KTS

Blue-Taylor Pink- Kayla Green- Shreya

1 . Shreya Religious beliefs influenced every part of life. Zigguruts were building temples and relilgious towers. Belived that Gods caused everything that happens to them. Sumerians believed that gods used a long staircase to decend on earth. Kings were in charge of building and maintaing zigguruts. Believed in over 3,000 Sumerian gods. There were many statues of the gods, the statues were gaizing toward the sky. There were also ceremonies with music and sometimes human sacrafice. Sumer and Akkad produced the most sophisticated armies of the Bronze Age. Sumerian kings enforced the laws and collected taxes. Armies were made up of professional soldiers and temporary citizen-soldiers. The armies were led by kings. Outlying towns were ruled by governors. Patrol canals looked for damages and made sure that farmers wouldn't steal water. People thought that kings were chosen by gods.
 * Distinct Religious Structures
 * New Political and Military Structures

2. Taylor Picture Doc's City/Urban Area • http://www.bible-history.com/babylonia/BABYLONA.gif Mesopotamian Jewlery http://www.retiredtractors.com/Plows/RepoPlow.jpg Ziggurut http://gb.fotolibra.com/images/previews/32487-ziggurat-mesopotamia.jpeg Military Structure
 * http://www.khulsey.com/jewelry/history_jewelry_ancient_mesopotamia2.jpeg
 * [|forum.hyeclub.com/ showthread.php?t=11005]

Social Structures Upper • http://www.turnbacktogod.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/priest-comes-to-rescue.jpg Middle • http://www.stevejostphotography.com/23-local-artisans_los-altos.jpg Lower • http://i.treehugger.com/images/2007/5/24/farmer-john-cornfield.jpg Cuneiform • http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/19200/19279/cuneiform_19279_lg.gif god-morning- goodbye Background for the podcast title pic. • Significant Artistic, technological, and intelectual activity Mesopotamian jewelry was made of traded or local items like bronze, gold, and silver. Exotic gemstones like Jasper and Lapis were often used for construction (COMMERICAL IDEA POSSIBLE?? maybe like a zales commerical) Glyptic art (or gem carving) was popularized through the use of gemstones as family seal stones. Glyptic carvings were used on ringstones commonly worn by middle to upper class women or children.Also, because we are doing an " interview" start thinking about good interview questions(with anwsers) about your subject. Think of some funky guest too! For example Ishtar, Sargon, Hummarabi and Gilgamesh and Enkidu.....soap chariot perfume bronze age sword umbrella carts writing (cuneiform) canals wheel and axle combonation plough beer metal working sail boats arches are some of many inventions of the mesopotamians. The most important of which were the wheel, sailboat, and cuneiform. The wheel was capable of transforming trough time into trucks cars and other types of transportation. The sailboat was used for trade and daily travel through city to city. Cuneiform was used for taking notes and trades made that day. Also, because we are doing an " interview" start thinking about good interview questions(with anwsers) about your subject. Think of some funky guest too! For example Ishtar, Sargon, Hummarabi and Gilgamesh and Enkidu... TOGETHER AGAIN!! (ohh and around 5-20 q&a's a the interview) maybe we can do an acess hollywood like thing...as well as cute yet informative commericals/ advertisements.. • Urban focus and Food supply Levees were used to irrigate crops for the harvest season. Flax was the 1# item grown in Mesopotamia along with grains and vegetables. More Great information came from….. http://best.berkeley.edu/~mesa/comm/group_1/louis.htm. In Mesopotamia, there were a lot of crops to grow. Farmers raised grain, fruit, vegetables, and barn yard animals. Farmers changed their houses from reed house to brick houses. They plowed ground with stone hoes. The metal plows had a funnel shape. They filled containers with seeds. Cows would pull plow seed and the seeds would go into the ground. This method was quick and easy. Sumerians had handbooks that told much how to plant crops. Irrigation helped tremendously. Like the Egyptians depended on the Nile River, Mesopotamians depended on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The silt left over from the flooding of these rivers made the soil fertile. Irrigation produced an extra supply of food. Farmers would trade would trade grain for lumber and stone. Farmers didn't have money so they used their crops. The climate of the Mesopotamia was dry. There was very little rainfall. Farmers had to do find ways to find water for their crops. In the spring and early summer, melting snow from the northern mountains to overflow the crops. The floods were violent and unpredictable. They destroyed villages and took many lives. Floods sometimes caused rivers to change courses. A lot of trouble is caused to the farmers' crops when river change course. Mesopotamia wheat and barley were most important grown crops by the Sumerians. Shade trees protected trees from harsh winds and from the sun. Some of the fruits they planted were dates, grapes, figs, melons, and apples. Their favorite vegetables that they grew were the eggplant. They planted vegetables such as onions, radishes, beans, and lettuce. Farmers irrigated land and started planting wheat, barley, millet, beans, and sesame seeds. They used spears to hunt, caught fish in nets, and killed birds with sling shots and arrows. Sumerians got their food from nearby marshes and rivers. Thought the climate in Mesopotamia was very hot, they still received enough rainfall for crops. Soon, Mesopotamia became a very rich farming ground. Though Mesopotamia and Egypt are on different continents, they still have similarities. Some of the similarities of Egypt and Mesopotamia are that the river(s) provided silt to help their crops grow. Irrigation helped both Egypt and Mesopotamia. Irrigation helped them get a surplus, or extra, supply of food. The first great civilization arose in the two regions. Egypt and Mesopotamia both have fertile land, but neither received enough rain to grow crops. By 3000 BC., farmers invented plow the oxen could pull. The extra supply of food helped people to give up farming and live in the city. Also by 3000 BC., Egypt and Mesopotamia developed the world's first large-scale irrigation system. Though there are many similarities, there still are differences. First of all, Egyptian sophisticated irrigation and dikes to maximize the use of the Nile and Mesopotamia just used irrigation. The people of Egypt knew when the Nile River would flood (predictable), but the people of Mesopotamia didn't know when the Tigris and Euphrates River would flood (unpredictable). Floods of the Nile River were between the months of June and October. The depth of the flood would be 45 feet deep. The Tigris and Euphrates River's depth and the months it flooded differ every time it floods. One either sides of the Nile River is a fertile strip of 12 miles wide, but there weren't any fertile strips around the Tigris and the Euphrates River. Farmers in Mesopotamia used the rivers to trade with merchants. 3. Kayla • New Social Structure Based on Economic Power There are 3 classes Upper, Middle, and lower. Upper: Is made of priests and Merchants..... There houses are 2 stories high and are located in the center of town. Middle: Is made up of government officials, shoekeepers, artisans, and skilled workers...... These houses are 1 story and are located behind the upper class houses. Lower: Is made up of farmers, fishers, and unskilled workers...,.... They live in a one room house and ar located ? (can't find that) Where are the kings you ask? Well they kind of had there own class at the VERY TOP. • Development of writing Writing is called cuneiform in mesopotamia. Writing was used to keep track of trades. Boys at school learned writing and then became scribes, or writers.
 * http://www.commentsyard.com/graphics/good-morning/good-morning03.gif
 * http://www.commentsgraphic.com/good_bye/good_bye_comment_05.gif
 * http://www.utexeas.edu/courses/classicalarch/images2/mapanejpg
 * http://www.coptic.org.au/resources/new%20priests.jpg
 * http://www.actorssceneunseen.com/images/Gilgamesh/GilgameshCover420.jpg

