Download A Techno-Buffet of Hands-On Learning Activities (Tiered Learning

ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA
A Techno-Buffet of Hands-On Learning Activities
(Tiered Learning; Student Choices; Technology & Hands-On Emphasis)
~TOP ‘100’ FACTS~
MESOPOTAMIA
1.
The people of ancient Sumer developed new ways of doing things---techno
innovations such as the wheel, the wheeled cart, flood control using dikes and
canals, ziggurats, cuneiform writing, and a system of government.
2.
Cultures of the Fertile Crescent contributed to change---the Israelites had a
belief in one God (monotheism); the Phoenicians created the written
alphabet; and the Lydians coined money.
3.
The first civilizations developed near rivers.
4.
A modern-day country located in the area known as Mesopotamia is Iraq.
5.
Trading a necklace for a shirt is an example of barter.
6.
A scribe’s duty included keeping written records. (scribe – scribble – write)
7.
The stretch of land from the cities of Jericho and Ebla to the Persian Gulf is
known as the “Fertile Crescent”.
8.
The city of Ur was located on the Euphrates River.
9.
The Agricultural Revolution brought many changes to peoples’ lives---food
growers, animal raisers, living in villages.
10.
Early civilizations of Mesopotamia developed near the Tigris/Euphrates river
11.
Early civilizations used their “technology” to develop the first cities, writing,
and irrigation practices.
12.
The Fertile Crescent stretched between the Mediterranean Sea and the
Persian Gulf.
13.
The major characteristics of civilizations are these: specialized skills and
occupations, organized governments, complex religions, the development of
trade, and the keeping of written records.
14.
The first civilizations arose in the Fertile Crescent.
1
(Mesopotamia)
15.
The three steps in the development of writing are: 1) drawing pictures on
clay tablets; 2) using marks to stand for actions; and 3) using marks to stand
for sounds.
16.
The Tigris and Euphrates rivers were very important to the Fertile Crescent
because they provided water for irrigation, fish for food, and reeds for
building---also they deposited fertile soil when they flooded.
17.
Ancient Mesopotamia was a region, not a country or nation.
18.
Mesopotamia was bordered on the east with the Zagros Mountains and on
the west by the Mediterranean Sea.
19.
Mesopotamia included all of present-day Iraq; parts of Syria and Turkey.
20.
Mesopotamia’s location shaped its development because its land was fertile
due to its nearness to rivers; people then established farming communities;
then the communities developed into cities.
21.
Three strong rulers of the Fertile Crescent were Sargon of Assyria,
Hammurabi, and Nebuchadnezzar II.
22.
Rich soil attracted people to the Fertile Crescent.
23.
Sargon the Great, a Mesopotamian ruler, created the world’s first empire of
nations and city-states under one rule. The Mesopotamian people consider
Sargon the founder of the military tradition that runs through their history.
ASSYRIA
24.
The Assyrians conducted warfare and established an empire because they
needed new, fertile farmlands.
25.
Assyria gained its power by being warriors and conquering cities. They
ruled a huge empire by force for centuries.
26.
The battering ram was a military innovation of the Assyrians.
27.
Early civilizations protected themselves and kept order within their societies--the need for land caused wars and from wars came new weapons, empires,
emperors, laws, and the need for order and justice.
28.
Assyria’s capital city, Nineveh, was a beautiful city and built to withstand
invasion---the outer wall was 200 feet high and wide enough for three
chariots to ride abreast on top.
29.
The Assyrians were not popular with other Mesopotamian people due to the
fact that they tool slaves, silver, gold, crops, and livestock from their
conquered subjects in order to build magnificent cities.
30.
Nineveh was famous for its library that had thousands of clay tablets.
2
BABYLON (Babylonia; Babylonians)
31.
Babylon was located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
32.
The Babylonians believed that fevers were caused by a demon who entered
and then devoured the body.
33.
Nebuchadnezzar II rebuilt the city of Babylon into a center of learning and
science.
34.
King Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah and forced the Jews from their
homeland to Mesopotamia---he later burned the city of Jerusalem, destroyed
the sacred temple, and sent thousands of Jews to Babylon as slaves.
