What is your favorite Ancient Civilization??

You know ... one that you really relate to

Wanted to live then, or love to study it, or are inspired by it!

Ancient history these days.

After the Romans left and before William the Conquerer. I'd really like to learn more about these times. This despite being English.

Mark.

I have had dreams about this city with a bridge (or possibly an aqueduct?) that swallows nest under. The city is very prosperous, and the swallows are its symbol. Unfortunately, the extremely wealthy people in the city develop a fad of keeping swallows captive, and they clip the swallows' wing-feathers. This is extremely horrible because swallows can't really walk, so these poor birds who are used to moving so fast have nothing to do but just...sit there, all day. They can't even turn around by themselves, they just face in whatever direction the owner turns them. In the dreams, I am very concerned about the plight of these swallows, and I usually spend the dream trying to tell people that what they're doing is wrong and will somehow cause a disaster.

The style of the architecture in the swallow-bridge dreams looks Minoan to me.

Tucker

The rise of city-states, their Gods and Goddesses, their sculptures and philosophers, and the Sparta-Athens conflict (The Peloponnesian War) are all very interesting.

I wish I knew more about it.

long boats, mead...pillage...:) I was tempted to go back to my indian roots, but the viking side ,is appealing...:)

They laid down the law
In Mesopotamia

:thumbsup:

There's a lot of ruins in Mesopotamia. :applause:

Mesoamerica also had some interesting early civilizations.

More about Nubia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nubian_pyramids

For style alone. Nothing says old time religion like Jackal headed men and bird headed men and gator headed men and well you get the point. Rome was a close second though.

The pyramids, the sphinx, the cities, the tombs....

Really amazing what you can do with a little slave labor...

but hardly any ancient civilization will be free of slave labor.

Although, as to the Sphinx.. I have heard different thories that say that it's older than anything else and may have been there earlier than Eqypt... spooky yes?

they were hired hands, and actually ha dunions and went on strike

The 1st european civilization
So little is known, so much is appealing

but the minoan is appealing as well.

celtic culture would be interesting -- as well as preceltic culture in the british isles.

Raw naked use of power. Cast all morality aside.

Stongehenge and all...

When the Druids arrived in Britain.

Stonehenge, where the demons dwell
Where the banshees live and they do live well
Stonehenge
Where a man is a man and the children dance to
the pipes of pan
Stonehenge
Tis a magic place where the moon doth rise
With a dragon's face
Stonehenge
Where the virgins lie
And the prayer of devils fill the midnight sky

And you my love, won't you take my hand
We'll go back in time to that mystic land
Where the dew drops cry and the cats meow
I will take you there
I will show you how

Back when the Europeans were reverting to club-carrying Neanderthals, the Muslims were making huge advances in the arts and sciences. Furthermore, their level of tolerance of other religions rivaled that of the U.S.

Personally, I would have loved to have lived in Al-Andalus (Muslim Spain) before the Reconquesta.

I'd just join the Cult of Bacchus and die of pure debauchery by the time I was 30 :evilgrin:

wanna see those big boys alive and doing their thing and who is to say that they were NOT civilized???

:yoiks:

Well? I said that I liked parsley.










Post a random link from My DU!


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=214&topic_id=69094&mesg_id=69943

a very interesting and peculiar civilization with very sophisticated knowledge about art, science, engineering and math with a language that is still mostly unknown and debated origins....

Me luvs Etruscans!

There are so many fascinating cultures, though, it's tough to narrow it down.

It was the oldest civilization of the all.

Revere the earth. Where most of the customs were stolen by the Christians.

Or from regions that were christian free?

:applause:

They were the forerunners for Roman Art, Engineering and Shipping. For some reason I've always been facinated by the Etruscans.

egalitarian, masking of wealth and power, and a general culture that started buddhism

Harrapan? Is that what it is called?

I don't recall if Harrapan followed the Indus culture, or if it was a part of it

Got me on that one!

:evilgrin:

I would love to be able to see Knossos or Mycenae or Athens during their golden ages. Actually, all of the ones you mention.

LOL!!

in the ancient western world.

They are the only ones who seemed to have it right!

as a female, I wouldn't choose any of the other cultures.

Basically, living in a "first" world country in 2006 is probably the best option for women.

in 2100. Maybe there'll be more progress by then...

Oh, and I should have added earlier that I wouldn't have chosen Egypt because I hate the heat!

or whas that just a "B" movie plot??

What's not to like?

Plus: they had flush toilets (in 1500 BC) the likes of which were not seen again until Victorian England. Now that's having your priorities straight@

That can't have been fun, flush toilets or no flush toilets.

Come on, the only other society in history that would be big supporters of UFOs would be the Egyptians.

beach blanket anthropology

Or Seal Beach???
Or "Tin Can" beach???? (thats trivia for you!)

I don't know much about them, but I have the immigrant song on I-tunes.

Fram! Fram!

If they had played their cards right, the "Roman Peace" could have been spread throughout the world. Who knows what could have become of the world if we had a single unified government for a thousand years or more? Rome had many flaws & warts, but so did every other civilization... and even though Alexander the Great before them & the Mongols after them conquered much, I don't know if either would have been able to hold it together like the Romans could have.

Here you have a prosperous society that lasted with only minor interruptions for over 2000 years. It was a system that worked so well that foreign conquerers, the successful ones that is, just basicly let it keep on rolling along with very few changes.

Women had greater rights there than they did in almost any part of the ancient world.

Workers had considerable rights. Far from the pyramids being built by slaves we now know that they were constructed by paid labor. Most of the work was conducted during the inundation season when most people were unable to work on their farms. Workers who died during the construction had the honor of being buried in the shadow of the king's tomb.

There was a great ethic of working toward the common good and a surprising degree of humanitarianism.

I'm also intrigued by ancient Crete but sadly we don't know much about them and there may be some real unpleasant stuff (human sacrifice etc) beneath the surface of a seemingly beautiful society.

The cradle of western civilization.

Of course, I answered Egypt. I had big plans to become an archaeologist and discover untold treasures of ancient Egypt. Yeah, that worked out.... :P But I still love ancient Egypt.

Chronicle of the Roman Republic
Chronicle of the Roman Empire
Chronicle of the Pharaohs

Timelines and stuff about all the rulers

I have Chronicle of the Pharaohs, but I'll definitely check out the other two. :D Thank you! :hi:

and those cliff homes... scary!

are Sumeria and the Anasazi. Both civilizations must have been founded by aliens, because they were both so advanced it was painful to see them disappear. Another favorite, of course, is Atlantis, which may or may not have existed. :)

One love for native appalachians...

:rofl:

Languishing behind for several days Greece made a pig push overnight to tie for 1st place.

Egyptianis in at 3rd with Roman and Minoan(Crete) rounding out the top 5!

the ones that the runways were built for

awesome artwork. Great tattoos.

Although Greek is 2nd.

or, barring that, the Byzantine Empire.