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https://ancientenvironments.wikispaces.com/Mesopotamia+Seven

Land Between RiversMythology of Mesopotamia

• WHAT WERE THE BELIEFS OF THE PEOPLE OF PALATIAL MESOPOTAMIA?

• ARE THERE COMMONALITIES BETWEEN THESE BELIEFS AND THE BELIEFS OF OTHER PEOPLE?

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“Truth comes down to us from the past, as gold is washed down from the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, in minute but precious particles – the debris of the centuries.”From A Brief History of Ancient, Medieval, and Modern Peoples – Joel Dorman Steele, Ester Baker Steele

Fragmentary relief dedicated to the goddess Ninsun, mother of Gilgamesh. Steatite, Neo-Sumerian Period. Located at The Lourve https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Relief_Ninsun_Louvre_AO2761.jpg#filehistory

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Geography of Ancient Mesopotamia"Mesopotamia" is a Greek word meaning, "Land between the Rivers". The region is

a vast, dry plain through which two great rivers, the Euphrates and Tigris, flow.

These rivers rise in mountain ranges to the north before flowing through Mesopotamia to the sea.

Today, the rivers unite before they empty into the Persian Gulf, but in ancient times the sea came much further inland, and they flowed into it as two separate streams.

 

Map of Mesopotamia in about 3500 BC

http://www.timemaps.com/civilization-ancient-mesopotamia#location

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Label the following places on your map:Eridu, Ur, Larsa, Nippur, Babylon, Kish, Assur, Nimrud, Phoenicia, Assyria, Akkad, Sumer, Babylonia, Tigris River, Euphrates River

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WORKING WITH MATERIAL OBJECTS

http://chnm.gmu.edu/worldhistorysources/unpacking/objectsmain.html

Daniel Waugh

What is a material object?

How would historians

begin to analyze an object? http://

chnm.gmu.edu/worldhistorysources/unpacking/objhist.html

http://www.ancient.eu/Inanna/

IshtarDenver Art Museum

Goddess of Many Names

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What are some questions to ask when analyzing objects?

1. What is it?2. Where is it now and how did it get there?

3. What is its date?4. What was the object’s function?

5. Who made it, owned, or used the object?Daniel Waugh – World History Sources

http://chnm.gmu.edu/worldhistorysources/unpacking/objectsmain.html

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http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/gods/home_set.htmlBASIC overview of the gods, goddesses, demons and monsters of Mesopotamia

Inanna is the ancient Sumerian goddess of love, procreation, and of war who later, became identified with the Akkadian goddess Ishtar, and further with the Phoenician Astarte and the Greek Aphrodite, among othershttp://www.ancient.eu/Inanna/

Detailed analysishttp://www.ancient.eu/article/658/

Story - Inanna’s Descent to the Underworldhttp://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr141.htm

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Full text link The Epic of Gilgameshhttp://www.aina.org/books/eog/eog.pdf

The Epic of Gilgamesh Read in Akkadianhttp://www.openculture.com/2010/10/the_sounds_of_ancient_mesopotamia.html

The Epic of Gilgamesh Teaserhttp://www.learner.org/courses/worldlit/gilgamesh/watch/

http://www.emersonkent.com/history_notes/gilgamesh.htm

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http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/329230?=&imgno=0&tabname=related-objects

Human–headed winged lion (lamassu), 883–859 B.C.; Neo–Assyrian period, reign of Ashurnasirpal II

Excavated at Nimrud (ancient Kalhu), northern Mesopotamia

Alabaster (gypsum); H. 10 ft. 3 1/2 in. (313.7 cm)

The lamassi protected and supported important doorways in Assyrian palaces

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http://www.timemaps.com/civilization-ancient-mesopotamia#location

Mardukhigh god of the Babylonians (the Louvre)

The king was held to be the earthly representative of the patron god of the city. He was a sacred being, and to disobey him was to disobey the god. His primary duty was to ensure that the people served their god properly. 

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http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/enuma.htm

ENUMA ELISHTHE EPIC OF CREATIONL.W. King Translator(from The Seven Tablets of Creation, London)

A Babylonian Cylinder seal showing a battle with Tiamat

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Assyrian demon Pazuzu, first millennium BCE

PAZUZU

http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2014/assyria-to-iberia/blog/posts/pazuzu

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http://www.ancient.eu/article/221/

Additional ResourcesThe Mesopotamian Pantheon

Metropolitan Museum of ArtLesson Plans: Gods, God-desses, and the Supernatural

Our Shared Past in the Mediterranean – Module 2:The Mediterranean and beyondIn AntiquityAli Vural Ak Center for IslamicStudies

http://www.metmuseum.org/learn/for-educators/lesson-plans-and-pre-visit-guides/gods-goddesses-and-the-supernatural

https://teachconnectedhistories.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/ospm-module-2-assembled-for-printing.pdf