Ancient Mesopotamia(Transcript)

Zoe: Hello, welcome to the first episode of History Fridays!

George: And today, we are going to show you about Ancient Mesopotamia. The first one is the first great civilisation, Sumer.

Zoe: Before going to the slideshow, we will explain what is this first great civilisation.

George: Some 7,000 years ago, farmers began to settle in the area between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. This area was later called 'Mesopotamia' by the Ancient Greeks, which means 'The land between 2 rivers.' It is roughly where Iraq is now. Life was hard there. The weather was hot and dry and the rivers flooded, but the land was fertile when properly looked after. Gradually, in the south, in the land of Sumer, a great civilisation grew up.

Zoe: Now for the slideshow.

The first image of the slideshow is the Map of Sumer.

Zoe: The land of Sumer where the Sumerians lived was in the southern part of Mesopotamia. The land near the Persian Gulf was very marshy and difficult to farm, but there were plenty of fish and wild fowl for the settlers to eat. To the north of Sumer, was the land which later became called Akkad.

The second image of the slideshow is settlers building houses with reeds.

George: Sumer had no stone or tall trees for building. Houses were built with reeds. People still build with reeds here today.

The third image of the slideshow shows settlers on an irrigation.

Zoe: The 2 rivers flooded in early summer. The Sumerians built irrigation canals to water their fields and drain the land.

The fourth image shows the settlers building houses with bricks.

George: Later, they built houses of sun-dried mud bricks. These buildings kept them cool in summer and warm in winter.

The fifth image shows the Sumerian temple.

Zoe: Every village was protected by a god or goddess who lived in a temple. The priests of the temple became very powerful.

The sixth image shows the entire Sumerian village.

George: Sumerian villages grew into huge, walled, self-governing city-states, with a temple at the centre and farmland all around.

The seventh image shows a Sumerian battle.

Zoe: Sometimes, one city-state conquered another, but no-one made himself ruler of all of Sumer, let alone Mesopotamia.

The eighth image shows the Battle Standard in Ur.

George: An inlaid box, called the 'Battle Standard,' was found at Ur. It shows scenes of life in peacetime on one side and scenes of war on the other. This shows what Sumerian warriors, weapons and chariots looked like. Sumerians did not have horses, so chariots were pulled by donkeys or asses.

The ninth image shows statues of nobles and priests.

Zoe: We can get an idea of what Sumerians looked like and what they wore from statues found in temples. Nobles or priests seem to have shaved their heads.

Scene cuts back to Zoe and George in the Ziggurat of Ur which is in Nasiriyah, Iraq.

Zoe: So we are here in Nasiriyah, Iraq where the Ziggurat of Ur is standing.

George: There is a holy shrine where the patron god of the city had one of his dwelling places.

Zoe: There were actually houses where the temple staff lived. But we couldn't see them anymore.

George: This Ziggurat is thought to have been about 21 metres high. Really tall right?

Zoe: Yeah, but not as tall as the Burj Khalifa.

George: Anyways, by about 2000 BC, temples had developed into huge temple-towers, called Ziggurats, like this one at Ur which is now in Iraq. The temples employed large numbers of craftsmen, labourers and scribes.

Zoe: Now it is time for our next slideshow about the invention of writing.

The first image is a stone vase.

Zoe: Temples collected gifts for the gods and goddesses and handed out goods as payment. A system of account-keeping was needed.

The second image is Sumerian writing.

George: They drew sketches of objects using a flattened piece of clay and a reed pen. This is the earliest form of writing.

The third image is a Sumerian man writing in front of a kiln.

Zoe: At first, pictures were drawn on wet clay. The clay was dried in the sun or baked in a kiln to make it into a hard tablet.

The fourth image is just a man writing on a tablet.

George: Later, scribes found it was easier to draw signs sideways. The pictures became less like the objects they represented.

The fifth image shows the images turned sideways and their cuneiform symbol.

Zoe: The reed pen made the pictures look wedge-shaped. We call this writing cuneiform, meaning 'wedge-shaped.'

The sixth image shows the stone tablet.

George: Signs were adapted and used together so other words could be built up and sentences formed to express ideas.

Scene cuts back to Zoe and George.

Zoe: Now let's talk about Sumerian schools.

George: Schools way back during that time were very strict. Let's just see what was going on there.

The first image is a Sumerian mother sending her son to school.

Zoe: Those who could afford to, sent their sons to school. School began very early. The boys had to work very hard.

The second image is a Sumerian school with a headmaster, an apprentice teacher, an assistant master and students.

George: Reading, writing and arithmetics were taught. Discipline was very strict. Boys were beaten for not doing their lessons way. One Sumerian story tells of a boy getting a good report by persuading his father to give the master a gift.

Scene cuts back to Zoe and George.

