JANS

=** JANS **=

Great site - []

Anjali, Jessica, Natalie, and Stephen

Main idea: Plane crashed in ancient sumer. Boy comes curious of the crash, takes to mother. Asks questions. Tour of Sumer.

INFO Political+Military Structures: Hammurabi was a great human. He raised god of Babylon and improved religion. When he was a ruler, he changed a lot of things. The god of Babylon became a local god. In every city-state there was a king, who enforced laws and led the army of the city-state. The king would also collect taxes. The military used swords to fight, and shields for protection.

Social Structure : The social structure was based on class. There was upper class, middle class, and lower class. In upper class there was the king, government, the rich people, and priests. The middle class was made up of merchants, farmers, artisans, and people with an average amount of money. The lower class was servants, slaves, or the poor and/or homeless people. The upper class had a lot of property and lived in the center of the city. They owned big houses, and more land th a n everyone else. The middle class had not too much, but not too little. They owned average sized houses, and owned more then lower class. They looked up to the upper class, and tried to make their way up there. Middle class also started most of the wars. The lower class had no property of their own.

Development of Writing: In Mesopotamia, people used a form of writing called Cuneiform. Cuneiform was made up of different signs. It was developed because the people needed a way to record trade. Over time, scribes would record daily events, trade, astronomy, and literature on clay tablets. Boys would go to school to learn how to read and write. They would write in Cuneiform on clay tablets. After they were finished writing whatever they needed, they would clear the clay tablet, and use it again. Not all boys would go to school though. If you weren't rich, then you couldn't go to school.

Artistic+Intellectual Activity: There were many technological advances as time went on. Mesopotamians built and irrigation system. An irrigation system was built so that the people in Mesopotamia didn't have to go back and forth to get water for their crops and other things that needed water. This made life a lot easier. Another thing that the people in Mesopotamia built was the plow. They used sharp objects to poke holes in the ground, and then plant a seed in it. Eventually, the plow became more advanced and they would use ox to pull the plows so that planting became simpler. The next advancement in technology was the wheel. At first it was used to make pottery. Then the Mesopotamians turned the wheel on its side, and realized it could turn that way too, which helped later on with travel. Many people wore jewelry. Most of it was made of gold. A lyre were musical instrument that the people in Mesopotamia played. Lyres were like harps. Like the lyre, Mesopotamians played other instruments like the drums. They also sang. They believed that the music they played pleased the gods. Music was played at ceremonies for the gods. Many paintings were made, along with literature and architecture. The epic Gilgamesh was a piece of literature. It was about the king Gilgamesh, and his journey for immortality.

Urban Focus: The urban focus is the ziggurat, but that came after temples. Temples were originally built on platforms. During the third millennium B.C., the temples were made higher and larger. Eventually, the temples were made even higher and were built on stepped platforms. These were called ziggurats. By 2000 B.C., mud-brick ziggurats were being built in many Sumerian cities. Later on, ziggurats were made in Babylonian and Assyrian cities. Most of the Sumerian lives were around the ziggurat. Around the ziggurats were courts. The ziggurat and courts were the center of Sumerian life. Artisans worked there and children went to school there. Farmers, artisans, and traders stored goods there. The poor Sumerians were fed there. All of the great events were celebrated in the area. They eat in the ziggurat. The Sumerians gave offered food to the gods, as well as washed statues of the gods. They also played music and wrote poems.

Stable Food Supply: The Sumerians chief crop was barley. They also grew wheat, sesame, flax, fruit trees, date palms, and many different vegetables. The system of irrigation canals made it easier for farmers to grow crops. They also developed the plow, which makes it possible for farmers to grow more food with less effort. The plow was pulled by oxen. . The Mesopotamian land was called the Fertile Crescent because there were unpredictable floods that washed things away, but this brought new topsoil. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers were nowhere near them ,so the system of irrigation canals that the Sumerians invented kept the food supply stable. When they needed water they would poke holes in levees (raised areas of soil) to let the river water flow thru the holes to make channels. The channels became larger to make canals. This took much planning, teamwork, and organization.

Religious Structures: The Sumerians believed all forces of natures were alive and that because they couldn't control them, they were gods. This is why the Sumerians have over 3,000 gods. They believed at first there were only male gods, but then female gods appeared. The male gods found out that they had to work very hard to please the female gods, so they decided to get servants by creating humans from river mud. Sumerians believed humans were only on Earth to serve the gods. If the gods became unhappy with them, their crops wouldn’t grow and their lives would become unhappy. Sumerians made it their goal to please the gods. However, only priests could know the will of the gods, and so this made Sumerian priests very powerful. They ran schools a controlled and administered the god’s land. The Sumerians believed that the gods descended from Heaven to Earth from the ziggurat by the stairway.