NOTE: PLEASE DO NOT EDIT THE SCRIPT AT ALL! you can write comments or suggestions at the bottom in your color. Thank you Script- Kayla: Good morning! Welcome to the K and T podcast where we answer your questions! Today’s topic is Mesopotamia.

Taylor: Our guest today is Shreya. Hello and Welcome to the show!

Shreya: Hi Kayla and Taylor. I am very interested in your topic today. I have a lot of questions.

Taylor: Ok! Kayla and I will be more then happy to answer your questions as well as we can!

S: Great! My first question is about Mesopotamia’s social structure based on economic power. I know that they separate their people by classes. What classes do they have and who’s in each class?

K: Great question! In Mesopotamia there are 3 levels of classes. The highest level is the upper class. This contains priests and merchants. Their houses are 2 stories high and are located in the center of town. The next class is the middle class. This contains government officials, merchants, artisans, and skilled workers. Their houses are 1 story high and are located behind the upper houses. The last class is the lower class. This is made up of farmers, fishers, and unskilled workers. I hope this information helped you. What is your next question?

S: My next question is about the urban focus and stable food supply of Mesopotamia. What were their systems of irrigation?

T: As you may know Mesopotamia is located between 2 rivers, the tigris and Euphrates. This helped them grow crops because these rivers usually flooded sometime between June and October. The farmers didn’t want to over water their crops so they built dams with channels in them so their crops got just enough water. Another irrigation system they used was plows. The plow help turn the soil of the farmers. Mesopotamia’s main crop is barely.

S: Thank you. Now I understand how Mesopotamia’s irrigation systems work. But wait! How does Mesopotamia’s religious structure work?

K: Well, the people of Mesopotamia believed in over 3,000 gods. They also believed their only purpose on earth was to please these gods. They prayed to them in a temple called a Ziggurat. The Ziggurat is located in the center of town. The Ziggurat is made up of a series of square levels. Each level is smaller then the one below it. Great stairways led to the top which was believed to be the home of the city’s chief god. Only priests were aloud to enter this home. Artisans worked at the Ziggurat and children went to school there.

S: Over 3,000 gods! Wow!

K: And don't forget the Ziggurat!

S: O yes but wait! What were the people of Mesopotamia's political and military structures?

T: That is good question Shreya! The people of Mesopotamia had an army. This army was lead by kings. The army included professional solders and temporary citizen-soldiers. Sumer, a city-state in Mesopotamia, produced the most sophisticated army. Their political structure included a king who enforced the laws and collected taxes.

S: Did the people of Mesopotamia know how to write?

K: Yes they did, but they didn’t write the same way as we do today. They had their own writing called cuneiform. It was made up of hundreds of markings shaped like wedges. Boys went to school to learn how to write. When a boy graduated from school, he became a scribe which is a writer. Mesopotamians wrote on clay tablets. The reason writing developed in Mesopotamia is because people had to keep track of business deals.

S: My last question is what artistic and intellectual activity did the people of Mesopotamia have?

T: Girls in Mesopotamia wore jewelry made of items like bronze, silver, or gold. We are selling replicas of this beautiful jewelry here at our studio. Pick one up now! Women and kids in the middle and upper class also made glyptic art, which is gem carving.

K: And don't forget Gilgamesh!

S:Who's that?

K: One of the most famous priest-king was Gilgamesh of Uruk. The story of Gilgamesh was the first peice of literature. He was half god and half man. After his friend Enkidu dies he goes on a quest for immortality. You should really read this book.

S: Thank you so much, Kayla and Taylor, for answering all of my questions! You guys were such a big help.

K: We are always happy to help. And thank you for coming Shreya!

T: And a thank you goes out to all of are listeners.

K: I’m Kayla.

T: and I’m Taylor.

K and T: See you next time!