Contributions of the Ancients to Western Civilization

From the Mesopotamian, Egyptians, Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans, you can find pieces of our civilization today, whether it is in art, literature, architecture, law, or religion. Each of these great civilizations provided to modern society in one way or another and will continue though time. Lets take a brief look at the different attributes each civilization gave to the world today.
The Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations were the first noted in history. They revolutionized writing, started a formalized religion, created laws to govern the people and wrote them down, and started great building projects. The Mesopotamian's are well known as living in the Fertile Crescent, or modern day Iraq. Hammurabi wrote the Hammurabi code that is very famous for stating “an eye for an eye.” The Egyptians were most famously known for their pyramids, to this day we are still not sure how they built them completely. Their religion was a bit different in that the pharaoh was considered to be a god. Also, the Hebrews gained skills and knowledge from the Egyptians that would help them later in building their own culture and civilization. The greatest contribution the Egyptians gave to the Christian mind was the circumstance of slavery and eventual exodus of the Hebrew people. These civilizations created a baseline for follow on civilizations in their development and survival through ages.
The Hebrew people have the first written scripture recorded. This scripture provides the base of the Hebrew religion as well as document the history of these people. The Hebrew people were the first to adopt a monotheistic religion and implemented a stricter ethical system that involved working together and taking care of each other. The greatest contribution the Hebrew civilization provided was the scriptures which provide the base of the Christian and Jewish faith and the linear concept of history.
The Greeks maintained a religion but began to separate the conduct of the state from the...