Mesopotamia web quest

The Sumerians created the first cuneiform in 3500 B.C. They lived in ancient Mesopotamia. The people that knew cuneiform were called scribes. They wrote it on clay tablets.

The Mesopotamians invented the water clock. They invented the twelve month calendar. They invented the plough. They also invented the sailboat.

The mesopatamians believed in gods and goddess.Enki, Gula,Istar, and Ninurta are some of them.Enki is a god of wisdom, farming, building, magic and arts and crafts.Gula was a goddess of healing, a patroness of doctors.Ishtar is the goddess of love and war.Ninurta is a god of war.

When a nobleman has knocked out a tooth of another nobleman.He shall have the same.If someone helps a slave escape they shall be put to death. If a nobleman slaps another nobleman, he shall pay that nobleman one mina of silver.

Originally the temples at the center of each city-state were built on a platform. As time passed, these platform temples evolved into temple-towers called ziggurats. The ziggurat was the first major building structure of the Sumerians.

Gilgamesh was one of the most heroic priest-kings of this time. He was the priest-king of Uruk which was located on the Euphrates River approximately fifty miles northwest of Ur.

Sargon 1 was from Akkad located in the northern reaches of Mesopotamia. When the power of the Sumerian city-states began to collapse due to their constant battling, Sargon I capitalized upon the opportunity and attacked the southern region of Mesopotamia with his armies

Sargon 1 ruled Mesopotaimia  around 50 years.When he died his empire faltered. The individual city-states again rose to power.

   Write a paragraph in which you speculate what the importance of written language is to civilization. How did it preserve knowledge, improve communication, and help improve government? You can write stories to pass down to your children.You  can write letters to people.When you make laws you can keep a record of that law so nobody  can say  you didn't make that law.That is why written language is important.

The contributions affecting the modern world from our ancient ancestors in Mesopotamia are numerous. The ancient Sumerians created the world's first civilization where people settled together in one area known as the city-state. For this accomplishment, ancient Mesopotamia is often referred to as the "cradle of civilization."