Ancient Mythology Summary

1) The connection between Mesopotamia and the development of civilization is the Sumerian tribe that arrived to that land. They were the first to read and write, and city-states rumored to have civilizations evolve around them are found surrounding Mesopotamia. Additionally, many of the first creation stories include Mesopotamia as the birthplace of civilization.

2) The debate regarding Pythagoras and his theorem is very strong because not much is known of him since neither he nor his pupils left many writings, thus we only know some facts from contradicting accounts written two centuries after his death. However, it is now known that he did not discover the Pythagorean Theorem nor the connection established between musical intervals and simple

It is the naming that makes the separation if chaos into cosmos, when things with names begin to exist. Medieval theologians imposed on this creation story the concept that the world was created ex nihilo (out of nothing).

4) Atomism tells us that everything in the universe is fashioned out of small invisible and eternally existing particles called atoms. Certain qualities of atoms explain why different substances have different attributes.

5) According to Plato, geometrical shapes relative to the Pythagorean philosophy apply to our world by existing in the Platonic world. For example, the motion of the heavens can be described as circular and in Pythagorean philosophy the circle is the perfect, idealized shape. As well, planets were also presumed to follow a spherical orbit. Another philosophy inherited from Pythagoras is that cosmos is a place of order and goodness.

6) The clash between their interests was that Plato based his idea of nature and life on mathematical evidence and scientific proof, while Aristotle made conclusions about the world based his vague observations, lacking any concrete verification of his