The Egyptians also proved extremely skilled at agriculture and medicine, he adds. “The ability to amass 100,000 men to assemble the great pyramid in 2600 B.C. Harl, author of the forthcoming book, Empires of the Steppes: How the Steppe Nomads Forged the Modern World, says Egypt's use of labor to undertake architectural projects-such as the pyramids-was unrivaled. Set along the fertile Nile River and at one time extending from today’s Syria to Sudan, the civilization is most known for its pyramids, tombs and mausoleums and the practice of mummification to prepare corpses for the afterlife. Perhaps the most romanticized of past civilizations, ancient Egypt stood as one of history’s most powerful empires for more than 3,000 years. They are the oldest of the so-called Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. And it was Babylonian astronomy that first divided the year into 12 periods named after constellations-what the Greeks would later evolve into the zodiac. They also created the base 60 numeric system, which led to the 60-second minute, 60-minute hour and 360-degree circle. The cuneiform writing system, used to establish the Code of Hammurabi, is among the most famous Mesopotamian advancements. “Those who know how to research and write run the civilization and everyone does the grunt work.” “Mesopotamia is the earliest urban literate civilization on the globe-and the Sumerians, who established the civilization, established the ground rules,” says Kenneth Harl, author, consultant and professor emeritus of history at Tulane University. Mesopotamia was also home to the world’s first urban cities, including Babylon, Ashur and Akkad. The culture that grew up between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is noted for important advancements in literacy, astronomy, agriculture, law, astronomy, mathematics, architecture and more, despite near-constant warfare. Meaning “between two rivers” in Greek, Mesopotamia (located in modern-day Iraq, Kuwait and Syria) is considered the birthplace of civilization. Here’s a look at six of the earliest civilizations-and the legacies they left to the world. “A great many of the details of modern life, not just in the Middle East and the West, but across the world, have origins that go back for thousands of years to the ancient cultures in their respective regions,” says Amanda Podany, author and professor emeritus of history at California State Polytechnic University. These ancient complex societies, starting with Mesopotamia, formed cultural and technological advances, several of which are still present today. While modern civilizations extend to every continent except Antarctica, most scholars place the earliest cradles of civilizations-in other words, where civilizations first emerged-in modern-day Iraq, Egypt, India, China, Peru and Mexico, beginning between approximately 40 B.C.
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