Prologue:
Jack and Annie had to stay after school one day to finish a project in the library. They had to write a report on important things that happened in early civilization and why they were important.
"Come one, Annie!" Jack insisted. "We have to start researching. Our teacher suggested we look at a book to get the information that we need."
"I know, I know. Why don't we look at some books in the nonfiction section?" Annie suggested.
"I have a book that should have all you need," an older voice said. A tall woman with a simple white dress and worn bronze jewelry came around the corner with a book in her hand. It was Ms. Frizzle, a teacher at Jack and Annie's school. She handed Annie a book titled Early Civilizations. "I'm sure you can really get into this one."
Annie sighed "Thank you, Ms. Frizzle. We don't have much time to finish this project, and we didn't know where to start with our research."
"No problem!" Ms. Frizzle smiled. "Come over here, Jack. Let's look at the book". Jack walked towards the location of Annie and Ms. Frizzle.
Annie opened the book. Suddenly, a warm light enveloped the children, and they were sent away from where they were.
Part 1:
When they opened their eyes, they found themselves in an arid desert village, dressed in ancient robes.
"Where are we, Annie?" Jack asked.
"I do not know. I think the book took us back in time..." Annie speculated.
"Maybe if we look in the book, we can find out where we are." Jack suggested
"Good idea." Annie said. she flipped open the book and found a picture that looked to be a city off in the distance.
"It looks like we are near the city of Ashur in ancient Mesopotamia." Annie replied, hesitant a first, but growing more confident as she compared the picture to her surroundings. "the book says that Ashur is one of the first cities to be made and was part of the Assyrian empire, an empire known for its inventions and culture."
Jack and Annie began walking around the village, taking in the sights of the ancient people.
"Ahhhh!" Jack tripped over a clay pot, breaking it into fragments and shards. The shopkeeper was furious with both of the children.
The shopkeeper started to yell. "You filthy children! You broke my most valuable pot! Do you have anything to compensate for it?!" When they confessed that they did not have anything to trade, the shopkeeper started pushing them towards a pair of guards while muttering curse words in their direction. The guards bound their hands together in coarse rope. The guards roughly shoved Jack and Annie into a line that lead into a cage filled with grimey people that had a thin layer of dirt and dust over them.
The children were confused, so their looked at the book again. Annie read that slavery was not uncommon in ancient Assyria. Those who were in debt or had committed crime of some sort often would become slaves. The book went on to say how slavery would end up being an important part of history.
"Why would slavery be important?" Annie inquired.
"It looks like slavery was also important in ancient civilizations by providing work on farms and providing labor for building monuments. It also seems that slavery would bring an emphasis on the differences in social classes. Those who lived in a city-state that was conquered by another would end up being slaves. So in all, monuments would be built, and being a slave would make you inferior to all other classes."
Part 2:
Jack and Annie have been traveling for what seemed to be months with the rest of the slaves. They do not know where they are going, but they hear whispers of hints. The only word that they grasp is the word "pyramid".
"Where do you think they are taking us, Annie?"
"I dunno, Jack."
"They may want to build something, like I suggested when we got captured into slavery."
"Maybe it will be a large structure."
It would be soon that their questions would be answered. A week after this interaction, they arrived at an ancient construction site.
"This makes sense," Annie said.
"How so?" Jack asked.
"Pyramids would need much labour. Who do you think would supply the labour? Surely not people of wealth."
"I guess. I guess this is something important. I mean, this is pivotal in history because it meant that there was organisation in a government. It showed that a the government had the power to control people as they wish."
"What level of importance does the pyramid actually have, though? What did it do?"
"Well, pyramids are graves for those of great power and reverence. People actually believed that there would be an underworld where these people would stay. In the end, it was believed that the dead kings would become close in rank to gods."
"So it would build a foundation for religion."
Part 3:
Jack and Annie were feeling the effects of malnourishment that slavery had brought to them. It was apparent where they were going, and their predictions were correct. They were going to be the workforce that would end up building one of the first pyramids.
