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Class activity or lesson plan source: Students will map the significant locations of Mesopotamia.

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Interactive source: Trade and Transport

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Children's book: The Tigris and Euphrates: Rivers of the Fertile Crescent. This book takes us on a journey down the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and some of the places that the rivers run through.

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Primary Source: Hammurabi's Code

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Video: Crash course mythology episode about the Epic of Gilgamesh

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The Epic of Gilgamesh: Crash Course World Mythology #26

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Video: this is a video describing the social hierarchy of Mesopotamia

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Video: Students will watch a video on the geography of Ancient Mesopotamia

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Ancient Mesopotamia 101 | National Geographic

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Interactive Source: Article/vocabulary about the Tigris River

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Resource

ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

The Tigris River, which borders Mesopotamia in the Fertile Crescent, has been a key source of irrigation, power, and travel that dates back to the earliest known civilizations.

Subjects

Earth Science, Geography, Human Geography, Physical Geography

Image

Tigris River

The Tigris River is one of the most important waterways in the Fertile Crescent, and has supported cities like Hasankeyf, Turkey, for centuries.

Photograph by Jane Sweeney

Surrounded by four countries (Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria), the Tigris River is the second largest river in western Asia. With the Euphrates River, it makes up a river system that borders Mesopotamia in the area known as the Fertile Crescent. An important source of both travel and irrigation, the Tigris also has a rich history that dates back to the earliest known civilizations because of its importance to a largely arid region.

Originating in Lake Hazer in Turkey-a region characterized by high mountains-the river flows parallel with the Euphrates River. The two eventually join, emptying into the Persian Gulf in the lowlands in an area known as the Shatt Al-Arab. More than half of the Tigris can be found in Iraq. Other rivers that flow into it include the Greater Zab, the Lesser Zab, the Al-Adhaim, the Diyala, and the Karkheh.

While the local population uses the Tigris as a source of fresh water, agriculture is the primary focus for the people near the river. The region's low rainfall and hot, dry summers mean that irrigation is necessary for growing crops. While such irrigation can sometimes lead to problems in water quality, the Tigris is generally considered to have acceptable quality.

The Tigris is also used for hydropower, which has led to the construction of dams in the region to harness the power of its flow. The work of Julia Harte, under funding from a National Geographic grant, explored the consequences of using such power on the history and people of the area. Innovations and advancements along the same lines of hydropower will continue to create an evolving landscape for local governments and people of the region.

Media Credits

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Director

Tyson Brown, National Geographic Society

Author

National Geographic Society

Production Managers

Gina Borgia, National Geographic Society

Jeanna Sullivan, National Geographic Society

Program Specialists

Sarah Appleton, National Geographic Society, National Geographic Society

Margot Willis, National Geographic Society

other

Last Updated

August 2, 2023

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The Tigris River, which borders Mesopotamia in the Fertile Crescent, has been a key source of irrigation, power, and travel that dates back to the earliest known civilizations.

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Video: This is a Ted Talk about the rise and fall of the Assyrian empire

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The rise and fall of the Assyrian Empire - Marian H Feldman

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Primary Source: This primary source details the life of a school boy in Ancient Mesopotamia.

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5. The Birth of Hatshepsut
​ 1. A Sumerian Schoolboy's Tale
2. The Great Flood, From The Epic of Gilgamesh
3. The Great Flood, From The Torah
4. The Code of Hammurabi

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​
This tablet, from ancient Sumeria (as early as 2000 B.C.E.), details a day in the life of a school boy. Students learned by copying lessons on clay tablets, memorizing the lessons, and then reciting them for the school's headmaster (the "school father") or other teachers, monitors, and proctors of the school. 1. A Sumerian Schoolboy's Tale
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The young scribe-in-training described here is repeatedly caned by his teachers for failing to memorize his lessons and for disciplinary problems. The boy then asks his parents to invite the headmaster to their house and to provide him with wine, food, and gifts. Noah Kramer, the scholar whose translation appears here, described it as "the first recorded case of 'apple-polishing' in the history of man." The strategy apparently worked because by the end of the dinner, the headmaster praises the young man to Nidaba, the Sumerian goddess of writing, and predicts that he will become the foremost student in the school.

