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Justine Weaver
9th
Grade World History I Honors
Unit 2: Early River Valley Civilizations
Lesson 1: Intro to Civilizations/Mesopotamia
Title: Intro to Civilizations/Mesopotamia
Content Summary/Relevance
The content of this lesson is based around the questions of: What makes a
civilization? How does where you live affect how you live (geographic
determination)? What are major differences between the hunter-gatherer lifestyle
and settled urban centers? We will touch on the concepts of change, location, and
interaction as they apply to early civilizations. Students will have background
knowledge about the five “key factors” that societies must have in order to be
considered civilizations. These key factors include: advanced cities, specialized
workers, complex institutions, record keeping, and advanced technology. Students
will also have read Diamond’s The Worst Mistake, which may change their
perception of the alleged “progress” of how humans developed agriculture. A
unique perspective surrounding this debate focuses on whether or not settled
agriculture communities or “civilizations” were really that much better than the
hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Hopefully, students will come into the unit with an open
mind about this topic – and a different view about civilizations.
In this lesson, students will be primarily learning about the key
characteristics of river valleys, especially about how the flooding of the rivers
provided a layer of rich soil called silt that was very conducive to growing crops.
Flooding was both life-giving and taking – there was a very fine balance between
not enough saturation and deadly floods (except in Egypt). In this lesson, student
will specifically learn about Mesopotamia, which is considered to be the
first/oldest civilization. Mesopotamia was located in the Fertile Crescent, an area
that forms a crescent shape from the Persian Gulf to the eastern end of the
Mediterranean Sea. The boundaries of this area have definitely shifted due to the
changing nature of the bodies of water, but Mesopotamia is generally thought to
be located in present day Iraq. The first civilization in Mesopotamia was Sumer,
situated between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Sumer was an area on the
southern end of the Fertile Crescent, near the north end of the Persian Gulf. Many
aspects of Sumerian civilization are important to consider.
By 3000 BCE, the Sumerians had built a number of cities; each city had
shared cultural elements but developed their own governments with their own
rulers. Each city and the surrounding land it controlled formed a city-state
(functions like an independent country does today). Sumer’s earliest government
was controlled by the city/temple priests, who acted as middle-men between the
people and the gods, which put them in a position of power. During periods of
conflict, however, the people would choose a strong military leader to take control
of the city. But, when the conflict was over the military leaders were out and the
priests would be back in. These military leaders eventually took over leadership
roles full time and founded dynasties (between 3000-2500 BCE many Sumerian
cities were under the rule of dynasties). Sumerians did indeed trade with other
societies in the Fertile Crescent (at first) and began to spread their ideas/religions
to other societies while also absorbing religious beliefs from their neighbors
(cultural diffusion).
The Sumerians are thought to have created one of the first “epic” stories,
known as the Epic of Gilgamesh, which tells the tale of a Sumerian king on a
quest for immortality. An especially interesting part of the story focuses on a great
flood that wiped out almost all life – it is a story that shows up in almost all
ancient civilizations/religions – which is fascinating! This also brings up the idea
that the Sumerians were a religious people – their religion was polytheistic and
centered around appeasing multiple gods (who usually were not benevolent). The
Sumerians appeared to believe in an afterlife but it seemed to suck, in that was
like an eternal purgatory type thing. The Sumerians’ religious practices included
elements such as sacrifice of animals and other aspects that we may consider to be
very different from how we worship today. Many of the Sumerians’ monumental
building projects were based around their religion. Their cities had temple
complexes that included ziggurats – large pyramid-like structures, “mountain of
God” - where the priests carried out the sacrifices to the gods and appealed for the
safety of the city.
Sumerian society also ushered in the development of social classes. At the
top of the “pyramid” were the kings and priests, followed by wealthy merchants.