The pyramid was now in sight. They feared that their fate was sealed; they would become part of the project to create the first pyramid; the pyramid made for the Pharaoh Djoser.
"If only someone would help us escape this mess." Jack sighed.
One night when they stopped on the trail to make camp, they hear a mysterious voice talking to the slave keeper.
"What will it take for me to get those children?" the soft voice asks. Jack and Annie whip around to see a familiar and welcome face.
IT WAS .
"They cannot be obtained, pale miss. You cannot simply 'buy them'." The slave keeper says. "They are only to be used in this project to honor the great Pharaoh Djoser."
"How about I trade you my jewelery?" Ms. Frizzle bartered. "I've been told by many people of its value."
"No," the slave keeper insisted. "They are not for sale."
"Yes." Ms. Frizzle insisted further. "After all, they are very weak children not meant to do the work of full grown men. They would do much better off as being house servants. They will not wear out as easily as they would with this job."
The slave keeper thought about this for a moment, before reluctantly nodding his head. "You may take them."
Ms. Frizzle nodded her thanks and motioned for the children to join her.
"What just happened? We've been traveling for so long, and here you are," Annie reasoned. "If you could come now, why couldn't you come earlier?"
"The magic school bus broke down in the middle of the Roman Empire." said.
"This whole journey has been helping you understand ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. You have to be able to explain to yourselves why it matters at all in history. I know it may seem like a difficult task, but I happen to know that you've already figured out two things for yourselves, which is very impressive, Jack and Annie. Not many people think to find everything's importance, but all of the events, people, and ideas spreading do matter, contrary to what many people believe."
"What could we talk about now?" Annie asked.
"Well, trading my jewelry for you definitely did a number to help you." Ms. Frizzle pointed out. "What else do you think that trading could do?"
"Well, when people and maybe the government want to trade, they need to go to new places and make more towns." Jack replied. "That could make the empires have more cities and...uh...what's the word again Annie?"
"Expand," Annie corrected. "And the empires could also find new towns to take over too, so that would be another way they can expand from trading"
"Excellent! What else did you learn?" jubilantly asked.
"Communications between empires could also increase vastly." Annie added.
"All of the trading caravans can send messages and packages as well as trade goods." Jack added."
"The government trading can also lead to two governments being friendly towards each other," further added.
"Do you see a theme that connects to what you have learned so far?" Ms. Frizzle asked.
Both children nodded their heads. "Well, it all has to do with things that made up early civilization." Annie said.
"Very good!" Ms. Frizzle exclaimed.
"I have a question." Jack said. "How did trading shape history?"
"There were materials that were traded found in different places than where they originated. This shows that people developed the idea that they needed to trade for materials that would be necessary for living or luxuries that they want. They would trade for the things that they needed or wanted, so there would end up being different sorts of materials in places where they did not originate."
Part 4:
After their conversation about trading, offered to take Jack and Annie on a tour of ancient Mesopotamia through the a short ride in the Magic school bus's time machine, they arrived in the city of Ur. The city was teeming with opportunities to learn. For hours, the children explored the city and learned a lot on the way. as the first village settlement, the city of ur was one of the first places in the world to start farms to grow lots of crops. It also grew to be one of the wealthiest cities in Mesopotamia because of the thriving agriculture. They grew so much food that all of the extra food could be traded for other things they needed like clothing, stone, metals, jewelry, and cattle. Since the city of Ur was so populated, this was a safe place for the kids and Ms. Frizzle to observe the people without being noticed. After the settlement proved itself to be prosperous with its trading and farming, many more have been built since . This is how the city of ur was important to history
Part 5:
While in the city, Jack and Annie also saw many of the traders and shopkeepers using carts with wheels. This struck a question to the children.
Jack wondered aloud, "When was the wheel created?"
Annie added, "Yeah, when was the wheel invented?"
"The wheel was first found in Mesopotamia at 3,500 B.C.E." said.
"Ms. Frizzle, has the wheel really been around that long?" Said Annie.
"Yes, the wheel is often called one of the one of the most advanced contraptions known to mankind."
