Mesopotamia literally means ¨the land between two rivers¨. (17) Mesopotamia was also known as ¨The Fertile Crescent¨ because it was land that was very fertile and it was shaped like a crescent. Ancient Mesopotamians are credited with inventing the earliest form of writing, pictographs. Let's take a closer look at some of the vocabulary associated with Ancient Mesopotamia.
Fertile Crescent is in the Middle East and extends around the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. This land was so fertile because of the two rivers that ran through it. The rich, fertile soil was beneficial for farming. Currently, the land that was once Ancient Mesopotamia isn't so fertile anymore...it's desert! The fertile crescent goes through modern day Southern Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and Northern Egypt. Remember though, this is all modern day, not ancient times! The fertile crescent had cities, tribes, religion, flora (plant life), fauna (animal life), and domestication.
Pictograph is a drawing that means a word or a group of words. Pictographs can usually be found on the walls of pyramids. They were hard to write and moderately difficult to read. For example, if you saw a man with a spear raised above his head and some game animals in front of that man, one could guess this pictograph meant hunting. I know how to read a little bit of pictograph and write a little bit of pictograph.
Cuneiform is is writing but it is "typed". Now you might think about typing on a computer or texting on a phone, but this was completely different. The Mesopotamian people got a small block of stone and made little wedges in the stone in patterns. These carved patterns were what they called typing. Are you wondering how would you read a cuneiform!?! Well, each wedge was different and one could tell the difference between wedges. Each wedge had a certain letter assigned to it. The letters would be put together to make words and then sentences. I would rather read a pictograph than a cuneiform.
Scribe is a privileged person who is allowed to have the knowledge to read and write. You may think that it's crazy to have to have permission to know how to read and write, but that was the case in Ancient Mesopotamia! In modern culture, everyone is expected to know how to read and write. However, in a lot of ancient civilizations it was an honor to be able to read and write because the one thing rulers feared the most was knowledge. They feared knowledge because they didn't want their people to know right from wrong and judge them for the way they ruled.
Bronze is a yellowish, brownish piece of metal made of copper and tin. Bronze was very valuable because it was hard to make. It was made by heating and melting copper and tin together and then mixing them. This could be used to pay tribute to the emperor, make weapons or make a pot for cooking. I wonder if bronze back then was like money? To the Ancient Mesopotamians, bronze was the equivalent to our modern-day money.
Ziggurat A ziggurat is a rectangular temple that was built by the Sumerians, Akkadians, and the Babylonians. This must have been a big project because multiple groups wanted to help build the ziggurats. There were many ziggurats built in multiple cities of the Sumerians, Akkadians, and the Babylonians. They were very big in length and height. They were big temples for religion. I really wish that I could see a ziggurat with my own eyes because the architecture amazes me.
Priest-King is a priest but he is also a king. Priest-kings were at the very top of the social stratification. It was the belief that the priest-kings could talk to the gods and ask them to watch over their society. The priest-kings could ask for rain to supply water to plants and the people. If you had a priest-king in your city and he was ruling, you would live in a theocracy because, if you remember, from the economic systems page, a theocracy is a government ruled by religious authority.
City-State is an independent city and it's surrounding land. You may be why the land of a city keeps getting bigger. Well, it is because when the city gets more people there are more mouths to feed. Also, more houses have to be built so they have a place to stay. More people plus more houses equal more land.
Schema Connection: This is like the U.S. because we have multiple cities in one state. For example, in Arizona there are multiple cities like Tucson, Phoenix, and Flagstaff just to name a few.
Empire is when a powerful person comes along and takes ownership of the land and people. People under the empire's rule would have to do what the emperor says or else be executed publicly. The emperor would perform an execution publicly to send a message saying "don't mess with me or you will die!"
Schema Connection: I think I would like to live in an empire to be protected by the empire's army. However, the bad thing about living in an empire would be paying tribute for protection. From a work point of view, I would not like living in a empire because you would have to work constantly like a slave.
Tribute is something of value given to the emperor for protection. It would be like paying the police to keep you safe. When you pay tribute it has to be valuable to the individual and the person being "paid". This could be bronze or a rare item that the emperor wanted. It would be hard for a poor citizen to pay tribute to the emperor, because poor citizens did not have a lot of valuable items.
