The area was once criss-crossed by ancient trade routes that played a vital role in the development of many of the region's greatest civilisations.
Speaking and reading Mandarin or Pŭtōnghuà will give you contact with one of the world's greatest civilisations, richest histories and most important nations in the emerging world.
Its other particular strength is archaeology, with magnificent collections from Egypt, Greece, Rome and the Middle East which tell the stories of the ancient world's greatest civilisations.
Iranians think of themselves as having been part of a great civilisation.
Now, however, the doomed dreamers have been proved right: there was a great civilisation.
Forlorn skyscrapers peek from the tide, reminders of a once-great civilisation.
Dogs were run through a provincial town with placards marked "Towards the Great Civilisation" pinned to their rumps.
"We come to Iraq with respect for its citizens, for their great civilisation and for the religious faiths they practise.
The inhabitants of the heartland are descendants of the rugged pioneers who carved a great civilisation out of mountains and prairies.
The film opens with a quote about the Roman empire from Will Durant: "A great civilisation is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within".
