Test your knowledge with 17 commented exercises about the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia at different levels: easy, medium and hard.
easy level questions
question 1
The region called Mesopotamia lay between the rivers
a) Nile and Ganges
b) Tiger and Euphrates
c) Nile and Tiger
d) Ganges and Euphrates
e) Ganges and Tiger
Correct alternative: b) Tigris and Euphrates
The Nile River is in Africa and the Ganges River is in India.
question 2
Some people who were part of the Mesopotamian civilization are
a) Sumerians and Akkadians
b) Greeks and Romans
c) Greeks and Egyptians
d) Sumerians and Romans
e) Egyptians and Akkadians
Correct alternative: a) Sumerians and Akkadians
Sumerians and Akkadians inhabited the Fertile Crescent region. The Sumerians in lands that correspond to present-day Iraq and Kuwait, while the Akkadians in what is now Iraq. Both peoples were unified by King Sargon I.
See too: Akkadians
question 3
The name of the region that gave rise to several civilizations of antiquity and had a fertile land was
a) Gardens of Babylon
b) Nile river mouth
c) Babylonian Akkadian
d) Tower of Babel
e) Fertile Crescent
Correct alternative: e) Fertile Crescent
The region was called fertile crescent because the territory bathed by the floods of rivers resembled the shape of a crescent moon.
See too: Fertile Crescent
question 4
Which of the cities below were part of the development of Mesopotamia?
a) Cairo, Rome and Athens
b) Athens, Babel and Uruk
c) Rome, Cairo and Babel
d) Akkad, Babylon and Babel
e) none of the above
Correct alternative: d) Akkad, Babylon and Babel
The city of Cairo is in Egypt; Rome, Italy and Athens, Greece.
question 5
Hammurabi, the most important king of Babylon, organized the so-called Code of Hammurabi, which was
a) a code of written laws
b) a council meeting for the people
c) a holy book
d) an assembly
e) none of the above
Correct alternative: a) a code of written laws
The Code of Hammurabi brought together the laws that governed Babylonian society and were laid in stone so that they could not be changed.
question 6
The oldest written language, called cuneiform script, was developed around 3000 BC. Ç. by the
a) Phoenicians
b) Sumerians
c) Akkadians
d) Babylonians
e) Ammonites
Correct alternative: b) Sumerians
The Sumerians needed to note their trade transitions they carried out with different peoples. Hence the development of signs and codes that could record all movement of goods.
See too: History of Writing
question 7
The Mesopotamian peoples had a sophisticated religious system characterized by:
a) polytheism and zoomorphic gods
b) monotheism and belief in the immortality of the soul
c) polytheism and gods with an anthropomorphic aspect
d) monotheism and respect for the sovereign with a god
Correct alternative: c) polytheism and gods with an anthropomorphic aspect
The Mesopotamians believed in many gods (polytheists) and these were anthropomorphic, that is, they had human appearance.
a) WRONG. The peoples of Mesopotamia were polytheistic but had no animal appearance.
b) WRONG. They believed in several gods - polytheists.
d) WRONG. They respected the sovereign as a god, but they were polytheistic rather than monotheistic.
mid-level issues
question 8
(UFU/MG) The Phoenicians, in Antiquity, were known, above all, for their related activities:
a) The spread of monotheism.
b) To maritime trade.
c) To militarist expansionism.
d) Scientific creativity.
e) Intensive agriculture.
Correct alternative: b) To maritime trade.
The Phoenicians were fundamentally dedicated to the trade of their products and the transport of goods from other peoples.
See too: Phoenicians
question 9
(PUC/SP) In Ancient History, the Sumerians are necessarily associated when studying (m):
a) The economic evolution of the Phoenician civilization.
b) The cultural basis of Mesopotamian civilizations.
c) The medicinal character of African religions.
d) The belligerent tendency of the Arab peoples.
e) The cultural roots of the civilizations of the Far East.
Correct alternative: b) The cultural basis of Mesopotamian civilizations.
The Sumerians were responsible for dividing the hour into 60 minutes and one minute into 60 seconds. They also established the seven-day week and chose twelve important constellations that have come down to us as the signs of the zodiac.
See too: Sumerians
question 10
(Unesp-2003) In the region where Lebanon is currently located, it settled in the 3rd millennium BC. C., a Semitic people, who came to occupy the narrow strip of land, about 200 kilometers long, squeezed between the sea and the mountains. Several reasons led them to maritime trade, highlighting its geographic proximity to Egypt; the coast, which offered places for good ports; and cedars, the main wealth, used in shipbuilding.
What is contained in this paragraph refers to the people:
a) Phoenician.
b) Hebrew.
c) Sumerian.
d) Hittite.
e) Assyrian.
Correct alternative: a) Phoenician.
In this section there are several signs that allow us to identify the Phoenicians: they lived in the region that is currently Lebanon, were mainly dedicated to trade and were great navigators.
question 11
(UFRN) The societies that, in Antiquity, inhabited the valleys of the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates rivers had in common the fact that:
a) Have developed an intense maritime trade, which favored the formation of great hydraulic civilizations.
b) Being oriental peoples who formed several city-states, which organized and controlled the production of cereals.
c) Have made possible the formation of the State based on the production of surpluses, the need for hydraulic control and social differentiation.
d) Possessing, based on the provision of services to the peasants, immense armies that enabled the formation of great millenary empires.
Correct alternative: c) Have enabled the formation of the State from the production of surpluses, the need for hydraulic control and social differentiation.
These societies that inhabited the territory bathed by these rivers had to organize themselves around a leader and his elites, in order to take better advantage of the flood regime.
Likewise, they created mechanisms of social differentiation based on the size of the houses, the quality of clothes and the quantity of material goods they owned.
