ASC

Coma - Religious structure, Writing, Artistic and Inticulal activities Susanna - Pictures, ideas for script Aaron - Everything else Theme for podcast: I think we should do a class period. Like, a teacher teaching her class about Mesopotamia. And there could be students asking quesitons and stuff. what do you think? I think that it is a great idea. I'll get working on the script,and give me feedback.

The Script: T: Today class we will be learning about the Ancient and great civilization of Mesopotamia. We are going to be learning about Sumer in Specific. J: Cool, we get to learn about my favorite season. T: No, Johnny, we are learning about SU-HuMM-Er, like the cradle of civilization, or the land between two rivers. But, before we move on to the civilization we must know what makes a civilization. There are six characteristics that prove that a city is a civilization. J: My mom says that I have a LOT of character. T: Not that type of character, oh boy. Well the Characteristics are...what is it Sophie. S: May I use the bathroom? T: Never mind, as I was saying, the first characteristic is Urban Focus. Urban Focus is...Johnny this better be good. J: My Mom says that I focus too much when I play video games. T: I am going to stop calling on you. Urban Focus is what the REGION wants to accomplish. The Mesopotamians wanted to please all 3,000 gods. They also wanted to... J: Make video games!! S: Umm, can i PLEASE go to the bathroom? T: NO, WILL YOU GIVE IT A REST!! Yes, you may Sophie. (footsteps, then flush.) S: I'm back. T: Now where was I? Oh, yes, the Mesopotamians wanted to make the next generation thrive. The next characteristic is Religion/Government Structure. The Religious structure was based on the idea that they were made by the gods to serve the gods. Instead of them having science ability they would say that they angered the gods, and made offerings. Offerings and all ceremonies were held in the Ziggurat, a huge clay building that was made for each town's special god. The government was based on the fact that the gods picked the king. The king made all of the decisions, and had some guidance from the order of the elders. The order was made up of many priests that had many different types of wisdom, and or leadership skills. The next characteristic was that the region had to have artistic and intellectual activities. For example the creation of the wheel. That is a mix of both smarts and art. As proof of real artistic activity their ziggurat. It was created as a temple with steps, and it took a lot of manpower and planning. But, as for the intellectual activities there is a lot of work and thought in levees, which control their environment. Another characteristic of a civilization is Social structure. The social structure is made up of three main classes, upper, middle and lower. To see how that they are divided up check the diagram that I have provided. The next characteristic is a stable food supply. This means that the people would have settled near a water supply/river, and being near a place where food is plentiful. The Mesopotamians also went and developed the first writing. This writing was the base for all other writing. Their form of writing was called Cuneiform. The Sumerians developed this because they wanted to write down their stories, and they wanted to also write down their transactions of trading. J: My Mom says that Hammeriebei was a famous man. T: No, you are right in a since because he was a famous man, and it is pronounced Hammer-AUH-B. Did your mom ever mention a famous man called Gilgamesh? Gilgamesh was a king that was 2/3 gods. He ruled the city-state of Uruk. In his Epic he defeated the horror Hubbub, and supposeably got immortality. Now Hammurabi was a different story. He did many things in his lifetime. One is that he conquered Mesopotamia and Akkad and the Caribbean. He also made the first Code Of Law, which united the whole empire. He also made the first basic language. He was the first one to house the royal Judges. This Ruler also went and made the trade Surplus, and then went and extended his reign for 40 YEARS!! BING!BING!BING!!! T: That is all of the class time that we have today. Next class we will talk about the legendary EGYPT.

coma's work

Sumerians were the first people to write in cuneiform.Cuneiform is sumerian writing.It was written in clay tablets. there were hundreds of markings wedged shaped. Writing developed because people wanted to keep track of things such as bussiness deals.

Religious is very important in Mesoptamia.In the center of every city-state there was a ziggurt.Sumerians believed all forces of nature such as, rain, flood, wind, and alive.Since they couldn't control these forces they viewed them as gods.there were more then 3000 gods.they belived there was only male gods.then female gods came.Since it was hard to please the female gods.the male gods made humans from the muds of the rivers. Every Sumerians goal is to please the gods so their crops would grow and they would live happy lives.

the region had artistic and intellectitual activtiy such as the wheel. the wheel was used for pottery and tranportation. gilgamesh is the first book written.it was written in cuneiform.the was about compassion ,grief ,friendship, immmortaily