The World Wide Web of Ancient Egypt

For this post, entitled "The World Wide Web of Ancient Egypt," we are going to work together in a massive effort to find websites about Ancient Egypt. This is a post like no other so far in this young school year. Here's how it works: Go to the Internet, use a search engine (google, yahoo, msn, etc.) Search for websites that deal with Ancient Egypt. Keep in mind that Ancient Egypt is a VERY broad topic. So, with that in mind, you may want to try and narrow your search. For example, perhaps you want to search for "Nile River" or "Great Pyramid" or "King Tut." Any aspect of Ancient Egypt is a possible search item. When you have found a valuable website dealing with some aspect of Ancient Egypt, post the link. Along with the website address, tell me what you like about the website or what is cool about it. The possibilities are endless. Before you post your Ancient Egypt website, check the comment list to make sure nobody else has posted that link. Do not post a link somebody else has already posted. Think about the consequences of this post: There are roughly 115 students on the Red team. If everybody finds a different Ancient Egypt websites, we have over a hundred websites on our hands. And out of those hundred plus websites, there has got to be cool websites.


*To get the activity started, I have included the British Museum site for Ancient Egypt on the side of the Blog under "Ancient Egypt Links". Perhpas your site will be worthy of making it to my Ancient Egypt Link List!

Good Luck and as always, thank you for your hard work and positive attitude.

Going to See King Tut!

Mesopotamia Study Guide

Mesopotamia Study Guide

Use your notes and study tools to fill out the answers on this study guide. We will go over it on Thursday.

The Law: Hammurabi's Code

Another first for Mesopotamia: Laws. Before Mesopotamian civilization, the world was without Laws. Hammurabi, a Mesopotamian King, came along and wrote down a set of laws. It was this set of the laws that began to instill some order and justice in the world. A group of people without a written set of laws is no civilization at all, therefore, Hammurabi's Code was a major step towards establishing Mesopotamia as a legitimate civilization. We have been discussing some of the laws in class. We have discussed the basic principle: "eye for an eye; tooth for a tooth." We have also seen the level of harshness some of these laws carry for being broken. Some would say the consequences are of an extreme nature. I have listed four laws below from the Code of Hammurabi. I have also listed the Code of Hammurabi website link to see more of the laws. I want you to think about the Code of Hammurabi by reading the four laws I have posted for your and/or reading additional laws from the link.
Four Laws from the Code of Hammurabi:
1. If a man has put our the eye of another man, they shall put our his eye as well.
2. If a builder has built a house for a man, with the result that the house falls down and kills the owner, the builder shall be put to death.
3. If a son has struck his father, they shall cut off his hand.
4. If a man has accused another man and has brought a charger of murder against him but has not proved it, the accuser shall be put to death.

Answer the following Questions by telling me what YOU think:
1. Why did Hammurabi make a set of laws?
2. How did the Code of Hammurabi change Mesopotamia?
3. Were these laws unfair? Explain your answer
4. Do you think the people needed these laws? Explain your answer.
5. Why did Hammurabi make the consequences so severe?
6. What would the world be like today if everybody still followed Hammurabi's Code?
7. What Laws effect you the most in your life? What would you change about today's laws and rules? (This could be not necessarily laws, but school rules, rules your parents have for you, etc...)

In-Class Blogging.
Good Luck!

The Great Debate: Which is Better: money, wheel, irrigation, or writing

Whether it was through Powerpoint, discussion, video, or digging for artifacts, we have learned about some "firsts" of Mesopotamia. We have discovered that Mesopotamia, the first Civilization of the world, was the first to invent written language(cuneiform), irrigation, the wheel, and money. Four things that directly affect us in 2009. I think we can all agree that those are four very important things, especially in today's world. However, let us take a few moments to think about which, exactly, of the four is the most important in 2009. Your first instincts may tell you it's money. But do not be so quick to answer, think about the world without each of the four. What is it like? You may think money is most important. With money, you can buy a car. However, without the wheel, your car is not going anywhere. With money, you can buy food, but without irrigation, crops would not get sufficient water, therefore, we would not have food to eat. No written language? It would make things quite difficult. We would not be able to communicate with each other which means no talking on the phone, no emailing, no texting and the worst of all, no blogging. Your task is to discuss your thoughts on what you think is the most important invention and why. You MUST support your answer with why you think that.

Task #2: Explain to the rest of the class which of the four inventions you think is the most important. Support your answer with details and your opinions.

Task #3: Respond to someone elses comments. At some point, you need to read other peoples' comments and reply to them. You need to respond to someone that you agree with and disagree with. You must disagree respectfully, however.
When you are responding to someones comments, here is the proper format: Whoever you are replying to, write: "Hi, (name). I agree with you because...." OR "Hi (name). I disagree with you because....." That way the person knows when someone is replying to them. You may reply to as many people as you want.

Let the Discussion begin....

In-Class Blogging.

The Tigris and Euphrates Celebration

Mesopotamia Artifacts

How does each of these "Mesopotamia Artifacts" represent Mesopotamia? What do they tell us about Mesopotamia?

Welcome to Mesopotamia

Welcome to Mesopotamia. We have arrived at our first ancient civilization of the school year. You may be thinking: "What? We just finished the Stone Age." Well, you are right, we did just finish the Stone Age. However, you would be wrong in thinking that the Stone Age is a civilization. The people of the Stone Age were not civilized. The one and only goal in life was to wake up each morning and survive the day. The people of Mesopotamia are different, however. The people of Mesopotamia formed cities, they invented things, they made advancements that would have a ripple effect all the way to 2009. Mesopotamia is the first civilization of the world. To start our Unit, I would like each of you to visit one or two or all of the websites I have listed on the right of this blog under "Mesopotamia Links." After visiting the site, please tell me what site you visited and what you found. You could comment about something you learned from the site, or something you found interesting from the site, or something you have a question about from the site. You may visit all the sites or you can just pick one. The goal is to start introducing ourselves to the Mesopotamia material.

Task: Visit the websites under "Mesopotamia Links." Post a comment about something you have learned or something you found interesting.
DUE Date: October 9th, 2009. 10:30 p.m.