The middle and lower reaches of the two river basins are flat alluvial lands, and the height difference between Baghdad and the mouth of the two rivers in the Persian Gulf is only 10 meter. The slow-moving river brings a lot of sediment to raise the river bed, and the river often overflows the river bank and even changes the river course. Due to the arid and hot climate-the average temperature in Baghdad in July and August is 34 degrees (the highest in the south is 50 degrees), and the average temperature in 12- 1 degree in October, the annual rainfall in most areas is below 250 mm; The south is below 200 mm, and the soil is dry and hard, which is not suitable for crop growth for eight months in a year. Therefore, artificial irrigation with the river water of the two rivers has become the key to the birth of the civilization of the two rivers and the lifeblood of the development of agriculture and animal husbandry. Strangely, around 10000 BC, agricultural production sprouted in the high rainfall areas of the two river basins and the hilly areas around them, but there was no civilization in these areas. However, in agricultural production, flowers were produced on a large scale in the two river basins with harsh natural environment but dense artificial drainage networks, and their fruitful results-the earliest ancient civilization in the world. However, for thousands of years, saline-alkali land has been growing continuously because of the vicious circle of flooding river bringing salt into the soil without artificial excretion. Most of the prosperous agricultural ancient towns have turned into mounds in the desert.
In the northern part of the two river basins, there are two main tributaries on the east bank of the Euphrates River, the Bari River and the Habur River, which flow into the main channel from north to south. There are many small tributaries in the upper reaches of Habur River, forming a triangular river network area, which has abundant rainfall in winter. The upper reaches of the Bari and Habur rivers form two agricultural areas in the northern part of the two river basins, and there is no artificial irrigation. There are two protruding mountains in the west and east of Zabul River network area: A Bordet? Jiz (Abd-e 1- Aziz) and Jebel? Jebel Singar; To the north of the river network area is the extension highland of Taolus Mountain; To the east is the Tigris River. Although the upper reaches of Habur River and Bari River are located in a vast area between the two rivers, Arabic calls this area El Jazirah, which means "island". Academics generally call it the northern part of the two river basins, or this area and the Assyrian cities on both sides of the middle reaches of the Tigris River are collectively called the Assyrian region, because it was once the central area of the Assyrian empire. In Assyria, farmland and orchards are distributed near rivers, springs and merged wells, forming scattered agricultural settlements, and the surrounding Yuan Ye is covered with grass in spring, becoming a natural place to develop animal husbandry. The rich river network areas of Barih and Chabul form a "corridor" between the upper reaches of the Tigris River in the center of Assyria in the east and Syria in the west. Hundreds of mounds formed by the ruins of the ancient town here show that it used to be a prosperous place.
Another important area in the northern two river basins or Assyria is the hilly area between the east bank of the Tigris River and the Courdie Stan Mountains. The annual rainfall here is between 300 mm and 650 mm. The terrain is gradually upgraded from a flat valley to a snow-covered main vein of Zagros Mountain (2,500-3,500 meters above sea level) separating Iraq and Iran. Five rivers flow through this area from the northeast mountainous area and flow into the Tigris River: from north to south, they are: the Second Habur River, the Great Zabu (formerly known as Upper Zabu), the Small Zabu (formerly known as Lower Zabu), the Agim River and the Diyala River (formerly known as Turnat), among which two Zabu and Diyala rivers are the main rivers in ancient Assyria. The climate here has four distinct seasons. There are grasslands, oak trees and pine forests on the hillside, while wheat, barley, fruit trees, grapes and vegetables are easy to grow in the valley. Because the savage and backward tribes in the eastern and northern mountainous areas often invade the civilized areas of the two river basins from this area, it is the front line of the Assyrian empire's heavy defense and the base for eastward expansion and conquest. The confluence of Diyala River and Tigris River is the Akkad area south of the two rivers, which is deeply influenced by Sumerian civilization. Akkad City, the capital of the first unified dynasty in the two river basins, may be in this area. Elam is adjacent to the southeast of the Diyala River area. Elam has invaded this area many times in history, and thus went north to Assyria or south to Babylon. The kings of Akkad and Assyria went out one after another and defeated Elam.