Zoe: Whew! We're glad we aren't in a school like that.

George: Yeah.

Zoe: So, we are going to tell you about Sumerian Markets. This is basically what it looks like.

Scene cuts to an image of a Sumerian Market.

Zoe: Writing made the business of buying and selling in markets much easier. If a dispute arose over a deal, the written contract could be checked.

George: What about the cylinder seals and stuff.

Zoe: Right, it's slideshow time.

The second image is cylinder seals.

Zoe: Instead of signing their names, Sumerians rolled cylinder seals across wet clay. No seals were alike, so the owner could be identified.

The third image is Sumerians measuring and calculating.

George: Scribes measured land to see how much tax farmers had to play. Fields were divided into squares which were counted. Sumerians counted using a system like ours, based on the unit 10, and another based on the unit 60, still used to measure time.

Scene cuts back to Zoe and George.

Zoe: Alright, break time! Time for arts and crafts with my brother, Blake.

Scene cuts to the art room where Blake is.

Blake: Hello everyone, today we are going to make picture writing. Just like what the Sumerians did long ago. So all you need is a sharp pencil and plasticine. Make sure the plasticine is flat like what the Sumerians did. You could make up a system of picture writing and use it to write messages to your friends. I made one already.

Blake looked under his desk to find his picture writing.

Blake: This one is my message to Reece about writing sheet music. I have another one and it is in traditional Chinese writing. However, we won't be talking about China right now because we're saving it for another episode. Anyways, back to my sister, Zoe and her best friend, George.

Scene cuts back to Zoe and George as they will be talking about Sumerian daily life.

Zoe: We're back from our break and now we will be talking about Sumerian daily life.

George: The Sumerians thought that their city-states were owned by local gods and goddesses. They divided the land into 3 parts and famed one part of it for the gods. This produce was stored and used in times of famine or traded for foreign goods. The second part of the land produced food for the priests and temple staff. The third was hired by citizens to grow food for themselves. They paid rent with some of the crop.

Zoe: Slideshow time!

The first image is a nobleman at home.

Zoe: The king ran the city-state on behalf of the gods, with the help of the priests, scribes and nobles. Some of these were very rich and enjoyed a good life.

The second image is a Sumerian board game.

George: This gaming board comes from one of the royal graves of Ur. The rules are not known, though recently, a way of playing it has been worked out.

The third image is a Sumerian rich merchant's house.

Zoe: Archaeologists found large, two-storey houses, like this one, at Ur. They were built of mud bricks round open courtyards. They had lavatories and drains, but not baths. Houses like this probably belonged to wealthy merchants, but whose status was beneath that of the priests and nobles. Most ordinary Sumerians lived in small, one-storey houses built of mud bricks. Windows, if they had them, were too small to keep out the heat and cold.

The fourth image is farming in Sumer.

George: The wealth of Sumer came from its rich farming land. Farmers had to work hard to keep the fields watered and the irrigation canals in good repair.

The fifth image is the first wheels.

Zoe: The first evidence of wheels comes from Sumer. Sumerian wheels were made from three pieces of wood, lashed together.

The sixth image is the Sumerian potters at work.

George: Though stone and wood were scarce in Sumer, there was plenty of mud and clay which could be used to make pottery. So much pottery was needed that skilled potters worked full time.

The seventh image is Sumerians doing metalwork.

Zoe: Sumerian metalsmiths were skilled workers in gold, silver and copper. The things they made were expensive as all Sumer's metal was imported.

The eighth image is the royal graves of Ur.

George: The gold jewellery comes from one of the royal graves of Ur. These graves contain the skeletons of dozens of people who appear to have committed suicide in order to follow the graves' owners to another world.

Scene cuts back to Zoe and George.

Zoe: Now we can talk about Babylon.

George: Another slideshow.

The first image is the Bronze head of Sargon.

Zoe: About 2370 BC, Sargon appeared in Mesopotamia. He spoke Akkadian. He conquered and united city-states of Mesopotamia for the first time.

The second image is a man discovering baby Sargon on a river.

George: One account of Sargon's life says he was found in a basket floating on the river. He became cup-bearer to the king of the city of Kish, then overthrew him.

The third image is the map of Babylon.

Zoe: Sargon built a capital city called Akkad, but it's site has never been identified. His empire lasted 200 years and was then overthrown.

The fourth image is the Babylonian tribe.

George: Gutian tribesmen invaded Mesopotamia, but the rulers of Ur gained control. Amorite invaders began to arrive.

The fifth image is the Babylonian army.

Zoe: Babylon had an Amorite king called Hammurabi, who, in a series of brilliant wars, united all of Mesopotamia.

The sixth image is a Babylonian carving.

