MESOPOTAMIA
Numerous technological advances were made by Mesopotamian population: irrigation, plowing, sail, clay bricks, pottery wheel, metal-working, writing, accounting, filing glass, and lamp making. They also developed a great load of knowledge about the natural observation of the world. Animals and plants were studied, rivers, mountains, cities, and people were studied as well. Mesopotamian society was filled with art. Literature was written in cuneiform where it contains prayers, hymns, myths, epic poetry, and etc. Some pieces of art would be sculpted figures in stone and clay, some paintings were even made. Temples were made to give praise to Ziggurats. They were rectangular and constructed to become taller and taller the higher you go. Ziggurats represented the sacred mountain where gods and men could meet. Other architectural designs included palaces and houses in early civilizations. |
EGYPT
Priest, Pharaohs, and other religious leaders in Egypt encouraged the Egyptians to seek out knowledge. Egyptians were extremely skilled in the fields of astronomy, math, science, and medicine. Ancient writing titled “Ahmes Papyrus” detailed algebraic and geometry equations that were used to calculate area and capacity. These mathematical equations were used to build homes, buildings, and the famous pyramids. The Egyptians even contributed to the discovery of Pythagorean Theorem by discovering that the sides of a right triangle have a ratio of 3:4:5. The Egyptians also discovered the first calculations of pi in an attempt to find the area of a circle of land. Egyptians also created a calendar that revolved around a 365 day year, with 12 months, and each month had approximately 30 days. The calendar was created by observing the movement of the stars in the sky. Glass and metal work is one of the advances in Egyptian culture that made their art and architecture known worldwide. Glass, bronze, gold, and silver were used to create elegant furniture. The Egyptians also studied medicines. “The Kahun Papyrus” is Egyptian text that deals with health issues related to women. In the writing, it explored diseases and treatments that they learned/discovered. The Egyptians prided themselves on their appearance, so they created luxury items such as oils, perfumes, and cosmetics. These advancements in medicine, mathematics, science and astronomy helped the Egyptian people strive and influence other countries. |
CHINA
Since China was isolated and hard to transport their products to the western civilizations, they have to find a way for them to trade their goods to others. Since on their east is an ocean, they built a ship to transport products by water. Also, they built wheels to transport their goods through the silk road. Also, they built palaces, walls, and tombs on each of their cities in China. Also, their coins was made from metals as their money when they trade their products. Math was also came in for their numbers and counting. They started writing numbers by about 1500 B.C., in the Shang Dynasty, them it eventually spread through Asia after a thousand of years. |
INDUS RIVER
The Indus Valley civilization had a successful urban architecture. The architecture of the Indus cities was shown by their magnificent dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick platforms, and massive protective walls. Building were made from Baked or sun-dried brick. The Indus valley art was not divided into categories instead they connected with each other. There were potteries, decorated with leaf designs and different patterns. |