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The Fertile Crescent is a crescent-shaped region in the Middle East, spanning modern-day Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Jordan, together with the northern region of Kuwait, southeastern region of Turkey and the western portion of Iran. Some authors also include Cyprus and Northern Egypt -
Asia Minor is a large peninsula in Western Asia and is the western-most extension of continental Asia. -
Ancient Mesopotamia is considered the birthplace of writing and with it, recorded history. Its people also built the world's first cities and developed the oldest known political and administrative systems, mostly centered in what is now Iraq. -
The sumerian civilization was the first to make bronze out of copper and tin. -
The Middle Kingdom was a time of achievements for the ancient Egyptians. Art took on new styles and techniques, like the block style, where art was produced from large blocks of stone. Irrigation projects at the Faiyum, a large oasis on the west bank of the Nile in Lower Egypt, increased harvests.
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The sumerians invented the wagon wheel to make it easier to transport goods and people -
The Hammurabi code of laws, a collection of 282 rules, established standards for commercial interactions and set fines and punishments to meet the requirements of justice -
The Hitties were the first in the Middle East to use iron weapons -
Ahmose I, king of ancient Egypt and founder of the 18th dynasty who completed the expulsion of the Hyksos, invaded Palestine, and re-exerted Egypt's hegemony over northern Nubia, to the south. He founded the first dynasty of the New Kingdom -
The sumerians invented the sundial to keep track of time -
Akhenaten is the first pharaoh to promote the worship of one god and he was actually the founder of the Judeo-Christian religion. His worship was centered on Aten “the Solar Disc God” -
Moses led the Israelites on an Exodus out of slavery in Egypt. At Mount Sinai, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, basic laws and teachings of Judaism. -
Phoenician alphabet, writing system that developed out of the North Semitic alphabet and was spread over the Mediterranean area by Phoenician traders. It is the probable ancestor of the Greek alphabet and, hence, of all Western alphabets -
The Assyrian army had a reputation of being the most lethal fighting force in the Middle East. -
Darius I was king of Persia. He was one of the greatest rulers of the Achaemenid dynasty, who was noted for his administrative genius and for his great building projects. Darius attempted several times to conquer Greece; his fleet was destroyed by a storm in 492, and the Athenians defeated his army at Marathon in 490. -
the Battle of Marathon was strategically crucial to Greece's survival. More than simply delaying the inevitable, it gave Athens, and the rest of Greece along with it, ten additional years to prepare for the invading Persians. The time bought by the victory was well spent. -
The temple known as the Parthenon was built on the Acropolis of Athens. It was part of a vast building program masterminded by the Athenian statesman Perikles. Inside the temple stood a colossal statue representing Athena, patron goddess of the city. -
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC to the death of Cleopatra VII
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Even as Rome was under attack from outside forces, it was also crumbling from within thanks to a severe financial crisis. Constant wars and overspending had significantly lightened imperial coffers, and oppressive taxation and inflation had widened the gap between rich and poor. -
Caesar Augustus, also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Principate, which is the first phase of the Roman Empire, and is considered one of the greatest leaders in human history
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Pax Romana was a state of comparative tranquillity throughout the Mediterranean world
Emperor Augustus had gained political and military control and built an empire. He secured the borders, stabilized the economy, and brought a sense of peace. -
Emperor Commodus spent so much money on his own pleasures that he bankrupted the treasuery -
the the three punic wars: the punic wars were a series of wars fought between Rome and Carthage. Three conflicts between these states took place on both land and sea across the western Mediterranean region and involved a total of forty-three years of warfare
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As a result of the 'barbarian invasion,' the empire abandoned one of its long-standing frontiers and was forced to allow various barbarian groups into the political landscape of the empire in the end, the Huns were instrumental in bringing down the Roman Empire, but their contribution was almost accidental. They forced other Germanic and Persian tribes into Roman lands, undercut Rome's tax base, and demanded expensive tribute.
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Image result for the Peloponnesian war
The Peloponnesian War was a war fought in ancient Greece between Athens and Sparta—the two most powerful city-states in ancient Greece at the time. This war shifted power from Athens to Sparta, making Sparta the most powerful city-state in the region. -
The West was severely shaken in 410, when the city of Rome was sacked by the Visigoths, a wandering nation of Germanic peoples from the northeast. The fall of Rome was completed in 476, when the German chieftain Odoacer deposed the last Roman emperor of the West, Romulus Augustulus.