Mesopotamia Unit Study Resources

Here are the books and videos we enjoyed in conjunction with our Mesopotamia/Persia Unit Study.

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia From Nomads to Farmers is a 14 minute kids cartoon that provides a nice overview of the time period.
Ancient Mesopotamia - Short Summary Video

Sumarians

Gilgamesh the King (The Gilgamesh Trilogy) tells the story of the most famous Sumerian legend. In the Last Quest of Gilgamesh, as Gilgamesh searches for immortality he has several adventures. Many of them remind me of the adventures Odysseus had in the Odyssey. 

There is a cartoon version of The Epic of Gilgamesh on youtube that is also nice for kids.
Lost Civilisations relates many events of the bible to the Sumarians and Babylonians.
Sumer, The first Civilization
Rules for the Game of Ur - The game of Ur was one of the oldest games ever discovered, and it is fun to play today.

Marsh Arabs

Natural World Special Miracle in the Marshes of Iraq is a video which tells the story of the modern draining and rebuilding of the Marsh lands in Iraq. It's interesting because the people live today in much the same ways as they di 3000 years ago.
Mudhif - Short Reed House Video

Babylon

Babylon was a powerful empire at two different times during Mesopotamian history. The first time Hammurabi was a great leader who wrote down the laws of the land.
Law Code Stele of Hammurabi

Hittites

The Lords of Hattusa describes the capital city of the Hittites and how their civilizations was rediscovered.

Assyrians

The Assyrians Masters of War - This 30 minute video is a good one for adults.

Hanging Gardens of Babylon

During the second Babylonian empire Nebachadnezzer freed the Jews and built the hanging gardens. This was the time period the great Ishtar gate was built.
The Babylon Mystery (Nebachadnezzer) is a one hour video which tells the story of Babylon.
Hanging Gardens of Babylon - video on the watering of the Hanging Gardens
Gift for a Queen - Short video on the hanging gardens of Babylon.
Ishtar Gate and Processional Way - Short video on the Ishtar Gate

Persia

The Engineering an Empire series of videos from the History Channel is a fun introduction to historical cultures of the past. We watched them when studying Ancient Greece and revisited the series for our study of Persia.
Engineering an Empire, Alexander the Great - The Persian Empire ended with the invasion of Alexander the Great. This video describes the numerous engineering feats Alexander conquered while conquering the east.
Persepolis was one of the capital cities of the Persian Empire. The city was a collection of palaces and one of the riches places in the world. We found two wonderful videos on Persepolis.
Persepolis
Persepolis - Lost Worlds

The king's treasured diamond which casts colors throughout the room is stolen in The Legend of the Persian Carpet by Tomie de Paola. The king is very sad and leaves the kingdom. The workers and apprentices figure out a way to get the king to come back. This delightful picture book is good for elementary age kids.

Shadow Spinner provides readers a glimpse into life in a Harem of the Persian kings. My eleven year old and I enjoyed reading this book together.

We checked out several Arabian Nights books. My eleven year old who is a very strong reader highly recommends Tales from the Arabian Nights by James Riordan. This was by far her favorite. She read it from cover to cover.