The Ancient Middle East

1
The Ancient Middle East

• An introduction to the time, place and literary
  significance of the Land Between the Rivers
• English Honors IV
• Wade Hampton High School
• Janet Atkins, Room 220

2
Lesson Objectives

• To analyze episodes from a Mesopotamian epic
• To recognize and analyze the qualities of an epic
  hero
• To write a new episode for the epic
• To defend a position in a debate concerning the
  value of reading an ancient epic

3
Lets see how well you read

• Who were the first known people to settle in
  Mesopotamia?
• What was the system of writing developed by the
  Sumerians?
• In what great city did Nebuchadnezzar build his
  Hanging Gardens?
• What is Hammurabi known for?
• What great city did the Assyrians create?

4
Discussing the Time Line

• Literacy may have begun with the Sumerians
  inscription of cuneiform on clay tablets. If so,
  how long has the human race been literate?
• What were some of the early writings of the
  Ancient Middle East?

5
Paving the Way

• About 9000 B.C., people living in the foothills
  of the Zagros Mountains (north east of
  Mesopotamia) were among the worlds first
  cultivators of grain and domesticators of sheep.
• Before 7000 B.C. Jericho, perhaps the worlds
  first city was built in what is today Israel.

6
Cultural Background

• In the sixth century B.C. Babylonian king
  Nebuchadnezzar II built one of the Seven Wonders
  of the World, the famous Hanging Garden of
  Babylon.

7
Geographical Background

• The Euphrates River is 1,800 miles long, and the
  Tigris is 1,150. Tributaries and mountain passes
  form links to neighboring regions such as Persia
  (Iran) and Asia Minor (Turkey).

8
Historical Background

• City-states were recurring institutions in the
  ancient world. It may have first emerged in
  Sumer, where each city-state had its own written
  code of law, assembly of citizens, king, and
  chief god.

9
Cultural Background

• Ziggurats differed from pyramids in that they
  were not royal tombs, but rather solid clay
  structures, which functioned only as foundations
  for temples.
• http//www.mesopotamia.co.uk/ziggurats/explore/exp
  _set.html

10
The Rise of Babylon

• Hammurabis Code was not the first of its kind,
  but it was the most extensive and specified the
  most severe punishments. Perjury, adultery,
  sorcery, and receiving stolen good were capital
  offenses.

11
The Ishtar Gate

• The Ishtar Gate was a ceremonial gate to the city
  of Babylon, made of colored glazed tiles and
  dedicated to the goddess Ishtar.

12
The Tower of Babel

• In the Hebrew Bible, God punishes the
  overreaching ambition of the builders of the
  Tower by making the workers speak in a
  bewildering confusion of languages. How does this
  story reflect the actual ethnic history of the
  city?

13
The Epic of Gilgamesh

• Turn to pp. 136-138
• Homework Read the selections from The Epic of
  Gilgamesh beginning on p. 139.