Mesopotamia:

Code of Hammurabi (Codex Hammurabi) is a well-preserved ancient law code, created

ca. 1790 BC (middle chronology) in ancient Babylon. It was enacted by the sixth
Babylonian king, Hammurabi.[1] One nearly complete example of the Code survives
today, inscribed on a seven foot, four inch tall diorite stele[2] in the Akkadian language in
the cuneiform script.[3]

Cuneiform script (pronounced /kjuːˈniː.ɨfɔrm/ kew-NEE-i-form or /ˈkjuːnɨfɔrm/ KEW-

ni-form) is the earliest known writing system in the world.[1] Cuneiform writing emerged
in the Sumerian civilization of southern Iraq around the 34th century BC[2] during the
middle Uruk period, beginning as a pictographic system of writing. Cuneiform was the
most widespread and historically significant writing system in the Ancient Near East.[3]
The development of cuneiform writing was an evolution of an earlier Mesopotamian
accounting system that had been used for five thousand years before.[4] Clay tokens had
been used for some form of record-keeping in Mesopotamia since as early as 8,000 BC.[4]
[5]
Cuneiform documents were written on clay tablets, by means of a reed 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").

stele (pronounced /ˈstiːliː/, older /ˈstiːl/, from Greek: στήλη stēlē; plural: stelae /ˈstiːlaɪ/,
στῆλαι stēlai; also found: Latinised singular stela and Anglicised plural steles) is a stone
or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected for funerals or commemorative
purposes, most usually decorated with the names and titles of the deceased or living —
inscribed, carved in relief (bas-relief, sunken-relief, high-relief, and so forth), or painted
onto the slab. It can also be used as territorial markers to delineate land ownership.

Ziggurats (Akkadian (transliterated): ziqqurat, D-stem of zaqāru "to build on a raised

area") were massive monuments built in the ancient Mesopotamian valley and western
Iranian plateau, having the form of a terraced step pyramid of successively receding
stories or levels. There are 32 ziggurats known at, and near, Mesopotamia. Twenty-eight
of them are in Iraq, and four of them are in Iran. Notable ziggurats include the Great
Ziggurat of Ur near Nasiriyah, Iraq; the Ziggurat of Aqar Quf near Baghdad, Iraq;
Chogha Zanbil in Khūzestān, Iran; Sialk near Kashan, Iran, the most recent to be
discovered; and others.

Sumer (Sumerian: 𒆠𒂗𒂠 ki-en-ĝir15 "Land of the Lords of Brightness",[1][2] Akkadian:

Šumeru; possibly Biblical Shinar) was a civilization and historical region in southern
Mesopotamia, modern Iraq. It is the earliest known civilization in the world and is known
as the Cradle of Civilization. The Sumerian civilization spanned over 3000 years[3] and
began with the first settlement of Eridu in the Ubaid period (mid 6th millennium BC)
through the Uruk period (4th millennium BC) and the Dynastic periods (3rd millennium
BC) until the rise of Babylonia in the early 2nd millennium BC. Sumer was the birthplace
of writing, the wheel, agriculture, the arch, the plow, irrigation and many other things.
The cities of Sumer were the first to practice intensive, year-round agriculture, (from ca.
5300 BC). By perhaps 5000 BC, the Sumerians had developed core agricultural
techniques including large-scale intensive cultivation of land, mono-cropping, organized
irrigation, and the use of a specialized labour force, particularly along the waterway now
known as the Shatt al-Arab, from its Persian Gulf delta to the confluence of the Tigris
and Euphrates. The surplus of storable food created by this economy allowed the
population to settle in one place instead of migrating after crops and grazing land. It also
allowed for a much greater population density, and in turn required an extensive labor
force and division of labor. This organization led to the development of writing (ca. 3500
BC).

Babylon (Akkadian: Babilu, Aramaic: ‫ ܒܵܐܒܸܠ‬or ‫ܒܐܒܠ‬, Arabic: ‫ بابل‬Babil) was the capital
city of Babylonia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil
Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers (55 mi) south of Baghdad. All that remains of the
original ancient famed city of Babylon today is a mound, or tell, of broken mud-brick
buildings and debris in the fertile Mesopotamian plain between the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers, in Iraq. Although it has been reconstructed, historical resources inform us that
Babylon was at first a small town, that had sprung up by the beginning of the third
millennium BC (the dawn of the dynasties). The town flourished and attained prominence
and political repute with the rise of the First Babylonian Dynasty. It was the "holy city"
of Babylonia by approximately 2300 BC, and the seat of the Neo-Babylonian Empire
from 612 to 539 BC. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the Seven Wonders
of the Ancient World.

