Life in Ancient Egypt: A Reliable Website from the BBC

For tonight's homework, students working on ancient Egypt should spend twenty (20) minutes reading and browsing in the website below.

Each student should take at least two notes (using the Notes Handout) with information from this website.

www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/human_gallery.shtml

Congratulations to the winners of today's skirmishes, each of whom demonstrated a close reading of material about his or her civilization:

Hannah (Core 4)

Jeremy (Core 3) 

Jago (Core 2)

Nikki and Gia (Core 1)

Ancient China: The Leadership of Liu Bang

Today during class, the ancient China groups read about the Han Dynasty.

Some historians don't pay as much attention to the Han Dynasty because it's a little less exciting than the Qin Dynasty, but Chinese civilization actually had some of its greatest achievements under the Han.

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An important leader for the Han Dynasty was Liu Bang (sometimes known as Emperor Gao), who argued that the philosophy of Legalism, followed by Qin Shihuangdi, was overly strict.

Liu Bang lowered taxes for Chinese farmers, and he reformed the laws so that punishments were less harsh.

Certain government officials, who believed that Legalism was the correct philosophy, complained loudly about Liu Bang's leadership. However, historians have determined that he did not mind being criticized.

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Most American presidents are criticized harshly by the media and their opponents.

Do you think that our two most recent Presidents (Bush and Obama) feel badly when they are criticized?

What do you think is the best way to criticize a leader with whom you disagree?

Musical Mondays: Today we listened to Autumn, from Vivaldi's Four Seasons.   Here is a video showing the same violinist, Julia Fischer, performing Spring (also from the Four Seasons).

What's your favorite season of the year?

A Visit from Pharaoh Hatshepsut

Questions from students today about ancient China:

Why was Qin Shihuangdi concerned about how society should be organized?

Who is the most organized person you know?

What are the best ways to become more organized?

Why did Qin want to keep Chinese people within China, in addition to wanting to keep Mongols (and other people) out of China?

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Questions from students today about ancient Egypt:

What was King Tut's full name?

Why do Americans call him King Tut, instead of calling him Pharaoh Tut?  Egyptians didn't use the word "king", did they?

The video says that the Great Pyramid at Giza weighs the equivalent of 17 Empire State Buildings.  How did historians figure out the weight of the Great Pyramid?  Wouldn't it be impossible to weigh it?

Was King Tut friendly to average Egyptians, or was he arrogant and conceited?

Documentaries About Ancient Egypt and Ancient China

Egypt's Ten Greatest Discoveries

 

History of China

An Egyptian Ship Held Together By Grass (No Joking!)

Today we learned about Pharaoh Khufu's amazing ship, which was buried at the foot of the Great Pyramid.

The ship was meant to carry Khufu, after his death, on his daily journey through the heavens, along with the Sun God Ra.

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A number of great questions today, including:

Lisa: Why did the civilization of ancient Egypt eventually collapse?  What caused the collapse?

(Lisa's question is especially relevant for historians who want to learn lessons -- from ancient Egypt and other great civilizations -- that could be applied to the civilizations of today)

Bertie: What is the origin of the name "Egypt"?

Lia: Was ancient China the ideal place to live?

Emma and Lucas M.: How did archaeologists actually get Khufu's ship out of the ground?

Here's a colorful depiction of Ra, found in a temple outside Giza. What adjectives would you use to describe Ra?

The British Museum's Websites for Ancient Egypt and Ancient China

First, a word about museums:

Two of the great museums for studying history are the national museum of the United States (known as the Smithsonian) and the national museum of Great Britain (known as the British Museum).  

The photograph above shows the main building of the British Museum, which is located in London.

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Second, a word about the Internet:

One of the problems with using the Internet for studying history is that there are a number of websites that contain incorrect, incomplete, or misleading information. 

Fortunately, there are also a number of excellent websites. 

The challenge (for students and for teachers too!) is separating the good websites from the not-so-good ones.

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Third, a word about museums and the Internet:

Not only do the Smithsonian and the British Museum have awesome collections of physical objects (artifacts (be sure to know this word!)), they also have fantastic websites.  

Their websites are thorough, accurate, reliable, and interesting.  

