Mesopatamia, the beginning of

civilizationWorld History

Today’s Date Mesopotamia,

the beginning of civilization Page # (Your next available page)

Interactive NotebookTable of Contents

Given instructional resources, the student will demonstrate understanding of ancient Mesopotamia by creating drawings of key elements of this early civilization

Objective

Location, location, location

See this island? Plenty of fruit, all the fish you can eat, no taxes, no nosy neighbors, the whole island is your backyard

How about this? Average temperature is 130 degrees in the shade. No water, no trees, no stone, no metals, just scorpions, dust and scorching heat

Main Ideas:

Key Words:

Heading: Mesopotamia-geography

Civilization depends on large permanent settlements – fertile river valleys that can support large populations are ideal locations

The valley between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers is known as Mesopotamia – the land between two rivers

Mesopotamia was at the eastern end of the Fertile Crescent – an arc of land from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf

Rich soil and abundant crops allowed the land to sustain an early civilization

Mesopotamia--Geography

Fertile Crescent

Mesopotamia gets very little rain but over the years the soil had been enriched by silt deposited by the two rivers

Every year in late spring, the two rivers swelled from snowmelt in the highlands and overflowed their banks, depositing the rich soil

The flooding was not unpredictable – they didn’t know when or how much

Consequently, the Mesopotamians learned to control the flow of the rivers

By using irrigation, reservoirs, dams and canals, they were able to grow crops regularly

The abundance of food allowed many people to live together in cities and civilization emerged

Living in a desert

Copy this design then create a drawing that defines what each of these words mean under each label.

Use pages 27 – 33 of your text

empire polytheistic

patriarchal theocracy

Do not include this box in your

design.

Civilization Begins in Mesopotamia” (the video)

Begin a new page titled:

Video Assignment As you watch the video

“Civilization begins in Mesopotamia” respond to these prompts:

Five/5 things I learned: Three/3 things the video left me wondering

about are: Three/3 things that you saw in the video

that reminded you of something you learned in the past

On a half-slip of paper, answer the following question:

What advantage from the Neolithic Revolution did the people of Mesopotamia likely have that allowed them to develop a civilization?

Closure

Main Ideas:

Key Words:

Heading: The Growth of Religion

The physical environment affected how Mesopotamians viewed the world

A harsh climate and frequent famines convinced them that unreliable supernatural forces controlled the world – they felt helpless

People looked to religion to answer their questions about life To them, powerful spiritual beings permeated all aspects of

the universe The Mesopotamians identified 3,000 gods and goddesses –

their religion was therefore polytheistic According to their beliefs, humans were supposed to obey

and serve the gods, they were inferior to the gods They could never be sure what the gods might do to them or

for them

Growth of Religion

The most prominent building in a Sumerian city was the temple dedicated to the chief god or goddess of the city

This temple was often atop an enormous stepped tower called a ziggurat

The Sumerians believed that the gods owned the city and as such they spent a great deal of time and treasure to build suitable temples and houses for the priests

The temples served as centers of the city physically, economically and politically – excess product was stored there for trade or use

Priests and priestesses held a great deal of power as the links to the gods, who really ruled the cities.

Even when power passed to the kings, Sumerians believed the kings derived their power from the gods and were agents of the gods

Still, kings wielded great power as commanders of the army, supervisor of public works, organizer of irrigation projects upon which survival depended

Religion and Rulers, p.29

Who wrote this document? What is the author’s point of view? Why was it written? When was it written? Is this source believable? What else was going on at the time this was written? What was it like to be alive at this time? What would it be like to see this event through the eyes of

someone who lived back then? What do other sources say? Am I finding the same information everywhere? Am I finding different versions of the story? Where else could I look to find out about this?

Analyzing a Primary Source

Need how-to-analyze a visual document instructions here

Primary Source 1Document Based Questions

Why do you think priests were the only people permitted to enter the temples?Why do you suppose Sumerians built temples on top of ziggurats?What does the position and function of the ziggurat tell us about the relationship of religion to the city-state?

PP. 28, 29

On a new page, answer the questions below.

StopNeed addtl edits from this point onward

Main Ideas:

Key Words:

Heading: Economics

Although the Sumerian city-states had a traditional economy based on farming-- trade and industry became important as well.

