Mesopotamia
Camille Brooks
Geographer
1) Explain where Mesopotamia was located. What are the names of the two rivers where Mesopotamia lay? What does Mesopotamia mean?
Mesopotamia is located in southwest Asia. It lies between two rivers which are the Tigris River and Euphrates River. Mesopotamia means "between the rivers".
3) What type of climate is in Mesopotamia?
Mesopotamia's climate has cool and hot seasons with temperatures sometimes over 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Mesopotamia experienced moderate rainfall. In spring the rivers often flooded leaving behind rich soil for farming.
4) What present-day country would be the location of Ancient Mesopotamia?
The area that Mesopotamia covers is currently known as Iraq. It also went in to Syria.
5) How far is Mesopotamia from our school (approximately)?
The distance from my school, Elm City Middle School, is 7028.88 miles
Historian
1) List the names of the civilizations which made Mesopotamia their home a long time ago.
The names of the civilizations that made up Mesopotamia are Sumer, Akkadian, Amorites, Hitites, Kassites, Assryians, and Chaldeans.
2) What are the requirements of a civilization?
A civilization would require permanent homes constructed for the people to settle down. The homes could form towns and villages. Technology would have to be developed. This would include weapons, wheels, and transportation like boats to travel the rivers on both sides of the land. Some intellectual achievements would have to be formed so people could communicate, such as when Sumer made cuneiform. Laws and rules would have to be made to maintain the civilization. Many times laws are based of religious beliefs and those beliefs are the core of society. Religion plays a large roll in determining the duration of the civilization. You would also need a ruler to make decisions and an army to protect your civilization. You would also need a social structure. This allows different classes or levels of the structure to perform different tasks within society. You could also have new forms of artistic and cultural activity. Art surged as an activity for the people. Some people turned art into a craft and that became their roll in the society.
3) Explain the importance of Hammurabi Laws.
The Hammurabi laws were important because it kept the civilization doing what they believed was the right thing to do.
4) Write down any 5 different Hammurabi Laws that you find interesting and include the translation of it from Yale Law School.
The first law is if any one steals the property of a court or temple he or she shall be put to death and also the person that receives the stolen things shall also be put to death. The second law is if any one steals the minor son of another, he shall be put to death. The third law is if any one finds a runaway slave and brings them back to there owner the owner must pay the person who brought the slaves back 2 shekels of silver. The fourth law is if any one who is caught committing robbery he shall be put to death.the fifth law is the field, garden, and house of a chieftain, of a man, or of one subject to quit-rent can not be sold.
5) Explain who Gilgamesh was. Retell his story IN YOUR OWN WORDS!
Gilgamesh was a Sumerian king who people thought was half god and half man. He had several stories of his great travels he went on.
Agriculturalists
1) Describe the farming and agriculture of Mesopotamia.
The people from Mesopotamia were great farmers. They had a surplus at one point. They made canals and would let water flow in slightly over there farm land. Then it would be wet and they could plant. They had a lot of silt also which helped with the farming.
2) Explain how poisoned fields contributed to the collapse of Mesopotamia.
Poisoned fields contributed to the decline of Mesopotamia because it would poison the food which then the people ate it and got very sick or at risk could have died.
3) What did Mesopotamians eat?
They ate meat from the animals they hunted. Also fish from the rivers along both sides of Mesopotamia. They ate fruit and vegetables from the farming they did.
4) Explain why civilizations like those from Mesopotamia, would live close to bodies of water.
Civilizations like the ones in Mesopotamia would live near bodies of water so they could get water to drink and rich soil to grow crops so they would have food and water to live. They also would live near bodies of water so they can catch the fish that live in the bodies of water and it makes t easier to trade with other places.
5) Explain the steps it would take to farm each year in Mesopotamia.
First you would need to let the fields flood so you can have wet rich soil and nutritious farm land. Then you would have to plough your farm fields so you can plant crops. After that you would run the harrow through the field to make it level and smooth. Then you plant seeds into the soil of your farmland using the seeder-plow. Then you sow your fields and water the field 3 times. Finally when your crops are ripe you harvest them and you could sale and or eat the food.
Archeologist
1) Explain one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world known as the 'Hanging Gardens of Babylon".
The gardens are located in Babylon. They were built to please king Nebuchadnezzar's wife. It was a temple like building that had lots of trees and hanging plants. That is why people know and then call Hanging Gardens Of Babylon.
2) Label 4 inventions from Mesopotamia. Explain the importance of one these ancient inventions.
Some inventions that were made is the wheel which it helped with transportation.
Canals which helped with farming. Farming which helped because they could have a food supply to stay living. Buildings which helped be protected people from the weather and violence that could be going on.
3) What is cuneiform? Which civilization invented it?
Cuneiform is a way of writing that people used along time ago to communicate. Sumer invented cuneiform.
4) What are the different classes of people in ancient Mesopotamia?
First you would have gods, then kings, then priests, then noblemen and warriors, then farmers and slaves.
5) What is a Ziggurat? What was its purpose?
Ziggurats were temples. The people believed that the gods lived in them so they were used to worship the gods but only certain people were allowed to go in them. The certain people would worship the god for the other people in the civilization.