Next were the artisans and farmers, and slaves occupied the base of the
“pyramid.” Slaves were sometimes captured from other societies and others were
sold into slavery. Slaves could hope to eventually earn their freedom. Women
actually had a pretty good deal (comparatively) throughout Sumer; they could
pursue all sorts of occupations and even enter the lower ranks of priesthood, but
they could not go to school and learn how to be scribes (which means many of
them probably could not read or write). Also, Sumerians and writing! Cuneiform!
Big deal! Part of what makes them a “civilization,” they were also thought to have
created the first system of writing. Sumerians’ also were major innovators – they
are thought to have maybe invented (or perfected) the wheel, the sail, and the
plow. They were the first society to use bronze, create mud bricks, the pyramid
shape apparent in the ziggurats, a number system (where we get our measures for
circles, minutes in an hour), arches, columns, ramps, etc.
This content may seem pretty far-fetched to students…who cares what
happened thousands and thousands of years ago? But I think important lessons
can be learned from studying the Sumerians and the area where they lived.
Students will gain a lot of practical knowledge through this lesson as far as
locating places on a map, which is a very important skill. Also, that area today is
experiencing much turmoil, and is the focus of many current events. It may be
worthwhile to tie in some current events as a journal topic or do now activity. I
think it will also be interesting for students to consider the question of what makes
a civilization. If the Sumerians didn’t “create” civilization, would it have been
created by another culture? Are humans wired to do these types of things, or
would we have stayed in groups as hunter-gatherers? Many of the Sumerians’
inventions are also pretty relevant to today, like the wheel and their numerical
system. Students will also be working on their writing skills for this lesson
through journals and maybe a really short (2-3) paragraph response paper.
For this lesson, we will be focused on finishing up Mesopotamia and
starting Egypt. The primary points remaining for Mesopotamia include viewing
the Sumerians as the first “Empire builders”. Between 3000-2000 BCE Sumerian
city-states were at constant war with each other. Some Sumerian city-states of
note may include Ur, Umma, and Kish (probably remind students what a citystate is). This constant state of war among city-states greatly weakened
infrastructures and made it much easier for outside societies to attack the cities of
Sumer. Sargon of Akkad was the ruler of the Akkadians during this time period –
the Akkadians were a Semitic people, which means they spoke a language similar
to Hebrew or Arabic. Sargon eventually was able to take advantage of the
weakened city-states and seize control of Northern and Southern Mesopotamia,
creating the world’s first empire (describe difference between city-states and
empires). The Akkadian Empire lasted only 200 years, and they were actually
taken over by another people called the Amorites, who established their capital at
Babylon. The Babylonian Empire reached its peak during the reign of Hammurabi
from 1792-1750 BCE.
Hammurabi was a smart dude in that he realized that it would be a good
idea to have only one unified law code for his empire. He took an assortment of
the laws, rules, and judgments and condensed them into…Hammurabi’s Code! He
had his code, which lists 282 specific laws, engraved in stone and distributed
around the empire. The code had laws that dealt with almost every aspect of
Sumerian life, like property laws, crime, family relations, etc. The code applied to
everyone, but punishment was different between social classes and genders. Many
of the laws in the code applied the principle of retaliation as punishment for
crimes, which is where we get the saying, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a
tooth.” They were serious about this stuff. The Babylonians reign lasted an
additional 200 years after Hammy, but eventually fell to other nomadic warriors
(which is definitely a cyclical process).
