SAPC

Mesopotamia Work

Parth-blue- responsible for urban focus and food supply and the pictures for artistic and intellectual activity Sophie-purple- responsible religious structure and the writing of development of writing Allisa-green-responsible for social structure based on economic power and the writing of the artistic and intellectual activity Chris-red-responsible for political and military structures and development of writing pictures
 * ^chris. where is your part?!?!? **

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://timewatch.greathistory.com/files/2010/02/Timewatch-mesopotamia2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://timewatch.greathistory.com/2010/02/16/15minmesopotamia/&usg=__ohQZUcbbMmYeibmuPlm7bXnEXhU=&h=499&w=667&sz=105&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=lVpUXaqNtXff_M:&tbnh=134&tbnw=179&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmesopotamia%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26channel%3Ds%26biw%3D994%26bih%3D572%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=455&ei=s0DYTKcxhKCUB_e8_YMJ&oei=s0DYTKcxhKCUB_e8_YMJ&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0&tx=68&ty=21

Religious Structure Ziggurat: -Location: The center of each city-state. -Meaning of ziggurat: "mountain of god' or "hil of heaven" -Each city-states temple.  -A ziggurat is made up of levels of squares. Each level becomes smaller. Stairs lead to the top level.

God: - each city had its own god - There were over 3000 gods - had a god after almost everything in nature because they had no knowledge of science such as wind,rivers, forest, sun, ect...

For pictures: [|http://www.btinternet.com/~glynhughes/squashed/gilgamesh.htm] [] [] [] http://tiny.cc/z9e8u http://tiny.cc/m4i8d http://tiny.cc/gil53 http://tiny.cc/h0olw http://tiny.cc/mz0w3 http://tiny.cc/7n29g http://tiny.cc/rpn75 http://tiny.cc/0jlei http://tiny.cc/mk75h3agcc [] myself

Development of Writing: Started with an object<pictogram<(sideways)<cuneiform Cuneiform: a wedged shape writing. - reasoning: make receipts, account summaries, deliveries, shipments.. simpler: merchants used to keep track of trade Written on a clay tablet with a reed stylus

Originally had approximately 2000 symbols that was for sounds and ideas -Later reduced to 700

Political and Military Structures: city-states often fought for power Hammurabi-ruler of Bablylon, empire of Akkad, Sumer, and Babylon improved irrigation, building and repairing canals. made Babylon god-Marduk- highest power changed the gods names to Babylonian names united the government and enhanced the tax system code of law- covered everything in a daily life. punishments went from fines to death, the higher class, the worse punishment ruled for over 40 years, reign in the Golden Age Akkad, Sumer, and Babylon became their own city states

Gilgamesh- ruler of Uruk tyrant-used women as his servants constantly made his people build the wall surrounding their city state

his companion-Enkidu Killed Humbaba and the bull of heaven together enkidu died, he searched for immortality to bring back enkidu because of his grief. traveled through the mashu mountains, and talked to Utnapishtim. he told him his story and explained life is companionship. Gilg. got the rose of immortality and pricked himself, he bathed and did not watch the rose, a serpent ate the rose, in meaning of evil is now forever. gilgamesh returned home and looked at his great wall. he saw all of the hardwork.

Pictures:



Food supply:

2 major inventions to create stable food supply. 1. irregation systems 2. plow which was used for turning the soil to prepare it for planting. The economy was based on wheat and grains. Chief crop: barley other crops: wheat sesame, flax, fruit trees, date palms Fruits: dates, grapes, figs, melons and apples Favorite vegatable: eggplant vegatable: onions, radishes,beans,lettuce found food in marshes and rivers People caught fish in the Tigris and Euphrates River caught fish with nets and killed birds with sling shots and arrows

Urban focus:

The ziggurat Used for meeting for church trading in the markets

Gates: -Made very fancy to prove their hard work and everyone entered here, so always busy.

Websites for pictures: http://tinyurl.com/3x6g4mz http://tinyurl.com/39uzfce http://tinyurl.com/37rpy9t http://tinyurl.com/2vdkwx3 [] []

Hi All - This is Mr. Krause. Great looking pictures and great use of TINYURL! I am really looking forward to seeing the finished product!