"It's really the most advanced?" Annie says, bewildered by this astonishing fact
"Maybe not in our time, but it was in this time, and has helped create many advancements in things like trading and transportation."
"Ahhh, So it was that important huh?" Said Jack, intrigued with this fact.
"So, in what other ways was the wheel important?" Said Annie, while she and Jack whipped out their notebooks, ready to take notes for their project.
"Well, the wheel is a very important part of history, especially in trading and warfare. In Mesopotamia, the wheel was mainly used on carts for transportation and the trading of goods," Ms. Frizzle stated. "The wheel was also later used by the Egyptians, Greeks, and Persians to make war chariots and caravans to have armies and supplies transported faster and have quicker, more lethal soldiers. The wheel also had a profound effect on economy and the society in Mesopotamia. The traders used the wheels to make carts that made it easier and faster to transport more goods from city to city. This proved to be important because the merchants were able to trade more and gain more goods and more rare goods from further places. The wheel was also used to make carts and chariots for the powerful people to ride around town in. The king or high priest of the city-state would usually have this luxury. This was important because it created more gaps between class distinction, which lead to a more diverse social system."
"Ohhh, thanks Mrs. Frizzle! I didn't know that!" Annie exclaimed while finishing her notes.
"Anything else you kids need to know about the wheel?" "Nope!" said both Jack and Annie in unison.
"Great! Let's take a look at writing then!"
Part 6:
Ms. Frizzle started telling the children about writing as they walked into a notary, the place where towns keep records of things like taxes and trading."So, writing started with paintings on the walls caves, which later evolved into carving writing on stone tablets in a script called cuniform. Cuniform then became one of the first written languages in mesopotamia."
"So Ms. Frizzle, how was writing pivotal in history?" Annie asks.
"Writing was used in systems like keeping records of taxes and recording what happens on what day, and thus, history could begin to be recorded. Really, the beginning of recorded history was marked by writing"
"So what languages was writing first used for?" Jack asked, while quickly continuing to take notes.
"Good question!" Ms. Frizzle said "Writing was first adapted for the Akkadian, Eblaite, Elamite, Hittite, Luwian, Hattic, Hurrian, and Urartian languages."
"That's a lot of languages!" said Annie, rather impressed. "So, when did they get away from using Cuneiform?"
"Well, Cuneiform writing was replaced over time by the Phoenician alphabet during the Neo-Assyrian Empire from (insert years of ne0-assyrian empire here). By 1000 AD, the script was forgotten, and all knowledge of how to read it was unknown until it began to be deciphered again with its discovery in the 19th century."
"Cool!" Said both Jack and Annie excitedly "Anything else we need to know about writing?" asked Jack
"Nope, that's really it, writing evolved from many different scripts over time, and later on became what we know today, Now come along kids, we're going to Assyria, to learn some about how even more cool things came to be!"
"Awesome!" Both the kids exclaimed as they happily walked on to the Magic Schoolbus.
Part 7:
Ms. Frizzle took the children to Assyria, a land that was also filled with many things similar to the city of Ur. Both cities were based upon innovation, in that new things were created and put to use. The first person to employ power outside of his city-state was Sargon of Akkad in Assyria. This would make it clear to other rulers that they could in fact rule outside of their assigned city-state. These city-states had citizens that would invent objects and ideas that would be used and improved upon like magnifying glasses, the postal service, paved roads, and locks. People realize that these creations made life easier for the Mesopotamian cities and made it easier for them to expand their towns and cities through making paved roads and easier ways to communicate with each other.
In addition to all the physical creations made by the Assyrians, there were also advancements in religion. Two religions found in Assyria were Ashurism and Christianity. These two religions made the foundation of Assyrian culture. The first religion they had was Ashurism. Ashurism stated that the world kept turning as long as conquest, or the taking over of other towns and cities, was made. This was the main religion in Assyria before groups from southeastern europe came down and showed Christianity to the Assyrians. The new religion soon took a strong hold in Assyria and soon became the main religion by 900 B.C.E. This affected history by expanding the Assyrian empire through conquest and later spreading christianity in the world.