Samuel Noah Kramer, "Schooldays: A Sumerian Composition Relating to the Education of a Scribe," Source
Journal of the American Oriental Society 69, vol. 4 (Oct-Dec 1949): 199-215. Kramer's extended commentary is also in his book, History Begins at Sumer: Thirty-Nine Firsts in Recorded History (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981), 3-13. Image: The largest fragment of the text, at the University Museum of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (p. 215, Kramer, "Schooldays"). Annotated by Susan Douglass."

"Schoolboy, where did you go from earliest days?" Primary Source Text

"I went to school."
"What did you do in school?"
"I read my tablet, ate my lunch,
prepared my tablet, wrote it, finished it; then
my prepared lines were prepared for me
(and in) the afternoon, my hand copies were prepared for me.
Upon the school's dismissal, I went home,
Entered the house, (there) was my father sitting.

Nidaba, the queen of the place of learning, you have exalted."
O Nidaba, praise!

The text is taken from the Assyrian International News Agency, Questions:
1. How was the boy disciplined at school?
2. Why was he disciplined?
3. What made the teacher, known as "father-teacher," change his attitude about the boy?
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2. The Great Flood, From The Epic of Gilgamesh
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http://www.aina.org/books/eog/eog.pdf on July 17, 2013

Gilgamesh was a ruler of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk around 2700 b.c. Long after his death, people worshipped Gilgamesh as a god. Various stories of Gilgamesh existed in ancient Sumeria and were written in the Sumerian script Cuneiform. In this chapter, a great flood overtakes much of the world.

Chapter 5 THE STORY OF THE FLOOD
'You know the city Shurrupak, it stands on the banks of Euphrates? That city grew old and the gods that were in it were old. There was Anu,-lord of the firmament, their father, and warrior Enlil their counsellor, Ninurta the helper, and Ennugi watcher over canals; and with them also was Ea. In those days the world teemed, the people multiplied, the world bellowed like a wild bull, and the great god was aroused by the clamour. Enlil heard the clamour and he said to the gods in council, "The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reason of the babel." So the gods agreed to exterminate mankind. Enlil did this, but Ea because of his oath warned me in a dream. He whispered their words to my house of reeds, "Reed-house, reed-house! Wall, O wall, hearken reed-house, wall reflect; O man of Shurrupak, son of Ubara-Tutu; tear down your house and build a boat, abandon possessions and look for life, despise worldly goods and save your soul alive. Tear down your house, I say, and build a boat. These are the measurements of the barque as you shall build her: let hex beam equal her length, let her deck be roofed like the vault that covers the abyss; then take up into the boat the seed of all living creatures." 'When I had understood I said to my lord, "Behold, what you have commanded I will honour and perform, but how shall I answer the people, the city, the elders?" Then Ea opened his mouth and said to me, his servant, "Tell them this: I have learnt that Enlil is wrathful against me, I dare no longer walk in his land nor live in his city; I will go down to the Gulf to dwell with Ea my lord. But on you he will rain down abundance, rare fish and shy wild-fowl, a rich harvest-tide. In the evening the rider of the storm will bring you wheat in torrents." 'In the first light of dawn all my household gathered round me, the children brought pitch and the men whatever was necessary. On the fifth day I laid the keel and the ribs, then I made fast the planking. The ground-space was one acre, each side of the deck measured one hundred and twenty cubits, making a square. I built six decks below, seven in all, I divided them into nine sections with bulkheads between. I drove in wedges where needed, I saw to the punt poles, and laid in supplies. The carriers brought oil in baskets, I poured pitch into the furnace and asphalt and oil; more oil was consumed in caulking, and more again the master of the boat took into his stores. I slaughtered bullocks for the people and every day I killed sheep. I gave the shipwrights wine to drink as though it were river water, raw wine and red wine and oil and white wine. There was feasting then as -there is at the time of the New Year's festival; I myself anointed my head. On the seventh day the boat was complete. 'Then was the launching full of difficulty; there was shifting of ballast above and below till two thirds was submerged. I loaded into her all that 1 had of gold and of living things, my family, my kin, the beast of the field both wild and tame, and all the craftsmen. I sent them on board, for the time that Shamash had ordained was already fulfilled when he said, "in the evening, when the rider of the storm sends down the destroying rain, enter the boat and batten her down." The time was fulfilled, the evening came, the rider of the storm sent down the rain. I looked out at the weather and it was terrible, so I too boarded the boat and battened her down. All was now complete, the battening and the caulking; so I handed the tiller to Puzur-Amurri the steersman, with the navigation and the care of the whole boat. With the first first light of dawn a black cloud came from the horizon; it thundered within where Adad, lord of the storm was riding. In front over hill and plain Shullat and Hanish, heralds of the storm, led on. Then the gods of the abyss rose up; Nergal pulled out the dams of the nether waters, Ninurta the war-lord threw down the dykes, and the seven judges of hell, the Annunaki, raised their torches, lighting the land with their livid flame. A stupor of despair went up to heaven when the god of the storm turned daylight to darkness, when he smashed the land like a cup. One whole day the tempest raged, gathering fury as .it went, it poured over the people like the tides of battle; a imam could not see his brother nor the people be seen from heaven. Even the gods were terrified at the flood, they fled to the highest heaven, the firmament of Ann; they crouched against the walls, cowering like curs. Then Ishtar the sweet-voiced Queen of Heaven cried out like a woman in travail: "Alas the days -of old are turned to dust because I commanded evil; why did I command thus evil in the council of all the gods? I commanded wars to destroy the people, but are they not my people, for I brought them forth? Now like the spawn of fish they float in the ocean." The great gods of heaven and of hell wept, they covered their mouths.