Assyria was a kingdom centered on the Upper Tigris river, in Mesopotamia (Iraq), that
came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its
original capital, the ancient city of Assur (Akkadian: 𒀸𒋗𒁺 𐎹 Aššūrāyu; Arabic: ‫أشور‬
Aššûr; Hebrew: ‫ אַּׁשּור‬Aššûr, Aramaic: ‫ ܐܫܘܪ‬Ašur. The term Assyria can also refer to the
geographic region or heartland where these empires were centered.

Post and lintel (or Post and beam) is a simple architrave[1] where a horizontal member
(the lintel—or header) is supported by two vertical posts at either end. This form is
commonly used to support the weight of the structure located above the openings in a
bearing wall created by windows and doors.

Egypt:
Egyptian hieroglyphs (pronounced /ˈhaɪ(ə)roʊɡlɪf/; from Greek ἱερογλύφος "sacred
carving", itself pronounced [hieroˈɡlypʰos]) was a formal writing system used by the
ancient Egyptians that contained a combination of logographic and alphabetic elements.
Egyptians used cursive hieroglyphs for religious literature on papyrus and wood. Less
formal variations of the script, called hieratic and demotic, are technically not
hieroglyphs.
pyramid is a building where the outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a point.
The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, meaning that
a pyramid has at least three outer surfaces (at least four faces including the base). The
square pyramid, with square base and four triangular outer surfaces, is a common version.
A pyramid's design, with the majority of the weight closer to the ground,[1] means that
less material higher up on the pyramid will be pushing down from above: this distribution
of weight allowed early civilizations to create stable monumental structures.
For thousands of years, the largest structures on earth were pyramids: first the Red
Pyramid in the Dashur Necropolis and then the Great Pyramid of Khufu, both of Egypt,
the latter the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still remaining. It is
still the tallest pyramid. The largest pyramid in the world ever built, by volume, is the
Great Pyramid of Cholula, in the Mexican state of Puebla. This pyramid is still being
excavated.

Nile River (Arabic: ‫النيل‬, an-nīl, Ancient Egyptian iteru or Ḥ'pī, Coptic piaro or phiaro)
is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the
world.[1]The Nile has two major tributaries, the White Nile and Blue Nile, the latter being
the source of most of the Nile's water and fertile soil, but the former being the longer of
the two. The White Nile rises in the Great Lakes region of central Africa, with
the most distant source in southern Rwanda at , and flows north from there through
Tanzania, Lake Victoria, Uganda and southern Sudan, while the Blue Nile starts at Lake
Tana in Ethiopia at , flowing into Sudan from the southeast. The two rivers meet near
the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.
The northern section of the river flows almost entirely through desert, from Sudan into
Egypt, a country whose civilization has depended on the river since ancient times. Most
of the population and cities of Egypt lie along those parts of the Nile valley north of
Aswan, and nearly all the cultural and historical sites of Ancient Egypt are found along
the banks of the river. The Nile ends in a large delta that empties into the Mediterranean
Sea.

scribe, or sesh,[1] was a person educated in the arts of writing (using both hieroglyphics
and hieratic scripts, and from the second half of the first millennium BCE also the
demotic script) and dena (arithmatics).[2][3] He was generally male,[4] belonged socially to
what we would refer to as a middle class elite, and was employed in the bureaucratic
administration of the pharaonic state, of its army, and of the temples.[5] Sons of scribes
were brought up in the same scribal tradition, sent to school and, upon entering the civil
service, inherited their fathers' positions.[6]
Much of what is known about ancient Egypt is due to the activities of its scribes.
Monumental buildings were erected under their supervision,[7] administrative and
economic activities were documented by them, and tales from the mouths of Egypt's
lower classes or from foreign lands survive thanks to scribes putting them in writing.[8]

Hypostyle Hall of Karnak, located within the Karnak temple complex, in the Precinct of
Amon-Re, is one of the most visited monuments of Ancient Egypt.

Clerestory windows The technology of the clerestory appears to originate in the temples
of Egypt. The term "clerestory" is applicable to Egyptian temples, where the lighting of
the hall of columns was obtained over the stone roofs of the adjoining aisles, through slits
pierced in vertical slabs of stone. Clerestory appeared in Egypt at least as early as the
Amarna period.[1]

Animal Legs on Cylinders: status