Name four ways in which the ancient civilizations were similar

One of the most common things for every major ancient civilization is that it was settled around a big water source - think about the river Nile in Egypt for example. This had a good reason as well.

Having a steady water source enabled people to grow crops (another way how ancient civilizations were similar).

Every civilization was growing crops where farmers seemed to represent the majority of people and tended to the needs of their own civilization and fed them. 

Another common thing was that every civilization was socially stratified - they had either priests or some sort of group of people that were involved in spiritual practice, they had nobility, merchants, traders, craftsmen, and farmers. How this social pyramid looked like depended on the civilization itself, but having the pyramid in the first place was something tha is also shared among ancient civilizations.