In ancient times, people in the two river basins did not have a unified name for their region. Barbieri, a city-state along the Euphrates River in the southern region, unified the south and established the "Babilim State". Ashur, a city-state on the Tigris River in the north, unified the north and established the "Ashur State". Since Herodotus in the 5th century BC, Greek and Roman classical writers and the Old Testament have read and written the city of barbieri as "Babylon" and called the country of Babylon or the southern part of the two river basins "Babylonia". Ancient Greek writers didn't seem to know the city of Ashur, but they knew that the northern part of the two river basins was "Ashur Country" and read and wrote it as "Ashur Jia". Our predecessors simply translated it as "Assyria" in translation. The border between Babylon and Assyria is the narrowest place between the two rivers, and now it is a little north of Baghdad. The ancient Greeks did not know that Babylonia was divided into two parts according to its human geography in ancient times-Sumer and Akkad. The southern part of Babylonia, bordering on the Persian Gulf, is the region where civilization originated, which was called Sumer in ancient times. -non-Seme-speaking foreigners lived and multiplied here, creating the civilization of the two river basins at the earliest. They are called "Sumerians" by local Akkadians who speak Seme. Northern Babylon and the lower reaches of Diyala River were called Akkad in ancient times, because Agard, the first city-state that unified the two river basins, was located here. Akkadians who speak Sem in Northeast China may be local aborigines. The border between Sumer and Akkad is about in the central holy city of Nipur.
Agricultural and livestock products in the two river basins are quite rich: meat such as grain and vegetables (mainly cattle and sheep, less pigs), leather, wool, flax and horn products. Cereals include wheat, emmer wheat and millet. Barley is the main grain in ancient and modern times because it adapts to the local saline-alkali soil. Malt is used for brewing beer, and wheat and barley are ground into flour for baking bread. The main oil plant is sesame. Abundant date palms (commonly known as "Yimizao") are also delicious food for people in the two river basins: the hot climate in the south and sufficient irrigation water are very suitable for the growth of date palms.
The local natural resources are generally poor. Rivers can provide fish, aquatic products and reeds. Reed stalks are used to weave mats, baskets and boxes, and to build boats and houses. Due to the rough wood of jujube trees and the nature of fruit trees, the local wood is scarce. There are only two kinds of stones: limestone and "Mosul marble".
Egypt:
1. astronomy and mathematics
Agricultural production in ancient Egypt needs to know the exact date of the Nile flooding. Therefore, it is very important to determine the season according to the astronomical phenomena. As a result, astronomical knowledge has been accumulated and enriched. The ancient Egyptians founded the earliest solar calendar in human history in 2787 BC. The method is to set the day when Sirius and the sun rise on the horizon at the same time (when the Nile begins to flood) as the beginning of the year. There are three seasons in a year. 12 months, 30 days per month, plus 5 days at the end of the year, 365 days for the whole year. This calendar only has a difference of 1/ four days, which is the original basis of the universal Gregorian calendar in the world today. Because the Nile floods every year, it is necessary to re-measure and demarcate the land. After years of work, the ancient Egyptians did more practical exercises in geometry than any other nation at that time, and accumulated a lot of mathematical knowledge. They built water conservancy facilities, temples and pyramids, which enabled these mathematical knowledge to be applied and further enriched and developed. The ancient Egyptians used 10 decimal notation. This method can calculate the area of rectangle, triangle, trapezoid and circle, and the volume of regular cylinder and truncated square cone. They use pi = 3.1605. Algebraically, the ancient Egyptians could solve one-dimensional linear equations and some simple one-dimensional quadratic equations. This knowledge later became the basis for the ancient Greeks to develop mathematics.