SOLs:
WHI.3a, 3b, 3c
Students will demonstrate knowledge of ancient river valley civilizations,
including those of Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus River Valley, and China and
the civilizations of the Hebrews, Phoenicians, and Nubians, by:
a. Locating these civilizations in time and place
b. Describing the development of social, political, and economic patterns,
including slavery
c. Explaining the development of religious traditions
Objectives
Students will understand:
 That where you live determines how you live
 That change is the result of interactions between humans, the environment,
and ideas
Students will know:
 The characteristics of a civilization (organized government, specialized
workers, I forgot the rest)
 The characteristics of a river valley civilization (in general) – such as
flooding, irrigation, etc. and the positives and negatives of their location
(physical barriers/isolated from enemies)
 How to locate all four river valleys civilizations and pertinent physical
features on a map
 For Mesopotamia – the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
 Development of social patterns – from priestly leaders to hereditary kings;
social stratification including slavery
 Development of political patterns – city-states, centralized government
based on religious authority
 Development of economic patterns – increased trade (along rivers and
seas, also by land), more agricultural surplus based on innovations like the
plow, wheel, etc – bronze
 Sumerian innovations
 The definition of polytheism and how it applies to the Sumerians’
religious beliefs
 The definition, purpose, and significance of a ziggurat ( and the priestly
class)
 The definition and significance of cultural diffusion as it applies to the
Sumerians
 The first writing system, cuneiform, created by the Sumerians
Students will be able to:
 Explain the characteristics of civilizations, and specifically river valley
civilizations
 Explain the importance of location as it applies to river valleys
 Locate and identify all four ERVCs and pertinent physical features on a
map – including the Fertile Crescent, Mesopotamia, Sumer, the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers, the Zagros Mountains, Egypt and the Nile, Indus River,
Huang He River and China (we will get into more geographical specifics
about the other civilizations when we get to them)
 Describe and analyze the development of social, economic, and political
patterns as they applied to Sumer (listed above)
 Define polytheism
 Describe the Sumerians’ religious beliefs – and ziggurats!


Describe major Sumerian innovations, especially WRITING – cuneiform
Analyze how cultural diffusion shifted societal views
Assessment
There will be multiple possibilities for assessment during this lesson:
Diagnostic: The first opportunity for diagnostic assessment will come during the
Mini-Quiz; the students will have outlined the pertinent section of the book for
homework. If there is a topic/concept students seemed pretty confused about
when we review their answers, we will definitely focus on that more during class.
It will also clue me into who read the section and has the information they need to
have, and will inform my instruction. Another diagnostic assessment could occur
during the civilization sorting activity – they will get some terms from the section
they were supposed to read and some that might be new to them. This will serve
to access any prior knowledge students may have about the topic.
Formative: The civilization sorting activity can also be a formative assessment
because it will allow the teacher to assess where the students are in their
understanding of civilizations and what makes a river valley civilization unique.
When students share their category ideas, and talk about which category they put
certain terms or images into, I can gauge how they progressing with the concepts
they need to understand. Same goes for the mapping! Students need to know
where places are located in order to put things into perspective/context. Also,
during the lecture/PP slides we will definitely be stopping to discuss certain things
that may need some more explanation – if there seems to be a topic that students
are struggling with we can go into more depth about that. Hammurabi or Flood
Story thing?
Procedures
1. Do-Now – Mini Quiz on Section 3 Chapter 2 of the textbook (15 minutes)
For homework the previous class period, students will have been assigned to do an
outline of the pertinent chapter (this is not a new thing – they have done this before) and
will know the expectations for what they need to do. I will probably give the students the
quiz as they walk in the door. When they sit down they should take out their outlines and
begin working on the quiz quietly. While they’re working I’ll pass out red pencils for
grading, and any other graded materials that they have turned in. The students will
probably have 5-8 minutes to complete the quiz, and will then pass it to their partner to
grade. Again, we will probably spend about 5-8 minutes grading the quiz and clearing up
any questions the students may have about the content. After we finish grading the quiz,
the students will turn them into their tray, and then sit down quietly.