When you use the Internet in this class, you should start with the Smithsonian and the British Museum.  

The websites maintained by these two museums are not (by any means) the only helpful places on the Internet, but they will be our starting points during this class (along with the PBS and BBC websites, which I will introduce later). 

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Today during class, I want you to spend time exploring the British Museum's websites related to ancient China and ancient Egypt.  

While you explore these sites, you should take at least three notes using your Structured Notes handout.

You must stay within the British Museum websites, rather than surfing to unrelated sites. There is plenty to learn and explore within these sites.  Enjoy them!

www.ancientegypt.co.uk

www.ancientchina.co.uk

Singing on the Streets of Sydney

Today I introduced our Battle of the Ancient Civilizations project.

Working in groups, the students will become experts on either ancient China or ancient Egypt.

They will use a variety of resources to learn about the geography, leaders, technological achievements, art, and architecture of their civilization.

They will focus on working together as a team and being supportive and encouraging of one another.

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I am looking forward to seeing a whole lot of kindness as you all work together.  And I can't wait to find out what you learn about these two great civilizations!

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Musical Mondays: We listened to (and watched the video for) Coldplay's Sky Full of Stars. Several students asked where the video was made, and I incorrectly said that it was filmed in London.

After doing some research, I've learned that the video was filmed, this past June, in the beautiful city of Sydney, Australia.

Mesopotamia Stories, Part 2

Several students asked me to share some additional stories about Mesopotamia...

Wonder

By Ariana

As mother finished the chores I sat in wonder, as I always was.

Then I heard father yell “Uanna, there is someone here for you!” I was surprised. No one ever has come to see me, and that made me joyful inside. 

As I went up I saw shadows. When I got to the top I saw father laying out the clay that mother and Sup had just written on. I looked up to see royal guards waiting to talk to me. 

Then a small messenger boy gave me a letter. It read

“Dear Uanna, you have been cordially invited to the castle of love to interact with the first daughter Hili, daughter of Namkuzu the Great. If you decide to accept follow these men to the castle.” 

Hili was the girl at teaching times that I played with. She was so nice and funny but I never knew she was the daughter of Namkuzu. 

I quickly gave the letter to father and said “Daddy, please please please can I go?” 

Happily he said “Any orders or requests from Namkuzu the Great we follow, so yes of course. And stay as long as you like.” 

I was overjoyed, speechless, and about to explode with happiness. I then rushed down the ladder to tell mother. “Mother, Mother I am going to the castle of love. Mother, Mother where are you?”

She then popped out of nowhere and said “Honey that's great, but be quiet. Sup is sleeping.” 

Sup is my grandmother. As I said goodbye to my mother and father I rushed to go with the guards. It took us three minutes to get to the castle and enter her chambers. Then as I opened the door I looked at the window and saw beautiful, crisp, dark, long hair flowing in the gleam coming into the room. 

But then suddenly I closed my eyes and felt bright light streaming directly on my eyes. 

Then I opened my I eyes. I woke up to see that it was just a dream and that I was back in my house laying across from Sup, like always. 

I said to myself “That's why everybody always calls me wonder girl.”

I had never believed, but now I do.

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Technology King

By Lucas M.

Once upon a time there was a boy named Juggernaut who lived in Mesopotamia.

One day he was hopping along the river bank and stumbled on a surplus of iron. Juggernaut took the iron home and laid it out on his desk.

Juggernaut then stared at it for hours trying to think of something he could do with it. Then his eyes started to twinkle and his smile started to shine.

Juggernaut began working with the iron. The iron became sharper and sharper. It looked like a regular knife but then he began making little half ovals on the knife blade. When he was done it looked different than a regular knife. 

Then Juggernaut yelled a little in excitement. He said these exact words: "I have created the bread knife (SERRATED KNIFE)."

The serrated knife that Juggernaut created was the first of its kind. After that Juggernaut was known as TECHNOLOGY KING.

A note about Lucas's story, from Mr. Richmond:  

We have not discussed the transition from stone tools to bronze tools to iron tools.  

Iron tools have several advantages over stone and bronze.  

While writing his story, Lucas determined -- correctly -- that iron tools were first used in Mesopotamia. This occurred around 1300 BC.

