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Babylon (Arabic: Babil) was a significant city in ancient Mesopotamia, in the fertile plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The city was built upon the Euphrates, and divided in equal parts along its left and right banks, with steep embankments to contain the river's seasonal floods.<br/><br/> Babylon was originally a small Semitic Akkadian city dating from the period of the Akkadian Empire c. 2300 BCE. The town attained independence as part of a small city state with the rise of the First Amorite Babylonian Dynasty in 1894 BCE. Claiming to be the successor of the more ancient Sumero-Akkadian city of Eridu, Babylon eclipsed Nippur as the 'holy city' of Mesopotamia around the time Amorite king Hammurabi created the first short lived Babylonian Empire in the 18th century BC. Babylon grew and South Mesopotamia came to be known as Babylonia.<br/><br/> The empire quickly dissolved after Hammurabi's death and Babylon spent long periods under Assyrian, Kassite and Elamite domination. After being destroyed and then rebuilt by the Assyrians, Babylon became the capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire from 609 to 539 BCE. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. After the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, the city came under the rules of the Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian, Roman and Sassanid empires.
Shimao is a Neolithic site in Shenmu County, Shaanxi, China. The site is located in the northern part of the Loess Plateau, on the southern edge of the Ordos Desert. It is dated to around 2000 BCE, near the end of the Longshan period, and is the largest known walled site of that period in China, at 400 hectares.<br/><br/> The city was surrounded by inner and outer stone walls, in contrast to the rammed earth walls typical of Longshan sites in the Central Plain and Shandong. The walls were 2.5 meters thick on average, with perimeters of approximately 4200 m and 5700 m respectively, and feature gates, turrets and watch towers.<br/><br/> The inner city contained a stone-walled platform, interpreted as a palatial complex, and densely packed residential zones, cemeteries and craft workshops. Unusual features include jade embedded in the city walls, possibly to provide spiritual protection, and paintings of geometrical patterns on the inner walls. Many human skulls were found under the city gate, suggesting ritual sacrifices during construction.
Ban Chiang Archaeological Site is a prehistoric human habitation and burial site. It is considered by scholars to be the most important prehistoric settlement so far discovered in Southeast Asia, marking the beginning and showing the development of the wet-rice culture typical of the region. <br/><br/> The site has been dated by scientific chronometric means which have established that the site was continuously occupied from 1495 BCE until c. 900 BCE making it the earliest scientifically-dated prehistoric farming and habitation site in Southeast Asia.<br/><br/> Ban Chiang is considered the most important prehistoric settlement so far discovered in South-East Asia. It marks an important stage in human cultural, social and technological evolution. The site presents the earliest evidence of farming in the region and of the manufacture and use of metals.<br/><br/> Ban Chiang was officially inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992.
Ban Chiang Archaeological Site is a prehistoric human habitation and burial site. It is considered by scholars to be the most important prehistoric settlement so far discovered in Southeast Asia, marking the beginning and showing the development of the wet-rice culture typical of the region. <br/><br/> The site has been dated by scientific chronometric means which have established that the site was continuously occupied from 1495 BCE until c. 900 BCE making it the earliest scientifically-dated prehistoric farming and habitation site in Southeast Asia.<br/><br/> Ban Chiang is considered the most important prehistoric settlement so far discovered in South-East Asia. It marks an important stage in human cultural, social and technological evolution. The site presents the earliest evidence of farming in the region and of the manufacture and use of metals.<br/><br/> Ban Chiang was officially inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992.
Dilmun (sometimes transliterated Telmun) is a land mentioned by Mesopotamian civilizations as a trade partner, a source of the metal copper, and an entrepôt of the Mesopotamia-to-Indus Valley Civilization trade route.<br/><br/> Although the exact location of Dilmun is unclear, it might be associated with the islands of Bahrain, the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and the nearby Iranian coast of the Arab or Persian Gulf.
Fu Xi or Fu Hsi (mid 29th century BCE) was the first of the Three Sovereigns (sanhuang) of ancient China. He is a cultural hero reputed to be the inventor of writing, fishing, and trapping. Note, however, that Cangjie is also said to have invented writing.<br/><br/> The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors (Sanhuang wudi; Wade–Giles: San-huang wu-ti) are a blend of mythological rulers and cultural heroes from ancient China dating loosely from the period from c.3500-2000 BCE. This represents the earliest period of recorded Chinese history and is regarded as largely mythological. In chronological terms it precedes the Xia Dynasty (c.2070-1600 BCE).<br/><br/> There are several variations as to who constitute the various Three Sovereigns and Seven Emperors. According to the Diwang Xishi or Record of Imperial Lineages, also called the 'Sovereign Series' in English, the Three Sovereigns were, in chronological sequence: Fuxi, Shennong and Huangdi. The same source lists the Five Emperors, again chronologically, as: Shaohao, Zhuanxu, Gaoxin, Yao and Shun.
