Ancient

Civilization
History, science, math, discoveries, and
technological advancements
MESOPOTAMIA – Mesos (middle) & Potamos (river)
● HISTORY
● - civilization formed on
the banks of Tigris and
Euphrates (modern
day Iraq and Kuwait)
12000 BCE Neolithic
Revolution.

● -composed of tribes:
Sumerian, Assyrian,
Akkadian and Babylon
Civilizations.
MESOPOTAMIA – Mesos (middle) & Potamos (river)

TECH, SCIENCE, &

DISCOVERIES
- developed metal working, glass
making, textile weaving, food and
water control, and water storage.
- they also created the first wheel,
the chariot, the sailboat, and the
plow, time (divided time unit into
60 parts), the map, astronomy,
astrology and constellations.
- they also made the first form of
writing the CUNEIFORM.
MESOPOTAMI
A – Mesos
(middle) &
Potamos (river)
MATHEMATICS

- sexagesimal system (base 60,

helped to develop the 360-
degree circle and the 12th
month year concepts. They
used 12 knuckles to count on
one hand and another five
fingers on the hand . They used
base 6 where digits in the left
column represent large values.
They also invented the concept
of zero.
 MESOPOTAMIA – TRIBES

SUMERIANS

- 1ST civilization located in

Southern Mesopotamia
(4000 BCE).
- they wrote the EPIC OF
GILGAMESH one of the
world’s first greatest
literature.
- credit for creating the
wheel.

- built sail boats for

trading with the
HARRAPANS (Northern
Indians).
 MESOPOTAMIA – TRIBES
AKKADIAN

- 2nd civilization located in

Northern Mesopotamia
(3000 BCE) named after
the city of Akkad.
-created the language
SEMITIC related to
HEBREW AND ARABIC.
- started the world’s first
dynamic empire the 2334
BCE Sargon of Akkad
which only lasted 180
years. ( ruled over both the
Akkadian and Sumerian
speakers in MESO and
LEVANT, modern day
SYRIA AND LEBANON
 MESOPOTAMIA – TRIBES
ASSYRIAN

- Asur is an ancient city.

They also speak SEMITIC
language.
-stretched from EGYPT
and CYPRUS in the west to
the borders of PERSIA,
IRAN, in the west.

- The only exception to

Assyrian dominance were
the Babylonian Empire,
established by Hammurabi.
 MESOPOTAMIA – TRIBES

BABYLON

- a minor city state in central

Mesopotamia for a century
after founded in 1894 BCE.
- Hammurabi, the 6th king
of the first Babylon Dynasty,
freed Babylon from foreign
rule and then conquered the
whole of southern
Mesopotamia.
-Created the CODE OF
LAWS, first important works
and the oldest deciphered
writings, which is written in
Slete (stone slabs); it
consists of 282 laws. This
empire was casted for 260
years until it got invaded by
1531BCE.
Ancient Civilization of Egypt
Origin

- The civilization of Egypt emerged around 2649 BC (Old

Kingdom), along the banks of Nile River.

- Ancient Egyptian eras: Old Kingdom (2649 - 2152 BC),

Middle Kingdom (2040 – 1640 BC), New Kingdom (1550 –
1070 BC).
 Kingdoms of Egypt

Old Kingdom: Middle Kingdom: New Kingdom:

The "Old Kingdom" is a period of time The "Middle Kingdom" is a period of time during The time of Imperial Egypt when it
during the history of Ancient Egypt. It the history of Ancient Egypt. It lasted from 1975 extended its reach beyond the former
lasted from 2575 BC to 2150 BC. Over BC to 1640 BC. The Middle Kingdom was the borders to create an empire. Literacy
these 400 years, Egypt had a strong central second peak period of the Ancient Egyptian had expanded during the Middle
government and a prosperous economy. The civilization (the other two being the Old Kingdom (2040-1782 BCE) and Second
Old Kingdom is most famous as a time Kingdom and the New Kingdom). During this Intermediate Period so that, by the
when many pyramids were built. time all of Egypt was united under a single time of the New Kingdom, more people
government and Pharaoh. were writing and sending letters.
Language