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Mesopotamia Story

By Natalie

I have lived in Ur for my entire life. 

I live in the countryside, with mother and father, where we use irrigation systems to grow crops - mainly wheat. 

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live inside the city walls. I have asked mother and father about it, but they always change the subject or list off things I’m supposed to be doing. 

One day, though, I will get to go inside, maybe soon. Probably not. There’s no harm in hoping, though. I will ask them again soon, when I have nothing to do, perhaps today. In fact, I might ask them now. 

I walk into my house, following the sound of mother’s humming. “Can we go inside the city walls? Please?” I ask once more. 

She sighs, smiling. This must be the 1,000th time I’ve asked this question. 

“Okay, okay, but just this once. Remember, it’s not exactly easy to travel back and forth.” 

I can’t believe it! I’m going to the city! I go outside and do a few things I needed to do while my mother calls my father in from the fields quickly to discuss the trip. It is not exactly easy to travel between the countryside and the city, you see. It takes a long time, and the oxen get tired of pulling us. But, tomorrow, we will go there. I go to bed anticipating tomorrow, when my parents have decided we’ll leave. 

The next morning, I wake up early, and not soon after, my father announces we are going to leave now.

Finally, we have arrived at the city. 

Mother insists we go see the big temple first, because she says she wants me to see it. It’s huge.

Mother wasn’t kidding when she said it was big. “It’s dedicated to the moon god Nanna, and his wife, Ningal,” she says. It must be more than three times father’s height. 

Father then takes us to a harbor, which is like a big lake for docking boats. 

The rest of the time, we look around shops that sell things from beautiful pottery to wooden wheels for building transportation devices. 

There are hundreds of streets lined with houses and shops. There’s definitely a surplus of things to do inside the city walls. We’ve only been here for what seems like seconds when father says we have to go. I know I will never forget my first trip inside Ur’s city walls.

Stories About Mesopotamia

Another World Behind The Wall

By Peyton

I wake up to a door slamming on the roof. My father was going to work for the king, and as always, my mother was on the pottery wheel.

My name is Sara. I live in Mesopotamia inside a big wall and I live right next to the wall surrounding us. I have always wanted to go outside of the walls, but my mother will not allow me. 

My mother says that I am curious, which I am. So I was going to steal some of my father's tools, mostly rope, and climb over the big wall surrounding me. So I did, but I wasn't that sneaky and my parents caught me and put a big rock on the outside of the door so I couldn’t get out. I had to be with my parents. 

Then I figured out how to slip a piece of steel under the door and push the heavy rock out of the way. So I go out every night to look at the stars, but I have never had the nerve to go over the wall. Then, I had a fight with my parents and I am sure that I am going to climb the wall tonight. 

So, I go under my pillow where I hid some rope, and got the piece of steel and went to the roof. 

There was no light except for the stars. I tie the rope to a smaller rock than the one covering the door and throw the rock just over the wall. I climb down the ladder with the rope still in my hand, and when my feet touch the ground I start climbing up the rope.

Then I see the other side. 

I see what people have talked about, but what my eyes have never seen, and now I see more of the world. The water flowing, the farmers farming, and some people sleeping. I see all of it! I stand on the wall and let the rope drape over the other side of the wall, and I climb down.

I feel the dirt and grass beneath my feet and it feels strange, but I feel happy. 

Then the terrible time has come when I have to go back up to my room. I climb up the rope and slide down, and I take the rope down from the wall. I climb back up the ladder to my house, place the rock near the door so that I can still get in, slip through the door, tip-toe back to my room, and hide the rope under my pillow.

Then I go to sleep, like nothing ever happened.

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Wheelmaker

By Sami

My name is Samar and this is the story of how I accidentally created the wheel.

It was a regular day and I was doing my regular chore of cutting fruit. I glanced at an orange that was stationary just moments before. It had started rolling away. That orange was gone, out the door and then over the roof. I went back to finish my work. 

I didn’t think anything of it until 3 days later. 

That day started out just like any other day, until it hit me, well if anything, it hit my foot and bounced off harmlessly and continued on its way. 

It was an orange! That made me think about 3 days before, when that orange had rolled away from me. 

