JLSFMD

Mesopotamia Podcast By Joely Lawless, Sean Fields , and Margaret Doyle

Theme: 70s Radio Station Song: Funky Town Commercials: Wall-Tack! Wall-Tack! How we get to the past: Civilization: Complex culture in which a large number of human beings share a number of common element. General Facts: North Mesopotamia: Rainfall is very successful there. South Mesopotamia: Little rainfall,irrigation -carved big canals to channel river water to farmlands -repairs needed Gates: -entrance, gathering place Ziggurat: -most important place -worshipping place -resembles a mountain -temple -religious activites -gathering place -sacrifice -"Mountain of Gods" -"Hills of the Heavens" Irrigation: City- Political and Religious: -kings and priests -highest gods Margaret's Pics: intro: funkytown:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy-Yi4mX2-o&feature=related Hi All! This is Mr. Krause. Looks like you have been busy. Cannot wait to see how the 70s radio theme works out
 * Billy Mays
 * Wall-Tack! keeps your city-state walls intact!
 * available at Meso-Mart, HuWAWA, and other participating stores.
 * special clay
 * its not sticky, unless its WALL TACK!
 * Radio station studio malfunctions
 * We try to fix it, funky town plays.
 * We end up screaming 70s lingo
 * We arrive in the past Mesopotamia
 * 1) Middle east
 * 2) Past Iraq
 * 3) 35 degrees North, 61 degrees East
 * 4) The Fertile Crescent
 * 5) The Cradle of Civilization
 * 6) Land Between Two Rivers
 * 7) Mesopotamia is a region.
 * food
 * water
 * irrigation
 * mud bricks(by slaves)

SCRIPT:

Intro to the station.

md:We'll be back right after this.

WALL TACK!: Get wall tack it will tack up your walls in a jiffy. It will keep invading forces of other city states like a jiffy jiffy jiffy!

JL:And now the new hit song...

ALARM SOUND! BIG CRASHH! MD: Whoa man were in Meso-PO-ta-me-A

JL: Cool beans dudee.

Sean: Groovy... What’s a Mesopotamia

JL: Its an ancient Region in the Middle East

MD: They have lots of names for it like The Fertile Crescent, The Birthplace of Civilization, and The Land Between Two Rivers.

Sean: Oh, cool. Anyway, look earthlings a sign were in Baby Lon. WhaAaAatt?

MD: na man that says Babylon

Sean: where is everyone?

JL: i don’t know lets go to the Ziggurat that’s where people meet.

MD: good idea

END SCENE

JL:were here!

Sean:Cool, but where are we again?

JL: This is a ziggurat. It is a gathering place for the people of the city-state and church-like thing.

MD: Cool, right? And here's another groovy idea: they have over 3,000 gods!

Sean: WOOAHH!

MD: Yea man, WOAH.

JL: Whatevs. Some facts about it are how it was designed to resemble a mountain, as it was called "Mountain of Gods", and "Hill of the Heavens ."

MD: Also, people made sacrifices in the ziggurat.

Sean:Eww! That's not cool man.

JL: It had to be done for the gods.

Sean:But whyy?

MD: It was part of their religion.

Sean: OOooohhhhh. Alright, enough about this, let's see if we can find anything else to do!

MD: Let's hit it.

END SCENE MD: They have a military too!

JL: Really?

MD: Yep! And the military leaders got replaced by judges, so they go hand-in-hand now.

SF: Military? Cool! Pew! Pew-Pew!

JL: Yea sure.

END SCENE JL: Did you know that in Mesopotamia they basically RANKED people?

SF: Isn't that like, discrimination?

JL: Well, the way they did it, not so much. They ranked you according to your job.So, if you were a priest, king, or a rich boy or man, you lived in the upper class, closest to the ziggurat.

SF: You mean like that Gilgamesh fellow.

JL: Yes him and also their is Hamurabi and many other

MD: Middle class was where the artisans, shopkeepers, and government officials lived. Middle class was just outside of the upper clasds.

