Early Civilization is defined by the culture’s ability to write. Writing changed the way society was structured. Early civilizations centered in river deltas which were flooded every year. This flood brought new earth down stream in the spring creating a rich flood plain.
Find the middle east on this map to find your place in the world.
This map is particularly useful. Find Ur and Kish. Note that they are both in that little brown space between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Find the square that is brown and our map maker has supplied us with the dates of the different Dynasties. Sumerians and Akkadians started their Dynastic rule well before Egypt was organized into a country.
Mesopotamia was in the geographical area that is today called Iraq. The name we call it, "Mesopotamia," is actually Greek for "between two rivers." The two rivers were the Tigris and the Euphrates.” http://novaonline.nv.cc.va.us/eli/eng251/gilgameshstudy.htm
This area of the world is known as the fertile crescent. To orient your self to this part of the world start at the Persian Gulf. Find the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. After that find Sumer, Akkad, Babylonia, and Assyria. This particular part of the world has been at war for thousands of years. You can find current countries, Iran, Iraq,Turkey and Saudi Arabia. This one map holds a great deal of history
We will be focusing on these city states. At this point in time we have the beginning of the stories told in the Bible.
