Innovations and Achievements Throughout Society
Cuneiform: The First form of writing .
The Wheel: Sumerians were the first people to make wheeled vehicles.
Sewers: The format and idea of sewers.
Architecture: They engineered the science of building.
Music: They made reed pipes, drums and tambourines
Hieroglyphics: Egyptians were the first to carve in stone or other hard materials.
Paper: The first paper was called papyrus, which was made of dried papyrus leaves.
Makeup: They used minerals to create the first eyeshadow.
Mummification: They learned how to mummify people before burying them.
Time keeping: They created the first clock-like objects and cycle to keep track of time.
First democracy: They created the first idea of citizen participation in government.
First historians: Greeks were the first people to analyze history with full knowledge and an intellectual aspect.
Invented the rules of geometry: The Greeks were the first people to fully analyze many mathematical ides.
First people to take a scientific approach to medicine: They began to study diseases to find cures for them.
They created the Olympic games: The idea of the Olympic games was the tale of games made in honor of Zeus, and of competitors who would try to prove their worthiness to him.
Concrete: Romans created the first mixture of concrete.
Roads: They were the first civilization to properly create brick roads and correct locations to put them so they would meet and create appropriate paths.
Aqueducts: They created bridge-like structures which carried fresh water from outside the cities into the homes of citizens.
Julian Calendar: Using an old calendar based on the lunar cycle, Romans renovated the calendar and added days to the months.
Newspapers: Romans created the first newspapers, which were rocks engraved with news.
Christianity: The Byzantine Emperors spread their brand of Christianity throughout Russia and Eastern Europe.
Weapons: The Byzantine navy invented an ancient flamethrower called “Greek Fire” that it used it battles with other navies.
Preservation of Ancient Learning: Thanks to the work of Byzantine scholars who escaped the Turkish conquest of Constantinople, thousands of ancient Greek and Roman manuscripts were preserved.
Art: The Byzantines perfected the art of mosaic painting.
Law: The Byzantine Emperor Justinian compiled a code of laws that served as a model and foundation for many modern law codes.