Ancient Mesopotamia: The City of Ur

Ancient hunter-gatherers were nomadic, and they lived in small groups.

People who lived in the first civilizations, like Mesopotamia, began to live in much larger groups -- and they had permanent homes (with cool features like doors on the roof!).

When these new settlements became larger -- with houses, shops, streets, and organized systems of government -- they became known as cities. (Remember to notice that the word "civilization" has the same root as the word "city".)

One of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia was Ur, which Mr. Richmond likes to pronounce as "Urrrr".

They lived in ancient Mesopotamia... were they similar to us, or different?

I asked the students to compare Ur and Charlottesville.

They had different opinions about whether the famous temple in Ur (known as a ziggurat) is a characteristic that makes the two places similar or different.

Some students pointed out that Charlottesville doesn't have any religious buildings nearly as massive or grand as a ziggurat. They also stated that Charlottesville does not have an "official" religion; in Ur, everyone worshipped the Moon God, Nanna.

Other students, however, said that Charlottesville has many places of worship that are similar to temples. These places include churches, mosques, and synagogues.

And a question about music...

After today's Musical Monday selection, Travis posed a fascinating query: Do most musicians tell true stories in their song lyrics, or are songs usually fictional?

Trey had a great answer: it depends on the genre of music (wow!! awesome word choice, Trey)