The civilizations of the ancient Orient, including Mesopotamia and Egypt, gave humanity inventions that form the foundations of modern civilization, such as writing, calendars, religion, and law.
The Invention of Writing and the Accumulation of Information
- Cuneiform (Mesopotamia): Used for commercial records, law codes, and literature. It was adopted by many peoples.
- Hieroglyphs (Egypt): Recorded in temples, inscriptions, and papyrus.
- Phoenician alphabet: The origin of the alphabet. It spread throughout the world with 22 letters.
The Legacy of Calendars and Mathematics
・Mesopotamian lunar calendar and sexagesimal system → directly connected to modern units of time (60 minutes and 60 seconds) and angles (360 degrees)
・Egyptian solar calendar (365 days per year) → the model for the modern calendar
・Egyptian geometry (land surveying) and Mesopotamian astronomical observations became the foundation of later Greek science
・Mesopotamian lunar calendar and sexagesimal system → directly connected to modern units of time (60 minutes and 60 seconds) and angles (360 degrees)
・Egyptian solar calendar (365 days per year) → the model for the modern calendar
・Egyptian geometry (land surveying) and Mesopotamian astronomical observations became the foundation of later Greek science
The Legacy of Religion and Law
The monotheism of the Hebrews developed into Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, becoming the common origin of the three major religions of the modern world. The Code of Hammurabi was a forerunner of written laws and conveyed the idea of “order through law” to later generations.
- Dualism of good and evil in Zoroastrianism → influenced the later Christian concepts of heaven and hell
- Phoenician trade in the Mediterranean → wide-ranging connections among Mediterranean cultures
- Administrative techniques of the unified Orient (Persia) → a model of governance for later great empires (such as Rome and Alexander’s empire)
Practice
- The modern unit of time, “60 minutes = 1 hour,” originated from the sexagesimal system of which civilization?
- Give the name of the religion that became the common origin of the three major modern religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) and the name of the people who created it.
- Choose the invention you consider most important among writing, calendars, and law, and state your reason in 2 sentences.