Now let's explore:
Physical Geography
Universals of Culture
Government Types
Economic Types
Fertile Crescent is in the Middle East and extends around the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. This land was so fertile because of the two rivers that ran through it. The rich, fertile soil was beneficial for farming. Currently, the land that was once Ancient Mesopotamia isn't so fertile anymore...it's desert! The fertile crescent goes through modern day Southern Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and Northern Egypt. Remember though, this is all modern day, not ancient times! The fertile crescent had cities, tribes, religion, flora (plant life), fauna (animal life), and domestication.
Pictograph is a drawing that means a word or a group of words. Pictographs can usually be found on the walls of pyramids. They were hard to write and moderately difficult to read. For example, if you saw a man with a spear raised above his head and some game animals in front of that man, one could guess this pictograph meant hunting. I know how to read a little bit of pictograph and write a little bit of pictograph.
Cuneiform is is writing but it is "typed". Now you might think about typing on a computer or texting on a phone, but this was completely different. The Mesopotamian people got a small block of stone and made little wedges in the stone in patterns. These carved patterns were what they called typing. Are you wondering how would you read a cuneiform!?! Well, each wedge was different and one could tell the difference between wedges. Each wedge had a certain letter assigned to it. The letters would be put together to make words and then sentences. I would rather read a pictograph than a cuneiform.
Scribe is a privileged person who is allowed to have the knowledge to read and write. You may think that it's crazy to have to have permission to know how to read and write, but that was the case in Ancient Mesopotamia! In modern culture, everyone is expected to know how to read and write. However, in a lot of ancient civilizations it was an honor to be able to read and write because the one thing rulers feared the most was knowledge. They feared knowledge because they didn't want their people to know right from wrong and judge them for the way they ruled.
Bronze is a yellowish, brownish piece of metal made of copper and tin. Bronze was very valuable because it was hard to make. It was made by heating and melting copper and tin together and then mixing them. This could be used to pay tribute to the emperor, make weapons or make a pot for cooking. I wonder if bronze back then was like money? To the Ancient Mesopotamians, bronze was the equivalent to our modern-day money.
Ziggurat A ziggurat is a rectangular temple that was built by the Sumerians, Akkadians, and the Babylonians. This must have been a big project because multiple groups wanted to help build the ziggurats. There were many ziggurats built in multiple cities of the Sumerians, Akkadians, and the Babylonians. They were very big in length and height. They were big temples for religion. I really wish that I could see a ziggurat with my own eyes because the architecture amazes me.
Priest-King is a priest but he is also a king. Priest-kings were at the very top of the social stratification. It was the belief that the priest-kings could talk to the gods and ask them to watch over their society. The priest-kings could ask for rain to supply water to plants and the people. If you had a priest-king in your city and he was ruling, you would live in a theocracy because, if you remember, from the economic systems page, a theocracy is a government ruled by religious authority.
City-State is an independent city and it's surrounding land. You may be why the land of a city keeps getting bigger. Well, it is because when the city gets more people there are more mouths to feed. Also, more houses have to be built so they have a place to stay. More people plus more houses equal more land.
Schema Connection: This is like the U.S. because we have multiple cities in one state. For example, in Arizona there are multiple cities like Tucson, Phoenix, and Flagstaff just to name a few.
Empire is when a powerful person comes along and takes ownership of the land and people. People under the empire's rule would have to do what the emperor says or else be executed publicly. The emperor would perform an execution publicly to send a message saying "don't mess with me or you will die!"
Schema Connection: I think I would like to live in an empire to be protected by the empire's army. However, the bad thing about living in an empire would be paying tribute for protection. From a work point of view, I would not like living in a empire because you would have to work constantly like a slave.
Tribute is something of value given to the emperor for protection. It would be like paying the police to keep you safe. When you pay tribute it has to be valuable to the individual and the person being "paid". This could be bronze or a rare item that the emperor wanted. It would be hard for a poor citizen to pay tribute to the emperor, because poor citizens did not have a lot of valuable items.
Now let's explore:
Physical Geography
Universals of Culture
Government Types
Economic Types