Have you ever heard the ancient Near East called "The Cradle of Civilization?" What does that mean? Let's begin by defining a "civilization." What practices or characteristics define a civilization? Click on the objects below to explore some of these characteristics......       The development of cities, writing, and written law code, and more, happened first in the part of the world we call the ancient Near East. So, we sometimes think of it as the birthplace of western civilization. The ancient Near East was a region of great diversity. It stretched from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean to the eastern border of present day Iran, but it was never one big country. To see what we mean, check out the map. The people living here were from different cultural groups, for example the Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and more. We won't be able to explore every culture from this fascinating region in depth. Instead we will learn more about the contributions these cultures made by investigating some of the objects that they left behind.

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