History’s first empire rose out of a hot, dry landscape, without rainfall to nourish crops, without trees or stones for building. In spite of all this, its inhabitants built the world’s first cities, with monumental architecture and large populations— and they built them entirely out of the mud.

历史上的第一个帝国崛起于炎热、干燥的土地上，没有雨水滋润农作物，没有树木或石头来建造。尽管如此，这里的居民还是建造了世界上最早的城市，拥有不朽的建筑和大量的人口-而且他们完全是用泥巴建造的。