ancient Near East

The ancient Near East is a term that denotes the civilizations that arose in what is today called the Middle East, specifically: Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and north-eastern Syria), ancient Egypt, ancient Iran (Elam, Mad, and Persia), Armenia, Anatolia (present-day Turkey), Levant (currently Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Cyprus). This term is often used in the field of Near Eastern archeology and ancient history. This term covers the era of the beginning of the emergence of Sumer in the fourth century BC. As for the date of the end of the era, it varies according to opinions, either it covers the Bronze Age and the Iron Age in the region, until the Achaemenid entered the region in the 6th century BC, or when Alexander the Great entered in the century 4 BC, or at the time of the entry of the Islamic Caliphate to the region in the 7th century AD. The ancient Near East is the source of civilizations. This geographical area is the first area in which its inhabitants use intensive agriculture throughout the year, and it gave the world the first writing systems, and with it the potter's wheel and then transport wheels and mill wheels were invented, and with it the first central governments, the first codified laws, and the first empires were established, in addition to that it offered The first stages of social stratification, slavery, and organized wars, and the people of the region laid the foundations for the fields of astronomy and mathematics.