They made woolen textiles and pottery but they were particularly well-known for their metalwork

Copper, gold and silver were already being used for jewelry and some tools.

The Sumerians discovered that when tin is added to copper, it makes bronze which is harder and corrodes less

The Sumerians imported copper, tin and timber in exchange for dried fish, wool, barley, wheat and metal goods.

Traders traveled west to the Mediterranean and to India to the east.

The invention of the wheel (and wheeled carts) around 3000 BC made transport of goods much easier.

Economics

Primary Source – Document Based Question

1. What events are depicted in these panels?

2. What does the “War” panel reveal about Sumerian society?

3. What do these panels reveal about life in Sumeria?

See Page 31You have 3 minutes

Today’s Date Literacy and Order in Mesopotamia Page # (Your next available page)

Interactive NotebookTable of Contents

Given instructional sources, the student will demonstrate understanding of Sumerian inventions and innovations by analyzing the Code of Hammurabi

Objective

Main Ideas:

Key Words:

Heading: Literacy and Order

Around 3000 BC the Sumerians created a cuneiform (wedge-shaped) system of writing

Using a stylus, they made wedge shaped impressions in a clay tablets which were then dried in the sun

Once dried, these tablets lasted a very long time – hundreds of thousands have been found

Mesopotamian peoples used writing primarily for record-keeping but was also used to teach scribes

Being a scribe was a path to success in the army, government or the priesthood

Writing was important because it allowed a society to keep records and to pass along knowledge from person to person and generation to generation

Writing also made it possible to communicate in new ways such as literature (stories and poetry)

Sumerian Writing and Literature

Mesopotamian writing tablet

Language of Trade

What does it look like? Using the alphabet from the previous slide,

write your name in cuneiform

Main Ideas:

Key Words:

Heading: Code of Hammurabi

While there had been Mesopotamian law codes for centuries, the Code of Hammurabi was the most complete

It was very severe, retaliation for crimes being a central part of the code

It took seriously the duties of public office – judges could be punished for ruling incorrectly

There were also consumer-protection provisions – builder who built a house that collapsed could be put to death

The largest part of the Code dealt with relationships between men and women

Women who failed to fulfill their wifely duties could be divorced or even drowned

Children were also brought under the code – sons who disobeyed their fathers could be disinherited

The Code of Hammurabi

Primary Source – Document Based Questions Open your book to p. 32 Read the Turning Point story, laws and insets Answer the following questions in the “Main

Ideas” section of your notes. What similarities do you see between

Hammurabi’s Code and the Bible and the Quran?

Why do you think the images were included at the top of the stele with Hammurabi’s Code?

Read the excerpt of the Code of Hammurabi Answer the following questions in your

notebook:

Primary Source

117. If any one fails to pay a debt, and sells himself, his wife, his son, or daughter for money or give them away for forced labor: they shall work for three years in the house of the man who bought them and in the fourth year they shall be set free.

138. If a man wishes to separate from his wife who has borne him no children, he shall give her the amount of her purchase money and the dowry which she brought from her father's house, and let her go.

196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.

198. If he put out the eye of a freed man, or break the bone of a freed man, he shall pay one gold mina.

199. If he put out the eye of a man's slave, or break the bone of a man's slave, he shall pay one-half of its value.

202. If any one strike the body of a man higher in rank than he, he shall receive sixty blows with an ox-whip in public.

203. If a free-born man strike the body of another free-born man or equal rank, he shall pay one gold mina.

On a half-slip of paper, answer the following question

Which of the Sumerian inventions was the most important? Explain.

Closure

Egypt

Today’s Date Egyptian Civilization Page # (Your next available page)

Interactive NotebookTable of Contents

Given instructional sources the student will demonstrate understanding of Egyptian geography by creating a map of Ancient Egypt

Given instructional sources, the student will demonstrate understanding of Egyptian kingdoms by creating a layered book

Objective

The Nile River begins in the heart of Africa and courses northward for more than 4,000 miles

Before it empties into the Mediterranean, it splits in two to form a triangle or delta

The Nile Delta is known as Lower Egypt and the rest is known as Upper Egypt

The major cities developed at the tip of the delta where the river divides

The locals referred to the annual flooding of the Nile as the “Miracle of the Nile”

The river rose in summer from the rains in central African highlands

The flooding reached its peak in autumn and left a rich deposit of black mud on both sides of the river

This area was called the “Black Land” and produced in such abundance as to make Egypt well-fed and prosperous

Egypt and the Nile River

Location, location, location

What do these remind you of?

