MESOPOTAMIA BY Faith Hayes 10/28/13 Per. 1 Mrs. Mohammed

WHAT IS MESOPOTAMIA? Mesopotamia is a Greek word that means “ land between rivers’’.

WHERE IS MESOPOTAMIA? Mesopotamia is located at Tigris and Euphrates river system. Known as modern- day Iraq the northeastern part of Syria and closer to southeastern Turkey, smaller parts of southwestern Iran and Kuwait.

CHALLENGES Mesopotamians had many challenges to get to where they are. They were uncontrollable water supply, food shortages, difficulties in building and maintainig the irrigation systems, attacks from neighboring communities. The snow from the winter melted and flooded the plains. Having uncontrolled water supply causes food shortages because the water flooded the crops. So having controllable water supply is very important. Sometimes their people moved out because they were driven by food. They built irrigation systems, leeves, and dams to fix this problem. Also the growth of communities caused a fight over water usage. They built sun baked bricks to protect the villages.

FOOD The type of meat Mesopotamians ate where pigs, chicken, cows, doves, ducks, geese, gazelles, Oryx, ibex, wild bulls, boars, hares, sheep, and onagers [a type of monkey ].They also drank beer, wine, milk made from cow/goats, and water. Many fruits they ate where grapes, pears, apricots, apples, figs, plums, pomegranates, and berries. Also they liked butter, cheese, bread, salt, garlic, and onions.

Their clothing was made from wool or flax which Sumerians could raise and harvest. (Flax is a plant with blue flowers. Men were bare chested and wore skirt-like garments that tied at the waist. Women usually wore gowns that covered them from their shoulders to their ankles. The right arm and shoulder were left uncovered. CLOTHING

The rich lived in large houses.Some of the larger homes were wide as well as high, but nearly all the homes were three stories high. Rich and poor, most homes were clustered around the Ziggurat and each other. Most houses shared walls, like townhouses do today. There was little wood and stone available for building materials. People built their homes of sun-dried brick. Homes, and the poor lived in smaller homes, but nobody lived in huts. Roofs were flat. Roofs provided a fourth living space. People cooked and slept on their roofs, when weather permitted. Some of the fancier roofs were designed with four walls for privacy. Some had grape arbors that provided food, privacy, and shelter from the sun. SHELTER

To worship the gods and goddesses, the people of Mesopotamia built large structures, called Ziggurats that served as temples. Inside the worshiping area of the Ziggurat people would place carved stone human figures with wide eyes and clasped hands, praying on behalf of the people of Mesopotamia. This area was also where people could make offerings to please the deities or regain their favor. CULTURE