People should start putting their fruit into bowls. 

I kept thinking about this rolling orange, especially when I had to help dig the irrigation canals and move the dirt. 

I thought, "Why don’t I try and add logs instead of oranges to the crate that houses the dirt, and maybe it could move it with less effort." 

It worked. And that's the story of how I invented the wheel.

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Mesopotamia Story

By Celia

Our city is starving. Just thinking of food was torture. We fought over the little grain and meat that was left. My father is always out trying to make wheat grow, but he always came back with a sad look of disappointment on his face. 

My mom would tell us stories of the wonderful city of Ur with its bountiful food and weapons. 

You would be dumb to try to steal from Ur. But just thinking about it made me want to walk right up to Ur and yell “This is not fair!” That would not happen anytime soon, for Ur would destroy our city with a flick of a finger. 

Today was especially bad. A fight broke out and two men lost some of their teeth. Being a young man, I am expected to help our city in whatever way I can. They pick me to find resources, give me a spear and a basket and throw me into the wild. 

I wandered for two fingers of sun and I finally found something, it looked like one of our mud huts' walls, but flat and huge. It was an amazing sight. But then I heard voices shouting and I ran behind a tree. I turned to my side and saw a fantastic sight, golden wheat swaying softly and crunching together. I would have walked over and touched it if common sense hadn’t knocked on the door of my trance.

Then I noticed something weird. There were ditches throughout the fields. Why would they take up space to add ditches? Then I realized that they were flowing with water. That was brilliant, digging ditches to help water flow. I have to tell my father.

I began to sprint back home to tell my dad. Once I got there I explained how the ditches worked. At first my dad was mad because I had gone to Ur but after hearing about them he smiled, gave me a hug, and ran to the fields to start work.

A year later we had lush and bountiful crops.

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The War to End all Wars
Part 1: The Siege

By Peter

Kirashi awoke with a start.

I immediately smelled something burning. That is odd, I thought. It is the wet season, there should be no wildfires. Then I saw them. More than 20 men stood atop a hill, firing flaming arrows into the farming village, just outside Kish, a Sumerian city. I suddenly realized we were being attacked by Sargon’s archer infantry. My dad, Ah-Kalla, burst into my room, holding my baby brother, Ashi, trailed by my sister, Ali.

“We need to leave, now!” he exclaimed. I quickly grabbed my dirk, a short sword I had gotten for my 11th birthday. My mother, Kummani, was in the main room, grabbing anything we would need. We knew Sargon was coming. We knew days beforehand, and we had everything ready. A scout burst in, blood seeping from a wound on his right temple.

“Hurry, Balli, we need to hurry. They are coming,” father announced. 

Balli replied, “Yes, sir, I am hurrying.” Father worked for the king, and so Balli was with us all the time. He was 23, just enrolled into the city’s infantry. And my friend.

As we were leaving, an Akkadian broke down the door, screaming with fire in his eyes. How ironic. My dad then shanked him in the gut.

“Ugh!” he choked, and then he lay still in our doorway.

We bolted out of the house, a mud hut surrounded by wheat. Of course, most of it was now burnt, and, trust me, in Sumer, this was not good. As we escaped, a chariot drawn by two bone-white horses appeared. 

In a flash, I realized who it was. Sargon.

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Adventure Into The Wilderness

By Abbey

“Uhhhhh!”

I’ve been grounded for too long when I was just trying to peek over the village walls. My parents are way too overprotective. It’s been three long weeks, and I’m still grounded for another three.

Well, since you’re here I’ll tell you about myself. I’m Namkuzu, and I live in the city-state of Ur. Ur is a place in Mesopotamia. I am a girl, and I’m 11. I like to have fun, but I DON’T like school. At All!! I have one baby brother (his name is Shanghai). I think he cries way too much.

My mother goes into the fields every day to plant crops or tend to the weeds. I hope I never have to do that. (It sounds so boring). My father goes out to hunt with the other men, so he can bring back food for our village.

I’ve never gone outside of the village walls, but I’ve always wanted to go and see the wilderness. “I can’t take it any longer,” I say to no one in particular.

“I just want to go out!”

