Download court script10 Mesopotamia

Ancient Mesopotamia Script
By Ms. Holmes, Mrs. Ross & Mr. Ingraham
Opening Statement:
Bailiff : “All rise for the honorable Judge ________________________.”
Judge _____________________________ “ Please be seated. The court is now in
session.”
Lawyer___________________________ “Good morning ladies & gentlemen of the jury.
(My partner and) I will prove to you today that ancient Mesopotamia was truly a
civilization. (We) I plan to show you evidence from all four components, (we) I
will show you evidence from ancient Mesopotamia’s government system,
learning system, religious beliefs, and method of writing. By the end of (our) my
court case today, you will feel like you were a part of this great civilization. You
will know and believe that Mesopotamia was a true civilization.
Lawyer ___________________”Let us begin with the Writing of the ancient
Mesopotamians, for my first witness let me call Queen Amytise to the stand.”
Judge _____________________ “Queen Amytise, please take the stand.”
Bailiff ____________________ “Do you promise to speak the truth, the whole truth
before all the gods of the universe”.
Witness __________________ “I do.”
Lawyer ___________________ “Good Morning, your highness.”
Witness ___________________ “And good morning to you, too!”
Lawyer ___________________ “Could you tell a little about yourself to the court.
Witness ___________________ “My husband Nebuchadnezzar II. He is king and I am
his wife.”
Lawyer ____________________ “I see, well today we subpoenaed you to discuss the
writing of ancient Mesopotamia can you read and write?”
Witness ___________________ “By all the gods, no. Neither can my husband. In
Ancient Mesopotamia only the scribes are trained to read and write.”
Lawyer ____________________ “Who are these scribes then? Are they nobles?”
Witness ____________________ “No, but they are important members of Babylonian
society. They belong to the middle class and they record laws, and business
transactions, and some are writing the story of my husband’s, the king, and even
poems.”
Lawyer ____________________ “How do they record all this information?”
Witness ___________________ “They use a wedge shaped stylus and write on clay
tablets. However, some carve on stone.”
Lawyer ____________________ “Please carefully examine this Exhibit “A” ( Cuneiform
writing) is this the writing of Mesopotamia to which you refer?”
Witness ____________________ “Yes, that’s it.”
Lawyer ___________________ “Please explain to the jury what it looks like?”
Witness ___________________ “The impressions look like designs made of little
triangles and so it is called cuneiform.”
Lawyer ____________________ “Your Honor, I would like this entered into the record
as Cuneiform writing.” Other picture exhibits should be presented at this time.
Judge _____________________ “Bailiff would you please admit this as Exhibit A”
Lawyer ___________________ “Thank you, Queen Amytise. Your Honor at this time I
have no further questions of this witness.
Judge _____________________ “You may step down.”
Lawyer ____________________ “Now I would like to discuss the Government or
leadership in ancient Mesopotamia. For my second witness I would like to call
another Akkadian ruler King Sargon.”
Judge ___________________ “King Sargon you may take the stand.”
Bailiff ____________________ “Do you promise to speak the truth, the whole truth
before all the gods of the universe”.
Witness __________________ “I do.”
Lawyer _________________ “What is your name?”
Witness _________________ “King Sargon.”
Lawyer __________________ Where are you from?
Witness __________________ “The city-state of Akkad.”
Lawyer ___________________ “That is very interesting, please tell the court what a
city-state is.”
Witness ___________________ “A city-state is a city or village and the farmlands
around it ruled by its own government leader “
Lawyer ___________________ “And you are the king of a city-state?”
Witness ___________________ “Yes, I am the ruler of Akkad and Akkad conquered
the other 12 city-states between the Tigris & Euphrates rivers an area known as
Mesopotamia.”
Lawyer ___________________ “What are your other accomplishments as ruler in
Mesopotamia?”
Witness __________________ “Well I King Sargon I united the 12 city-states and
stopped them warring among themselves.”
Lawyer __________________ “Great, did you do anything else?”
Witness __________________ “Yes I promoted trade and the building of more dikes
and canals to improve the life’s of the people in each city-state. To support all this
I set up a system of taxation where everyone supports their government’s projects
on their behalf by paying taxes in crops or other goods so that the burden of these
improvements is shared among many.”
Lawyer____________________ “Now King Sargon may I direct your attention to this
Exhibit “B” (The Ziggurat) and ask you to explain to the court what you see.”
Witness __________________ “Certainly, it look like a representation of one of the
public buildings in Mesopotamia. I think its from the city-state of Ur.”
Lawyer ___________________ “That must have taken years to construct to build? Do
you mind telling the court what is it made of?”
Witness __________________ “Certainly in Mesopotamia there is little stone
everything city walls, palaces, temples, and housing are built of sun-dried bricks.
The bricks are easily made of river mud, but as the king I had to use my authority
to order that sun-dried bricks were made for a construction project and again
order the workers to construct it.”
Lawyer ___________________ “Where would we find a building like this.”
Witness ___________________ “It is a representation of a temple. Some were seven
stories high and each higher level is smaller than the one below it. We call them
ziggurats and they would be located in the center of the city-state.” The other
picture exhibits demonstrating leadership would be shown & explained at this
time.
