Mesopotamia and the civilizations that lived there
November 13th, 2006 · 3 Comments
Uncategorized
In Mr. H’s S.S class we have been learning about Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia was a lush green farmland that was located in the Middle East between the Tigris and the Euphrates
Rivers. In this plot I will describe some of the city/states of this region in from 3,500 BC – 539 BC. The first people that came to Mesopotamia came around 8,000 BC. The first people to start a civilization were the Sumerians around 3,500 BC in the city of Sumer which was much later than 8,000 BC! First of all, religion was very essential to Sumerian’s lives. After all, they did have at least 3,000 gods. The Sumerians also had a sort of temple resembling a pyramid except with steps up the side. This temple was used for worshipping their gods. The Sumerians invented many things. Some of these things were the plow, the wheel and, most importantly, writing. Without these inventions it would be pretty hard for us today to live. Like, I’d have a hard time writing this paper. Iron was important to the Sumerians and it was also very valuable back then, even more valuable than gold because the only iron that came out of the sky from meteors. They called iron the metal from heaven since the meteors did give them iron and it seemed like it came from heaven. Sumer eventually collapsed because of the loss of water around 2,000 BC. Another civilization, Assyria started around 2,000 BC and ended their rein in 605 BC about 1,500 years later. These Assyrians were very violent in their time and considered lion hunting a sport since lions were the Assyrians worst enemy. The Assyrians were very violent and took over many countries and the Babylonians. They were almost indestructible with their huge towers and walls. But, when the Assyrians were out attacking another country, the Babylonians formed an army and attacked the Assyrians capitol, captured it and ended the Assyrians rein. Although the Assyrians were violent they were also fabulous artists with gold jewelry and dishware and headdresses too. Their crafts looked like they were carved by angels. Finally, the last city we studied was Babylonia. This city first formed around 2,000 BC. The Babylonians were very intelligent because they invented the 60 minute hour, the 60 second minute and the water clock. Also, one of the Babylonian kings, Hammurabi, invented the first code of laws. But the Babylonians were not only known for their inventions, they were also known from their beautiful Ishtar Gate, which is a bright blue gate with paintings of all their gods and Ishtar, a goddess, on it. This gate was located in the capitol of Babylonia. The capitol of Babylonia actually had eight gates to enter or exit through. In this city of Babylonia they have a giant temple which resembles a Ziggurat. Babylonia finally collapsed around 539 BC. These three cities that have been described have helped our world today in many ways by the inventions they made. The Sumerians especially helped because without them we would not have any form of writing. And those Babylonians, without them we would know how to tell time. Now that you know about ancient Mesopotamia and some of the civilizations that lived there, go tell you friends! 11/13/06
3 responses so far ↓
1 emilyk6h // Nov 13, 2006 at 7:20 pm
I think it is great that you put your paper on your blog. You are the first pereson that I have sean so far, who did this. Great job!
2 gages6h // Nov 16, 2006 at 8:32 pm
Good job I really enjoyed reading and learning about Mesopotamia Babylon and Asseria from your point of view. Keep up the great work.
3 cheryl6l // Nov 21, 2006 at 5:30 pm
Yeah. I haven’t seen anyone else with their paper put up! You did a good job on it too.