Sumer Challenge
Packet
Lesson One: Sumer’s Greatest Challenge = The Environment.
Towards the end of the Neolithic, the farming villages
began to
fail as they overused their resources. As villages collapsed
due to a
lack of water, the Neolithic farmers did the only obvious
thing.
They moved into the desert! In this lesson we will examine
some
geographical evidence to understand how the Sumerians
had to
get everyone to work together to overcome their greatest challenge – their own environment. When
you are done you will answer these questions:



What were the advantages of the Sumerians settling along the Tigris and Euphrates River valley?
What were the disadvantages of settling along these rivers?
What did the Sumerians have to create in order to survive living along the rivers and why would
it take a massive amount of teamwork to pull
off?
Lesson 2: Religion and Government
Telling people they need to work together and
getting them to do it are very different things.
People need motivation. They need to understand
why they need to do something and what is in it for
them for motivation to do it. Why not just let the
river drown us? In this lesson we will examine
several primary documents to understand how the
Sumerians used their gods to explain why their environment was the way it was and why you had to
keep the gods happy by keeping the Ensi happy if you didn’t want to die any sooner than necessary.
This time we are going to get in touch with your dramatic side. Be prepared to create a skit showing
how a Sumerian Ensi would get a job done, and then prepare a plan for how you as a table manager will
get a very important job done!
Lesson Three: Technology
By now you should see that one new idea leads to many new ideas. OK,
Sumer has a city, surrounded by levees that need to be up kept and gods
that need to be kept happy. That leads to all sorts of new challenges. In this
lesson I will provide you with several new institutions and inventions developed by the Sumerians. Your
job is to put them in order. What invention came first? How did it create a need for what came next?
And so on…
Lesson Four: The Code
As civilization expanded throughout the Mesopotamian Empires, the challenge of protecting people and
their property became more complex. The Emperor, Hammurabi, developed the first written legal
system to help organize and lead his people. What can Peoples Academy learn from his famous Code?
Your job as a group will be to choose one discipline issue at this school and create a proposal for student
leadership or Mr Grant to better enforce the issue. Think carefully as to what type of Justice works
best, Retribution, Restorative, Reformative, or a combination.
Lesson Five: The Arts: Gilgamesh
Believe it or not, we are not the first culture to create Super
Heroes. In fact, the oldest story ever written down is about a
Super Hero. His name was Gilgamesh. He was half man, half
god and a mighty king. He even had a side kick named
Enkidu. If you had been alive in 2500bc, you would have had
a Gilgamesh lunch box. It was the favorite story of all of
Mesopotamia, and it is still one of my favorite stories today.
I hope it will be one of yours. You have two options here.
You can either read an excellent 20th century English
translation of the story, or try an interactive web story
version at http://www.bloodyfunny.com/gilgamesh/1gil.htm
. Read the story and answer the following question in a well
detailed paragraph.
The point of art is to inspire others in how to act, think, or live their life. Choose one scene from the
story of Gilgamesh and tell me how it inspires people to behave even today, 6000 years after it was first
told. Why would you like to be (or not like to be) like Gilgamesh or Enkidu?
The Code
Throughout history, societies have struggled with
how to make sure everyone works together. One
way that they have done this is to create laws that
regulate what people should and should not do.
The only problem with laws is that once you make
them you have to enforce them. If anyone had
ever come up with the perfect way to enforce laws,
then we wouldn’t have any law breakers today. So,
as we will see, its not such an easy thing to do.
In this assignment we will come up with ideas to
improve our own schools discipline system by
comparing it to the Sumerian system.
Context:
As you have learned in this unit, the Sumerians were the first civilization that created laws to help make
sure that everyone in their city was doing what they needed to do. At first these laws were made by the
individual leaders of individual cities. The punishments for each of these laws were also made up by
individual leaders. It was a good start, but it wasn’t very consistent. Laws and punishments would not
only change from city to city, but whenever the rulers changed.
As the Sumerian city-states became united together under one emperor, it started to become really
confusing. In 1450b.c., an emperor of the Amorite Empire, named Hammurabi, decided to clear up the
confusion. He used the new technology of writing to “codify” the laws in his empire. Codifying the laws
simply meant that he wrote them down. He collected all the traditional laws in all of his cities and wrote
down one common set of laws. He had the laws carved on to pillars of black stone and the stones put in
the temples of each city. This way, each city would have the same set of laws and the same set of
punishments. The laws would be consistent, and if Hammurabi died, the next king would know the laws
and punishments and wouldn’t have to change them. The citizens of Mesopotamia would be less likely
to break a law if they could read what the laws were. They would also be less likely to break them if
they knew what the punishments would be.
What similarities does PA have with ancient Mesopotamia? To what extent are
our rules, laws, and consequences codified?
Ever since Hammurabi’s Code, societies have experimented with different ways to enforce the laws.
Throughout the years justice has consisted of a combination of three different forms of consequences.
Retribution: In retribution types of justice, the culprit is punished. The victim gets revenge on the
criminal by seeing something bad done to the culprit. In the old days the culprit would literally have
what they did to the victim done to them. This is why it was called “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth”
justice. Today, the culprit may not have the exact same thing done to them, but there is some sort of
punishment given.
Restitution: In Restitution type justice, the victim is paid back for what they lost. The culprit has to
make right what they have done wrong. Because they have to “restore” to the victim what they lost it is
also known as Restorative Justice.
Reformative: Reformative justice recognizes that no criminal breaks a law for absolutely no reason.
Reformative justice tries to find out why the criminal broke the law in the first place and help them fix
that problem so that they do not break the law ever again.