35.
King Nebuchadnezzar created the famous ‘Hanging Gardens of Babylon’
which consisted of scented plants and trees that grew from high terraces
inside the think city walls---these magnificent gardens became one of the
‘Seven Wonders of the Ancient World’.
36.
Babylon was a natural crossroads of trade because it was located between
Akkad and the cities of Sumer.
37.
The ziggurat at Babylon was a pyramid-shaped structure seven stories high.
38.
Babylonian scribes used clay for writing.
39.
Babylonian mathematicians found a way of calculating the areas of
geometric shapes.
40.
The Babylonians created a more accurate calendar based on the sun and
divided the hour into 60 minutes.
41.
Hammurabi is most remembered for compiling a collection of laws.
42.
Hammurabi established a system of laws to bring order to people’s lives.
43.
The three classes of people under Hammurabi’s reign were the nobles, free
commoners, and slaves.
44.
Hammurabi’s Code improved Babylonian society because there was less
confusion about the laws and punishments since it was a collection of written
laws.
45.
Hammurabi united Sumer’s city-states into one large empire called Babylon.
46.
King Hammurabi set down rules for everyone in his empire to follow.
47.
Hammurabi’s laws were called a code because they were written in an
organized list.
48.
Under Hammurabi, not all people were equal before the law.
49.
Stealing was a very serious crime---thieves were put to death.
3
(Babylon)
50.
Farmers were treated fairly---if a storm wiped out their crops, they did not
have to pay their debts that year.
51.
Laws against harming others were fair if they involved people within the
same social class.
52.
Laws against harming others favored those in the wealthy class.
53.
Cuneiform writing consists of symbols that can express ideas as well as the
names of objects, people, or places.
54.
The oldest known writing is in the form of pictures---pictographs.
55.
The Chaldeans made important contributions to astronomy.
56.
The story of Gilgamesh is probably the world’s first epic or long poem about
a hero. Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, was a legendary king of Babylonia who
had many stories told of his skill and bravery.
ISRAEL
57.
Ancient Israel lay in the westernmost part of the Fertile Crescent between
two great civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt which the Israelites called
their “promised land”---the land of the Hebrews.
58.
The Hebrews descended from Abraham and became known as the Israelites
---named for Abraham’s grandson, Israel (Jacob).
59.
The Israelites were a nomadic people and were extremely moral and
religious---who believed in only one deity (God, Jehovah).
60.
Moses, a man specifically chosen by God for a mission, called forth ‘Ten
Plagues’ of disease and destruction (sent by God) to make Pharaoh release
the Hebrews from Egyptian slavery.
*Bloody frogs and lice flies make sick cattle. (Plagues 1-5)
*Boil hail with locusts is dark death. (Plagues 6-10)
61.
The most important difference between the religious beliefs of Abraham and
those of the people of Mesopotamia was that Abraham practiced monotheism
(belief in one God) and the others practiced polytheism (belief in many gods).
62.
The Ten Commandments became an important part of three major religions.
63.
Several major events in the history of the Israelites are as follows: God made
a covenant with Abraham; Moses leads the people of Israel out of Egypt
(Exodus); the conquest and settlement of Canaan by Joshua and others; the
union of the Israelite tribes; and the writing of the Ten Commandments on
Mt. Sinai with the ‘finger’ of God and given to Moses.
4
(Israel)
*Commandments 1-4 deal with man’s relationship with God.
(no other God; no graven image; God’s name; keep the Sabbath)
*Commandments 5-10 deal with man’s relationship with man.
(honor parents; don’t murder, commit adultery, steal, lie, or covet)
64.
The Jewish nation celebrates these events in Hebrew history by observing the
festival of Passover---which recognizes God “passing-over” the Hebrew
houses and not striking down their firstborn son like He did the Egyptian
houses for the 10th plague. But the house had to have lamb’s blood on the
door frame (sides and top) for God to ‘pass over’ the house.
65.
The Israelites originally left Canaan around 1800BC because there was not
enough food to eat due to a famine.
66.
Israel split up into two kingdoms (Northern=Israel; Southern=Judah). The
Northern kingdom’s capital became Samaria and the Southern kingdom’s
capital became Jerusalem.