__** ‍‍ Script ‍‍  **__

N- We're going to have so much fun in Paris. A- I hope nothing bad happens. //(Plane starts shaking)PO- Ladies and gentlemen, we are crash landing. Please do not panic.// N- Oh, no! A- Ahhhhhhh! // Boom!! // N- Uh, are you okay? A- Yeah, are you? N- Yeah. Where are we? A- I think we're in Sumer. N- Sumer in Iraq? A- No, ancient Sumer. N- Did we go back in time? A- I think we might have. N-Might as well explore. Look's like we'll be here for a while. A-OK. //(Walking around. Stumble upon beautiful gates)// A-Look at these beautiful gates ! N- Wow! They're amazing! A- I think we should go in. N-Alright //(Walk in, and see a little boy)// N- Excuse me! Can you help us? S- Who are you? A- Hello! My name is Anjali. N-Hi! My name is Natalie. A- Our plane crashed, and we don't know where we are going. Could you help us? S- I don't know about this thing you call a plane, but sure. N- We don't have a place to stay, could you help us find a place? S- Sure. You can stay with my mother and I.  A  and N- Thank you! S- This is my mother, Jess. Mom, this is Anjali and Natalie. Jess- Hello! A and N- Hi! Jess- Do you live here in beautiful Sumer? A- No, we are from a place called Bensalem, PA, in the United States. Jess- Where is Bensalem and United States? A- Oh, never mind. We aren't from around here. Can you show us around the town? N- And could you tell us a little bit more about Sumer? Jess- While we show you around town, we will answer your questions. A- We heard that there are three classes here. And I know that there is the upper class, middle class and a lower class. What makes you in a class? S- The lower class is made up of slaves and servants, and anyone who doesn't own any property. The middle class is regular people, such as farmers. They live on the edge of town, or sometimes not in town at all. N- I did see some farmers working around the outside of the city when we arrived. S- The upper class includes people such as the king, his advisors, and priests. They live in the center of town, near the ziggurat. A- What is a ziggurat? Jess- The ziggurat is the urban focus of the city-state. N- What is an urban focus? I think I've heard that word before. Jess- An urban focus is where people come from all over the city-state to visit. A- And what is a zigguat? Jess- A ziggurat is the stairway of the gods. It is a place where we go to worship our gods. N- How many gods do you worship? S- Around 3,000. A-That's a lot! How do keep track of them all? S- I haven't memorized them yet, but some people like priests have. Jess- We are here, at the city-state's ziggurat. N- Wow, that's huge! Jess- Haven't you seen one before in your city-state? A- No, we don't have one in Bensalem. Jess- Really? I would like to visit Bensalem one day. S- Can we go inside, Mother? Jess- Sure, we can bring them inside. N- Wow! The inside is even bigger! S- Yes, it is. A- What do you do in here? J- We worship the gods and the poor are fed here. S- I go to school here with the other rich boys. J- This is the center of the city. All of the upper class lives around here. N- Tell us more about the gods. J- Only the priests know the will of the gods. S- We believe that the gods descended from heaven to earth from the ziggurat. A- What do you guys eat here? J- Here i will show you our crops. J- Our chief crop is barley, but we also grow wheat, sesame, flax, fruit trees, date palms, and many different vegetables. N- How you grow crops here? S- We have a system of irrigation canals that allow us to water our crops. J- We also use oxen to pull the plow. This enables us grow more food using less effort. S- We have irrigation canals because the Tigris and Euphrates rivers are not close by. A- How do you keep track of your trade? S- We use cuneiform. N- What is cuneiform? S- Cuneiform is our way of writing. It's made of different symbols.We recorded many different things, such as literature. J- Our most famous piece of literature was an epic about the priest king Gilgamesh. N- Tell me about the story? J- It all started when Enkidu came into the city to fight Gilgamesh. S- After they fought and realized that they were equal in strength they became good friends. J- They went on a journey to kill Humbaba, the protector of the ceader forest. After they killed him, the gods were angry. The goddess Ishtar came to marry Gilgamesh, but he pushed her away. She became angry, and sent the Bull of Heaven to punish Gilgamesh and Enkidu. They also killed the Bull of Heaven, but Enkidu was injured and died. Gilgamesh searched for immortality, but learned that compassion was immortailty. He learned the appreciate life N- What else do you do for fun? S- As you already know, we have the irrigation system, and the plow. But we also have to wheel. It was pottery at first, then they turned it over and it was helpful with traveling. J- We make jewerly. Most of it is made of gold. We also have musical instruments like the lyre and drums. A- Do you have paintings? S- Yes, many of them. N- What do kings do? J- They collect taxes, they are the leader of the army, and they rule the city-states. S- The armies use swords and shields to fight in battle. N- I think it is time to go home now! J- I think so. A- I see a sailboat over there, let's take a ride! N- I'm so happy we're home. Sumer was very interesting. A- Yes, they have plows like we have now. N- I can't believe they invented the wheel! A- They have many similar laws like us. N- The social class is still the same A- I never thought that I would be glad that a plane would crash! N- I wonder if we will get extra credit in school for this! A- I have to go home now, my parents are probably worrying. N- Bye!

__**Photos**__



Ziggurat(Sorry, Jess)

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