Shennong (Vietnamese: Than Nong), also known as the Emperor of the Five Grains (Wugu xiandì), was a ruler of China and cultural hero who lived some 5,000 years ago and who taught the ancient Chinese the practice of agriculture. Appropriately, his name means ' Divine Farmer'. He is also believed to have discovered tea.<br/><br/> The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors (Sanhuang wudi; Wade–Giles: San-huang wu-ti) are a blend of mythological rulers and cultural heroes from ancient China dating loosely from the period from c.3500-2000 BCE. This represents the earliest period of recorded Chinese history and is regarded as largely mythological. In chronological terms it precedes the Xia Dynasty (c.2070-1600 BCE).<br/><br/> There are several variations as to who constitute the various Three Sovereigns and Seven Emperors. According to the Diwang Xishi or Record of Imperial Lineages, also called the 'Sovereign Series' in English, the Three Sovereigns were, in chronological sequence: Fuxi, Shennong and Huangdi. The same source lists the Five Emperors, again chronologically, as: Shaohao, Zhuanxu, Gaoxin, Yao and Shun.
Shennong (Vietnamese: Than Nong), also known as the Emperor of the Five Grains (Wugu xiandì), was a ruler of China and cultural hero who lived some 5,000 years ago and who taught the ancient Chinese the practice of agriculture. Appropriately, his name means ' Divine Farmer'. He is also believed to have discovered tea.<br/><br/> The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors (Sanhuang wudi; Wade–Giles: San-huang wu-ti) are a blend of mythological rulers and cultural heroes from ancient China dating loosely from the period from c.3500-2000 BCE. This represents the earliest period of recorded Chinese history and is regarded as largely mythological. In chronological terms it precedes the Xia Dynasty (c.2070-1600 BCE).<br/><br/> There are several variations as to who constitute the various Three Sovereigns and Seven Emperors. According to the Diwang Xishi or Record of Imperial Lineages, also called the 'Sovereign Series' in English, the Three Sovereigns were, in chronological sequence: Fuxi, Shennong and Huangdi. The same source lists the Five Emperors, again chronologically, as: Shaohao, Zhuanxu, Gaoxin, Yao and Shun.
Huang Di or the Yellow Emperor, is a half-historical, half-legendary Chinese sovereign and cultural hero in Chinese history and mythology. He is said to be the ancestor of all Huaxia Chinese.Tradition holds that he reigned from 2697–2597 BCE. He is regarded as the founder of Chinese civilization.<br/><br/> The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors (Sanhuang wudi; Wade–Giles: San-huang wu-ti) are a blend of mythological rulers and cultural heroes from ancient China dating loosely from the period from c.3500-2000 BCE. This represents the earliest period of recorded Chinese history and is regarded as largely mythological. In chronological terms it precedes the Xia Dynasty (c.2070-1600 BCE).<br/><br/> There are several variations as to who constitute the various Three Sovereigns and Seven Emperors. According to the Diwang Xishi or Record of Imperial Lineages, also called the 'Sovereign Series' in English, the Three Sovereigns were, in chronological sequence: Fuxi, Shennong and Huangdi. The same source lists the Five Emperors, again chronologically, as: Shaohao, Zhuanxu, Gaoxin, Yao and Shun.
A cuneiform temple hymn from the 19th Century BCE; the hymn is addressed to the Lugal Iddin-Dagan of Larsa.<br/><br/> Cuneiform script is one of the earliest known forms of written expression. Emerging in Sumer around the 30th century BC, with predecessors reaching into the late 4th millennium (the Uruk IV period), cuneiform writing began as a system of pictographs. In the three millennia the script spanned, the pictorial representations became simplified and more abstract as the number of characters in use also grew gradually smaller, from about 1,000 unique characters in the Early Bronze Age to about 400 unique characters in Late Bronze Age (Hittite cuneiform).<br/><br/> The original Sumerian script was adapted for the writing of the Akkadian, Eblaite, Elamite, Hittite, Luwian, Hattic, Hurrian, and Urartian languages, and it inspired the Ugaritic and Old Persian alphabets. Cuneiform writing was gradually replaced by the Phoenician alphabet during the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and by the 2nd century AD, the script had become extinct.<br/><br/> Cuneiform documents were written on clay tablets, by means of a blunt reed for a stylus. The impressions left by the stylus were wedge shaped, thus giving rise to the name cuneiform ('wedge shaped', from the Latin cuneus, meaning 'wedge').