2. Agenda for the day (< 1 minute)
 Do-Now – Mini Quiz
 Objectives for the day
 Civilization sorting activity
 PowerPoint/Lecture
 Flood Stories

Wrap-up and Review
3. Objectives
We will briefly the review the objectives for today’s class while going over the agenda
4. Civilization Sorting Activity (20 minutes)
After we complete the do-now and go over the agenda, we will start our sort of
diagnostic/sort of review activity. Students will be separated into groups for this activity
(they will just turn around to the group of two behind/in front of them). I will give each
group an envelope with words/images associated with civilizations and the huntergatherer lifestyle. (I haven’t made them up yet…that’s upcoming). Groups will sort these
words and images into categories that they come up with – and then will share with the
class/justify why they chose to put words and images in the categories that they did. They
can write the categories they come up with on post-it notes. Or, maybe they could choose
one group member to come up to the board and write down which categories they
decided to make, and then each group can share with the class which categories they
chose/their justification for choosing them, etc. This activity will get the students thinking
about bigger concepts (what they name their categories) associated with civilizations, and
hopefully will get them to that more analytical level of thinking that we want them to
reach (when they have to justify why they put certain images/words in the categories that
they did). I might make a corresponding worksheet to go with this activity. During this
time I would pass out most of the materials students will be using in class.
5. PowerPoint and Brief Lecture (20-30 minutes)
The PowerPoint presentation relates to key facts and understandings students will gain
during this lesson about civilizations and Mesopotamia. During the PowerPoint, I plan to
stop lecturing and try to involve the students in the content by asking questions to the
entire class about the content, and including short videos that relate to the content. During
the PowerPoint, students will have notes given to them; they will have some key
terms/ideas that they will have to write down. Like I said, I would like to get students
more involved by asking questions and trying to have some discussion about the concepts
we will go over.
6. Flood Stories Activity (10 minutes)
For the last part of class, I wanted to have the students work on some writing skills.
Students will be given a small writing assignment about the flood stories, stories that are
startling similar through different cultures and time periods. I found four flood stories that
I want to students read. My goal for this assignment is to both to work on writing skills
for students, and to get them familiar with gathering and synthesizing information from
multiple sources. In class, I will give the students the stories to read, and then they will
think-pair-share with the person they’re sitting next to about what ideas or a plan they
have for writing. They will only write write either one well thought out paragraph, or at
the most, two paragraphs about the connections they see between the stories, why they
think these connections exist, and what these connections tell them about interactions
across time and place among different cultures. The students could start writing in class if
they wanted, and could finish this for homework. It would be convenient if I could assign
this on a Thursday or Friday so they would have some more time to work on it.
7. Wrap-Up and Review
For the last 2-3 minutes of class we will go over what we learned today and I would
address any questions/concerns about content or homework. Students can pack up and be
ready to go when the bell rings.
Civilization Sort
Terms:
Polytheistic
Neolithic
Artisan
Trade
Scribe
Theocracy
Empire
Dynasty
City-state
Pictogram
Nomad
Alphabet
Glacier
Mesopotamia
Animism
Egypt
Domesticate
Sumer
Agriculture
Indus Valley
Hominid
Nile
Technology
Tigris
Euphrates
Temple
China
Citadel
Mohenjo-Daro
Monsoon
Caste
Monotheism
Feudalism
Huang He River
Iron
Calendar
Irrigation
Government
Laws
Images:
“Flood Stories” Activity
Flood Stories – taken from http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/floodmyths.html#Maya
Sumerian: The gods had decided to destroy mankind. The god Enlil warned the
priest-king Ziusudra ("Long of Life") of the coming flood by speaking to a wall while
Ziusudra listened at the side. He was instructed to build a great ship and carry
beasts and birds upon it. Violent winds came, and a flood of rain covered the earth
for seven days and nights. Then Ziusudra opened a window in the large boat,
allowing sunlight to enter, and he prostrated himself before the sun-god Utu. After
landing, he sacrificed a sheep and an ox and bowed before Anu and Enlil. For
protecting the animals and the seed of mankind, he was granted eternal life and
taken to the country of Dilmun, where the sun rises. [Hammerly-Dupuy, p. 56;
Heidel, pp. 102-106]
Babylonian: Three times (every 1200 years), the gods were distressed by the
disturbance from human overpopulation. The gods dealt with the problem first by
plague, then by famine. Both times, the god Enki advised men to bribe the god
causing the problem. The third time, Enlil advised the gods to destroy all humans
with a flood, but Enki had Atrahasis build an ark and so escape. Also on the boat
were cattle, wild animals and birds, and Atrahasis' family. When the storm came,
Atrahasis sealed the door with bitumen and cut the boat's rope. The storm god Adad
raged, turning the day black. After the seven-day flood, the gods regretted their
action. Atrahasis made an offering to them, at which the gods gathered like flies, and
Enki established barren women and stillbirth to avoid the problem in the future.
