Some Paragraphs about ANCIENT CIVILISATIONS

من طرف **SAADI** الإثنين مارس 28, 2011 9:34 pm

1 -حضارة بلاد مابين النهرين

Civilization developed slowly in different parts of the world. People
began to settle in areas with abundant natural resources. A section of
the Middle East is called the Fertile Crescent. The Fertile Crescent is a
rich food-growing area in a part of the world where most of the land is
too dry for farming. The Fertile Crescent is a quarter-moon shaped
region that extends from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea to
the Persian Gulf.
Some of the best farmland of the Fertile Crescent is on a narrow strip
of land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The Greeks later called
this area Mesopotamia, which means “between the rivers.” Many different
civilizations developed in this small region. First came the Sumerians,
who were replaced in turn by the Assyrians and the Babylonians. Today
this land is known as Iraq

2 الحضارة المصرية - نهر النيل-
The Gift of the Nile

Like a giant snake, the Nile River slithers through some of the driest
desert on earth to isolate a narrow green valley. The Nile was also home
to one of the earliest civilizations in history. Today, more than
seventy million people live along the banks of the Nile, the world’s
longest river. The Nile was also home to one of the earliest
civilizations in history.

Ancient Egypt could not have existed without the great river. Every
year, the snow in the mountains of East Africa melts, sending a torrent
of water that overflows the banks of the Nile. The river picks up bits
of soil and plant life called silt. The silt is dropped on the banks of
the Nile as the flood recedes, and creates excellent topsoil that
provides two or three crops every year. The ancient Greeks spoke with
envy when they referred to Egypt as “the Gift of the Nile.”

الحضارة الإغريقية
The Cradle of Western Civilization

The civilization of ancient Greece flowered more than 2500
years ago but it influences the way we live today. Greece is a
peninsula in southeastern Europe. The people of the region
attempted to explain the world through the laws of nature. They
made important discoveries in science. They developed
democracy, where people govern themselves rather than being ruled by a
king. The Greeks also valued beauty and imagination. They wrote
many stories and plays that continue to be performed today. The
ancient Greeks developed a great deal of what we take for
granted. This is why Greece is often known as the Cradle of
Western Civilization
.

The people of ancient Greece could not farm most of their
mountainous, rocky land, so they became excellent sailors who traveled
to distant lands. The Greeks learned the alphabet from the
Phoenicians, a sea faring people from modern day Syria and
Lebanon. The mountainous land also meant that it was difficult
to invade Greek lands. The Balkan Mountains in the north and
the Mediterranean Sea form barriers that made it difficult for
outsider to attack
.

Ancient Greece was not a unified nation, but a collection of
poli. Poli is the plural of polis, a word often translated as
city, but a polis is much more. When we think of a city, we
generally think of a place. A Greek polis consisted of a small
walled area that was generally no larger than a few city blocks,
the farmland that surrounded it, and most importantly, the people who
lived there. Today we think of the people who live in a place
as citizens, but to the ancient Greeks the people were as much
of the poli as the land or the buildings. The word politics is
derived from the Greek polis
.

The poli often developed alliances, called leagues, for
protection against other cities and foreign invaders. The poli
of ancient Greece were eventually conquered, but their advanced ideas
eventually spread across Europe and have influenced the way we
live today
.

Each polis was a nation of its own, but the poli of ancient
Greece had many things in common. The Greek poli developed
independently of one another because they were isolated by rugged
mountains or were located on small islands, but the poli spoke a
common language. The poli were also small and often had to
depend on one another to survive. Further, the poli met every
year at a great athletic contest known as the Olympics. Poli
that were at war would suspend hostilities until after the
contests. There is a modern nation known as Greece, but the
poli of ancient Greece extended east to land we today know as
Turkey

الحضارة الرومانية

A New Power Rises The earliest
empires had been in the east. Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India,
and Greece were all home to at least one powerful civilization. About
387
BC,
a city on the Italian peninsula began acquiring land and
building an empire. That city was Rome. For more than one
thousand years, Rome controlled the western world.
Rome grew into an empire in part because of how it treated the
people it conquered. If a city was defeated by another empire,
its citizens were forced from the land if they were lucky, and
enslaved if they were not. Initially, the Romans extended the rights of
citizenship to the people they conquered. Rome conquered many
of its allies by force, but once the new people became
citizens, they often joined the Roman army. Rome managed to
unify most of the modern nation of Italy by 265BC.
Rome is an ideal place for a city. It is located along the
banks of the Tiber River. The river made it easy to travel to
and from the sea. The Tiber is very shallow near Rome. A shallow portion
of a river is called a ford. The ford made it easier for
people to cross the river. Seven hills surround Rome. The hills
make it harder for invaders to approach the city and served as
lookout areas for the Romans. Rome is also close to excellent
farmland and an abundance of wood and stone. Civilizations have
grown and prospered in Rome for thousands of years, which is
why Rome is nicknamed “the Eternal City.”