67.
Abraham led the Israelites to develop a belief in one God---monotheism.
68.
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all honor Abraham, Moses, and the
prophets.
69.
The Israelites believed that God was present everywhere---omnipresent.
70.
Moses taught that God would lead the Israelites to the ‘promised land’ of
Canaan.
71.
Under ancient Israelite law, a man owned his wife.
72.
One way in which the Israelite people preserved their heritage was that they
lived in communities.
73.
Saul was the first king of Israel, then David became king, and finally,
Solomon was the third and final king of Israel as a united kingdom.
74.
The Torah (1st five books of Old Testament) was written by Moses and
inspired by God, Jehovah. The Jews governed themselves based on rules set
forth by the Torah.
75.
King Solomon took seven years to complete the building of the temple and 13
years to complete the building of the palace---for a total of 20 years.
76.
God would not let Solomon’s father, King David, build the temple because
David was a ‘man of war’---and had taken many lives in battle.
5
LYDIA
77.
Barter was the most affected by the coining of money.
78.
Lydia was situated in the Western part of Asia Minor with its main city being
Sardis.
79.
Lydia had very fertile soil and many rich deposits of gold and silver.
80.
Lydians were the first ones to mint coins in the history of mankind.
81.
The people of Lydia made gold and silver coins at Sardis.
PHOENICIA
82.
The Phoenicians contributed two very important items to the world’s
culture. They developed an alphabet that represented the sounds of the
language and they expanded trade in the Mediterranean--- exchanging goods
and culture throughout the ancient world. (The Phoenicians established the
world’s first trading empire.)
83.
Around 1000-900BC, the Phoenicians invented a new writing system of 22
symbols closely related to Egyptian and Sumerian pictographs; plus
geometric signs they invented themselves---each sign represented a different
consonant sound; there were no signs for vowels.
84.
The Phoenician alphabet spread so quickly to other areas because it was
useful in trade.
85.
The Phoenicians lived along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in
independent city-states ruled by kings---Tyre and Sidon were two of the most
powerful Phoenician kingdoms.
86.
The Phoenicians became great sailors and traders; they learned to build
large ships and navigate by the stars.
87.
Phoenician-dyed cloth was tinted purple with a dye only the Phoenicians
could make using a shellfish called the murex which became extinct in
ancient times because of overfishing.
88.
The Phoenician purple cloth became very expensive to purchase---reserved
for royalty and the very wealthy.
SUMER
89.
Farmers in Sumer used dikes to keep flooding rivers within their banks.
90.
As a result of the food surplus in Sumer---a complex division of labor
developed.
91.
Farmers in Sumer used canals to drain floodwater off the land.
92.
Nobles were the highest social class in Sumer.
6
(Sumer)
93.
Sumerian city-states were independent of one another because travel
between them was difficult.
94.
A ziggurat was a Sumerian temple and made of terraces, one on top of the
other, because they believed the gods could use it to descend to the Earth.
95.
Disputes over land and water rights were the main causes of wars between
the Sumerian city-states.
96.
Scribes were important people in Sumer because they kept records for the
kings and priests.
97.
About 3500 BC, the first wheel was invented by the Sumerians.
98.
Because of very little rain and heavy spring floods, the Sumerians created an
irrigation system of dikes and canals.
99.
The ancient Sumerians were intrigued by the ‘liver’ that they gave special
names to each of its five lobes and made clay models of it for a reference tool.
100.
It was in Sumer that the world’s first cities---including Ur and Kish---arose.
“Know-It or Owe-It”
Use these FACTS in a variety of ways; use the information in the creation of your
‘hands-on’ products and your review game activities. Study some of them EACH
and EVERY day! (Study a set of ‘10’ every day!) You can do it! Just remember, if
I take the majority of the TEST questions from these facts, and you do not study
them very much at home, will you do really well on the TEST? Probably not!!!
Just remember this little saying: “Don’t let it REST until your GOOD gets
BETTER and your BETTER becomes your BEST!” Also . . . . . . . . . . . . .
“Just because something is difficult doesn’t mean you give up;
it just means you try harder!”
7