Pay attention to the map below, as it will be used for questions 12 and 13:
question 12
Currently, the Mesopotamia region is occupied by the following countries:
a) Turkey, Lebanon and Syria.
b) Syria, Iraq and Turkey.
c) Iraq, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
d) Syria, Turkey and Oman.
Correct alternative: b) Syria, Iraq and Turkey.
question 13
Return to the previous map and mark the correct alternative:
a) Mesopotamia was in a region that was a passageway for various peoples and, therefore, the political instability is explained to this day.
b) the economy was guided by the trade routes of the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf.
c) the rivers that bathed the territory were essential for the functioning of agriculture and commerce in the kingdoms there.
d) despite being bathed by rivers, gulfs and seas, the population was left in complete cultural isolation only ended after the conquest of the region by the Greeks and Romans.
Correct alternative: c) the rivers that bathed the territory were essential for the functioning of agriculture and commerce in the kingdoms there.
Mesopotamia depended on the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to guarantee agriculture and, consequently, the functioning of trade between all kingdoms.
a) WRONG. Other countries are not in a "transition region" and are also experiencing political instability.
b) WRONG. The Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gogo helped in trade, but were not decisive in the region's economy.
c) WRONG. The region was a mixture of peoples, beliefs and knowledge and was never culturally isolated.
Difficult Level Questions
question 14
(Unesp-2013) [In Mesopotamia,] all the goods produced by the palaces and temples themselves were not enough to sustain themselves. Thus, other income was sought in the exploitation of the population of villages and cities. The forms of exploitation were mainly two: taxes and forced labor.
(Marcelo Rede. Mesopotamia, 2002.)
Among the forced labor to which the text refers, we can mention the
a) hospitalization of the sick and insane in rural areas, where they had to take care of the cotton, barley and sesame plantations.
b) use of prisoners of war as artisans or shepherds of large herds of cattle and goats.
c) definitive slavery of the eldest children of peasant families, which characterized the Mesopotamian economic system as slavery.
d) debt bondage, which caused the total submission, for the rest of the life, of debtors to creditors.
e) obligation to provide services, owed by the entire free population, in works carried out by the king, such as temples or walls.
Correct alternative: e) obligation to provide services, owed by the entire free population, in works carried out by the king, such as temples or walls.
In several Mesopotamian civilizations, even the free population had to work for a period in the construction or repair of palaces, walls and temples. In this way, the sovereign reinforced his power and had free labor available.
question 15
(UECE-2015) King Sargon was a conqueror whose memory remained in the legends and narratives of the Mesopotamian peoples. It was said that he had been abandoned by his mother in the waters of the Euphrates River in a basket of reeds, and was saved by the goddess Ishtar and thus became the initiator of a great empire. About King Sargon it is correct to say that
a) he destroyed the city of Ebla in 2300 BC. Ç.
b) he invented a very sophisticated type of writing.
c) he was defeated by Gilgamesh king of Uruk.
d) made Akkad the capital of his empire.
Correct alternative: d) made Akkad the capital of his empire.
King Sargon (also called The Great) made Akkad the capital of the Akkadians (hence the origin of the name of this people) and incorporated the Sumerians into his domain.
question 16
(Fuvest) From the III millennium a. Ç. In the valleys of the great rivers of the Near East, such as the Nile, the Tigris and the Euphrates, theocratic states, strongly organized and centralized, and with extensive bureaucracy, developed. One explanation for its emergence is
a) the peasant revolt and the insurrection of artisans in the cities, which could only be contained by the imposition of authoritarian governments.
b) the need to coordinate the work of large human contingents to carry out irrigation works.
c) the influence of the great civilizations of the Far East, which reached the Near East through silk caravans.
d) the expansion of monotheistic religions, which founded the divine character of royalty and the absolute power of the monarch.
e) the introduction of iron instruments and the consequent technological revolution, which transformed agriculture in the valleys and led to the centralization of power.
Correct alternative: b) the need to coordinate the work of large human contingents to carry out irrigation works.
The Mesopotamian civilizations had to learn to control river floods if they were to prosper. Without the technology we have today, this was only possible at that time by employing a large number of workers.
How human beings work best when they are motivated, the association between ruler and divinity was used, precisely, to encourage people to provide this service in a free.
See too: Theocracy
question 17
(UFCSPA/RS) Present-day Mesopotamia is located in the Middle East between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which are in present-day Iraq, in the region known as the Fertile Crescent. Its name comes from the Greek (meso=middle and potamos=water) and means “land between rivers”. The fertility of this region, located in the midst of mountains and deserts, is due to the presence of rivers.
About the Mesopotamian civilization, in Eastern Antiquity, analyze the items below:
I. The social structure was based on the existence of a small elite, controlling a vast population that was subject to to compulsory work, characteristic of a despotic government, of theocratic foundation, which dominates all groups social.
II. The State was responsible for the hydraulic works necessary for the survival of the population, as well as for the collection of taxes and the administration of food stocks.
III. In the Mesopotamian religion, the ruler was represented and understood by his subjects more as a living deity than as a representative of the gods.
IV. In political terms, Mesopotamia was characterized by having, in the monarchical institution, personified in the ruler, its main uniting factor.
Is(are) CORRECT:
a) Only item I.
b) Only items I and II.
c) Only items I, III and IV.
d) Only items II and IV.
e) All items.
Correct alternative: b) Only items I and II.
The kings of the Mesopotamian civilizations and their elites led a great number of people in order to control the floods of the rivers. They also needed the army to defend their cities and attack territories they wanted to conquer.
All of this was based on the religion that made people believe that the sovereign was a link between the gods and the people. Therefore, the king demanded work from the population, but in return, he guaranteed them the means of survival.
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