Notes

http://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780190240455/stu_res/ch1/fc/
chapter 1:
bronze age: the period between 4000 and 1500 BCE characterized by the ability of ancient Near East inhabitants to smelt copper (and its alloy, bronze, which combines copper with tin) for weapons, farm implements, and tools.
civilization: a way of life based in cities with dense populations organized as political states, large buildings constructed for communal activities, the production of food, diverse economies, a sense of local identity, and some knowledge of writing.
Cuneiform: Technique of writing developed in Mesopotamia whereby wedge-shaped marks were impressed in clay tablets.
empire: A centralized political entity consolidated through the conquest and colonization of other regions and peoples to benefit the ruler and his homeland.
En-Heduanna: (ca. 2285–2250 BCE) Daughter of King Sargon of Akkad and the poet who is the world's first author known by name.
**Fertile Crescent: The region of the Middle East roughly framed by the Mediterranean to the west, the Arabian peninsula to the south, and the Tarsus and Zagros mountains to the north and east. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow through the center of this region, whose rich soils and abundant water gave rise to early agriculture. The Fertile Crescent connected central Asian and eastern Mediterranean economies.