SF: So, the lower class must be where the fisherman and farmers live. And they are farthest from the ziggurat, right?

MD: Yup!

SF: whoa who are those kids? They look like they are in first class why are they carrying those big peices of mud?

JL: they are in first class they are going to school they are learning to be scribes.

SF: poor them

MD: Yea and school was much worse then. They would get beatten for not being good.

SF: Harsh man

JL:yup not to mention how hard it is to write cuneiform especially in clay

SF:CUNIA-wat

MD:cuneiform, that was the first form of writing, develop in Sumer.

SF: thats another city-state right?

JL: yup and they gave us more then righting they invented lots of things we still use today.

SF:like what?

MD: Well the number system based on 60.

SF ohh like time and the circle.

JL:yea and they gave us the weel.

MD: Which they used to make the first plow

SF: YO man thats tight. They saved us a lot of work. Whoa whats that?

MD: A canal

SF: whats it for?

JL: Irrigation! Irrigation is supplying dry land by channeling the water with long ditches. See, Mesopotamia is surrounded by the Euphrates and Tigres rivers, so they made a big long series of open tunnels to direct the water to their crops.

SF: Okay???

MD: Basically, they moved the water along by themselves.

SF: Ooohhh, okay!

JL: Yea! So what else do you guys wanna check out?

MD: Well, those walls seem pretty rad, dude!

SF: Then let's get on outta here! END SCENE SF: Ooh! Ooh! Oh! I know this one! Pick me!

JL: Yes Sean?

SF: These are the city-state walls of Babylon! They count as protection AND the boundaries of Babylon.

MD: Yepparoo dude!

JL: Woah, no wonder this Wall-Tack stuff has gotten so awesome!

SF: Totally! END SCENE

SF: thats some really tall grass

JL: No its barley they grow lots of it here.

MD: yup after they had irrigation systems crops are plentiful.

JL:Actually, a little too much food, dude!

SF:wow water does a lot.

END SCENE MD: So, have we seen everything?

JL: I think so girlly!

SF: NO! I wanna hear more about this Gilgamesh kid, he was a pretty big part too ya' know!

JL: I guess you're right!

MD: Well, although he was a big part, we don't have a lotta time! It seems like our radio station is gettin all freakky!

JL: Oh no! Well, here's a quick bit of infOmation: He was the ruler of Uruk, and at first he was a HUGE meanie! But he had a a major friend pass, and he went on a long quest to find never-ending life? Sounds cool, right? WRONG! Never-ending life is not all it's cracked up to be!

MD: So after his quest, he learned to appreciate his life and his people. Can we go now?

JL:Yes!

SF: Yepp! END SCENE JL: wow this is pertty messed up

SF: Yea look at our dj system how are we gonna do the radio show tommoro

MD: WHAT!!! how are gonna get home

SF: thats important to.

JL:kid listen up attach these two wires with eletrical tape

SF: Why me

JL: cause i dont want to get shocked.

SF: OH OK

LOUD ZAP EXPLOSION SOUND SF:where r we

MD/JL: WERE BACK

JL: And look! A giant package! It says it's from HGE. Who's HGE?

MD: I don't know...?

SF: Oh, I bet its......Hammurabi, Gilgamesh, and Enkidu! Ya' know, from our trip?

JL: That's a little too trippy for me.

MD: Yah, I dont think so Sean.

SF: Okay, but you just watch when I'm right!

MD/JL: Yeah right! MD: So whats in it?

JL: Let's see! Woahhhhh! An entire new mixboard and everything! Now we can get home and have an even more boomin' show!

SF:Look's like we know what our next show special is gonna be about!

MD/SF: MESOPOTAMIA!!

JL: That would be totally rad you guys! If only, we weren't on the air this whole time!

JL/MD/SF: Whooppss!

SF: Catch'ya later dudes! END OF PODCAST