 * Social Structure based on economic power: **

-Social structure of the city-state at the center would be priests or merchants the next part would be farmers, fishers and artisans and lastly towards the outer walls would be slaves everyone in upper class usually lived near the ziggurat upper class

-they were in up ﻿p er class because they were the only connection to the gods which was very important to the people -Offered prayers for people's needs, such as rich soil, healthy crops, or water - - ﻿made pottery, clothes, sculptures and traded them for money -They were workers payed more money than unskilled workers for there higher quality of work -Sold tings like vases etc.. at stores to make money - they were very cheap to buy and had to work for anyone who bought them -would harvest crops and sell them for money or trade them -Would catch sell and trade there fish - They would work but there work was not much appreciated because it was not that good
 * Upper Class **
 * Priests **
 * Merchants **
 * Middle class **
 * Artisans **
 * Skilled workers **
 * Shop keepers **
 * Government officials **
 * Lower class **
 * Slaves **
 * Slaves **
 * Farmers **
 * Fishers **
 * Unskilled workers **

-they invented cuneiform -the wheel -the first plow -ways of transportation -the waterwheel This is parth and i am sorry i have to make suggestions everytime but Artistic and intillectual ideas/activity is supposed to summarize the epic __Gilgmesh__ i just checked the worksheet and it said tht. i would do it but our workload grade is already 2/4 because chris didnt work on it at all. so u betta fix it please for the group. The epic of Gilgamesh is about two men who meet and instantly bond with each other over how much they look alike then they decide to go on a quest to the cedar forest to cut down the sacred cedar trees when Humbaba comes they kill him Ishtar came down to to offer a deal if Gilgamesh married her she would not be angry they killed the gods slave but he said no so she sent the bull of heavens to kill him when they defeated the bull of heavens Gilgamesh had a dream that said only one of them would survive and he knew it would be him when Enkidu died Gilgamesh went on a search for immortality **I missed the rest of the book i just know it has to do with a rose and a snake i was absent :(**
 * -Artistic and intillectual ideas **

The Idea and Script (//screen turning on, or somthing like like//) (//news sound//)

**Allisa**: Breaking news! An ancient video found from over 5000 years ago! Chris: Where was this video found? **Allisa**: In a time capsule near the Euphrates River, archaeologists say that ancient Mesopotamians made it. Chris: Who knew that Mesopotamians could make videos?! Well, I bet the viewers want to see this video (pause) after the break.

Sophie: (serious voice) This is an exclusive commericial made by the Mesopotamians.

Parth: Need help with writing cuneiform? Can't afford a scribe to help you? Get the new and improved How to Write Cuneiform Kit. This kit includes a reed stylus, 5 tablets, and the instruction tablet. In 50 days, you will be able to write cuneiform just as well as a scribe! Yep, I said as well as a scribe. Buy this kit now at your local ziggurat for 49.99!

**Allisa**: Here is what you've all been waiting for (//drum roll//) the Mesopotamian time capsule video!

Sophie: Welcome to the past! fellow viewers! We are going to be informing you about our civilization, Mesopotamia, or also known as the the land between two rivers. We are located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

Allisa: Let's talk about what each city-state has.

Parth: Each city-state has their own ziggurat, which is the urban focus; the most popular place of a city-state, usually where people go to shop for goods or have scribes write for them. A ziggurat is located in the center of the city state. Ziggurat means "mountain of god", the ziggurat serves as our temple. It is made up of several levels of squares, each layer becomes smaller. Stairs lead all the way to the top layer, this is where the city-state's main god lives.

Allisa: Yes, and only gods may enter the top layer of the ziggurat.

Sophie: Exactly! Every city-state has the same structure based off of which class you are specified into. Upper class tends to be the closest to the ziggurat, priests and merchants live here. Priests are very important because they know so much about their god, they communicate best with them. Merchants are upper class because they earn a lot of money from trade. Middle class is next, the people who would be located here are usually government officials and artisans. Artisans make pottery and help on the entrance of their city-state. Farthest away from the ziggurat is lower class, if you are a fisher or slave, you tend to live in this area because you make small amount of money. After the wall surrounding each city is the agriculture, farmers live in this area because of how much more land they have; they grow crops in this area and sell it in the city state. I live in the agriculture area because I am a farmer!

