artisan one able to do skilled workwith the hands; a craftsperson

astronomer person who studies stars, planets, and otherheavenly bodies, a scientist who studies the

universe beyond Earth

caravan group of traveling merchantsand animals

city-state a city and its surroundinglands that act as a government

civilization a society with cities, a central government,job specialization, and social classes

cuneiform Sumerian writing made by pressing awedge-shaped tool into clay tablets

empire land with different territoriesand people under one ruler

Epic of Gilgamesh The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem fromAncient Mesopotamia and is among theearliest known works of literary fiction.

fertile rich in material needed togrow healthy plants

fertile crescent Found along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, this wasthe first early river civilization. The cities in this areawere governed by city-states and used irrigation toproduced their corps.

gulf an arm of a sea or oceanpartly enclosed by land

Hammurabi King of the Babylonian empire; creator ofthe Code of Hammurabi, one of the world's

oldest codes of law.

irrigation The process of supplying water to areas ofland to make them suitable for growing

crops.

Mesopotamia first civilization located between the Tigris &Eurphrates Rivers in present day Iraq; term means"land between the rivers;" Sumerian culture

Nebuchadnezzar A Babylonian king who conqueredJerusalem,and built the Hanging Gardens of

Babylon

province territory governed as a unit within acountry or empire; political district

Sargon leader of the Akkadians, overran thesumerian city-states and set up the first

empire in world history

scribe one of the professional recordkeepers in early civilizations

social class a group of people with similar backgrounds,incomes, and ways of living

Ziggurat a massive stepped tower on which was builta temple dedicated to the chief god or

goddess of a sumerian city