
Sumer

Persia
walls

At the same time, _____________________ was growing rapidly by ______________________________

other lands. How did they rise to power? They had a strong central government, and they had a strong ruler
named ______________________________________. They also had a strong standing army of
10,000 highly skilled soldiers called the____________________________. One night, while the people in
Babylon were having a party, the Persian Immortals climbed over the unsecured _____________ and
took _________________________of the capital city. The kingdom of _____________________________
fell, and the Persian Empire became the largest the world had ever seen. But like the kingdoms of Sumer
and Babylonia, the kingdom of Persia woud eventually fall, too.