2. Anatomy and Medicine
The ancient Egyptians believed that people could continue to live in another world after death, so they painted the anatomy of the deceased into mummies, and thus accumulated a lot of knowledge about human physiology and anatomy. This knowledge is undoubtedly beneficial to their medical development. Doctors in ancient Egypt could perform operations to treat eye diseases, toothache, diarrhea, lung diseases and many gynecological diseases. They use all kinds of plants, animals and minerals to make medicines. Medicine in ancient Egypt was the most advanced in the world at that time. This knowledge was later passed down by the ancient Greeks.
3. Handicraft technology
Egypt's handicraft industry has also developed to a considerable extent. As early as 2700 BC, the ancient Egyptians built a ship 47 meters long. The technology of making glass was invented in 1600 BC. The manufacturing technology of pottery, linen fabric, leather, papyrus (used for writing) and jewelry has also reached a high level. The ancient Egyptians learned bronze smelting technology before and after its construction in 1500 BC.
4. Building technology
Building technology is a comprehensive technology. It can largely reflect the overall technical level of a society, especially in ancient times. The most remarkable technological achievement in ancient Egypt in human history is the construction of huge pyramids and temples with stones that still exist today. The pyramid is the Pharaoh (king) of ancient Egypt. Mausoleum The largest of the more than 70 existing pyramids is pyramid of khufu, which was built in 2600 BC. Tower height146.5m. The bottom is a square with long mountains and meters. It is made of polished boulders. Each weighs an average of 2.5 tons. * * * There are about 2.3 million boulders. The stones were not bonded with plaster, and the joints were tight. Temple architecture in ancient Egypt is also amazing. For example, the existing Karnak Temple on the Nile was built in the 4th century BC/kloc-0, and its main hall covers an area of about 5,000 square meters, with 134 huge circular stone pillars. The largest is 12, with a diameter of 3.6m and a height of about 20m. Under the condition of using stone tools and bronzes three or four thousand years ago, the ancient Egyptians actually built such magnificent buildings as pyramids and temples, which is really a miracle of human history.
5. hieroglyphics
6. Papyrus literature
Egyptian hieroglyphics became one of the earliest characters in the world. With writing, Egyptians learned to immerse reeds in smoke and ink mixed with glue and write on a papyrus paper, thus leaving the earliest papyrus literature in the world.
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Two river basins:
1. cuneiform
The middle and lower reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers are often called Mesopotamia Plain (Greek means "the land between the two rivers"). This place is one of the important cradles of ancient human civilization, and it has created the world-famous civilization of the two river basins. The civilizations in the two river basins are composed of Sumerian civilization, Babylonian civilization and Assyrian civilization. Among them, Babylonian civilization has become a model of civilization in the two river basins because of its outstanding achievements. The kingdom of Babylon, ancient Egypt, ancient India and China made it up.
As early as 5000 BC, Sumerians flourished in the two river basins. They gradually created hieroglyphics through communication. After the Akkadian people inherited and transformed it, it became the oldest writing in the world-cuneiform writing. This kind of writing is carved on soft clay with reed stalks and animal bones. When writing, it is powerful and slow. The imprint is wide and deep, but when writing, the strength is small and the speed is fast. The mark is narrow and shallow. The Forgotten One was carved on a clay tablet and became the oldest epic still popular today. This epic mainly tells many legendary stories about the forgotten king of uruk.
2. code of hammurabi
Around 2006 BC, the Kingdom of Babylon was founded. Babylonians created a more splendid civilization on the basis of Sumerians. At the Louvre in Paris, we can now see the code of hammurabi, the most complete and earliest written code in the world. The full text of this code is 3,500 lines, covering the theft, possession, inheritance, transfer, lease, real estate mortgage, business, loan, marriage, family and other aspects of movable property and slaves. This code is of great academic value to the study of the ancient Babylonian kingdom.
3. Arabic numerals
In 637, the Arabs defeated the Persians. These two river basins were incorporated into the territory of the Arab Empire. Arabic mathematicians introduced the decimal system and the number 0 in India. After being introduced into Europe, these figures are still called "Arabic numerals".