Part 8:
After being in Assyria Jack and Annie were flying high on the magic school bus with Ms. Frizzle. "Where is the bus taking us Ms. Frizzle?"
"We are going to the next civilization it was also important to history!" Ms. Frizzle said with excitement. "Which civilization are we going to?" Said Jack and Annie.
"You'll see." said Ms. Frizzle. The magic school bus was coming down from the blue sky with the blistering hot sun out. From a distance they see a crowd of people wearing white linen and gold jewelry.
When the children turned their heads in an angle they see a man wearing white linen clothes with a long white crown on his head with a gold scepter talking to the people.
Jack and Annie were sneaking their way towards the crowd to see what the people were doing. "We should go talk to the people" Said Annie.
"Maybe not." Said Jack. "We don't know who these people are. They may make us slaves again which I don't want to be." Jack said with concern.
Sneaking their way to the crowd" HEY!" said a man from a distance. "Who are you? what are you doing here? What do you want?" The man said. Jack and Annie had nothing to say. " We just wanted to know what you people were doing." Jack said looking scared with their weapons pointed at them.
" If you wanted to know what we are doing follow me" the man said wearing the gold crown and the golden scepter his hand all the way from the back of the crowd
"By the way I am King Namer. The pharaoh of Egypt. All these people are here, because I unified Lower and Upper Egypt." Why did you unify Lower and Upper Egypt" Annie said. " I unified both Lower and Upper Egypt so I can build a firm structure between the two nation that can be control under one king which is me the Pharaoh of Egypt I was the king of both nations when they were divided and now I have united them together." Namer said.
" Not only build a firm structure but to also build provide my people with fresh water from the Nile River so the nation a have a good agricultural system so they can grow their crops, have food to eat, clean drinking water." Namer said bright and determined.
" It was a great idea to have both Upper and Lower Egypt united as one because it brings the people together and to experience new culture and try new traditions. "It's a smart and wise to make a decision like this because it bring new things to life." Jack said.
"Who knew the unification could be the best for the egyptian people". Annie said with a smile on her face.
" To mark this fantastic day and the day both Upper and Lower Egypt I should make a 365 day calendar to mark this historical day in Egyptian History." King Namer said with a happy expression. " That is a wonderful idea.
" From the sky Ms. Frizzle came down from the magic school waiting for Jack and Annie to move on to their next stop. " What did you kids learn" Ms. Frizzle ask them. " We learned that the Pharaoh, King Namer unified both Upper and Lower Egypt into one. So that the people of egypt could live their lives under the Nile River so they can grow the crops they need." Annie said.
" Also they made a twelve month calendar to mark the day Lower and Upper and to record important dates in history. Jack said.
"Well it seems like you guys had fun and learned a lot lets go to next stop the bus take us to." Said Ms. Frizzle. Jack and Annie hopped on the magic school and the blasted to the sky to their next stop.
Part 9:
"Gather on the bus children. Now we're going to go see the first visual representation of laws placed by king Hammurabi himself."
" Okay where does king Hammurabi live." Annie said
" Babylon"
And so Babylon they went. They flew in sky blue camouflage mode. So nobody could see them. Their lots of farms about a mile outside the city. As they flew Ms. Frizzle gave them a small tour above the city. Then parked in a dark alley.
" So where to ." Jack said.
" This way." As Ms. Frizzle walked through the large crowds of people. There were lots of merchants selling clothing, jewelry, and fruits. As they walked through the crowd they came to a 7 tall clay fall about five feet wide with marks carved into it.
" What is it." Annie said
" That is Hammurabi's code of laws for all these people to follow." Ms. Frizzle said.
" Who is Hammurabi again?" Jack said.
" He is the sixth king of Babylon. He believed in an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth."
" Yes I do." Said dark hazy voice.
" Allow me to introduce myself I'm king Hammurabi." He said.
" Hello." Ms. Frizzle said.
" Hi." Annie said.
" Sup." Jack said.
" So ah while you were king what do you think you've done to shape the world?" Jack said.
