Using only the materials available from the course write a formal, historical essay (target length: 1000 words) that answers this question: Was the Early Dynastic period the first phase of “history” in Mesopotamia?

Using only the materials available from the course (textbook, course pages, specific webpages that link out from course pages, assigned primary sources) write a formal, historical essay (target length: 1000 words) that answers this question: Was the Early Dynastic period the first phase of “history” in Mesopotamia? To achieve this goal, you should evaluate the Early Dynastic (not another period) and should provide a definition of what “history” is. You may mention other periods, such as the Uruk, but focus your evaluation on the evidence from the Early Dynastic period.

The primary source readings detailing the Umma-Lagash border conflict (the Cooper readings) should be central to your arguments. Do these texts allow for historical reconstructions? Be sure to analyze the possibilities, limitations and potential biases of the sources.
You should also incorporate the secondary literature in your analysis: Chapter 3 in A History of the Ancient Near East, as well as the list of primary sources from Mesopotamian history.

You should be careful to refer to all relevant information from your textbook, the assigned primary sources from Cooper and the course notes. You may use any of the readings assigned for the course so far. This is not a research paper and you have not been asked to use outside sources. If you choose to do so, all sources must be scholarly (Links to an external site.), not general interest, encyclopedias etc.

Aim to write efficiently and in an organized manner. Irrelevant information, “fluff” and wordy constructionsLinks to an external site. will be detrimental to grade on this assignment. Write organized paragraphs that include topic sentences which explain the content of the paragraph. Ensure that all sentences in a paragraph support the objective of the paragraph and that all words support the objectives of a sentence. All paragraphs, in turn, should support the mission of your essay, in other words, your thesis statement.

 

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