Allisa: But, North Mesopotamia has more agriculture because they had enough rainfall to nurture their crops. Southern Mesopotamia did not get enough rainfall, they had to make an irrigation system.

Parth: Yes! We made natural levees and canals. Canals would lead water into the city-states to help with transportation and for the benefit of water. Natural levees helped control flooding and stored water, if a drought was occurring, we would poke holes in the levees and water would spill out!

Chris: Our food supply seemed to be quite similar all around, we had surplus, extra produce, which was traded all around Mesopotamia. Trade was transported by sailboat to different city-states. Our chief crop was barley, other common crops grown were wheat, sesame, flax, fruit trees, and date palms.  Sophie: An essential tool for me is using a plow. It took a lot less effort to keep fresh soil and get rid of any weeds.  Chris: I remember writing a receipt for a plow for a local farmer!

Allisa: Are you a scribe?

Chris: Yes, I am a scribe. I do free-lance writing at the ziggurat for people. I bring my tablet and reed stylus everywhere with me! Writing in cuneiform is my favorite thing to do!

Allisa: How would you describe cuneiform?

Chris: Well, for me it was hard to learn. When I first learned it I usually helped merchants. Back then, we turned objects into symbols, then the symbols turned sideways. Then, cuneiform was made, at first it was hard to learn because there was over 2000 letters to represent sounds, then it was reduced to 700 letters. (//breath of relief//)

Allisa: Only rich boys could learn cuneiform right? What did the other boys and girls do?

Chris: Yes, only rich boys could attend school. Other boys learned trade and gir ls learned housing skills.  Sophie: You lived in Sumer right? Was it hard to change to writing the gods and goddesses names in Babylonian when Hammurabi became Empirer of Sumer, Akkad, and Babylon?

Chris: No actually, it wasn't that hard to learn the different gods and goddesses name.

Parth: I liked how Hammurabi changed the tax system and government. Hammurabi made our city-states //much// more organized.

Chris: So do I, Hammurabi made us all have equal rights, as Hammurabi says," An eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth." I like that if you are higher class you have a much worse punishment because those people are able to earn what they want, they don't need to do bad things to get what they want.

Allisa: I wish Hammurabi could've been my ruler. Gilgamesh was such a tyrant ruler at first, until he met Enkidu. I was almost going to move out of Uruk because how disrespectful he was to women! We don't deserve to be treated like a pice of property.

Sophie: Yes! I totally agree with you, Enkidu helped Uruk so much. He gave Giglamesh a companion, what Gilgamesh really needed. Did you hear about their journey they went on?

Allisa: No, not exactly. I only knew that they went on a journey to kill Humbaba in the Cedar Forests.

Sophie. Yeah, they did do that, I'll just tell you about their journey. So, Gilgamesh and Enkidu went on a journey to kill Humbaba. Enkidu didn't want to go because he knew that Humbaba was powerful, he was forced to go anyway. Gilgamesh killed Humbaba, and Enkidu was badly weakened. Then, Ishtar, the goddess of love and war, proposed to Gilgamesh. Apparently, Gilgamesh said such rude things that she made her father kill 300 people and bring the bull of heaven. Gilgamesh and Enkidu defeated the bull by ripping out the bull's thigh. Enkidu died because of how weak he became after the two battles. Gilgamesh was so filled with grief that his only option to live a normal life was getting immortality and bringing Enkidu back to life. He climbed the Mashu Mountains just to meet Utnapishtim, he survived the great flood. Utnapishtim explained to him immortality was compassion, but Gilgamesh still wanted Enkidu back on Earth.Gilgamesh found a rose that you prick to get immortality, Gilgamesh got to prick himself with the rose. When traveling back to Enkidu's body, GIligamesh stopped to bath, he didn't watch the rose and it was eaten by a serpent! (gasp)

Allisa: And there you have it folks. The lost video from ancient Mesopotamia. We had to cut it short because the length of the video was too long for you viewers.

Chris: Make this day a great one!

Parth chat: nice thinking, i think in the beginning there should be a tv turning on. we need one more sound. and sophie i think we are both doing the wiki at the same time. who cares this is a risk i am willing to take. chat_ Parth: i also have to say i still have the sheet we signed to do equal work so i can use it against u.