'For six days and six nights the winds blew, torrent and tempest and flood overwhelmed the world, tempest and flood raged together like warring hosts. When the seventh day dawned the storm from the south subsided, the sea grew calm, the, flood was stilled; I looked at the face of the world and there was silence, all mankind was turned to clay. The surface of the sea stretched as flat as a roof-top; I opened a hatch and the light fell on my face. Then I bowed low, I sat down and I wept, the tears streamed down my face, for on every side was the waste of water. I looked for land in vain, but fourteen leagues distant there appeared a mountain, and there the boat grounded; on the mountain of Nisir the boat held fast, she held fast and did not budge. One day she held, and -a second day on the mountain of Nisir she held fast and did not budge. A third day, and a fourth day she held fast on the mountain and did not budge; a fifth day and a sixth day she held fast on the mountain. When the seventh day dawned I loosed a dove and let her go. She flew away, but finding no resting-place she returned. Then I loosed a swallow, and she flew away but finding no resting-place she returned. I loosed a raven, she saw that the waters had retreated, she ate, she flew around, she cawed, and she did not come back. Then I threw everything open to the four winds, I made a sacrifice and poured out a libation on the mountain top. Seven and again seven cauldrons I set up on their stands, I heaped up wood and cane and cedar and myrtle. When the gods smelled the sweet savour, they gathered like flies over the sacrifice. Then, at last, Ishtar also came, she lifted her necklace with the jewels of heaven that once Anu had made to please her. "O you gods here present, by the lapis lazuli round my neck I shall remember these days as I remember the jewels of my throat; these last days I shall not forget. Let all the gods gather round the sacrifice, except Enlil. He shall not approach this offering, for without reflection he brought the flood; he consigned my people to destruction."

'When Enlil had come, when he saw the boat, he was wrath and swelled with anger at the gods, the host of heaven, "Has any of these mortals escaped? Not one was to have survived the destruction." Then the god of the wells and canals Ninurta opened his mouth and said to the warrior Enlil, "Who is there of the gods that can devise without Ea? It is Ea alone who knows all things." Then Ea opened his mouth and spoke to warrior Enlil, "Wisest of gods, hero Enlil, how could you so senselessly bring down the flood?

It was not I that revealed the secret of the gods; the wise man learned it in a dream. Now take your counsel what shall be done with him."

'Then Enlil went up into the boat, he took me by the hand and my wife and made us enter the boat and kneel down on either side, he standing between us. He touched our foreheads to bless us saying, "In time past Utnapishtim was a mortal man; henceforth he and his wife shall live in the distance at the mouth of the rivers." Thus it was that the gods took me and placed me here to live in the distance, at the mouth of the rivers.'

1. Why did the gods decide to destroy all men?
2. What direction did Ea give Gilgamesh in regards to worldly possessions?
​3. How long did the flood last?
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Text from on July 17, 2013. New International Version (NIV)

While we are not completely certain when Genesis was written, there are two theories. One is that it was written by Moses between 1440 and 1400 B.C., between the time Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and his death. The other is that it was written between the years 586-539 B.C.

Wickedness in the World
6 When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, "My Spirit will not contend with[ a] humans forever, for they are mortal[ b]; their days will be a hundred and twenty years."

4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days-and also afterward-when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord said, "I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created-and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground-for I regret that I have made them." 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Noah and the Flood 9 This is the account of Noah and his family.

Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.

11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress[ c] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.[ d] 16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit[ e] high all around.[ f] Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. 17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark-you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them."

22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

Genesis 7
The Lord then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made."

5 And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.

6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month-on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

13 On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. 14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.

17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. 18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. 20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits.[ a][ b] 21 Every living thing that moved on land perished-birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

Genesis 8
8 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. 2 Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. 3 The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, 4 and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5 The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.

6 After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark 7 and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. 9 But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. 10 He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. 11 When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. 12 He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.

13 By the first day of the first month of Noah's six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. 14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.

15 Then God said to Noah, 16 "Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you-the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground-so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it."

18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives. 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds-everything that moves on land-came out of the ark, one kind after another.

20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though[ a] every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

22 "As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease."

1. Why did God flood the Earth?
2. Why did he save Noah and his family?
3. What are some comparisons between the flood of Genesis and the flood in the Epic of Gilgamesh?

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4. The Code of Hammurabi, Excerpts
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http://www.commonlaw.com/Hammurabi.html , on July 17, 2013
Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts and Letters, by C. H. W. Johns, in 1904, one of a series called the Library of Ancient Inscriptions, from a facsimile produced by The Legal Classics Library, Division of Gryphon Editions, New York in 1987.

The Code of Hammurabi was the Babylonian law code, written in 1772 B.C. Publicly displayed, this was one of the first written laws in the world. The code consists of 282 laws. The following are some of them.

1. If a man has accused another of laying a nertu [death spell?] upon him, but has not proved it, he shall be put to death.

2. If a man has accused another of laying a kispu [spell] upon him, but has not proved it, the accused shall go to the sacred river, he shall plunge into the sacred river, and if the river shall conquer him, he that accused him shall take possession of his house. If the sacred river shall show his innocence and he is saved, his accuser shall be put to death. He that plunged into the sacred river shall appropriate the house of him that accused.

3. If a man has borne false witness in a trial, or has not established the statement that he has made, if that case be a capital trial, that man shall be put to death.

4. If he has borne false witness in a civil law case, he shall pay the damages in that suit.

5. If a judge has given a verdict, rendered a decision, granted a written judgment, and afterward has altered his judgment, that judge shall be prosecuted for altering the judgment he gave and shall pay twelvefold the penalty laid down in that judgment. Further, he shall be publicly expelled from his judgment-seat and shall not return nor take his seat with the judges at a trial.

6. If a man has stolen goods from a temple, or house, he shall be put to death; and he that has received the stolen property from him shall be put to death.

7. If a man has bought or received on deposit from a minor or a slave, either silver, gold, male or female slave, ox, ass, or sheep, or anything else, except by consent of elders, or power of attorney, he shall be put to death for theft.

8. If a patrician has stolen ox, sheep, ass, pig, or ship, whether from a temple, or a house, he shall pay thirtyfold. If he be a plebeian, he shall return tenfold. If the thief cannot pay, he shall be put to death.

9. If a man has lost property and some of it be detected in the possession of another, and the holder has said, "A man sold it to me, I bought it in the presence of witnesses"; and if the claimant has said, "I can bring witnesses who know it to be property lost by me"; then the alleged buyer on his part shall produce the man who sold it to him and the witnesses before whom he bought it; the claimant shall on his part produce the witnesses who know it to be his lost property. The judge shall examine their pleas. The witnesses to the sale and the witnesses who identify the lost property shall state on oath what they know. Such a seller is the thief and shall be put to death. The owner of the lost property shall recover his lost property. The buyer shall recoup himself from the seller's estate.

10. If the alleged buyer on his part has not produced the seller or the witnesses before whom the sale took place, but the owner of the lost property on his part has produced the witnesses who identify it as his, then the [pretended] buyer is the thief; he shall be put to death. The owner of the lost property shall take his lost property.

11. If, on the other hand, the claimant of the lost property has not brought the witnesses that know his lost property, he has been guilty of slander, he has stirred up strife, he shall be put to death.

12. If the seller has in the meantime died, the buyer shall take from his estate fivefold the value sued for.

13. If a man has not his witnesses at hand, the judge shall set him a fixed time not exceeding six months, and if within six months he has not produced his witnesses, the man has lied; he shall bear the penalty of the suit.