[Dalley, pp. 23-35]
Hindu: Manu, the first human, found a small fish in his washwater. The fish begged
protection from the larger fishes, in return for which it would save Manu. Manu kept
the fish safe, transferring it to larger and larger reservoirs as it grew, eventually
taking it to the ocean. The fish warned Manu of a coming deluge and told him to
build a ship. When the flood rose, the fish came, and Manu tied the craft to its horn.
The fish led him to a northern mountain and told Manu to tie the ship's rope to a
tree to prevent it from drifting. Manu, alone of all creatures, survived. He made
offerings of clarified butter, sour milk, whey, and curds. From these, a woman arose,
calling herself Manu's daughter. Whatever blessings he invoked through her were
granted him. Through her, he generated this race. [Gaster, pp. 94-95; Kelsen, p. 128;
Brinton, pp. 227-228]
Hebrew/Old Testament: God, upset at mankind's wickedness, resolved to destroy
it, but Noah was righteous and found favor with Him. God told Noah to build an ark,
450 x 75 x 45 feet, with three decks. Noah did so, and took aboard his family (8
people in all) and pairs of all kinds of animals (7 of the clean ones). For 40 days and
nights, floodwaters came from the heavens and from the deeps, until the highest
mountains were covered. The waters flooded the earth for 150 days; then God sent a
wind and the waters receded, and the ark came to rest in Ararat. After 40 days, Noah
sent out a raven, which kept flying until the waters had dried up. He next sent out a
dove, which returned without finding a perch. A week later he set out the dove
again, and it returned with an olive leaf. The next week, the dove didn't return. After
a year and 10 days from the start of the flood, everyone and everything emerged
from the ark. Noah sacrificed some clean animals and birds to God, and God, pleased
with this, promised never again to destroy all living creatures with a flood, giving
the rainbow as a sign of this covenant.
Name:_____________________
Date:______________________
Period:_____________________
Making Connections Across Cultures: Flood Stories
Instructions: What we know as “flood stories” provide some of the most fascinating
similarities across cultures in ancient history. These stories contain many common
elements even though they were created in different cultures at different times. The big
questions are: why are these stories so like each other even though they were written
within completely different contexts? What does this tell us about communication
between ancient cultures? Your task is to read all of the stories provided and then PICK
TWO to compare and contrast in depth. You will use the graphic organizer on the back
to develop your thoughts, and then write or type a two-paragraph response.
Response Topic: Compare and contrast two flood stories listing at least two things that
are similar and two things that are different. Use examples from the stories. Comparing
the two stories that you choose does not mean simply writing, “These stories are similar
because they are both about floods.” Try and reach that higher level of thinking! Use the
similarities and differences you find in the stories to answer the questions: Why are these
stories from different cultures and different times so similar? What do these similarities
and differences in the stories suggest about communication between cultures?
*It may be useful to think of organizing your response as follows:
 1st paragraph: Compare and contrast two flood stories
 2nd paragraph: Use your analysis from the first paragraph to answer the questions
listed above
Name:____________________
Date:____________________
Period:____________________
Instructions: After choosing which two stories you will compare and contrast, use this
graphic organizer to develop your thoughts.
Story #1:______________________________________________
Story #2:_______________________________________________________
How are they similar?:__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
How are they different?
What do the similarities and differences you observed suggest about communications between cultures?
Why do these similarities and differences exist in the stories?
Now…you are ready to write your response!!