Download T: Ancient Mesopotamia - Renton School District

ENTRY TASK
OBJECTIVE
What’s family
life like in
Ancient
Mesopotamia?
SWBAT Analyze
Ancient
Mesopotamia by
completing a
station Graphic
Organizer 
FINISHING UP OUR WRITING…
1ST—FINISH YOUR WRITING. WHEN YOU ARE DONE, I WILL GIVE YOU ANOTHER STUDENT’S
TO PEER EDIT!
2ND—AS YOU READ THEIR RESPONSE, THINK ABOUT WHAT THEY DO WELL AND WHAT
THEY NEED TO IMPROVE ON.
3RD---WRITE 2 THINGS THEY DID WELL AND 1 THING THEY NEED TO IMPROVE ON
4TH—HAND THE PAPER BACK TO ITS OWNER
5TH—WHEN YOU GET YOUR PAPER BACK, WRITE WHAT YOU COULD DO TO IMPROVE YOUR
GRADE 
T: ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA
NOTE: This timeline uses BC where it should say BCE and AD for where it should say CE. Does anyone remember why these
changes were made?
CITY-STATES
ALL SUMERIAN CITIES WERE CONSIDERED A STATE – HAD
OWN GOVERNMENT AND GOD
City states had the city and the farm land
around them.
Sometimes city-states went to war
with other city-states to see who was
stronger and over boundary lines.
RELIGION
IN THE CENTER OF EACH CITY THERE IS A TEMPLE CALLED A ZIGGURAT
Only priests could enter the ziggurat
.
Goal of each Sumerian is to please the gods.
Sumerians thought if gods were unhappy crops
wouldn’t grow.
This made Priests the most powerful men in Mesopotamia.
EDUCATION
SCHOOLS WERE KNOWN AS TABLET HOUSES
Their main purpose was to teach students how to write
.
Students learned CUNEIFORM. .
This was WRITING in the form of pictures, objects, then syllables
.
Only Sumerian men went to school, BUT WOMEN STILL HAD RIGHTS 
CUNEIFORM
MAKE A PREDICTION….
•LOOK AT THE PAINTING ON THE NEXT SLIDE…..WHAT
MIGHT IT TELL YOU ABOUT FAMILY LIFE IN ANCIENT
MESOPOTAMIA.
•THINK!!!
FAMILY LIFE
MEN WERE THE HEAD OF HOUSEHOLDS
THEY COULD ENSLAVE WIFE AND CHILDREN UP TO 3 YEARS
.
CHILDREN HAD TO TAKE CARE OF PARENTS WHEN THEY WERE OLD. .
EVERYONE HAD TO RESPECT AND OBEY GODS AND
PREISTS.
PRIESTS AND KINGS
SUMERIAN PRIESTS WERE ALSO KINGS OF THE CITY-STATES
After the Priest dies, the leader becomes king. .
Kingship was passed down from father
to child
HAMMURABI
OF BABYLON
The King of Babylon who conquered Sumer and Akkad.
He established his own empire.
Hammurabi reformed religion, taxes, government, and law.
He is best know for creating a system of laws now
known as “Hammurabi’s Code”
These laws covered almost everything in Babylonian life and teaches
us a lot about the lives of Ancient Mesopotamians.
HAMMURABI’S CODE
Decided how justice should be executed in Ancient
Mesopotamia.
Demonstrates the ability of laws to maintain
order in a society.
Set the standard for how laws would be established
in the future. Although it maintained order, it also led
to unfairness and inequalities.
Academic Expectations Behavior Expectations
1. Fill in the graphic organizer for each
set of pictures your group receives.
2. Think CRITICALLY about how these
countries might fall under…..
-Writing
-Social Structure
-Technology
-Jobs
-Stable Food Supply
-Religion
-Laws and Government
-Art
OR……a combination of a few!! USE
Volume 3: (Table Talk)
Movement:Stay at your table.
I will rotate the slides 
Participation:
- Look critically at the photos
- Everyone gets to see the
picture
- Everyone fills in the Graphic
EXIT TICKET….
What are some SIMILIARITIES between Ancient
Mesopotamia and the culture that we live in today?
What are some major DIFFERENCES?