There have been several great civilizations in history, but they all eventually fell. Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, and the Middle Ages were all great powers in their time, but eventually lost power. Mesopotamia or "the land between the rivers", as it was called by the Greeks, was a crossroads of 3 continents. It was an important port, they specialized in trading a purple dye that was difficult to produce. They had a king who communicated through the gods, unlike the Egyptian king, who was seen as a god. In Sumer they discovered how to use wheels for a purpose and how to use animals for agriculture. They invented chariots, using wheels and their horses; it gave the military a great advantage over their enemies on foot. But there were many rivalries between the cities, each city worshiping a different god. They often fought to exalt their city above others and fought over the river. Mesopotamian priests were selected from the aristocracy, their social system was made up of free and dependent people. The employees were, for the most part, slaves; although in Mesopotamia slaves had some rights. Their government was similar to a democracy. Eventually Hammurabi, also known as "judge" and "legislator", came to power, Mesopotamia achieved a certain degree of political integration by creating rules to govern the people. The most important contributions of Mesopotamia are metal smelting, weapons and jewelry, cuneiform writing (wedge-shaped writing) and scribes. The culture of Greece was shaped by the Minoans, the Mycenaeans, the Phoenicians and the Dorians. Greece was located in the southern part of Europe. They are famous for three products they produce: cereals, olives, from which olive oil was produced, and grapes. The Greeks became master shipbuilders because they live... middle of paper... and both love to live in "luxury". There is a saying by George Santayana: “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” That's why we need to know our past, so we can prevent it from happening again in the future. All these civilizations have become very powerful, yet they have all fallen. But they created a legacy that we should all learn from as we move forward into the future. Works CitedBoardman, John. "Greece: the rise without fall". Common Knowledge 11.2 (2005): 306-310. Premier of academic research. Network. November 25, 2013.Cole, Joshua, Carol Symes, Judith G. Coffin, and Robert C. Stacey. Western civilizations: their history and culture. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2012. Print.Norman, Yoffee. "American Antiquities". Society for American Archeology 44.1 (1979): 5-35. http://www.jstor.org/stable/279187. Net.