Great civilizations of Ancient Middle East brought to you as perfect hand painted figures. Home to the Cradle of Civilization, the Middle East—interchangeable with the Near East—has seen many of the world’s oldest cultures and civilizations. Large parts of the Middle East became a war ground between the Ottomans and the Iranian Safavid dynasty for centuries. The Nile valley of Lower and Upper Egypt was unified under the Pharaohs approximately around 3150 BC.

Thereafter, civilization quickly spread through the Fertile Crescent to the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea and throughout the Levant, as well as to ancient Anatolia. Ancient Levantine kingdoms and city states included Ebla City, Ugarit City, Kingdom of Aram-Damascus, Kingdom of Israel, Kingdom of Judah, Kingdom of Ammon, Kingdom of Moab, Kingdom of Edom, and the Nabatean kingdom. The Phoenician civilization, encompassing several city states, was a maritime trading culture that established colonial cities in the Mediterranean Basin, most notably Carthage, in 814 BC.