Understanding Retribution, Restitution and Reformative Justice
Advantages
Retribution
Restitution
Reformative
Disadvantages
The Code of Hammurabi
Fill in the following chart by writing how you would settle the case, how the American legal system
would settle the case, and then read the excerpt from “the Code of Hammurabi and find the appropriate
case to determine how the Sumerians would settle the case. For each case: circle if that consequence is
Reformative, Restitution or Reform.
Case
How would you solve
the case?
How would our society
solve the case?
How would Hammurabi
solve the case?
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Somebody stole the
property of another
person so they can no
longer do their work?
Somebody takes over a
field for planting , but
then doesn’t do
anything with it?
A man gets captured in
war and then frees
himself and returns
home. He finds his
lands and fields have
been given to somebody
else.
A storm ruins a farmers
crops so that he can’t
pay off his loans
Farmer Chucklehead
lets his levee go and
drowns everyone else’s
fields!
A shepherd lets his flock
into someone’s field and
the sheep eat it.
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
Reform
Retribution
Restitution
A man buys a set of
oxen to plant a harvest.
He will pay for the oxen
with the grain that he
grows. He doesn’t get
any grain however and
has no money to pay for
the oxen.
A man gets into a fight
and knocks out the teeth
of the person he is
fighting with.
A carpenter builds a
shoddy house and it falls
down, killing the people
inside.
A nun walks into a bar.
No, seriously!
Code Of Hammurabi Samples
If any one steal the property of a temple or of the court, he shall be put to death, and also the one who receives
the stolen thing from him shall be put to death.
If any one steal cattle or sheep, or an ass, or a pig or a goat, if it belong to a god or to the court, the thief shall pay
thirtyfold; if they belonged to a freed man of the king he shall pay tenfold; if the thief has nothing with which to
pay he shall be put to death
If any one break a hole into a house (break in to steal), he shall be put to death before that hole and be buried.
If fire break out in a house, and some one who comes to put it out cast his eye upon the property of the owner of
the house, and take the property of the master of the house, he shall be thrown into that self-same fire.
If any one take over a waste-lying field to make it arable, but is lazy, and does not make it arable, he shall plow the
fallow field in the fourth year, harrow it and till it, and give it back to its owner, and for each ten gan (a measure of
area) ten gur of grain shall be paid.
If any one owe a debt for a loan, and a storm prostrates the grain, or the harvest fail, or the grain does not grow
for lack of water; in that year he need not give his creditor any grain, he washes his debt-tablet in water and pays
no rent for this year.
If any one be too lazy to keep his dam in proper condition, and does not so keep it; if then the dam break and all
the fields be flooded, then shall he in whose dam the break occurred be sold for money, and the money shall
replace the corn which he has caused to be ruined.
If he be not able to replace the corn, then he and his possessions shall be divided among the farmers whose corn
he has flooded.
If any one open his ditches to water his crop, but is careless, and the water flood the field of his neighbor, then
he shall pay his neighbor corn for his loss.
If a man let in the water, and the water overflow the plantation of his neighbor, he shall pay ten gur of corn for
every ten gan of land.
If a shepherd, without the permission of the owner of the field, and without the knowledge of the owner of the
sheep, lets the sheep into a field to graze, then the owner of the field shall harvest his crop, and the shepherd, who
had pastured his flock there without permission of the owner of the field, shall pay to the owner twenty gur of
corn for every ten gan.
If after the flocks have left the pasture and been shut up in the common fold at the city gate, any shepherd let
them into a field and they graze there, this shepherd shall take possession of the field which he has allowed to be
grazed on, and at the harvest he must pay sixty gur of corn for every ten gan.
If any one fail to meet a claim for debt, and sell himself, his wife, his son, and daughter for money or give them
away to forced labor: they shall work for three years in the house of the man who bought them, or the proprietor,
and in the fourth year they shall be set free.
If he break another man's bone, his bone shall be broken.
If he put out the eye of a freed man, or break the bone of a freed man, he shall pay one gold mina.
If he put out the eye of a man's slave, or break the bone of a man's slave, he shall pay one-half of its value.
If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out. [ A tooth for a tooth ]
If he knock out the teeth of a freed man, he shall pay one-third of a gold mina.
If any one strike the body of a man higher in rank than he, he shall receive sixty blows with an ox-whip in public.
If a builder build a house for some one, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built fall in and
kill its owner, then that builder shall be put to death.
If a shipbuilder build a boat for some one, and do not make it tight, if during that same year that boat is sent away
and suffers injury, the shipbuilder shall take the boat apart and put it together tight at his own expense. The tight
boat he shall give to the boat owner.
If a chieftain or man be caught in the misfortune of the king (captured in battle), and if his fields and garden be
given to another and he take possession, if he return and reaches his place, his field and garden shall be returned
to him, he shall take it over again.
If a "sister of a god"[nun] open a tavern, or enter a tavern to drink, then shall this woman be burned to death.
The Peoples Court:
We will determine 3 common cases of discipline that we have to deal with at PA. For each case, determine how
we would currently settle the issue and if it is Retribution, Restoration, or Reform. In the appropriate box write
what we currently do, and what the advantages and disadvantages to that system are. Then create a plausible
scenario for the two models that we do not use and what the advantages and disadvantages to that system would
be.
Case One:
Retribution Settlement
Restitution Settlement
Reformation Settlement
Advantages
Advantages
Advantages
Disadvantages
Disadvantages
Disadvantages
Case Two:
Retribution Settlement
Restitution Settlement
Reformation Settlement
Advantages
Advantages
Advantages
Disadvantages
Disadvantages
Disadvantages
Retribution Settlement
Restitution Settlement
Reformation Settlement
Advantages
Advantages
Advantages
Disadvantages
Disadvantages
Disadvantages
Case Three