Ancient
Mesopotamia
Ann Marie Dlott & Colleagues,
Shrewsbury Public Schools, MA
Classroom Activities
ACTIVITIES FOR GEOGRAPHY
- What is the latitude and longitude of
Mesopotamia? Locate and name places in the world with either
similar latitude or longitude.
- How would you describe in geographical(i.e.
mountains, rivers, etc.) terms what Mesopotamian landscape was
like?
- What do you think were methods of transportation
in Mesopotamia?
- What are some differences in topography
of ancient Mesopotamia and modern day Iraq?
- WATER WATER EVERYWHERE - The Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers would periodically flood the land of Mesopotamia.
Have students research the positive and negative effects of these
floods.
- MUD AND CLAY - Have students research
how mud and clay were important to the people of Mesopotamia.
- You may want to have students build model homes out of mud
and clay writing tablets.
- Comparison and use of map scale Mesopotamia
is approximately 300 miles long by 150 miles wide. Have students
find states in America with a similar size.
- Find a site for a City-State. - Use a
topography map of Mesopotamia without cities. Have groups of
students examine the topography map and determine where they
would locate a city. Remind students of the various needs of
a city, including water, food, transportation, and protection.
Students would then present their recommendation to the class
and justify their reasons for their location.
ACTIVITIES FOR RELIGION
- Student-created skits. Have students work
in cooperative groups to think of something that happens in nature,
such as the change of seasons or the flooding of a river. Students
should choose at least one Mesopotamian deity and create a myth
to explain the natural happening. They can act out their skits
for the rest of the class.
- Have students illustrate on a chart the
main gods and goddesses of Mesopotamia and their realms.
ACTIVITIES FOR TRADE AND COMMERCE
- Map trade routes using a map of Mesopotamia.
Students can calculate the distance traveled on these trade routes.
have students label the natural, human, and capital resources
found in each region by creating a key or legend.
- Set up a simulation where students choose
a different profession and list the possible products they have
to use for trade. Have them figure out how they would barter
with others, so that they can get everything they need for a
comfortable life. (For example: How would a shipbuilder buy one
pottery item?)
- Name classroom jobs using ancient professions
(scribe, priest, fisherman). Assign a "value" for each
job. Students can keep track of their value points with cuneiform
writing.
- Create a card game using ancient professions
and the goods they produced. Have players determine the value
of their goods before they start the play. Design some "unexpected"
hardships to go along as game cards to be drawn from a deck.
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