Mesopotamian civilization

Mesopotamia (from the Greek Μεσοποταμία "[land] between the rivers", rendered in
Arabic as ‫ بلد الرافدين‬bilād al-rāfidayn)[1] is a toponym for the area of the Tigris-Euphrates
river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq,[2] as well as some parts of
northeastern Syria,[2] southeastern Turkey,[2] and southwestern Iran.[3][4]

Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia

included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires. In the Iron Age, it
was ruled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires. The indigenous Sumerians
and Akkadians (including Assyrians & Babylonians) dominated Mesopotamia from the
beginning of written history (c. 3100 BC) to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, when it was
conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC and after
his death it became part of the Greek Seleucid Empire. Around 150 BC, Mesopotamia
was under the control of the Parthians. Mesopotamia became a battleground between the
Romans and Parthians, with parts of Mesopotamia (particularly Assyria) coming under
periodic Roman control. In 226 AD, it fell to the Sassanid Persians, and remained under
Persian rule until the 7th century Arab Islamic conquest of the Sassanid Empire. A
number of primarily Christian native Mesopotamian states existed between the 1st
century BC and 3rd century AD, including Adiabene, Oshroene and Hatra.

Religion

Mesopotamian religion was the first to be recorded. Mesopotamians believed that

the world was a flat disc[citation needed], surrounded by a huge, holed space, and above that,
heaven. They also believed that water was everywhere, the top, bottom and sides, and
that the universe was born from this enormous sea. In addition, Mesopotamian religion
was polytheistic.

Although the beliefs described above were held in common among Mesopotamians,
there were also regional variations. The Sumerian word for universe is an-ki, which refers
to the god An and the goddess Ki. Their son was Enlil, the air god. They believed that
Enlil was the most powerful god. He was the chief god of the Pantheon, equivalent to the
Greek god Zeus and the Roman god Jupiter. The Sumerians also posed philosophical
questions, such as: Who are we?, Where are we?, How did we get here?. They attributed
answers to these questions to explanations provided by their gods.
Chinese civilization
China is seen variously as an ancient civilization extending over a large area in
East Asia, a nation and/or a multinational entity.

China is one of the world's oldest civilizations and is regarded as the oldest
continuous civilization.[1][2] From 1000 to 1400, it possessed one of the the most advanced
society and economy in the world through successive dynasties though it subsequently
missed the industrial revolution and began to decline.[3][4] In the 19th and 20th century,
imperialism, internal weakness and civil wars damaged the country and its economy and
led to the overthrow of imperial rule.

In 1949, when major combat ended in the Chinese Civil War, two political entities
emerged having the term "China" in their names:

• The People's Republic of China (PRC), established in 1949, commonly

known as China, has control over mainland China and the largely self-governing
territories of Hong Kong (since 1997) and Macau (since 1999).
• The Republic of China (ROC) established in 1912 in mainland China, now
commonly known as Taiwan, has control over the islands of Taiwan, Penghu,
Kinmen, and Matsu.

Religion
Main article: Religion in China

Shang Dynasty bronze script character for tian (天), "Sky" or "Heaven."

The "official" orthodox faith system held by most dynasties of China since at least the
Shang Dynasty (1766 BC) until the overthrow of the last dynasty (1911 AD) centered on
the worship of Shangdi ("Supreme God") or "Heaven" as an omnipotent force.[47] This
faith system pre-dated the development of Confucianism and Taoism and the introduction
of Buddhism and Christianity.
 It has features of monotheism in that Heaven is seen as an omnipotent entity, endowed
with personality but no corporeal form. From the writings of Confucius, we find that
Confucius himself believed that Heaven cannot be deceived, Heaven guides people's lives
and maintains a personal relationship with them, and that Heaven gives tasks for people
to fulfill to teach them righteousness (yi, 義).[47] However, this faith system was not truly
monotheistic since other lesser gods and spirits, which varied with locality, were also
worshiped along with Shangdi. Still, variants such as Mohism approached high
monotheism, teaching that the function of lesser gods and ancestral spirits is merely to
carry out the will of Shangdi, which included observing "universal love" (jian'ai, 兼爱)
and shunning fatalism.

Worship of Shangdi and Heaven in ancient China includes the erection of shrines, the
last and greatest being the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, and the offering of prayers. The
ruler of China in every Chinese dynasty would perform annual sacrificial rituals to
Heaven, usually by slaughtering a bull as sacrifice. Although its popularity gradually
diminished after the advent of Taoism and Buddhism, among other religions, its concepts
remained in use throughout the pre-modern period and have been incorporated in later
religions in China, including terminology used in Chinese Christianity.

A monk in the Jade Buddha Temple, Shanghai, China.

Science and technology

 Remains of an ancient Chinese handheld crossbow, 2nd century BC
Further information: History of science and technology in China, List of Chinese
inventions, and List of Chinese discoveries

Among the technological accomplishments of ancient China were paper (not

papyrus) and papermaking, woodblock printing and movable type printing, the early
lodestone and needle compass, gunpowder, toilet paper, early seismological detectors,
matches, pound locks, the double-action piston pump, blast furnace and cast iron, the iron
plough, the multi-tube seed drill, the suspension bridge,[56] natural gas as fuel, the
differential gear for the South Pointing Chariot, the hydraulic-powered armillary sphere,
the hydraulic-powered trip hammer, the mechanical chain drive, the mechanical belt
drive, the raised-relief map, the propeller, the crossbow, the cannon, the rocket, the
multistage rocket, etc.

Chinese astronomers were among the first to record observations of a supernova. The
work of the astronomer Shen Kuo (1031–95) alone was most impressive, as he theorized
that the sun and moon were spherical, corrected the position of the polestar with his
improved sighting tube, discovered the concept of true north, wrote of planetary motions
such as retrogradation, and compared the orbital paths of the planets to points on the
shape of a rotating willow leaf. With evidence for them, he also postulated geological
theories for the processes of land formation in geomorphology and climate change in
paleoclimatology.

Other important astronomers included Gan De, Shi Shen, Zhang Heng, Yi Xing, Zhang
Sixun, Su Song and Guo Shoujing. Chinese mathematics evolved independently of Greek
mathematics and is therefore of great interest in the history of mathematics. The Chinese
were also keen on documenting all of their technological achievements, such as in the
Tiangong Kaiwu encyclopedia written by Song Yingxing (1587–1666).