| Name, Term, Concept |
Description/Definition |
| Abraham | father of the nation of Israel |
| Sargon the Great | an Akkadian king who conquered the Sumerians |
| Hammurabi | king of Babylon known for his laws; he united all of Mesopotamia under one empire. |
| Baal | chief god of the Canaanites |
| Joseph | Jacob's favorite son who was sold into slavery by his brothers |
| Dispersion | the scattering of people over the earth |
| Fertile Crescent | area in the Middle East known for its ability to grow crops; its shape resembles a crescent moon. |
| Tigris River | helped make the land of Sumer fertile; name means "arrow." |
| Euphrates River | helped make the land of Sumer fertile; name means "that makes fruitful." |
| Mesopotamia | the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers |
| Ur | one of the chief cities of Sumer |
| cuneiform | wedge-shaped writing of the Sumerians |
| polytheist | worshiper of many gods |
| monotheist | worshiper of one god. |
| humanist | one who makes man into a god. |
| ziggurat | a tower built in tiers or stages, each stae smaller than the one beneath |
| empire | rule by one city or people over other cities or peoples |
| bureaucracy | an organized group of people appointed by a ruler to help him govern. |
| laws | rules people follow in living together. |
| promulgation | making laws known. |
| equality under the law | all people who commit the same crime should be punished in the same way. |
| Canaan | center of the ancient world |
| nation-state | a nation or a people living in its own land with its own government. |
| Where did Abraham live before he was called by God to journey to Canaan | Ur |
| Shinar | the biblical name for the region of Sumer |
| Anu | Sumerian god the the sky |
| Nanna | Sumerian god who supposedly owned the city of Ur |
| Shamash | sun god |
| Marduk | chief god of Babylon who became the king of all the gods |
| King Ur-Nammu | pictured as the builder of a ziggurat |
| Amorites and Elamites | invaded the Sumerian empire in the 1900s B.C. and brought the empire to an end. |
| Babylon | the capital city of Hammurabi's Babylonian empire. |
| Megiddo | the valley which is to be the last battleground of world history; also called Armageddon |
| wheel | a simple device known to be used by the Sumerians |
| Patriarchs | founding fathers |
