Students will be able to...

1. analyze how irrigation led to an increase in population

2. determine why Sumerians believe the success of their society depended on their priests

3. identify which achievement help the Sumerians become the most prosperous

4. compare Hammurabi's Code to our laws today

5. understand how trade made each city-state’s culture richer

6. identify the 3 major social classes in ancient Mesopotamia

• SS Binder

• Chromebook

• Ancient Mesopotamia Comic Notes Packet (given in class)

• Art Supplies

(Edpuzzle link)

Long ago (like, 5,000 years ago), in the land between two angry rivers (Tigris and Euphrates), people decided mud and teamwork were enough to start cities. Welcome to Mesopotamia — the OG civilization.

They invented writing (cuneiform), not to write poetry, but to keep receipts. Their gods were dramatic, their kings thought they were BFFs with the gods, and Hammurabi wrote laws so specific he probably had trust issues.

They built ziggurats (basically ancient Wi-Fi towers for talking to the gods) and accidentally invented math, time, and bureaucracy.

In short: floods, farming, gods with temper tantrums, and the first people to look at clay and say, “Let’s make a tablet.”