George: This carving shows Hammurabi being handed symbols of justice by a god. The law code he devised is carved below.

The seventh image shows a man getting his hand chopped off.

Zoe: Hammurabi's laws seem harsh today. If a surgeon performed an operation that caused death, his hand was cut off.

The eighth image is an architect getting executed.

George: Another law said that if an architect built a house which collapsed and killed its owner, the architect was put to death.

Scene cuts back to Zoe and George.

George: Wow, those laws are harsh.

Zoe: I know, now for some myths. This will be on semi-animation form. Let's go.

Scene cuts to the semi-animated story of a myth.

Zoe: The people of Mesopotamia had many gods and goddesses. Below are some of the stories they wrote about them. Hammurabi made his god, Marduk, the most powerful god of Mesopotamia.

George: The priests told how Marduk had saved the world from the sea-monster, Tiamat. The victory was celebrated each year at the New Year festival.

Zoe: The Mesopotamians thought the world was flat. One story says Marduk created the world by building a reed raft in the waters and pouring dust on it.

George: Once, the gods were angry with men, and they decided to destroy them in a great flood. They warned one good man, Utnapishtim. He built a boat.

Zoe: The flood came and all was destroyed except Utnapishtim's boat, which came to rest on a mountain. The birds he sent out could find nowhere to settle.

George: Finally he sent out a raven and it did not return. The earth had begun to dry out. Utnapishtim and his family thanked the gods for saving them.

Zoe: Gilgamesh, king of Uruk angered the gods. They send Enkidu to destroy him, but the two became friends.

George: They had adventures, but Enkidu was killed. Afraid of death, Gilgamesh went to Utnapishtim who had the secret of eternal life.

Zoe: The secret was a plant at the bottom of the sea. Gilgamesh picked it, but a snake ate it, so he did not live forever.

Scene cuts back to Zoe and George.

Zoe: So, now we'll talk about life in the Assyrian Empire.

George: In early times, Assyria was a small, unimportant state in northern Mesopotamia. For centuries it was ruled by more powerful states, such as Akkad and Babylon. When these collapsed, the Assyrians had the chance to become independent and win an empire of their own.

Zoe: Slideshow time.

The first image is an Assyrian carving.

Zoe: This carving shows one of the Assyrians' gods. Their chief god was Ashur. They also had a mother goddess, Ishtar, and believed in demons and spirits.

The next image is an Assyrian village,

George: This is the capital city of Assyria, named Ashure after the god. It was built on the River Tigris so that trading ships could unload there.

The next image is the Council of Elders.

Zoe: Ashur had a powerful Council of Elders which was often in conflict with the king. Many kings tried to reduce its power.

The next image is an Assyrian man having his ear chopped off.

George: The Assyrians had a code of laws. People who broke them were punished savagely. Some were flogged or had their ears cut off.

The next image is an Assyrian man in the library.

Zoe: This is an Assyrian library. The language and literature inherited from Sumer and Babylon were stored on tablets made of clay.

The next image is an Assyrian woman fetching water.

George: The Assyrians dug deep wells in the ground, if the city was besieged, the people would still have water.

The next image is a carving of Assyrian peasants.

Zoe: For centuries, the Assyrian peasants had to fight for survival. They became good, tough warriors.

The next image is a statue of Ashurnasirpal II.

George: Ashurnasirpal II's grandfather, Adadnirari II, made Assyria independent and an empire.

The next image is Assyrian warriors.

Zoe: By 670 BC the empire was too big to be controlled properly. First Egypt, then Babylon, broke away.

The next image is the Assyrian ruins being discovered in the 1840s.

George: By 609 BC, the empire was destroyed. Its ruins lay in the desert until they were discovered in the 1840s.

The next image shows an Assyrian watering the land.

Zoe: This is a shaduf. The Assyrians used shadufs to lift river water into canals dug specially to take it to the fields. When the land was watered properly, it was fertile. The Assyrians grew wheat, barley, grapes, fruit, trees and vegetables.

Scene cuts back to Zoe and George.

George: Alright, break time! Time for arts and crafts with Zoe's brother, Blake.

Scene cuts to the art room where Blake is.

Blake: Hello everyone, I'm back and today we are going to make, a model shaduf. Shadufs are used to bring water to the land of Assyrian Empire. Enough said, let's get to work. 1. Tie string onto a corner cut from a plastic bag. 2. Tie onto a stick. 3. Cut a hole in a bottle top. 4. Push in a paperclip and 5. Screw the lid on the bottle and add plasticine weight. There you go, a model sharuf, just like in the Assyrian empire. Now, back to Zoe and George.

Scene cuts back to Zoe and George.

Zoe: So that's it for this episode, sorry we're a bit limited in time.

George: I hope you enjoy our first episode of History Fridays.

Both: Bye!