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Go to the British Museum's Web Site on Mesopotamia At English IV Ms. Wilson Mesopotamian Web Quest (30 points) Go to the British Museum’s web site on Mesopotamia at http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/menu.html. Explore the different aspects of this site. For the first part of your quest navigate from the home page to the geography section, or go to http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/geography/home_set.html. 1. According to the story of Gilgamesh on this web site, why is cedar wood so important? It was strong, tall, and aromatic. It was good for building palaces and temples and could be used as roof beams. 2. How long, according to this version, did it take Gilgamesh and Enkidu to reach the cedar forest? It took them 15 days; it should have taken 6 months. 3. Which God helped Gilgamesh and Enkidu defeat Humbaba in this version? How? Shamash sent winds to help trap Humbaba. 4. In the explore part of this section look at the Babylon World Map; how is this different from our modern idea of a map? It was carved on stones; symbols represent land and directions. For the next series of questions navigate from the home page to the writing section, or go to http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/writing/home_set.html. 5. Describe what pictograms were and what information they were originally meant to convey. A pictogram was picture used to symbolize a word or phrase. They were originally meant to convey information about crops and taxes. 6. Read the story about the cuneiform. Illustrate how the sign for barley changed as cuneiform evolved after reading this story. The sign changed as the instruments used to write cuneiform evolved. The sign became increasingly more complicated. 7. Explore the world of the scribe and describe one of the tools which was used to record information. Writing boards - Scribes sometimes used cuneiform on writing boards. These boards were made of wood or ivory with a writing surface covered with wax. The wax could be melted and reused. For the next series of questions you will need to explore the Gods, Goddesses, Demons and Monsters page from the main site, or go to http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/gods/home_set.html. 8. Describe how demons were created and what they looked like. Demons were created by the gods; they had human bodies and animal or bird heads; they could be either evil or good. 9. According to the story in this section, how were humans created? Why? Enki created humans out of clay and gave them souls, but limited how long they would live; humans were created to help the gods with their duties. 10. In the Explore part of this section look at the description of some of the Gods and creatures which should be familiar to you from our reading of Gilgamesh, and choose two. Describe what this web site says about them and what the pictures of them look like. Enlil is one of the most important gods of Mesopotamia. Enlil is so powerful that the other gods can't even look at him. He is therefore only shown as a horned cap. Enlil's main city is Nippur. Kings from all over Mesopotamia sent offerings to him there. Enlil is the father of many other important Mesopotamian gods and goddesses. Enlil guards the 'tablets of destiny'. These are cuneiform tablets on which he writes the fate of everything on earth. Shamash is the sun god. He is also the god of truth and justice because he can see everything. Shamash holds a knife with a jagged edge so that he can cut his way through the mountains at dawn. Shamash's symbol is a disc, sometimes with sun-rays, or a winged disc. He was thought to travel in a boat, but from about 1000 B.C. his symbol became a horse, and later, a chariot. For the next series of question navigate from the home page to the section on time, or go to http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/time/index.html. 11. Who according to the story in this section is referred to as the ‘father of cuneiform’? Henry Rawlinson 12. According to the timeline in the explore part of this section, when did legendary kings like Gilgamesh live? According to the timeline Gilgamesh ruled between 2800 and 2700 B.C. If you have extra time go back to the challenges in the sections you have already visited and have fun with the puzzles. .
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