Judge _____________________ “Bailiff would you please admit this as Exhibit B”
Lawyer ___________________ “Your honor I have no further questions for this witness”
Judge ____________________”You may step down.”
Lawyer _________________ “Now for my witness on Mesopotamian Religion I would
like to call King Hammurabi”
Judge ____________________” King Hammurabi would you please take the stand.”
Bailiff ____________________ “Do you promise to speak the truth, the whole truth
before all the gods of the universe”.
Witness __________________ “I do.”
Lawyer ___________________ “Now King Hammurabi, as king of Babylon you
must be
very familiar with the Religion of the Mesopotamian city-states.”
Witness ___________________ “Why yes I am.”
Lawyer ___________________ “Can you tell us a little about the beliefs of the people of
Mesopotamia.”
Witness ___________________ “Certainly, my people are very religious and worship
many gods, I think you call that polytheism. If fact each city-state has a huge
temple called a ziggurat with is dedicated to their special god. We have already
discussed them, but on the top is the altar to the chief god of the city-state.”
Lawyer __________________ “Very interesting, could you explain more about the gods
of Mesopotamia?”
Witness __________________ “Well there are many. You see we worship the gods of
nature we have Enlil, the god of winds, storm, and rain all important things to our
many farmers in the lower classes and Ea, the god of the waters and wisdom
which is certainly important to our scribes, the nobles, and me.”
Lawyer ___________________ “Do you have a personal favorite god?”
Witness ___________________ “Yes, the god who is most special to me is Shamash, the
sun god.”
Lawyer ___________________ “May I ask why?”
Witness __________________ “Shamash gave me the authority to write down the laws
for the people of Mesopotamia.”
Lawyer __________________ “Would you please examine this. Exhibit “C” (stone stela
image). Could you please explain what it shows?”
Witness __________________ “Why this is from a boundary marker. There were many
like it in Mesopotamia. The Image shows me receiving permission to write laws.
It took 282 to cover every aspect of life. They deal with family, trade, and work
and provide equal justice and fair treatment within each social class. Perhaps you
have heard of them they are called the Code of Hammurabi and I am most proud
of them.”
Lawyer __________________ “Are they the famous ‘Eye for an Eye Laws’?”
Witness __________________ “Exactly and they are most fair because if you should
cause an injury to someone you will be given the same injury.”
Lawyer __________________ “I see, what about accidents?”
Witness __________________ “Accidents? What are they?”
Lawyer ___________________ “Never mind. Other exhibits concerning religion should
be presented at this time.
Judge _____________________ “Bailiff would you please admit this as Exhibit C”
Lawyer __________________ Wonderful! Your Honor, I’m finished here!
Judge ____________________” King Hammurabi you may step down from the witness
stand.”
Lawyer ___________________ “Your Honor if I may I would like to call Queen Kayah
to the stand to discuss the learning and knowledge that the ancient peoples of
Mesopotamia may have processed.
Judge ____________________Queen Kayah you may take the stand.
Bailiff ____________________ “Do you promise to speak the truth, the whole truth
before all the gods of the universe”.
Witness __________________ “I do.”
Lawyer ___________________ “Queen Kayah we have already introduced boundary
markers to the court could you explain why they were needed and what were
these stone markers used for?”
Witness __________________ “The land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers is
very flat in fact it is so flat that is called a flood plain, because these two rivers
over flow their banks each spring. The area has not natural boundaries so we mark
of land in iqus or acres.”
Lawyer _________________ “And you Mesopotamians came up with this system of land
measurement.”
Witness ________________ “Oh we invented more than that. We invented another
system of measurement called the quart. We invented ships with sails so that
boats could move up river against the current. That made transporting trade goods
easier on the rivers. For traveling over land we invented the wheel and the
wheeled cart.”
Lawyer ____________________ “I see is this an example of a wheeled card?” (Exhibit
“D” horse & cart)
Witness ____________________ “Yes, and you can see by using an oxen, donkey, or
horse heavy items can be easily moved from place to place.” Other picture
exhibits of Innovation/ invention should be shown at this time.
Judge _____________________ “Bailiff would you please admit this as Exhibit D”
Lawyer ___________________ “Thank you Queen Kayah. I have no further questions.
Judge ___________________
“You may step down.”
Closing Statement:
Lawyer ___________________ “Your honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, this
concludes our case for Mesopotamia. Thank you for listening and we hope you
learned a lot from our presentation. Now please direct your attention to our
powerpoint, which will sum up for you the examples of Mesopotamia’s writing,
government, religious beliefs, and their extensive knowledge or learning. We
know that you, the jury and judge, now must realize beyond a shadow of a doubt
that ancient Mesopotamia was truly a civilization.”
Judge ______________________ Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you are to decide if
the advanced society of Mesopotamia is truly a civilization. You must weigh the
facts as presented and render your judgement of the lawyers case.
After Discussion
Judge ____________________ “Has the jury reached a decision”
Answer all: “Yes”
Judge ____________________ “What is your decision”
Answer all: “Mesopotamia (is/is not) a civilization
Judge ____________________ “Case dismissed.”