14. If a man has stolen a child, he shall be put to death.

15. If a man has induced either a male or a female slave from the house of a patrician, or plebeian, to leave the city, he shall be put to death.

16. If a man has harbored in his house a male or female slave from a patrician's or plebeian's house, and has not caused the fugitive to leave on the demand of the officer over the slaves condemned to public forced labor, that householder shall be put to death.

17. If a man has caught either a male or female runaway slave in the open field and has brought him back to his owner, the owner of the slave shall give him two shekels of silver.

18. If such a slave will not name his owner, his captor shall bring him to the palace, where he shall be examined as to his past and returned to his owner.

19. If the captor has secreted that slave in his house and afterward that slave has been caught in his possession, he shall be put to death.

20. If the slave has fled from the hands of his captor, the latter shall swear to the owner of the slave and he shall be free from blame.

21. If a man has broken into a house he shall be killed before the breach and buried there.

22. If a man has committed highway robbery and has been caught, that man shall be put to death.

23. If the highwayman has not been caught, the man that has been robbed shall state on oath what he has lost and the city or district governor in whose territory or district the robbery took place shall restore to him what he lost.

24. If a life [has been lost], the city or district governor shall pay one mina of silver to the deceased's relatives.

25. If a fire has broken out in a man's house and one who has come to put it out has coveted the property of the householder and appropriated any of it, that man shall be cast into the self-same fire.

3. What do you think? Would a person not in a position of power benefit from written law? Why or why not?
1. What happens to a man if he is caught trying to rob a home?
2. If a rich person steals an animal and is caught, does he have to pay more or less for his crime?

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​

5. The Birth of Hatshepsut ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
​ http://www.aquinashs.net/ourpages/auto/2011/8/28/52014883/The%20Birth%20of%20Hatshepsut.pdf, on July 17, 2013

Hatshepsut lived from 1508-1458 BC and ruled Egypt as pharaoh.
Translated from Emma Brunner-Traut, AltEgyptische Marchen, 5th ed. (Dusseldorf und Koln, 1979), pp. 76-87.

Amun summoned the Great Ennead in heaven to him and proclaimed to them his
decision to procreate for the land of Egypt a new king, and he promised to the gods all
good through it. As successor, Hatshepsut was chosen the unique woman; the royal
office for her was claimed.

"She builds your chapels," said Amun to the Ennead. "She consecrates your
temples . . . she makes you rich offerings . . . the dew of heaven shall fall in her time . . .
and the Nile shall be high in her time. Surround her with your protection, with life,
happiness unto eternity."

The Ennead answered, "We have come herewith. We surround her with our protection,
with life and happiness . . . " Amun charged Thoth, the god of wisdom and messenger,
to seek Queen Iahmes, the wife of the reigning king, whom he selected as the future
mother of the successor, and Thoth answered him as follows: "This young woman is a
princess. She is called Iahmes. She is more beautiful than all the women in the whole
land. She is the wife of the king, the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Tuthmosis I, and
his majesty is still a youth. Go therefore to her . . ." Then Thoth led Amun to Queen
Iahmes............

Then Amun, the lord of the throne of the Two Lands spoke to her, "Hatshepsut is thus
the name of this your daughter whom I have laid in your body, according to the speech
of your mouth. She will exercise the splendid kingship in the whole land. My glory will
belong to her, my authority will belong to her, and my crown will belong to her. She will
rule the Two Lands (Egypt) . . . I will surround her every day with my protection in
common with the god of the respective day."

After Amun attended the queen, determined the name of the child, and promised her the
lordship over Egypt, he spoke with the creator god Khnum who would form the child on
the potter's wheel from mud. Thereby he commissioned him to create for the child a ka.
And Khnum answered him: "I form this your daughter prepared for life, prosperity, and
health, for food, nourishment, for respect, popularity, and all good. I distinguish her form
from the gods in her great dignity of king of Upper and Lower Egypt."

Then according to the divine instruction, Khnum created the royal child Hatshepsut and
her ka on the potter's wheel, and the goddess of birth, the frog-headed Heket, proffered
life to her. Khnum spoke in addition, "I form you with this divine body . . . I have come to
you to form you completely as all gods (Kings), give to you all life and prosperity, give to
you enduring and joy . . . and give to you all health, deliver to you all flat lands and all
mountain lands as well as all subjects, give to you every food and nourishment and
cause that you appear on the throne of Horus like (the sun god) Re (himself). I cause
that you stand as the head of all the living when you appear as king of Upper and Lower
Egypt. Thus as your father Amun-Re who loves you has commanded it."

