Middle East "firsts" - and discussion of why these important, and possible reasons for their appearance first in the MIddle East

• most staple food crops first cultivated
• most farm animals first domesticated
• earliest agricultural villages founded
• oldest cities
• first governments
• earliest religious and legal systems
• earliest writing and preservation of records

Two main qualities that appear to have exited in Middle East from "early on"

• human societies - small and often family groups
• but also large cultural, religious, political entities

Discussion of personal identities in Middle East -

• language
• religion
• "biology"
• culture

Alexander the "Great" - and Hellenistic developments in Middle East
Why Rome came and what Rome did in the Middle East