Group items tagged

"The Reading Like a Historian curriculum engages students in historical inquiry. Each lesson revolves around a central historical question and features sets of primary documents designed for groups of students with diverse reading skills and abilities."

"Here is a little history: in 605 b.c.  the Babylonian army defeated the Egyptians in a battle."

"The Hittites, who spoke an Indo-European language (a family of languages that includes English), dominated much of Anatolia and neighboring regions between about 1650 and 1200 B.C. It has been suggested that groups speaking languages related to Hittite first entered Anatolia at the end of the third millennium B.C., but the Hittites first rose to prominence around 1750 B.C., when King Pithana and his son Anitta captured the important city of Kanesh as well as a number of other city-states, including that of Hattusha (modern Bogazköy)."

"Civilisation is based on the cultivation of plants, but humans rely on plants for far more than simple foodstuffs. This virtual book, written by Henry Hobhouse, the author of Seeds of Change, and Museum botanist Sandra Knapp, is an introduction to the fascinating history of cultivation and some of its impacts on today's society."

"he Oriental Institute is a research organization and museum devoted to the study of the ancient Near East. Founded in 1919 by James Henry Breasted, the Institute, a part of the University of Chicago, is an internationally recognized pioneer in the archaeology, philology, and history of early Near Eastern civilizations."

"Cuneiform was a writing system used between roughly 5,300 and 1,950 years ago, so for more than 3,300 years. That makes it the longest-lasting writing system in known history-"

"The ingredients of civilization"

"The ingredients of civilization"

"n the early part of the first millennium B.C., Persians started constructing elaborate tunnel systems called qanats for extracting groundwater in the dry mountain basins of present-day Iran (see figure 1). Qanat tunnels were hand-dug, just large enough to fit the person doing the digging. Along the length of a qanat, which can be several kilometers, vertical shafts were sunk at intervals of 20 to 30 meters to remove excavated material and to provide ventilation and access for repairs. The main qanat tunnel sloped gently down from pre-mountainous alluvial fans to an outlet at a village. From there, canals would distribute water to fields for irrigation. These amazing structures allowed Persian farmers to succeed despite long dry periods when there was no surface water to be had. Many qanats are still in use stretching from China on the east to Morocco on the west, and even to the Americas."

"Ancient Persians were well known for the ways they procured and supplied water. Water management in a geographical location where it cannot be found abundantly all year round is a challenge. It represents the determination of a nation to survive and thrive, DestinationIran reported."

"The Sumerians had developed an abstract form of writing based on cuneiform (i.e. wedge-shaped) symbols. Their symbols were written on wet clay tablets which were baked in the hot sun and many thousands of these tablets have survived to this day. It was the use of a stylus on a clay medium that led to the use of cuneiform symbols since curved lines could not be drawn. The later Babylonians adopted the same style of cuneiform writing on clay tablets."

"Literature and Literary Connections, Greek Poetry, Homer: Illiad and Odyssey"

8 videos

background for reading the Odyssey

"Computer animator Steve K. Simons and Greek warfare expert Dr. Sonya Nevin work together to develop moving parts from the static images on Greek pottery, much of it in the extensive collection of the University of Reading's Ure Museum. They collaborate with ancient music experts to create soundtracks that wouldn't sound out of place in one of the symposia depicted on the vases. It's a full-spectrum historical immersion achieved through modern technology."

"Ancient Rome's geography was in many ways the secret of its future success so much so that even Roman writers, including Cicero, recognized how fortunate the choice had been.  "

"The study adds to the growing body of research about the character of Harappan society and the nature of its collapse."