ABSTRACT
The two great Western civilizations that fol-lowed the dramatic agricultural changes of the Neolithic period both arose in the Middle East, in arid regions watered by great rivers: Egypt along the banks of the Nile; and the successive cultures of Mesopotamia in the broad valley watered by two parallel rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. It was the control of these river waters that made intensive agriculture possible in both regions and, with the resulting abundance of food, the rise of urban cultures and the art and architecture supported by them.
