Ancient Mesopotamia: The City of Ur

Today, while Lucca was thinking about the importance of technology in ancient history, he came up with this fantastic insight: "The mind is the core of all technology."


Ancient hunter-gatherers were nomadic, and they lived in small groups. People who lived in the first civilizations, like Mesopotamia, began to live in much larger groups -- and they had permanent homes (with cool features like doors on the roof!).

He lived in ancient Ur.
Was he similar to us,
or was he different?
When these new settlements became larger -- with houses, shops, streets, and organized systems of government -- they became known as cities. (Remember to notice that the word "civilization" has the same root as the word "city".)

One of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia was Ur, which Mr. Richmond likes to pronounce as "Urrrr". While comparing Ur and Charlottesville during today's class, Lillian and Martha had this excellent interaction:

Martha: Charlottesville is different from Ur, because we don't have any temples.

Lillian: Actually, we do have churches and other places where people go to worship.

Martha [after taking a thoughtful pause]: Yeah, I guess you're right ... although we don't have any places, for worshipping, that are nearly as big as the temple in Ur.

The reason that I loved this interaction so much is that (1) Lillian helped Martha to expand her understanding, and then (2) Martha respectfully acknowledged that Lillian's thinking about the topic was more complete. Fantastic work, L & M!!


Meanwhile, Alex and Lellie were coming up with some awesome observations about the drawing of Ur!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Excellent Examples of Informative Writing

Image
The Thought Process of Building a Castle, by Maggie [Notice Maggie's excellent word choice and use of relevant vocabulary, including terms like "strategic", "quarry", "vulnerable" and "resources" ] There is so much thought process that goes into the placement of a castle, along with asking strategic questions including... Where is the nearest water source? Is there a quarry near the castle? Is it good land for farming? Is the position vulnerable to attack? Would my enemies reach it easily? Is there a better place to build where there are more natural resources? I came to the conclusion that this is indeed the best place to build my castle. The nearest water source is a river that runs along the castle boundaries. The river is a good source of irrigation for farms and plants. There is a quarry about a half mile away from the building site. It will provide stone and help complete the building of the castle, with the wall for protection ... Pic...
Read more

Initial Questions About Religion

Image
Art by Sonia Sophia : Would you be considered religious if you believed in something that is not part of any official religion? Art by Peyton Peyton : Are there people who believe in multiple religions? If so, what are they called? Laney  and  Lucca : How does believing in a religion change or affect a person? Does believing in religion make you a better person? Lyra : How would you know if you met God? How would it feel? Art by Harrison Spicer : Why, in some religions, are candles so significant? Kelsey : Why does everyone relate religious beings with light ? Isn't there such a thing as too much light? You need to strike a balance. Will : Do all religions have a ritual of doing something to babies (like Baptism for Christians)? Kelly : If a religion believes that people go to an afterlife, what age would you be in the afterlife? Edward : Why would someone believe in religion if they don't know, for sure , that it's real? Art by Polina
Read more

More Impressions from Washington

Image
Griffin : I looked over my shoulder and there it was: the supreme art by so many artists, with the vivid colors popping out at you. I don’t pay attention to the detail of the objects or animals in the picture, but actually the detail of the color of the art. It was outstanding that they used gold so much, even mixing it with the other colors, to represent heaven. I loved the use of brown as well. One of my classmates said that the brown wasn’t as vivid and did not strike out as much. I disagree, because brown can bring the best colors in a picture to life. It almost felt that I was in the picture watching myself in astonishment, seeing myself darting my eyes to everything I saw in the beautiful painted picture. Lillian : The walls of the Cathedral were so grand, and the ceilings made it look like I was inside a whale’s stomach. At first I felt small and weirdly claustrophobic. Then I saw one of the stained glass windows. It looked like someone had taken a rainbow and spun it into a st...
Read more