ACE

~ CHRIS

​[] Meso Info Here- ~ CHRIS [] __Who's doing what?__

AnnMarie - find at least two pictures, Social Structure & Urban Focus ~ANNMARIE Chris - find at least two pictures, Religious Structure & Writing ~ ANNMARIE Eric - find at least two pictures, Political/Military Structure & Artistic and Intellectual Activity ~ ANNMARIE

__Script__

AnnMarie - civilian (find perspectives of people) ~ ANNMARIE Chris - interviewer (find out about Gilgamesh) ~ ANNMARIE Eric - Hammurabi and Gilgamesh (find out about Hammurabi) ~ ANNMARIE Have to mention the six characteristics of a civilization. ​ Social Structure - Upper Class - priest-kings, some government officials, merchants Middle Class - most government officials, skilled workers(artisans) Lower Class - fishermen, farmers, unskilled workers, slaves [] Urban Focus and Food Supply - Inventions helped gather food easier, like the plow. Saved time and effort. Dams and levees also helped irrigating crops. This also saved time and energy. [] Religious Structure - The Mesopotamian's believed in many Gods, like Ishtar, the God of fertility, love, and war. They believed that their purpose in life was to serve the God's so they would have good crops, trade, and weather. Even the houses had chapels inside ~ANNMARIE Writing - The Mesopotamian form of writing was cuneiform. It was made up of wedge-shaped "letters". Boys went to school and studied cuneiform for many years to become a scribe, or writer. ANNMARIE Political/Military Structure - the taxes and laws were made for the people. everyone had to follow the laws and pay the taxes. ~ERIC [|picture] Artistic and Intellectual Activity - the sumerians played music with intruments to please gods, they painted art, and invented the wheel, which was used for potery and for farming. Also had the first literature : Gilgamesh ~ERIC CHRIS -
 * Also, the kings lead the army.** ~ ANNMARIE



[] -Eric --Script-- Chris (comercial voice) - Are you a farmer? Need the time to go by faster so you can feed your family and the people of Mesopotamia? Well, buy a plow! Come over to Enkidu's plow shop where all your plowing needs are met. (see __bottom__ for picture) AnnMarie (in normal voice) - And now we're back on 60 minutes. (clicking clock) Chris - We're back! Today on 60 minutes, we are going to talk to some people from ancient Mesopotamia in the area of Sumer. First, we have Hammurabi and a civilian living in Sumer. (crowd clapping) Eric (in old hushed voice) - Thank you! It's a pleasure to be on your show! I'm also very proud that you used our invention of the number 60 in our clock system. Chris - Oh really? Eric - Of course! You see, my people created the clock with 60 seconds in a minute, and 60 minutes in a hour. This was part of our civilization's atristic and intellectual creativity. We also had very decorative homes and ziggurats's which made our area more decorative and beautiful. Chris - What's a ziggurat? I've never heard of such a thing! Eric - A ziggurat is like our church... except we believed in many gods. AnnMarie - Our purpose in life is to serve the gods and please them so that we will have good crops, enough water, and a good life. Actually, Hamurrabi brought one main religion to our civilization. Chris - Really? Eric - Yes. It was a very big completion to making this civilization come together. Chris - So about your Code of Law, how did that work out? Eric - It made my empire much more organized and it seemed as the civilians enjoyed it. Chris - Well, did you like his Code of Law? AnnMarie - Somewhat. I just had a problem with your law, "an eye for an eye". Eric - What didn't you like about it? AnnMarie - Say that someone accidently runs over one of his employees or neighbors foot with a plow and breaks it. Since it was a total accident, he shouldn't get his foot broken. Eric - Yes, I agree. That's why we have a court system to determine of the accused it guilty or innocent, which we still use now-a-days. Chris - So the whole court system we use today was your idea? Eric - Not exactly, officials changed it over time to what the people believed was fair for everybody. Chris - That's interesting, I didn't know that. Sorry Hammurabi, your time is up. Our next guest is someone named Gilgamesh. ~ ERIC AnnMarie - Gilgamesh was another priest-king who was the star in the tale of Gilgamesh. Chris - Who exactly is Gilgamesh? Is he anywhere near here? AnnMarie - Yes... he's coming in now. But you probably don't want to meet him, he's rude and selfish...(drum roll) Chris - Hello Gilgamesh! Eric - Greetings. AnnMarie - Sumer and Mesopotamia was also the first area to record literature. Scribes (or young boys) went to school to become a scribe. They used cunieform; a wedged shaped form of writing. Chris - Very interesting... Eric - Okay... back to me now. Of cource since you know I was priest-king and half god, I was at the top of Mesopotamia's social structure. Chris - Who else was in your social structure? Eric - Well, there were government officials. They were ranked as middle class, even though some were upper class. Artisans, who were skilled workers, were also in the middle class. Merchants were upper class because they were in charge of all trade. AnnMarie - Most of our government officials were elders, so we treated them with higher respect, and we only traded our surplus, Gilgamesh. Eric - Lastly, unskilled workers, fishermen, farmers, and slaves were in the lower class. Chris - Well don't farmers and fishermen get food for you? AnnMarie - Yes, that is really our only food supply besides trading. But these people weren't seen as high as a priest-king or merchant. Barley and flax were our two main crops, so we traded those as surplus a lot. Chris - I see now. Did you have an army or people who fought in war? Eric - Yes. Mesopotamia was also very successful in winning battles to get more land. Chris - Very impressive! Didn't Sumer have the first literature ever recorded? Eric - Thats right, the story's named after me, Gilgamesh. It's an epic about the story of how I met my equal, Enkidu. On our adventures together, Enkidu dies so I went on a journey to find immortality to bring Enkidu back to life. After I got the rose of immortality, a snake ate it while I was taking a bath. This represents that the devil is always near, and that the only way to be truely immortal is to be compassionate. Chris - That seems interesting! Thanks to all on our show today. AnnMarie (in normal voice) - That concludes our show today. Thank you to Gilgamesh, Hammurabi, a Sumerian civilian, and our interviewer. See you next week on 60 minutes. (clock ticking) Chris (change voice - comercial voice) - Today in 60 minutes, we overviewed the six characteristics that make up a civilization. These are urban focus/food supply, a form of writing, religious beliefs, art/technological advances, a social structure and a military and political structure. http://nlcs.k12.in.us/oljrhi/brown/mesopotamia/plow.jpg http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2007-09-23-60MinutesLogo.jpg