Background & Information Sheets

• Discussion Prompt/Mini-Lesson on Iranian Identity: Using a YouTube Rap Video. An overview for teachers and a handout (song lyrics, notes) for students.
• The Ottoman Empire: Teachable Issues (click here - and be sure to toggle on the notes so that you can read them as well as the slides.)
• Jewish beliefs and practices - powerpoints by Lori Riegel, Religious and Cultural Education Coordinator, Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging  
  • Powerpoint of Jewish dietary laws and an explanation of Jewish dietary laws
  • Powerpoint of the Jewish high holy days
• Islam: Myths and Realities (notes/explanations to go with the powerpoint and powerpoint for a stereotype-busting introduction to Islam that can be adapted for middle school students through adult learners).
  • For a great opening to the lesson, use the short, thought-provoking music video from YouTube that shows the diversity of American Muslims: A Land Called Paradise.  *Also you can give out the "Quick Facts about Islam" handout below.
• Muslim Rescue and Resistance during the Holocaust:
  • a research paper specifically referencing pedagogical implications
  • a resource list  of related books/DVDs for secondary and post-secondary teachers
  • lecture and accompanying powerpoint.
• Middle East: Myths and Realities 
  • (notes/expanations to go with the powerpoint and powerpoint). Similar to the Islam presentation, this gives a broad overview of the Middle East.
• Travels in Iran: A Teacher's Journal 
  • New York teacher Louise Forsyth's impressions of Iran
• Countering Anti-Islamic Rhetoric: a list of resources about Islam

This corresponds with a poster presented at NCSS 2024:

It's important to remember that people of the ancient world were just as smart as modern people. They had different worldviews, and thought in very different patterns from modern people, with different bases of knowledge. Ancient Middle Eastern people saw the world in cyclical patterns more than linear ones, and had different logic, not lesser logic, particularly before the Hellenistic period. They learned from their experiences and traditions, and were just as smart as we are. 

Much literature uses "Ancient Near East" or ANE instead of "Ancient Middle Eastern." 

Part I. Misconceptions

1. Ancient political writings are completely reliable or completely unreliable.

   Propaganda is not new. Ancient sources, such as the annals of the kings of Assyria, royal histories written in hieroglyphs on Egyptian mortuary temples, and the Bible all contain propaganda.

2. ANE societies had inconsistent rules and morals because they all had so many and different gods.

   The laws and moral standards of the ANE societies were very similar to each other, whether they were polytheistic or monotheistic. The Code of Hammurabi has a lot in common with the laws of the Torah, and law codes from distant cities called Ebla and Nuzi. 

3. Aliens or Israelites built the pyramids. 

   There is NO evidence of aliens visiting our planet, though it does make for some fun science fiction. If ancient Israelites were ever enslaved in Egypt, it was many centuries after the pyramids were built, even according to the biblical text. The Bible says that they built the store-cities of Pithom and Rameses, which would have been found in the Nile Delta region.

4. Cyrus the Great was a champion of human rights. (See #1)

   Cyrus the Great was a strategist who understood that reversing the harsh punishments of the prior empires was politically expedient and make people loyal to him. In their public monuments and records, the Assyrians and Babylonians emphasized the punishments for rebellion and the Persians emphasized the rewards of loyalty, but they are two sides of the same coin.

5. The Arab-Israeli conflict is thousands of years old. 

   While there’s no exact date for the beginning of the Arab-Israeli conflict, it began in the early 20^th century. Before the 1880s, Zionism was a far-future theological dream in Judaism, and the Palestinians were part of the largely undifferentiated population of Levantine Arabs subject to the Ottoman empire. They associated with their villages and/ or tribes, not as a politically defined nation. Both Zionism and Palestinian nationalism developed from 19^th century European political philosophy.

Part II: Teacher Resources

• Atlas of the Ancient Near East from Prehistoric Times to the Roman Imperial Period – Trevor Bryce (2016)
• Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture – William H. Stiebing, Jr and Susan N. Helft (2023)
• Mesopotamia: A History of the Ancient Near East – Marc Van de Mieroop (2024)
• Egypt: Lives of the Ancient Egyptians – Toby Wilkinson (2019)
• Podcast: This Week in the Ancient Near East – J.P. Dessel, Rachel Hallote, Alex Joffe

Part III: Classroom Resources:

• 1177 BCE Graphic Novel by Eric Cline (A non-graphic novel version is available for adult readers)
• Museum web sites: esp. British Museum, Louvre, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, and others
• Save Ancient Studies Alliance archaeogaming lesson plans
• CMES Lesson plans
• National Geographic classroom resources