Moon s Day, 8/ 24: Mesopotamia

Transcription

1 Moon s Day, 8/ 24: Mesopotamia EQs: Where was Mesopotamia, why The Cradle Of Civilization, and how did they write? Welcome! Gather OLD WORK into your Notebook; gather paper, pen/cil, wits! Gilgamesh s World o Mesopotamia o Cuneiform CLOZE: Mesopotamia ELACC12RI3: Analyze and explain how individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop ELACC12W6: Use technology to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing ELACC12W9: Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis ELACC12W10: Write routinely over extended and shorter time frames ELACC12SL1: Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions ELACC12L4: Determine/clarify meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases ELACC12L6: Acquire and use general academic and domain-specific words and phrases

2 Recall that our work this year will restrict itself to the Northeastern Quadrasphere of the World, an area we now call Eurasia. World Literature begins in an area in the middle of that quadrasphere, a section of the Arabian Peninsula which archaeologists call Mesopotamia.

3 The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem about a famous king of Uruk. There may or may not have been a real Gilgamesh, but there was a real Uruk, a Sumerian city in Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia means between the rivers (Gk. meso middle + pota rivers ) Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in modern Iraq ( Uruk = Iraq )

4 This area sometimes is called The Fertile Crescent because the rivers and climate made it good farming. For that reason, the first cities in the world in modern sense as collections of people, buildings, streets, services were built here. And for THAT reason, Mesopotamia is sometimes called The Cradle of Civilization.

5 In about 3300 BCE, people in Mesopotamia became the first writers by making dents in clay. This process is called cuneiform (Latin cun dent, wedge + form shape ). Cuneiform is one of the first styles of writing in the world. At first it was used on a small scale for simple messages, as on this clay cylinder basically a receipt about stock on a ship:

6 Later, cuneiform was used for more complex purposes. The Epic of Gilgamesh is, so far as we can tell, the first story to be written down anywhere in the world. Oral versions probably existed from 2500 BCE 1000 years before it was inscribed in cuneiform on this clay tablet in about 1500 BCE.

7 CLOZE: Mesopotamia 1. The Epic of Gilgamesh is about a famous king in the Sumerian city of, in what is now the modern country of (the names sound very similar). 2. Mesopotamia comes from Greek words meaning the 3. The area was sometimes called The Crescent. 4. Why is it called that? 5. The first in the world were built there. 6. For that reason, Mesopotamia is sometimes called The of. 7. Draw a simple map of Mesopotamia, labeling both rivers and the city named in Question #1: 8. Define cuneiform: 9. The Epic of Gilgamesh probably existed in oral form in about BCE, and was written on a cuneiform tablet in about BCE.

8 Turn In Today: CLOZE: Mesopotamia Be sure to put last week s work in binder! Begin Group Project: Cuneiform Me! 1. Divide into pairs or, if you wish, you may work alone. PHYSICALLY MOVE YOUR DESKS TOGETHER so that I can discern each group. 2. Pick up and fill out a Project Sheet (one per group). 3. Your pair, or your lonely self, will function as a nation of people. Decide on a working name for your nation.

9 4. Create a cuneiform alphabet out of ONLY lines, curves and dots. Remember that language consists of ARBITRARY signs no numbers, letters or almost-letters, pictures, etc. WorldLitComp Group Project: Cuneiform Me! Complete this worksheet and submit it today. I will use it to remind you of your mission. Group Name: Group Members Names: Below, create a cipher for the Cuneiform Alphabet you will use to write your message.

10 WorldLitComp Group Project: Cuneiform Me! Complete this worksheet and submit it today. I will use it to remind you of your mission. Group Name: Group Members Names: Below, create a cipher for the Cuneiform Alphabet you will use to write your message. WorldLitComp Group Project: Cuneiform Me! Complete this worksheet and submit it today. I will use it to remind you of your mission. Group Name: Group Members Names: Below, create a cipher for the Cuneiform Alphabet you will use to write your message.