- Joined
- Nov 16, 2005
- Messages
- 19,231
- Reaction score
- 1,273
- Gender
- Hidden
- Country
-
Anybody here with more than a fleeting interest in Ancient Civilizations?
I'm talking about like Ancient Mesopotamia, Persia, Egypt, China, India, Tibet, Japan, Greece, Rome, Celts, Vikings, Aztecs, Maya, Incas.
Pretty much any civilization before the world started growing considerably smaller with increased trading voyages across the seas.
Really, if you think about it, it's astonishing that as long as humans have lived here on this world (four million years, if you count the earliest hominids, 250,000 years if you only go as far back as homo sapiens), "civilizations" have only existed for roughly 6,000 years.
That's like... an incredibly short time in our history! And already we've come this far, at this rate, who knows what this big ball of blue of ours will be like in another 3,000 years from now?
But no way to really know what the future will be like, so let's just dig up the past instead for now and talk about it =) But what part of the ancient world are YOU guys interested in the most?
Also, another quick question for you smart people: do you happen to know what the four earliest civilizations in the world are generally agreed to be? A cookie for the first one who gets it right.
-----------------------------------------------------------Important - What Are Civilizations?
It's important to remember what exactly civilizations are as opposed to say a village of neanderthals. There are six basic details that usually are enough to define a civilization, and they are:
1. Cities: They become the focus points for political, economic, social, cultural, and religious development.
2. Religions: Gods are deemed crucial to the community's success, and professional priestly classes serve as intermediates between the people and the gods.
3. Politics and Armies: A government bureaucracy meet the demands of a growing population and a military is created to gain land and power.
4. Social Structures: We have more social structures based on economic power - kings, upper class of priests, political leaders, warriors, farmers, artisans, craftspeople, and slaves.
5. Writing: With the development of writing, records are more easily kept on a daily basis.
6. Significant Artistic & Intellectual Activity: usually monumental and religious architecture.
----------------------------------------------------------- Points of Interest for Discussion:
1. Rises and Falls of these Civilizations
2. Cultures of these Civilizations (How they lived, etc.)
3. Mythologies...! C'mon, who doesn't love a little interesting mythology
EDIT: We now have a Mythologies Thread. Go forth and chat
And as an art historian I'm pretty interested in artistic accomplishments too. =)
I'm talking about like Ancient Mesopotamia, Persia, Egypt, China, India, Tibet, Japan, Greece, Rome, Celts, Vikings, Aztecs, Maya, Incas.
Pretty much any civilization before the world started growing considerably smaller with increased trading voyages across the seas.
Really, if you think about it, it's astonishing that as long as humans have lived here on this world (four million years, if you count the earliest hominids, 250,000 years if you only go as far back as homo sapiens), "civilizations" have only existed for roughly 6,000 years.
That's like... an incredibly short time in our history! And already we've come this far, at this rate, who knows what this big ball of blue of ours will be like in another 3,000 years from now?
But no way to really know what the future will be like, so let's just dig up the past instead for now and talk about it =) But what part of the ancient world are YOU guys interested in the most?
Also, another quick question for you smart people: do you happen to know what the four earliest civilizations in the world are generally agreed to be? A cookie for the first one who gets it right.
-----------------------------------------------------------Important - What Are Civilizations?
It's important to remember what exactly civilizations are as opposed to say a village of neanderthals. There are six basic details that usually are enough to define a civilization, and they are:
1. Cities: They become the focus points for political, economic, social, cultural, and religious development.
2. Religions: Gods are deemed crucial to the community's success, and professional priestly classes serve as intermediates between the people and the gods.
3. Politics and Armies: A government bureaucracy meet the demands of a growing population and a military is created to gain land and power.
4. Social Structures: We have more social structures based on economic power - kings, upper class of priests, political leaders, warriors, farmers, artisans, craftspeople, and slaves.
5. Writing: With the development of writing, records are more easily kept on a daily basis.
6. Significant Artistic & Intellectual Activity: usually monumental and religious architecture.
----------------------------------------------------------- Points of Interest for Discussion:
1. Rises and Falls of these Civilizations
2. Cultures of these Civilizations (How they lived, etc.)
3. Mythologies...! C'mon, who doesn't love a little interesting mythology
EDIT: We now have a Mythologies Thread. Go forth and chat
And as an art historian I'm pretty interested in artistic accomplishments too. =)
Last edited by a moderator:
