Steinkeller (1999) assumes that in early Mesopotamia kings drew their power from being priests for female deities. After a male deities became more prominent in the pantheon a split of secular and sacred power took place which led to the invention of the military leader who assumed secular power and became the king. The earliest kings were likely war chiefs who managed to leverage their control of these parties to gain power. These early kings ruled through their own charisma and control of the parties, however in order to institutionalise their power and create dynasties they crafted a specific ideology.

Scribes were very important people. They were trained to write cuneiform and record many of the languages spoken in Mesopotamia. Without scribes, letters would not have been written or read, royal monuments would not have been carved with cuneiform, and stories would have been told and then forgotten. Over thousands of years, Mesopotamian scribes recorded daily events, trade, astronomy, and literature on clay tablets. Cuneiform was used by people throughout the ancient Near East to write several different languages.

Large expansion of Roman territory was in a less advanced state. Transhumance was spread in the countryside of Numidia. These pastoral and semi-nomadic communities were often on the move, carrying their oven-shaped huts (called mapalia). 

Humanism:

1. It means the service of humanity irrespective of caste, colour or creed.

2. The writers of the Renaissance age took up their subjects from the Bible. But their aim was the welfare of all mankind.

3. The power of reasoning of man is very fine; His inner faculties are unlimited. His body is the temple of living God. He is supreme among God's creations.

• Agriculture began between 7000 and 6000 BCE.
• Soil was very fertile here but agriculture was threatened because of natural causes.
• Ur, Lagash, Kish, Uruk and Mari were some of its important cities.

Characteristics of Civilization

All civilizations have certain characteristics. These include:

(1) large population centers

(2) monumental architecture and unique art styles

(3) shared communication strategies

(4) systems for administering territories

(5) a complex division of labor

(6) the division of people into social and economic classes.

Urban Areas

Large population centers, or urban areas (1), allow civilizations to develop, although people who live outside these urban centers are still part of that region’s civilization. Rural residents of civilizations may include farmers, fishers, and traders, who regularly sell their goods and services to urban residents.

1. Agriculture and animal rearing were carried out close to each other in this region. Some communities in the kingdom of Mari had both farmers and pastoralists, but most of its territory was used for pasturing sheep and goats.

2. Herders need to exchange young animals, cheese, leather and meat in return for grain, metal tools, etc., and the manure of a penned flock is also of great use to a farmer. Yet, at the same time, there may be conflict.

3. A shepherd may take his flock to water across a sown field, to the ruin of the crop. Herdsmen being mobile can raid agricultural villages and seize their stored goods. For their part, settled groups may deny pastoralists access to river and canal water along a certain set of paths.

The traditional religious culture:

(i) The traditional religious culture of the classical world, both Greek and Roman, had been polytheist . That is, it involved a multiplicity of cults that included both Roman/Italian gods like Jupiter, Juno, Minerva and Mars, as well as numerous Greek and eastern deities worshipped in thousands of temples, shrines and sanctuaries throughout the empire.

(ii) Polytheists had no common name or label to describe themselves. The other great religious tradition in the empire was Judaism. But Judaism was not a monolith either, and there was a great deal of diversity within the Jewish communities of late antiquity.

(iii) Thus, the ‘Christianisation, of the empire in the fourth and fifth centuries was a gradual and complex process. Polytheism did not disappear overnight, especially in the western provinces, where the Christian bishops waged a running battle against beliefs and practices they condemned more than the Christian laity did.

(iv) The boundaries between religious communities were much more fluid in the fourth century than they would become thanks to the repeated efforts of religious leaders, the powerful bishops who now led the Church, to rein in their followers and enforce a more rigid set of beliefs and practices.

The culture of ancient Rome existed throughout the almost 1200-year history of the civilization of Ancient Rome. The term refers to the culture of the Roman Republic, later the Roman Empire, which at its peak covered an area from Lowland Scotland and Morocco to the Euphrates.

Life in ancient Rome revolved around the city of Rome, its famed seven hills, and its monumental architecture such as the Colosseum, Trajan's Forum, and the Pantheon. The city also had several theaters, gymnasia, and many taverns, baths, and brothels. Throughout the territory under ancient Rome's control, residential architecture ranged from very modest houses to country villas, and in the capital city of Rome, there were imperial residences on the elegant Palatine Hill, from which the word palace is derived. The vast majority of the population lived in the city center, packed into insulae (apartment blocks).

The solidus was introduced by Diocletian in AD 301 as a replacement of the aureus, composed of relatively solid gold, minted 60 to the Roman pound.

Iberian Uniqueness in the Arab Invasion of Spain

In the spring of the year AD 711, the Visigothic kingdom of Iberia was invaded and conquered by an army from the nearby Muslim Empire.

• During 612-32, the Prophet Muhammad preached the worship of a single God, Allah, and the membership of a single community of believers (umma). This was the origin of Islam.
• Around 612, Muhammad declared himself to be the messenger (rasul) of God who had been commanded to preach that Allah alone should be worshipped.
• In 622, Muhammad was forced to migrate with his followers to Medina. Muhammad’s journey from Mecca (hijra) was a turning point in the history of Islam, with the year of his arrival in Medina marking the beginning of the Muslim calendar.

Large expansion of Roman territory was in a less advanced state. Transhumance was spread in the countryside of Numidia. These pastoral and semi-nomadic communities were often on the move, carrying their oven-shaped huts (called mapalia). As Roman estates expanded in North Africa, the pastures of those communities were hugely reduced and their movements more tightly regulated. Even in Spain the north was much less developed, and inhabited largely by a Celtic-speaking peasantry that lived in hilltop villages called castella.

Large expansion of Roman territory was in a less advanced state. Transhumance was spread in the countryside of Numidia. These pastoral and semi-nomadic communities were often on the move, carrying their oven-shaped huts (called mapalia). As Roman estates expanded in North Africa, the pastures of those communities were hugely reduced and their movements more tightly regulated. Even in Spain the north was much less developed, and inhabited largely by a Celtic-speaking peasantry that lived in hilltop villages called castella.

The animal husbandry i.e.. livestock rearing includes cattle breeding, goats, fowl rearing, etc. Livestock production provides stable income, food security, fuel and nutrition for the family, in rural areas. In India, more than 70 million small and marginal farmers have got alternate livelihood options from animal husbandry.

If the distribution of livestock rearing is taken into consideration, the poultry accounts for the largest share. The other animals which include camels, asses, horses, etc., are also found remunerative. In India, we have about 28.7 crores of cattle including 9 crores of buffaloes.

The performance of Indian diary sector has been remarkable in the past few decades. This is mainly because of implementation of’Operation Flood. It is a system whereby all the farmers can pool their milk produced according to different gradings and the same is processed and marketed to urban centres. In this, the farmers are assured of fair price and minimum income from the supply of milk to urban areas.

The animal husbandry is undertaken to develop organic farming by developing green manure and the animal waste is being used to produce gobar gas in rural areas. Meat, eggs, wool and other byproducts are also emerging as important productive sectors in animal husbandry. 

Under the influence of Greek philosophy and science, the Islamic philosophers developed an alternative vision of God and the universe. In the schools of Alexandria, Syria and Mesopotamia, Greek philosophy, mathematics and medicine were taught along with other subjects.