Mesopotamia Document Analysis Document 1: Hammurabi’s Code Excerpt Document 2: Epic of Gilgamesh excerpt Document 3: Hanging Gardens of Babylon In the past Today Information about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon: King Nebuchadnezzar (605 B.C.) updated the city of Babylon- lush greenery, bright flowers, fountains, marble columns, statues, etc. His wife was homesick for the natural and wild surroundings of the country side. Greek historians claimed the gardens were 400ft wide, 400ft long, and over 80ft tall- a manmade mountain of wildlife hiding an entire city. It is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Some say they never existed because there hasn’t been any clay tablets mentioning the gardens. Today, you see the ruins- nothing remains. This is located in present-day Iraq. Did they exist? Document 4: Assyrian Conquest Stone This stone relief carving from Mesopotamia shows Assyrian soldiers attacking an enemy city. The Assyrians are using tall ladders to try to reach the top of the city walls, where defenders await with swords and bows. Document 5: Ancient Mesopotamian Artifacts Smashed by ISIS (terrorists) Feb. 2015 "This mindless attack on great art, on history and on human understanding constitutes a tragic assault not only on the Mosul Museum, but on our universal commitment to use art to unite people and promote human understanding," Campbell said in a statement. *To the horror of archaeologists and history buffs around the world, militants with the extremist group ISIS released a new video (Feb. 2015) that shows ancient Mesopotamian sculptures and other artifacts being smashed inside northern Iraq's Mosul Museum. The destruction — which comes weeks after ISIS deliberately destroyed library collections in Mosul — is part of an ongoing effort by ISIS militants to get rid of objects and structures they consider idolatrous, (meaning worshiping something other than God) whether that means obliterating archaeological relics or demolishing shrines. According to a translation by The New York Times, a man shown in the video says, "The prophet, peace be upon him, ordered us to remove and obliterate statues. And his companions did the same, after him, when they conquered countries." The Mosul Museum was considered "the most important museum in Iraq outside of the Iraqi National Museum," according to a 2009 UNESCO assessment of the site. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, director Thomas Campbell strongly condemned the destruction in Mosul, calling for an end to such "wanton (cruel) brutality." Suzanne Bott became familiar with the Mosul Museum when she spent 2008-2010 in the Iraqi city as a cultural heritage reconstruction advisor with the U.S. State Department. Bott, who now works at the University of Arizona, told Live Science that she believes most of the artifacts shown in the video were authentic. Many of the more valuable objects in the Mosul Museum had been moved to Baghdad for security reasons during the Iraq War, Bott said, but a lot of the heavier sculptures and artifacts were left behind. The museum hasn't been open to the public for a long time due to ongoing conflicts, but Bott said she visited numerous times to help with repairs and collection maintenance. Bott said some of the artifacts in the video appeared to have been from the fortified ancient city of Hatra — a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Iraq that dates back to the 3rd century B.C. The clip also showed militants using power tools to destroy the colossal winged bull statues that stand guard at the Nergal Gate Museum at Nineveh, the ancient Assyrian capital near Mosul. "There's certainly no comparison to the loss of human life," Bott said, "but I think ISIS has done irreparable harm to the knowledge and information we have been able to gain about our ancestors and the earliest civilizations. It's done through ignorance." It's particularly painful when that destruction takes place in Mesopotamia, the backdrop for some of "the earliest leaps forward" in astronomy, medicine, law, commerce and agriculture, Bott said. Name: ____________________________________________________________________________Class:________Date:_________________ Mesopotamia Document Analysis Questions Directions: Use the documents sent to you in class to analyze. Answer the following questions regarding each set of documents. Use complete sentences! Document: Hammurabi’s Code 1. How was a person who broke another’s arm punished? ____________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Did the code apply equally to all people, why or why not? __________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Do you agree or disagree with the way the laws were set up? Explain your answer. ______________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. What was the point of making the punishments for crimes known to all? __________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Document 2: Epic of Gilgamesh 5. When was the Epic of Gilgamesh written and what is it about? _____________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 6. Why is Gilgamesh grieving at the beginning of this excerpt? _______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 7. What danger does Gilgamesh encounter as he begins his journey to find Utnapishtim, and how does he deal with the danger? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 8. Based on this passage, what can you assume about the Sumerian view of death?________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Document 3: Hanging Gardens of Babylon then & now 9. Describe what you see in the first image. ____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 10. Who built the hanging gardens and for what reason? _____________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 11. Do you think they were real? Why or why not? _____________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 12. Describe the second photo. Where is this located? _________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Document 4: Assyrian Conquest stone 13. Based on this carving, how did the Assyrians form their empire? ________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 14. Do you think the Assyrians would agree with their leader’s view of empire building? Why or why not? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 15. What forms of ancient technology did the Assyrians use (what items do you see in the stone). _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Document 5: Ancient Mesopotamian Artifacts Smashed by ISIS 16. In Feb. 2015, ISIS destroyed Mesopotamian artifacts. Where did this take place? _______________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 17. Why did ISIS say they were destroying these artifacts? ____________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 18. Explain why you would agree or disagree with Thomas Campbell’s quote: “This mindless attack on great art, on history, and on human understanding constitutes a tragic assault not only on the Mosul Museum, but on our universal commitment to use art to unite people and promote human understanding.” _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 19. Where can we find other valuable objects/artifacts in Iraq? ______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 20. Explain why ISIS’s actions could cause irreparable harm to the knowledge of our ancestors/Mesopotamia. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