Demotic - refers to the ancient Egyptian script derived from northern forms of hieratic used in the Delta, as well as the stage of
the Egyptian language following Late Egyptian and preceding Coptic. By convention, the word "Demotic" is capitalized in order to
distinguish it from demotic Greek.
Coptic - Coptic is the last phase of ancient Egyptian. It is the direct descendant of the ancient language written in Egyptian
hieroglyphic, hieratic, and demotic scripts. The Coptic alphabet is a slightly modified form of the Greek alphabet, with some
letters (which vary from dialect to dialect) deriving from demotic.
Hieroglyphs - The Egyptian hieroglyphic script was one of the writing systems used by ancient Egyptians to represent their
language. Because of their pictorial elegance, Herodotus and other important Greeks believed that Egyptian hieroglyphs were
something sacred, so they referred to them as ‘holy writing’. Thus, the word hieroglyph comes from the Greek hiero ‘holy’ and
glypho ‘writing’.
Mathematics

Ancient Egyptians served as the pioneers of modern mathematics. By

counting their fingers, Ancient Egyptians developed base 10 as their
numbering system (Developed and used by the greeks later on).
Unlike modern mathematics, it was not used for theoretical science.
Egyptian geometry and arithmetic was used for trading, measuring,
and building structures.
Rhind Papyrus, is one of the early instructions of multiplication
written. These corresponding blocks of counters could then be used
as a kind of multiplication reference table: first, the combination of
powers of two which add up to the number to be multiplied by was
isolated, and then the corresponding blocks of counters on the other
side yielded the answer.
 Ancient
Egyptian
Inventions
Clocks
- In order to tell the time Egyptians invented two types of
clock. Obelisks were used as sun clocks by noting how its
shadow moved around its surface throughout the day From
the use of obelisks they identified the longest and shortest
days of the year.

Locks
- One of the oldest locks can be found in Egypt. The locks
consists of pins, bolts, and keys, major components that can
still be seen being used today. Due to the complex design,
Locks were only used in royal structures, palaces, and
temples - Buildings that houses treasures.
Ox-drawn plough
- Using the power of oxen to pull the plough revolutionised
agriculture and modified versions of this Egyptian invention
are still used by farmers in developing countries around the
world.

Herodotus Machine
- This Egyptian made lift is theorized that this is the machine
Ancient Egyptians used to build the Pyramids.
ANCIENT GREECE
“HELLAS”
 Was formed in
1300 BCE fell in
the 146 BCE due to
the invasion of the
roman empire

Uses “Hellenic Language”

ALPHABET
POLIS OR POLEIS
- the structure of communities in the
ancient Greece
 - Became urban
● Initially, the term centers and created
polis referred to forms of governance
a fortified area or like monarchies,
citadel. democratic and
militaristic societies
OLYMPIC GAMES
•It is a festival for honoring Greek Gods
and was held in Olympia

• long jump, discus throw, pankatron,

speed races, boxing and wrestling
CONTRIBUTIONS
•Major contributions in
Math and science • Medical
(Geometry, treatments
mathematical and remedies
concepts,
Heliocentric system)
for diseases.
INVENTIONS
AND
DISCOVERIES
WATER MILLS (250 BCE)
ALARM CLOCK (300 BCE)
Crane (515 Bce)
Catapults (399 BCE)

“Katapeltikon”
GREEK PHILOSOPHY

● Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BCE and continued
throughout the Hellenistic period and the period in which
Ancient Greece was part of the Roman Empire. It dealt with a wide
variety of subjects, including political philosophy, ethics, metaphysics,
ontology, logic, biology, rhetoric, and aesthetics.
 THE GREEK
PHILOSOPHERS
Parmenides
• Parmenides of Elea was a Presocratic Greek philosopher.
As the first philosopher to inquire into the nature of
existence itself, he is incontrovertibly credited as the
“Father of Metaphysics.” Parmenides' only written work is a
poem entitled, supposedly, but likely erroneously, On
Nature.

• Parmenides prescribes two views of reality. In "the way of

truth" (a part of the poem), he explains how all reality is
one, change is impossible, and existence is timeless,
uniform, and necessary. ... Scholars have
generally believed that either Parmenides was responding
to Heraclitus, or Heraclitus to Parmenides.
Heraclitus

• Heraclitus of Ephesus was a pre-Socratic Greek

philosopher, and a native of the city of Ephesus,
then part of the Persian Empire. He was of
distinguished parentage. Little is known about his
early life and education, but he regarded himself as
self-taught and a pioneer of wisdom.

• Heraclitus was known as the ''dark'' philosopher

because his writings were difficult to understand
and because he thought that the world revolved
around conflict. Since he saw conflict as
so important to humanity, he encouraged it
wherever he went.
Zeno of ELea
• Zeno of Elea was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher of
Magna Graecia and a member of the Eleatic School
founded by Parmenides. Aristotle called him the
inventor of the dialectic. He is best known for his
paradoxes, which Bertrand Russell has described as
"immeasurably subtle and profound“.

