What is Ancient Near East?
The '''Ancient Near East''' is the name given to early [[civilization]]s within a region roughly corresponding to the modern [[Middle East]]: [[Mesopotamia]] (modern [[Iraq]] and [[Syria]]), [[Persia]] (modern [[Iran]]), [[Anatolia]] (modern [[Turkey]]), the [[Levant]] (modern [[Syria]], [[Lebanon]], [[Israel]], [[Palestine]], [[Jordan]], and [[Cyprus]]), and [[Ancient Egypt]], from the rise of [[Sumer]] in the 4th millennium BCE until the region's conquest by [[Alexander the Great]] in the 4th century BCE, or covering both the [[Bronze Age]] and the [[Iron Age]] in the region. As such, it is a term widely used in the fields of [[Near Eastern archaeology]], [[ancient history]] and [[Egyptology]]. Some would exclude [[Egypt]] from the ancient Near East as a geographically and culturally distinct area. However, because of Egypt's intimate involvement with the region, especially from the [[2nd millennium BCE]], this exclusion is rare. The ancient Near East is considered the [[cradle of civilization]]. It was the first to practice intensive year-round [[agriculture]]; it gave the rest of the world the first [[history of writing|writing system]], invented the [[potter's wheel]] and then the vehicular- and mill [[wheel]], created the first [[centralized government]]s, [[law code]]s and [[empire]]s, as well as introducing [[social stratification]], [[slavery]] and organized [[warfare]], and it laid the foundation for the fields of [[astronomy]] and [[mathematics]]. {{history-stub}} [[Category:Ancient history]]