Khnum's divine companion Heket concluded with speeches of blessing and gave the
child with her word, life, enduring, and happiness in all eternity.

The divine messenger Thoth, dispatched by Amun, proclaimed to the royal mother
Iahmes the office and title which heaven had conferred on her. He called her "the
daughter of Geb, heir of Osiris, princess of Egypt, and mother of the king of Egypt.
Amun the lord of the throne of the Two Lands is content with your great dignity of
Princess who is great of favor, cheerfulness, charm, loveliness, and popularity," and his
message to the great royal wife Iahmes concluded with the wish that she live, endure,
be happy and everlastingly joyful in heart.

Khnum, the creator god, and his divine companion Heket conducted the pregnant
queen to the birth and the birth place and there pronounced their blessings. Khnum
spoke to her, "I surround your daughter with my protection. You are great, but the one
who opens your womb will be greater than all kings till now . . . " Thus spoke Khnum,
the potter . . . and Heket, the deliverer.

The queen who accordingly immediately became pregnant and now suffers the birth
pains was delivered in the presence of the god Amun and goddess of the birth place
Mesekhnet with the assistance of many spirits and divine nurses.
After a long speech by Amun, Mesekhnet executed her blessing on the child.

Questions
1. Who are the mother and father of Hatshepsut, according to this story?
2. What did Khnum create Hatshepsut out of?
3. Why did the Eyptians believe Hatshepsut to be a god, according to this story?

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5. The Birth of Hatshepsut​ 1. A Sumerian Schoolboy's Tale 2. The Great Flood, From The Epic of Gilgamesh 3. The Great Flood, From The Torah 4. The Code of Hammurabi ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ​ This tablet, from ancient Sumeria (as early as 2000 B.C.E.), details a day in the life of a school boy.

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Interactive Source: This website allows students to learn about the daily life of Mesopotamians and take a quiz about what they've learned

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Kids learn about the daily life of Ancient Mesopotamia. Jobs, clothes, food, classes of people, homes, and entertainment.

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Primary Source: A picture of the alphabet created and used by the Phoenicians.

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Children's Book: This book takes a deep dive into the lives of Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and what they brought to the world.

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Class Activity/Lesson plan source: This is a worksheet where students make their own Ziggurat

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Jacaranda - Making education more personal, effortful, rewarding - Australia

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Jacaranda is Australia's leading, multi-award-winning publisher of digital and print resources for the school market since 1954 providing learning solutions

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Primary Source: Black diorite statue of the Goddess Ningal

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Class Activity/Lesson Plan Source: This is a lesson plan that is all about ancient Sumerian daily life

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Discover how Ancient Sumerian society was divided into different social classes. Write adverts for some of the jobs that Ancient Sumerians had. Role-play an Ancient Sumerian school. Understand that Ancient Sumerians learnt mostly by copying and memorising.
Teaching Outcomes: Children will:

Explain how Ancient Sumer society was divided into different social classes.

List some of the jobs that Ancient Sumerians had.

Describe an Ancient Sumer school.

Understand that Ancient Sumerians learn mostly by copying and learning by heart.

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Discover how Ancient Sumerian society was divided into different social classes. Write adverts for some of the jobs that Ancient Sumerians had. Role-play an Ancient Sumerian school. Understand that Ancient Sumerians learnt mostly by copying and memorising. Teaching Outcomes: Children will: Explain how Ancient Sumer society was divided into different social classes.

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Children's Book: This book talks about great cities in Mesopotamia.

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Interactive Source: This is an interactive timeline of Mesopotamian History

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The chart below contains a synchronized chronology of the ANE from ca. 1000-330 BCE. The bars represent the reigns of the kings of the various empires, and the timeline on the bottom highlights the critical points of significance for dating. Try clicking around!

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Interactive Timeline of Mesopotamian History

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The chart below contains a synchronized chronology of the ANE from ca. 1000-330 BCE. The bars represent the reigns of the kings of the various empires, and the timeline on the bottom highlights the critical points of significance for dating. Try clicking around!

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Children's Book: Since wheels were created in Mesopotamia this short book talks about what wheels do.

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Class Activity/Lesson plan source: This is a reading guide for the Epic of Gilgamesh and it asks questions about parts of the script.

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Created By: Jack Blumer, Chris Becker, and Damon Schmidt