And that’s when it hit me (literally). A rock just flew onto the top of my head, and I got an idea.

My father is going hunting today, and I can sneak into his large hunting bag.

I got a bag, filled it with lunch, and set off to hide in the bag. It occurred to me that maybe I was too heavy, but I couldn’t give up now.

Once I was secured and well-hidden in the hunting bag, I waited until I heard our two hunting dogs, Gruffo and Nino. Then, I heard the sound of footsteps and panting and knew it was time. My dad put the hunting bag on the side of his shoulder. He didn’t think twice that it was three times as heavy as it usually is.

He walked until I heard the sound of other men shouting, and he stopped and dropped the bag hard on the ground.

“Ow!!”, I mumbled, but he was too busy talking to the other men to hear me. He took out his hunting supplies and I hoped he would not need his blanket today (because that’s where I was hiding).

Suddenly, a giant bright light hurt my eyes.  “Oh no,” I thought in my head. “He’s definitely going to find me now.”

“Hold on I still need my spear, and then I’ll be ready to go,” he shouted to another man. I started breathing like I wasn’t ever going to breathe again.

“Namkuzu why did you do this! If you get caught you’ll be grounded for life!” The other man yelled “No need for that, I have an extra right here.” And all of a sudden my breathing was back to normal.

Once I heard all of the men and dogs gone, I got out and looked around me. It all looked so new, like I was a baby and I was seeing the world for the first time. The trees looked so detailed, like a piece of art with all the different types. I ran for the first time in weeks, and I never looked back.

History Video #3: Qin Shihuangdi

Here's a painting of Qin Shihuangdi.  What do you think is his most distinctive feature?

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And returning to Ur...

Emma: Why did the people of Ur decide they needed to protect themselves by building a wall around their city?

Emma asked this great question about the reason for the wall surrounding Ur.

Several students came up with exactly the right explanation: in addition to protecting their lives, the people of Ur wanted to be sure no one stole their incredibly valuable surplus supply of wheat and barley.

Here's an image of another Mesopotamian city, known as Mari.

You can see that Mari also was surrounded by a wall, but its layout was different than Ur's layout.

Leadership, Teamwork, and Problem Solving

Today the 6th graders took a break from the classroom, but they learned some excellent lessons about leadership while participating in a range of challenges and activities at Triple C Camp.

Mr. Richmond: If Hammurabi had participated in the Magical Helium Hula Hoop challenge, would he have followed Gresh's leadership, or would he have taken control of the group himself (and then written his rules in stone!)?

One of the highlights of the day was the Flying Squirrel.  Amanda had this enthusiastic reaction: "I felt really scared at first, but then I overcame my fear!"

The Ancient Mesopotamians: The City of Ur

Last week we learned that ancient hunter-gatherers were nomadic and lived in small groups, whereas people who lived in the first civilizations (like Mesopotamia) began to live in much larger groups.

These permanent settlements -- with houses, shops, streets, and organized systems of government -- were (and are) known as cities (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").

Today in class, the students talked about ways that Ur was similar to -- and different from -- Charlottesville.

Halle made the insightful point that Ur and Charlottesville both have places of worship, but the temples in Ur (known as ziggurats) were open only to the priests and appear kind of intimidating.  Places of worship in Charlottesville, said Halle, tend to be more welcoming and inviting.

This is a picture of an ancient ziggurat that is still standing.

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Lots of great questions today, including:

Katherine: What kinds of merchandise did the shopkeepers in ancient Ur sell?

Sophie: What were the rules about going outside of the large walls that surrounded Ur?  Did most of the animals live within the city walls, or outside of the walls?

Jeremy: Does the city of Ur still exist?

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Musical Mondays:

Our musical selection for today was Beethoven's 7th Symphony.

This is another performance of the 7th Symphony, with the famous conductor Leonard Bernstein. Do you notice anything different about this performance?

Ethan: Did people in Beethoven's time listen to other kinds of music, or did they only listen to classical music?

An Eye For An Eye and A Tooth For A Tooth

This is an ancient statue of Hammurabi. Do you think he looks more like a strict, stern leader or more like a kind, forgiving leader?

