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Mesopotamia....
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The capitol [City-State] of the Mesopotamian
Civilization was Ur - Uruk [3500 BC].
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The word 'Mesopotamia' is in origin a Greek name (mesos `middle' and 'potamos'
- 'river' so `land between the rivers'). Mesopotamia is the oldest known
civilization. It is said that Mesopotamia was the place of the legendary
'Garden of Eden'. Mesopotamia is the name is used for the area watered by
the Euphrates and Tigris and its tributaries, roughly comprising modern
Iraq and part of Syria. South of modern Bagdad, the alluvial plains of the
rivers was called the land of Sumer and Akkad in the third millennium.
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The name does not refer to any particular civilization
using that name. Over the course of several millennia, many civilizations
developed, collapsed, and were replaced in this fertile region. The history
of the land and its people dates back more than to 7,000 BC.
Mesopotamia has
no natural boundaries and is difficult to defend. The influence of
neighboring countries is large. Throughout the history of Mesopotamia trade
contacts, slow diffusion of foreign tribes and military confrontations have
been of great influence. |
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Mesopotamia - the cradle of civilization - the land
between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers, it is said, hosted the
legendary Garden of Eden - if it existed anywhere. To emphasize this the
ancient village of Al-Qurna singled out a tree ("Adam's tree") with a sign -
in Arabic and English. On this holy spot where the Tigris meets the
Euphrates this holy tree of our father Adam grew symbolizing the Garden of
Eden. Abraham prayed here 2,000 years B.C. |
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Ziggaraut Step Pyramid -
in the center of the city
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Mesopotamia stands alongside Egypt, the Indus River,
and China as a birthplace of permanent human culture. Unlike Egypt and
China, there has not been a continuous memory of the past here; the very
existence of Assyria, Babylonia, and Sumeria had become arguable. The
archeological discoveries of the past 150 years have abundantly
demonstrated, however, just how much the world owes these peoples even
today. |
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