" Well I'm the first king to put all of my expectations on a clay wall. I've made my people more protected and active in society. Anything can happen in rural areas, but now they're safe. I've established a good government that promotes the best interest of the people." Hammurabi said.
" Kind of like the US establishes a government for the people to protect the people's rights." Jack said
" What is the US." Hammurabi said.
" Oh just some really small country in northern Asia." Ms. Frizzle said."
" Also the US has a constitution which is similar to your code of laws here." Annie said.
" I'm beginning to become curious of this US country you speak of." Hammurabi said.
" You're making our two countries sound very similar." Hammurabi said.
" Sorry we need to go now it was nice talking to you." Ms. Frizzle said.
"You as well." Hammurabi said.
They all walked quickly back to the magic school bus. They got to the alley. Ms frizzle pressed a button on her car keys and the magic school bus opened it's doors and they got on there way home.
" So king Hammurabi shaped history because lots of his ideas helped governments get across their expectations. He also gave people a way of thinking. Instead of I've done better things than you I should get less of a punishment. He enforces everyone should get equal punishments. Everybody got that. Good. Let's go home." Ms. Frizzle said.
Epilogue:
Jack and Annie sat in the magic tree house. Reviewing the book and what they learned.
" I thought slavery started in America, but now I know that slavery started way before that. When slavery did start it spread and expanded through history."Jack said.
" We also know that slavery was very common because often times people owed a great debt so they went into slavery. Also sadly sometimes parents put their children into slavery to pay off their debt." Annie said. " So that shows that slavery was a crucial and popular idea through history." "Slavery also created a larger working class in society, allowing more things like farms and monuments to be built faster"
"The pyramids were amazing!" Annie said with a stir.
"Yeah, they sure were something." Jack replied. "They were so much more influential than I thought they would be. I mean, they're more than tombs for dead monarchs. They began the idea of graveyards, and they represented religion and beliefs. It was believed that Egyptian gods chose the pharaohs to be pharaohs. This seems similar to what is believed in Christianity, when a king is chosen by God. This doesn't mean that they are quite the same thing though."
Sean " Trading was a big idea in mesopotamia. Often times people didn't have all the resources they needed so started to trade. They traded jewelry, tools, weapons, clothing, and even slaves."Jack said. "How do you know your trading items are of equal value. Well you didn't really know back then. It all depended on personal value. Trading made the economy expand also. By encouraging people to become merchants or entrepreneurs and making money for themselves." Annie said.
" The city of Ur was one of the first cities to have farms. Farms are also used today to make sure all our grocery stores are full." Jack said." Farming is obviously very important. Farmers also created some sort of farmers market. If a farmer has a delicious crop that is high in demand the crop will go up in price making the farmer wealthy and giving the city of Ur a better economy." Jack said. " The city of Ur had so many systems that helped the whole city. The city had all the things a country needs. The city had government, society, economy, trading, agriculture, architecture, and military." Annie said.
"So how was the wheel important?" Annie asked.
"Well, the wheel revolutionized transportation and made trade easier. This would help boost the economy. It also changed war in that supplies and armies could advance quicker than they were able to before. In addition, the most powerful people would have the luxury of riding in carts."
"That's interesting!"
"And writing was important for many reasons," Jack began. "For example, Writing was important because history began so it could be recorded, whereas before writing, stories wer.e passed by word of mouth. Once writing was used, history could be much more accurate. Writing was also used in taxes. Really, the recording of things would become simpler."
"After we learned about writing, we went to Assyria. Their people created objects that would make living easier, and their religion spread through the lands around them." Annie remembered.
"The Unification of Egypt brought the 365 day calendar to the world t so they could record important dates and events in history." Jack said. "Also the Unification of Egypt brought agriculture and a firm structure to start a civilization." Annie said.
"Now Hammurabi. He made the first documentation of a king's expectations to his city. Now days we have documents like the constitution, civil rights, and laws that are similar to Hammurabi's code of laws. They all outline what we can do and what we can't do and what are the consequences for our actions." Jack said. " Hammurabi brought the idea that everyone should have the same punishment no matter your social status. That's what he meant by an eye for an eye." Annie said.