Students will be able to...
compare Mesopotamian empires and their cities
identify major achievements of the Mesopotamian empires
identify major cities and empires in Mesopotamia
interpret various maps, graphs, charts, photographs, and illustrations on ancient Mesopotamia
analyze why empires fail
SS Binder
Chromebook
4 Empires of Mesopotamia Powersheets (posted in Classroom)
Babylonia and Assyria Handout (given in class)
The Nystrom Atlas of World History 3rd Edition
Great Cities of Mesopotamia Handout (given in class)
Art Supplies
*NOTE* Nothing lasts forever. Sumer (a collection of city-states in Mesopotamia) had a really good run at it. Remember, they started in around 3500 BCE and a little more than a 1,000 years later (even though they were on a down turn for a while) they were finally over taken by a city-state that eventually turned into the very first empire: Akkadia in 2300 BCE and the rest is history.
Get to know the four empires of Mesopotamia: Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian, and Neo-Babylon.
Mesopotamian Civilizations: Ancient Frenemies with Big Ideas
Akkadians – Took over the Sumerians and said, “Cool cities, we’ll take those.” Led by Sargon the Great, the first guy to say, “I run all this now.”
Babylonians – Famous for Hammurabi’s code: basically ancient “Judge Judy,” but with harsher punishments and zero commercials.
Assyrians – The warriors of Mesopotamia. Their empire-building strategy was: “Show up, scare everyone, win.” Built libraries too — because even scary people need good stories.
Neo-Babylonians – Brought back the bling with the Hanging Gardens (ancient plant flex) and astronomy. They looked at the stars and said, “We predict… we’re awesome.”
In short: They wrote, ruled, and rebuilt — and somehow kept inventing things between all the conquering.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon is considered one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, however, its existence if up for debate amongst scholars.
Besides the empire of Sumer, there was Akkadia, Assyria, Babylon and Neo-Babylon. Within those empires there were several important cities:
* Uruk * Babylon
* Akkad * Nimrud
* Assur * Nineveh
Each member of your table will be responsible for learning/answering the questions about at least one of the four empires of Mesopotamia: Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian, and Neo-Babylonian.
Use your textbook to read about your empire in chapter 6 and complete each question on your Powersheet slides. You can access the online version of the chapter below:
Be sure to read carefully, use your own words and phrases, proofread, and edit if necessary.
Use the atlas to complete the handout. You may work with a partner, but you must work together to answer the questions.
Read the Great Cities of Mesopotamia below to learn more about the city-states of Uruk, Akkad, Assur, Babylon, Nimrud, and Nineveh. Then complete the True or False and Multiple Choice questions on the handout.
Finally, create an illustrated drawing to represent what you learned about each of the Mesopotamian cities.
Day 1- Finish 1/2 of your assigned empire
Day 4- Finish Great Cities handout