Mesopotamia Unit, 2009

This was a challenging unit to put together. All of the books at the library had pretty much the same information, and none of it was very inspiring (or very high-level). Besides the Epic of Gilgamesh, the only literature I could find to read aloud was a short story about the Tower of Babel that I had cut out of Omni magazine ages ago! (It wasn’t totally relevant, but provoked lots of good discussion!)

Finally there was the question of the “whole to parts” approach. What does that look like for ancient history? I decided to begin this unit from an archeologist’s point of view—considering clues to the culture then adding each subsequent discovery to see the big picture. We didn’t study the religion, daily life, education, government, and other aspects of the culture separately, but considered them as we moved along the chronological history of the area. I specifically didn’t include much about Biblical history—except when it intersected that of Sumer, Babylon, and Assyria—because we are already familiar with those stories.

Following are my weekly plans. Throughout the unit each of the kids worked on a flapbook to record what he had studied. And one final note: the Spirit told me I needed to talk about Babylon in the scriptural sense (worldliness), not just in the historical sense. So we spent several days just on that.

Week 1
*Archeologists found one civilization on top of another in the Fertile Crescent.
Trace the clues to the existence of Sumer (ancient stories, clay tablets…).
Learn about discoveries and prominent archeologists (Wolley, Koldeway, Windler, Laird).
Standard of Ur—what are the pictures showing?

Other artifacts: clothing / tools / jewelry / sundials…
Try writing with a stylus in wet clay!

Vocabulary: ziggurat, cuneiform, tel

Tower of Babel
Read aloud “Tower of Babylon” by Ted Chiang (fun!)
Ziggurats related to astronomy and time-keeping

*Mesopotamia is called the “Cradle of Civilization.”
What makes a civilization?
Look at geography of the region

--Make a map of physical places and early cities.
Vocabulary: alluvial, delta, meso-potam-ia (related to the word hippopotamus!)
Babylonia = Shinar (Gen 10:10)—lower end of Tigris & Euphrates valley / city: Babylon
Assyria = Asshur—Tigris valley north of Babylonia / city: Ninevah
Sumer, Akkad, Ur

Week 2
*The Epic of Gilgamesh is Sumerian literature.
Read aloud. (It took about three days.)

*The Sumerians have many gods.
Identify diety—relationships, what they stood for, Sumerian vs.Babylonian names
Vocabulary: polytheism

Week 3
*City-states become empires
Mesopotamian government

Organization of society
Sargon of Akkad—first “empire”
Ur-Nammu—Third Dynasty of Ur
Hammurabi of Babylonia —written laws (Hammurabi’s Code)
Vocabulary: city-state

*Many nations, in turn, control the Fertile Crescent
Assyria (Senacherib), Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar), Persia (Darius)
Add to timeline.
Memorize poem “The Destruction of Sennacherib” by Lord Byron

Week 4
*Babylon has everything the World can offer.
city walls / Euphrates River / Ishtar Gate ….
Seven Wonders of the World—Hanging Gardens
Make watercolor paintings of the hanging gardens

*”Babylon” is the Lord’s symbol for worldliness.
actual city
Rome (Revelation / I Peter 5:13)
The World (D&C 1:16, 35:11, 64:24, 86:3, 133:14)
Sing “Ye Elders of Israel"