Writing Activity- Reflection

I think that our writing activity was very interesting. I think that it was hard writing and keeping in mind what letter is which. When we wrote we couldn't use punctuation (full stop, semi colon, comma etc.), also it was tricky to tell when a word started and ended. Also, it was very fun understanding what other messages my classmates wrote since all of our messages were written in a different way: some were written in big letters, others were colored in.

Enheduana: biography

Enheduana daughter of King Sargon and sister of two twin brothers; as the daughter of the king who reigned she had the possibility of learning of how to read and how to write. Enheduana was the first writer/author in all history: she was the first person to put her name in her writings.  She was an author and a poet; her writing would be written with a stylus on a clay tablet. Her writing made her famous all over Sumer. Sargon hoped that his twins were talented enough to be king as well as him, but they weren’t, so the king educated Enheduana to be the high priestess to Nanna. To work as a high priestess Enheduana had to move from her birthplace. She worked in the Ziggurat, through her the people of that region believed in many goddess and gods. At the top of the Ziggurat she sacrificed animals and burned incense and other perfumes. Enheduana’s most imported duty  was to celebrated the New Year in Spring.  She and the king or high priest (male) would act the marriage of a goddess and a human.

Enheduana was a high priestess for twenty five years and she also wrote 42 poems. As she wrote on clay tablets archeologists had seen that over fifty had written the same sentences on them. Tablets included sentences that tell about herself, her religion and politics.

So Enheduana has become the first author to be known by her name.

Enheduana proverb: “my mouth make me comparable with men”

Hammuraibi’s Babylonia by Elaine Landau

Bibliography: Landau, Elaine. "Hammurabi's Babylonia." The Babylonians. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston,

     2010. 39-44. Print.

During Hammurabi’s reign Babylonia grew: scientists made very interesting discoveries, scribes composed poetries and sculptors made statues representing daily life. Agriculture and trade grew as well: Irrigation was under the King’s control and due to that there was surplus food, the surplus food was then traded. Also they traded the most common material of the region for the least one; trade also expanded regions from the Persian Gulf trade with Babylonia. Hammurabi is most known his collection of laws which was about daily life disadvantages and problems. There were 282 laws and they made life easier. Also, the laws kept the region in order some laws were very tough others were rational. One unreasonable law is: if the surgeon kills a patient during his operation his hands need to be cut off.

In the article the author mentioned that slaves and rights, unlike modern days they had rights and could own property.

Social Classes of Ancient Mesopotamia:

Babylonia:

Ziggurat:

Help Wanted: Activity

An Afternoon in the Bronze Age: 2,000 BCE

Hi, my name is Cosmo, I am very famous trader in Mesopotamia thanks to the discovery of bronze. Not everyone in the city and villages around know about this, but I try to convince them that whatever weapon they made from it, it can last longer. I am an expert in making shields and helmets and I can assure you they last much longer. Other than trading bronze I trade clothing and pottery. Today I made a very good deal, a family gave me three chickens and one bag full of grain; meanwhile I gave them 5 helmets and about 10 pieces of clothing. People are very interested in bronze and usually they ask me many questions. At home I have dogs, horses, goats and chickens. Many people want my horses because they are strong enough to pull their carts or the goats because their skin and milk are helpful for their family. In the cities the building are big and in a much better shape than they were in villages and towns.

The people I trade with usually have their house near the northern part of the Euphrates river, and for them it is much easier to come here to Babylon and not to Ur. The market place where I trade is near granaries and religious places.

Jata, Polo (my children),and my wife are at home, cooking. They would turn grain into flour and add water, the dough was put over the fire and after few minutes it would be ready to eat.

When the sun started to lower and it was darker, little by little the streets emptied and many merchants went back home after the last deal I made I packed my stuff and went home.