The Mesopotamian Dbq (Outline)

The Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Indus regions were (respectively) successful regions. All share the aspects of a successful society based from nearby river systems.

Group 1:Mesopotamia

* Document 1: This document describes the story of an innocent god that shared water with animals at a watering hole. The document describes the importance of water by referencing to the herds of wild game and Enkidu. The people that have created this document have put much emphasis on water systems.

* Document 2: This document covers the spectrum of the river systems and agricultural growth in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus regions using a map.

* Document 3: In this document, a picture depicts reed huts in the marshes of Southern Iraq. It appears that in this area, a large, agricultural-based city does not thrive here. This document stresses that a successful river system is the base of cities.

* Document 5: This document describes Marduk’s journey and his conversation that he held with the gods. Overall it is about the creation of Babylon. In the first paragraph, it mentions the location of where Babylon would be locates (near the Tigris and the Euphrates river). This displays the importance that the Babylonians placed on river systems.

A: Marduk thought of the Earth as a mirror image of heaven, because he strengthened and prepared the grounds to create holy precinct that would be the home of the gods.

Group 2: Egypt

* Document 2: This document covers the spectrum of the river systems and agricultural growth in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus regions using a map.

* Document 6: This document shows the Pyramids of Giza located nearby the Nile. The mud blocks used to create the Pyramids must have been created from a nearby river system.

Group 3: Indus River Valley

* Document 2: This document covers the spectrum of the river systems and agricultural growth in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus regions using a map.

* Document 4: In this document the formation of mud brick fortification suggests that the Indus river valley Harappa, India indicate that they had an accessible river system nearby.

* Document 7: In this document, the walls appear to be made from mud brick, which is a sign that they had utilized a nearby water system.

Although the document above delivers evidence of the effect of rivers in these regions, it would be beneficial to have additional documents. A chart of population growth over time of all three regions would suffice. It would be able to display the comparisons and differences in the growth of population within each region. A excerpt of an Egyptian or Harappan script that described the role that their river systems played in their society.