Post 2: 15 Facts

1. The Sumerians developed a calendar based on the moon
2. Sumerian writing is called cuneiform
3. Sumerians practiced polytheism, the belief in many gods
4. The Assyrians were the  first soldiers on horseback.
5. The Epic of Gilgamesh reflects Sumerian beliefs about life and death
6. Hitties were one of the first people to smelt iron
7. The Code of Hammurabi was a collection of Babyloian laws which dealt with all aspects of life
8. The present-day regions of Israel, Lebanon, and Syria were once called Phoenicia
9. The Phoenicians invented the art of glass-blowing
10. The alphabet was developed by the Phoenicians
11. Lydians were the first people to use coined money
12. Cyrus the Great was the Persian king who captured Babylon and took over the rest of the Fertile Crescent.
13. Zoroaster is the Persian prophet and teacher who developed an influential religious philosophy.
14. The strip of fertile land that begins at the Isthmus of Suez and arcs through Southwest Asia to the Persian Gulf is called the fertile crescent
15. Sumerians invented the arch