Mesopotamia: wheels, laws and empires
Tests: 6 of 11 right · Exam: 0 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 6 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 4 of the history course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.
Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.
Test 1 · ★ · wrong ✗
In the film 300 the Persians look like monsters. What is closer to the truth?
- 1. They had no empire at all — ← Mova's choice · score 8
- 2. Their empire was well organised and fairly tolerant — ✓ the right answer · score 5
- 3. They were Vikings in disguise — no support
- 4. They really were giant monsters, just as the film shows — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 8, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 4, line 4: «Kings like Sargon built empires, many peoples ruled by one king. Babylon grew into a famous city with blue-tiled gates, the Assyrians ruled from great palaces,…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «persians» (+4); the same thing acted on «largest empire» (+4). The right option, 2, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · ★ · wrong ✗
mate says the wheel was the first thing ever invented, before farms even. true?
- 1. No, the plane came first — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. No, farming and towns came thousands of years earlier — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Yes, cavemen drove carts round on wooden wheels before they farmed — no support
- 4. Yes, wheels came before fire — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · ★ · right ✓
If a law is written on a stone in the square, what can a judge no longer do?
- 1. Make up a different rule on the day — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Go to the square — no support
- 3. Punish anyone at all — no support
- 4. Read the law out loud — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 4 · ★ · wrong ✗
A rich man and a poor man do the same wrong under Hammurabi. What usually happens?
- 1. The rich man is punished more — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Nobody is punished — no support
- 3. They get exactly the same punishment, fair for all — no support
- 4. The poor man is punished more harshly — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 5 · ★ · right ✓
Why might some historians doubt the Hanging Gardens were real?
- 1. The gardens are still growing there today — no support
- 2. No clear remains have been found in Babylon — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
- 3. Every writer of the time said they were fake — score 4
- 4. They were found on the moon — score 0
Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 with score 6, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 4, line 11: «Old writers said Babylon had Hanging Gardens on terraces (wide steps of earth, one above another), one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, but no one ha…», reached through the cause of the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «find» (+4); the same thing acted on «clear remains» (+4). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 6 · ★ · right ✓
A clay library survives 2,600 years but a paper one burns. Why does clay last?
- 1. Baked clay does not rot or burn away easily — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 10
- 2. Clay floats on water — no support
- 3. Paper was not allowed to be kept in libraries by law — no support
- 4. Clay is magic — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 10, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 4, line 15: «The Assyrian king Ashurbanipal collected a huge library of clay tablets; baked clay does not rot or burn away easily, so many survive, which is how we can stil…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «burn away» (+4); the same doer «baked clay» (+4); the same property (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 7 · ★ · wrong ✗
Babylon has grain but no timber for roofs. What does it do?
- 1. Builds roofs out of grain — score 3
- 2. Stops building houses at all — score 3
- 3. Trades grain and cloth for timber from afar — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Grows great forests in the desert overnight with magic — ← Mova's choice · score 8
Why: It took the question to ask what is done. It chose option 4 with score 8, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 4, line 4: «Kings like Sargon built empires, many peoples ruled by one king. Babylon grew into a famous city with blue-tiled gates, the Assyrians ruled from great palaces,…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+6); the same action «grow» (+4). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 8 · ★ · right ✓
One king ruling many cities and peoples is called what?
- 1. An empire — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
- 2. A tribe of hunters — no support
- 3. A democracy — no support
- 4. A small village — no support
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 4, line 4: «Kings like Sargon built empires, many peoples ruled by one king. Babylon grew into a famous city with blue-tiled gates, the Assyrians ruled from great palaces,…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same thing acted on «empires» (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · ★ · right ✓
Why would star records kept for centuries be useful?
- 1. They help make calendars and predict the sky — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3
- 2. They help find lost sheep — no support
- 3. They show where to dig for gold — no support
- 4. They tell you the weather tomorrow exactly — no support
Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 4, line 13: «Mesopotamian priests watched the stars and the moon and kept records of them for centuries, which helped them make calendars and predict what the sky would do.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «make» (+2); the same thing acted on «calendars» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · ★ · wrong ✗
My teacher said, no wait, she said Babylon was in Egypt. Where was it?
- 1. In China by the Yellow River — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. In Mesopotamia, in today's Iraq — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. In Egypt by the Nile — no support
- 4. In Greece by the sea — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 11 · ★ · right ✓
Which is in the right order from oldest to newest?
- 1. Sargon, then Hammurabi, then Cyrus — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Cyrus, then Sargon, then Hammurabi — no support
- 3. Cyrus, then Hammurabi, then Sargon — no support
- 4. Hammurabi, then Cyrus, then Sargon — no support
Why: Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗
Identify the ruler under whose authority approximately 280 laws were inscribed upon a stone stele for public inspection.
- 1. Ashurbanipal of Assyria — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Sargon, king of Akkad — no support
- 3. Cyrus the Great of Persia — no support
- 4. Hammurabi of Babylon — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the application of the said laws?
- 1. The wealthy were subject to the more severe penalties — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. All persons were treated with complete equality — no support
- 3. Penalties were more severe for the poor and the enslaved than for the wealthy — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. No penalties whatsoever were prescribed — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗
Ascertain the principal reason for which the merchants of Mesopotamia engaged in long-distance trade.
- 1. The merchants were obliged to visit the ocean — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. The region possessed a surplus of timber — no support
- 3. The region was deficient in timber, stone and metal — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Agriculture was prohibited therein — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗
Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the empire established by Cyrus the Great.
- 1. It was governed by the Senate of Rome — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. It was destroyed prior to its foundation — no support
- 3. It was the most extensive empire hitherto seen and comparatively tolerant — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. It consisted of a single city — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/history/4-mesopotamia-wheels-laws-and-empires/