ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS: Mesopotamia, Fertile Cresent, and Gilgamesh

Today we continued our history studies by reviewing last year's SOTW Book 1 and revisiting Mesopotamia.  We worked on maps with focus on the Fertile Crescent which in Greek means, "Between the Rivers".  The area was the seat of the earliest civilizations having rivers and good soil for farming and it became a strategic location for trade.

K12 Interactive CRADEL OF CIVILIZATION game.

The British Museum has a great website with more info and links: Mesopotamia 

We began reading, 'Gilgamesh', an epic poem consisting of 12 clay tablets which were discovered on an archeological dig in 1853 by Hormuzd Rassam.  It was translated and published in 1870 and is one of the oldest pieces of world literature dating back to 2500BC.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=jAMRTGv82Zo#t=9
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=jAMRTGv82Zo#t=9