Today we discussed Hammurabi's Code.  The students decided that there are several reasons it's important to put laws in writing:

• Written laws make society more fair.  They prevent leaders from changing the laws willy-nilly, without informing the people.
• Written laws make society more organized.  People can read the laws and understand the specifics of what they are allowed (and not allowed) to do.
• Written laws promote good behavior. If a person can read the laws and think about them, he or she is more likely to actually obey the laws.

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Cole: How many laws does the United States have?  How many laws does Virginia have?

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We also discussed the idea of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." 

This saying comes directly from two of the laws in Hammurabi's Code (the students correctly surmised that the punishment for knocking out a man's tooth was not to make a toothbrush for every other person in Babylon!).

I was especially impressed that several students are familiar with Gandhi's famous criticism of Hammurabi's Code: "An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind."

History Video #2: Hammurabi's Code

Reminder: Your quiz on Friday will include questions from the following readings in Ancient Civilizations:

Pages 30-34

Pages 40-43

Pages 54-57

The Domestication of Animals: Aurochs, Wolves and Wild Boar

The domestication of wild animals was a major turning point in human history.

Once humans tamed animals, they had a more reliable source of food, and they could use the animals for transportation and to help with a variety of difficult tasks (including lots of tasks related to agriculture).

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Today the students imagined that they were hunter-gatherers trying to choose a particular species of animal to domesticate.

They discussed questions related to (1) how each type of animal could help humans and (2) how challenging the animal would be to domesticate:

• What would we feed this animal?  Would we have to compete with the animal for food?
• Would the animal provide a significant amount of meat for us to eat?
• Would the animal provide a significant amount of milk for us to drink?
• Can this animal be easily herded and controlled?
• Can this animal do work for humans?

Maeve, Amanda, Sami and Jeremy gave a concise, clear summary of the reasons that aurochs (wild cattle) were the number one contender for domestication by Stone Age hunter-gatherers. They said:

"Domesticated cows could provide humans with the most milk and the most meat of any domesticated animal. PLUS, they would have been the easiest to feed (they primarily eat grass), they could be easily herded and controlled, and they do lots of hard work."

The picture at the top of this post is an auroch skeleton. Do you know what breed of domestic cow is in the picture above?

Let's also give a shout-out to Team Wolf!  You guys did a nice job explaining the many helpful characteristics of domesticated dogs.

The Mediterranean Sea

Today we used Google Earth to talk about the geography of the Mediterranean Sea region.

The students shared interesting information about this part of the world:

• Isabella C. pointed out that the country of Turkey straddles two continents: Europe and Asia.
• Jack shared a helpful hint for remembering the shape of the Red Sea; he told us that the Red Sea has "bunny ears".
• We discussed the mythical Greek princess for whom Europe is named (Europa), and Peter reminded us about some of the details of the story.
• Isabella F. gave a shout-out to little Andorra. She told the class that France isn't the only country that borders Spain to the north -- Andorra does, as well!

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Finally, Alex posed this fascinating question: Who actually owns the Mediterranean Sea?

Lucas M. said that he doesn't think any person (or any country) should own oceans and other bodies of water, but Dawson pointed out that the U.S.A.'s borders extend 10 miles into the ocean.

Alex's question is relevant to history, and it remains relevant today. Various people and countries have answered his question differently over time, and sometimes they have even fought about what the correct answer should be.

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Today was our first musical Monday, and we watched a portion of this performance of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2.

Musical bonus question: After listening to Rachmaninov, several students in Core 3 asked: What's the difference between a tune and a song?

Bertie: A song has lyrics, but a tune does not have lyrics.

Cooper: There isn't any difference between the two.

Ariana: It depends!

Rachmaninov was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor.  He was born in 1873 and died in 1943.

Inspiration at Convocation

"The key to success and advancement is to be mystified."

                    Sophia Hunt, St. Anne's-Belfield Class of 2015, during her Convocation address

"People may not remember what you said or what you did, but they will always remember how you made them feel."

                   Maya Angelou, as quoted by Mr. Lourie during his Convocation address

This is a 4th grade class pledge which Mr. Lourie displayed during his speech today.  

I especially love this part: "We will think about ... how we take care of each other."

How do you plan to take care of your classmates this year?