Annual Flooding

Map of Ancient Egypt Using information from the text and your

notes, you will create a map of Ancient Egypt The map is on one side and the instructions on

the other You will color and label the map according to

the instructions You may use pages 27 and 35, plus the Atlas

pp. 28-31 to do your map You will not do questions 1, 2, 7 and 12-15 This map will go into your Interactive

Notebook

The Nile also served as a unifying force In ancient times, the Nile was the fastest way to travel

through the land, making communication and transportation easy

Unlike Mesopotamia, which was subject to constant invasion, Egypt was surrounded by barriers

Deserts on both sides of the river, the Red Sea to the east, the cataracts (rapids) on the southern part of the Nile and the Mediterranean to the north

The regularity of the Nile floods and the relative isolation of Egypt gave Egyptians a sense of security and changelessness

Egyptians faced life with a spirit of confidence in the stability of things – Egypt was blessed with remarkable continuity over thousands of years

Unifying forces and barriers

Religion too provided Egyptians with a sense of security and timelessness

There was no separate word for religion – religious ideas represented an inseparable part of the entire world order

The Egyptians were polytheistic – they had a number of gods associated with heavenly bodies and natural forces

They had two groups of gods, sun gods and land gods (including river gods), had special significance given the importance of the sun and the fertile land for Egypt’s well-being

The sun, the source of life, was worthy of worship The sun god took on different forms and names based on his

role The Egyptian ruler took the title “Son of Re” – the rulers were

seen as the earthly form of Re, one of the sun god’s names

The Growth of Religion

Egyptian Land gods

Osiris

Isis

Important Egyptian deities

Horus – god of the sky, sun, moon and war

Anubis – god of the underworld, afterlife

Egyptian Afterlife

A pyramid provided the stairway to heaven, The Sphinx kept watch

Mummification prepared one for the afterlife

Primary SourceDocument Based Question Look on page 36 at the pyramids of Giza The pyramids contained items needed in the

afterlife. Each of the three pyramids shown is part of a complex, which included temples, smaller pyramids, mastabas, and a causeway. Five large pits for boats border the pyramids of Khufu and Khafre

What do the five large pits for boats suggest? Why might boats have been buried near the

pharaohs’ pyramids? How does the pyramid of Khafre compare to his

father’s pyramid?

Pyramids at Giza

The Great Pyramids are the sole remaining Wonder of the Ancient World

The Sphinx is supposed to keep watch over the tombs of the Pharaohs but we don’t know what it really looked like – man or beast?

Video Assignment As you watch the Video Lost Civilizations:

Egypt, answer these questions 5 Things I learned ? Questions?

◦ Three things the video left you wondering about Reminds me of . . .

◦ Three things that you saw in the video that reminded you of something you had learned in the past

Humiliation then Rebirth

Hyksos successfully conquered Egypt using chariots – a great humiliation for Egypt

Hatshepsut a woman pharaoh helped restore Egypt to glory and empire

Upheaval and Mystery

Akhenaten turned Egyptian religion upside down, rejecting the old gods Tutankhamen returned to the old ways

but died suddenly and mysteriously at 19.

Trying to find the old magic

Ramses tried to restore Egypt to greatness but could not fend off invasions and domination by Libyans, Greeks, Romans

Cleopatra VII used her wiles to try to regain independence but failed and ended up committing suicide

Old Kingdom pp. 37-38Middle Kingdom pp. 38-39New Kingdom pp. 39-40

Old Kingdom 2700-2200 BC

Government – who ruled, how did the rulers relate to the people? What religious role did the ruler take?

Religion – how did people relate to the gods? How did Egyptians prepare for the afterlife?

Public Works/Construction – what sort of stuff was built during this Kingdom?

Foreign Relations – How did Egypt get along with its neighbors? Did they expand and conquer?

On a half-slip of paper, answer the following question

Why was the Nile so important to Ancient Egypt? Explain.

