Ancient Legacy Essay

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Ancient Legacy Ancient legacy explores the ideas, achievements, tribulations and cultures handed down to us from the ancient peoples of western civilization. By viewing this legacy we not only explore the times and beliefs of our intellectual ancestors but we also investigate the shape their ideas have given to our own culture in today's world. Although history has shown us that no two civilizations are the same, the ancient civilizations of Mesotopamia, Egypt, Greek and the Roman civilizations portrayed many similarities. Although each civilization was separate in their own right, collectively they contributed much to the development of the today's cultures. From the beginning geography held a profound effect on the evolution of Mesotopamian civilization, as Mesotopamia was settled in a catastrophic area. Being positioned between two river valleys, the Tigris and Euphrates and surrounded by little environmental protection left much of Mesotopamia open to constant cultural invasions and attacks. In time Mesotopamia became home to a huge collection of many cultures. Although the older cultures customarily looked upon the newcomers as inferior, the new just as invariably contributed valuable innovations to the old. Despite separate cultures however, each civilization managed to reside, maintain, and contribute new ideas and developments along the way. The first and most essential of these developments was in the area of farming and agriculture. New developments and ideas were created, such as storing grains for future consumption, the development of a sophisticated irrigation drainage system to prevent flooding, and one of the most important inventions of all, the creation of the wheel. Although the wheel was first devised and used as an efficient method for agriculture work, the popularity of the wheel went far beyond its horizons and is equally
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