• A member of the Eleatic school of philosophy, he

was famous throughout antiquity for the rigorously
logical and devastating arguments which he used to
show the absurdities and contradictions of his
opponents.
Thales/Thales of MIletus (c. 624 - 546 B.C.)
• Thales of Miletus was a pre-Socratic philosopher,
mathematician and astronomer from Miletus in Ionia,
Asia Minor.

• Thales is known as the first Greek philosopher,

mathematician and scientist. He founded the geometry
of lines, so is given credit for introducing abstract
geometry. It is possible that Thales has been given
credit for discoveries that were not really his.

• was an early Pre-Socratic philosopher, mathematician

and astronomer from the Greek city of Miletus in Ionia
(modern-day Turkey). He was one of the so-called
Seven Sages of Greece, and many regard him as the
first philosopher in the Western tradition.
Anamaximander

• Anaximander, was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher

who lived in Miletus, a city of Ionia. He belonged to
the Milesian school and learned the teachings of his
master Thales. He succeeded Thales and became
the second master of that school where he counted
Anaximenes and, arguably, Pythagoras amongst his
pupils.

• Anaximander explained the origin of the universe

with the theory of 'apeiron'. 'The universe is
boundless but consists of a primary substance’.
Anaximander wrote on geography, astronomy,
cosmology and biology.
Empedocles

• Empedocles was a Greek pre-Socratic

philosopher and a citizen of Akragas, a Greek
city in Sicily. Empedocles' philosophy is best
known for originating the cosmogonic theory of
the four classical elements. He also proposed
forces he called Love and Strife which would
mix and separate the elements, respectively.

• Empedocles, a philosopher of Greek descent,

lived in Sicily. Empedocles discovered air as a
separate substance. In his cosmology fire, air,
water and earth mingle and separate under the
compulsion of love and strife. He wrote a
poetic treatise 'On Nature’.
Phytagoras
• Pythagoras of Samos was an ancient Ionian
Greek philosopher and the eponymous founder
of Pythagoreanism. His political and religious
teachings were well known in Magna Graecia
and influenced the philosophies of Plato,
Aristotle, and, through them, Western
philosophy.

• He is mainly remembered for what has become

known as Pythagoras' Theorem (or
the Pythagorean Theorem): that, for any right-
angled triangle, the square of the length of the
hypotenuse (the longest side, opposite the right
angle) is equal to the sum of the square of the
other two sides (or “legs”).
Democritus

• Democritus was an Ancient Greek pre-Socratic

philosopher primarily remembered today for his
formulation of an atomic theory of the universe.
Democritus was born in Abdera, Thrace, around
460 BC, although there are disagreements about
the exact year.

• He developed the concept of the 'atom', Greek for

'indivisible'. Democritus believed that everything in
the universe was made up of atoms, which were
microscopic and indestructible.
Socrates (469-399 B.C.)
• Socrates was a classical Greek philosopher credited
as one of the founders of Western philosophy, and as
being the first moral philosopher of the Western ethical
tradition of thought.

• Socrates believed that philosophy should achieve

practical results for the greater well-being of society.
He attempted to establish an ethical system based on
human reason rather than theological
doctrine. Socrates pointed out that human choice was
motivated by the desire for happiness.

• The Socratic method, also known as method of

Elenchus, elenctic method, or Socratic debate, is a
form of cooperative argumentative dialogue between
individuals, based on asking and answering questions
to stimulate critical thinking and to draw out ideas and
underlying presuppositions.
Plato (428/427 - 348/347 BCE)

• Plato is considered the pre-eminent Greek

Philosopher, known for his Dialogues and for
founding his Academy north of Athens,
traditionally considered the first university in
the western world.

• Plato was a student of Socrates and a

teacher of Aristotle. His writings explored
justice, beauty and equality, and also
contained discussions in aesthetics,
political philosophy, theology, cosmology,
epistemology and the philosophy of
language.
Aristotle (384 B.C. to 322 B.C.)

• Aristotle (c. 384 B.C. to 322 B.C.) was an Ancient

Greek philosopher and scientist who is still
considered one of the greatest thinkers in politics,
psychology and ethics. In 335, Aristotle founded his
own school, the Lyceum, in Athens, where he spent
most of the rest of his life studying, teaching and
writing.

• Aristotle famously rejected Plato's theory of forms,

which states that properties such as beauty are
abstract universal entities that exist independent of
the objects themselves. Instead, he argued that
forms are intrinsic to the objects and cannot exist
apart from them, and so must be studied in relation
to them.