Closure

Today’s Date Egyptian Life Page # (Your next available page)

Interactive NotebookTable of Contents

Given instructional sources, the student will demonstrate understanding of Egyptian society by analyzing a primary source

Objective

Egyptian society was highly structured yet very simple Over thousands of years it had evolved into a pyramid. The vast majority of the people were peasants and

their labor allowed the small upper class of the pharaoh and nobles to live in splendor, building pyramids, temples and palaces

At the top were the pharaoh, his family, the nobles and priests

Below them were the merchants and artisans The vast majority were the farmers At the very bottom were the slaves

Egyptian Society

Pharaoh and his family

Priests and Nobility, holders of vast tracts of land

Artisans, Merchants and Scribes. Artisans made incredible furniture. Merchants traded all up and down the Nile, in Crete and Syria

Farmers, farmed the land of the nobility and priests, paid taxes in the form of crops. Served in the army, worked public works

Slaves

Egyptian AccomplishmentsWriting Although hieroglyphics is the best-known form of Egyptian

writing, it was not the form most commonly used. Hieroglyphics is literally “priest carvings” or “sacred writing”

and was used in temples and tombs Hieroglyphics was a complex system of writing, consisting

of pictures and more abstract forms – it took a long time and a lot of practice to learn

A highly simplified form of hieroglyphics, known as hieratic, it used the same principles as hieroglyphics but the drawings were simplified

Hieratic script was used for record keeping, business transactions, and for the general needs of daily life

Hieroglyphics was first written on stone, later hieratic was written on paper made from papyrus

Hieroglyphics

Egyptian Hieratic

Primary SourceDocument Based Questions Look at the History & Art Visual on p. 42 Answer the following questions Using hieroglyphics, ancient Egyptians recorded

daily activities and the reigns of their pharaohs. Through these works we have increased our knowledge of the Egyptian way of life

Why might scribes have been respected in Egyptian culture?

How might hieratic symbols be used in trade? How did ancient Egyptians paint the human

form?

Pyramids, temples and other monuments bear witness to the artistic and architectural accomplishments of the Egyptians

Artists and sculptors were supposed to follow particular formulas in style, which made Egyptian art distinctive for thousands of years

Egyptians made advances in mathematics Mathematics helped them in building their monuments,

calculate area and volume and use geometry to survey flooded land

The Egyptians developed an accurate 365-day calendar based on the moon and the star Sirius

The practice of embalming the dead led to medical expertise in human anatomy

Scholars have recovered directions for splints, bandages, and compresses for treating fractures, wounds and disease

Art and Science

Time Travel Brochure You have been hired by a Time Traveling Agency to design a brochure that will encourage

travelers to travel back to Ancient Egypt. The purpose of the trip back in time will be to experience an early civilization first hand. The Time Travel Agency has some requirements that they want the brochure to have.

On the front of the brochure

The Brochure needs to have a slogan that would grab the attention of a potential time traveler and picture on the front panel

On the inside of the brochure

Describe and explain how this ancient civilization exhibits at least 3 of the six characteristics of civilization

A Must Visit Location: Describe one place within the ancient civilization that the time traveler should visit. Explain to them why they can’t miss the opportunity to visit this specific place!

One map of the ancient civilization or a picture of your choosing can be on the inside of your brochure, as well.

On the back of the brochure

On the very back panel you need to have 2 paragraphs about how Ancient Egypt influenced us today!

Front of Brochure

Back of Brochure

Inside of Brochure

Slogan

Picture

2 paragraphs about how

Ancient Egypt influenced us

today

Place of Interest

Map or picture

Inside of Brochure

Inside of Brochure

Inside of Brochure

1 Trait of Civilization explained/examples

1 Trait of Civilization explained/examples

1 Trait of Civilization explained/examples

Assignment – Essay Using your book as a resource, you will write

an essay which compares and contrasts aspects of Mesopotamian and Egyptian society

You should cite specific examples You may wish to focus on social structure,

religion, government, economy, and culture This should be around 2 pages (5-7

paragraphs) long They will be graded by your peers using a

rubric

On a half-slip of paper, answer the following question:

Of all the innovations of the Egyptians, which was the most important? Explain

That’s it for ancient civilizations – ready for the quiz?

Closure