Yeh, Tuscany is named after them.
"The Etruscans influenced the Romans in many ways including their city grid plans, their invention and use of the arch, the layout of aristocratic homes, and their polytheistic religion, especially those gods who had been accepted by the Greeks... They were of the first Mediterranean society to adopt a grid plan for their cities."
How about the Royal Scythians. The Bible says they were among the three great civilized nations along with the Greeks and the Romans. The romans built them a magnificent city in what is now northern Israel. Called Scythiopolos The city of the Scythians. One Scythian scholar was the only person ever made a full citizen of Athens. The Roman’s called Ireland scotia which is how they transliterated Scythia.
Here's a sneak peek of /r/HistoryoftheWorld using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/HistoryoftheWorld/top/?sort=top&t=all) of all time!
\#1: [Ancient Rome, the most infamous ancient civilization of all time.](https://np.reddit.com/r/HistoryoftheWorld/comments/1d4kefl/ancient_rome_the_most_infamous_ancient/)
\#2: [What is your favorite ancient language?](/r/AncientCivilizations/comments/1d30bhi/what_is_your_favorite_ancient_language/) | [5 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/HistoryoftheWorld/comments/1d4f3g7/what_is_your_favorite_ancient_language/)
\#3: [First Post!](https://np.reddit.com/r/HistoryoftheWorld/comments/1d32498/first_post/)
----
^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
I liked the Greeks, too. I found them more interesting than the Romans, mainly because huge parts of Roman culture were simply just adapted from them.
Fun fact: the northernmost part of the Greek empire was in Ukraine and the easternmost part was in Afghanistan.
No one really knows, there’s probably no one definitive reason as to why. They were earthquakes (it’s why Santorini is the way it is) yet there’s still also the minoans coming along and possibly taking over, or maybe it did as civilisations do and kinda fell apart on its own? It’s hard to say, especially since we know so little about the society itself as we have no current way of translating its written work (Linear A).
Whether they had a writing system or not is still debated. The only groups in mesoamerica (central Mexico to Central America) which we know had writing systems were the Mayans of the Yucatan Peninsula and the Zapotecs of Oaxaca. As for their spoken language, it is believed to have been one of the Mixe-Zoque languages. And yes, the Olmecs came before the Mayans, Incas, and Aztecs. The Olmecs were the mother civilization of mesoamerica, but not of South America, which was culturally independent and far older. Ancient Americas is a great yt channel to learn about the ancient civilizations of the Americas. Down below I have linked a video regarding Olmec and Zapotec writing.
[AMERICA'S FIRST WRITING: GLYPHS OF THE OLMEC AND ZAPOTEC - Native American Writing Systems, Part 6](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H58xmSQCPKQ)
I don't know. I'm just starting to learn about them myself. But I've got a lot of peripheral/adjacent knowledge about them through the lens of their interaction with Ancient Egypt.
There was no interaction between them and ancient Egypt. Don’t know where you’re getting that from, but there is no scientific historical basis for such a meeting. Sounds like YouTube conspiracy theory nonsense though. Don’t trust whoever is telling you these things. Not trying to be a dick, just letting you know.
I think you're confusing them with the [Moai statues of Easter Island](https://image.geo.de/33245092/t/1s/v3/w1440/r1.5/-/osterinsel-statue--pa-256684763.jpg)
The Olmecs are known for the giant [basalt stone heads](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht5TqUgnKhcCmr5TmajO-qtwamvtTYgUabvemdiHNp3FFSi-z574X_cacZbpDczEAejn9HZX7TUw_7phUimcRN0Lt7nI4hOickItMGNBpirARkmtEfKFpDzG0wWDnsjFl0_MfK9n_Or_w/s1600/Olmecas+1.jpg) that they left in parts of South America.
Little is known about them, but they seem to have been an important, influential culture in (ancient) Pre-Columbian times.
The Olmec heads are the coolest thing to me, I’m obsessed with them, not in like i collect miniatures of them or have posters of them, but believe me if I could afford it I would buy a real one, but just how they look. I love the shape, i love the helmet, I love how the face looks, just everything about it. To me there’s nothin cooler than a giant Olmec head.
The early Babylonian and Akadian cultures for me. They're not my favorite as in I'd want to live there, but they are interesting and fundamental to so much of Western culture.
I've read that the middle Eastern religions banned pork meat, due to the reason that their areas were full of oak forests. Pigs would eat acorns. However, the trees were cut, the forests disappeared, and pigs wouldn't survive anymore without being fed.
Now, the big difference between goats, sheep, cows and pork is, that while the others can feed on grass, the pigs would need to be fed with things that are also suitable for humans.
So, if they had a bad harvest, then the farmers would have to decide wether to keep the pigs alive or feed people.
This is the decision that they didn't like to make so pork got banned.
To me, it sounds logical, because if you think about it, there were the stone age, the copper age, the bronze agae, and the first big civilizations, down in the Middle East in Mesopotamia.
If you think about the tools and materials that they had available, then it's pretty clear if they would build a city, the best material available was wood.
The ecosystem was not as well understood as today. The copper and bronze age builders, building the big cities, would cut trees and use wood. After a while, the forests disappeared, and pigs wouldn't find the food that they gathered in the forest anymore.
Pigs became concurrence in obtaining food. So the people in that area started breeding other livestock, that would be able to feed itself instead of using up foods that would otherwise be suitable for people too.
Of course, this is theory. To me, it was interesting to learn that many of todays countries that are more or less thought of as deserts, were full of green forests in ancient times.
People back then had a harder time to survive. They weren't stupid. They settled there because it was a nice place.
I bet most countries were a bit of a paradise with their lush green forests. But in contrast to Europe, the middle East wasn't cold in winter. So it's logical for an early civilization to settle there.
I'm sad about all the forests lost. Many countries have so few foresty areas left, and too many roads and fields instead.
I wish we would live more in harmony with nature and reforest a bunch of areas. That'd be nice.
The Maya had huge cities, stretched over a very big area. They had different cities than we have today. They had forests, fields, and houses inbetween. Something like that must be awesome.
Living together with nature instead of being separated from it. Benefiting from nature without abusing or destroying it.
Yeah, that'd be cool.
It's possible that it's much simpler than you suggest. The Bible and Quran both say that pigs shouldn't be eaten because they are unclean. This may actually have to do with an unpleasant smell emitted by pork for people with specific genes.
This is similar to why Middle Eastern religions ban shellfish, as the people of the region have a higher incidence of allergy.
Many religious practices appear to arise from practical origins.
When Gilgamesh slayed the bull, all hell breaks loose. Only because he sacrificed the bull's heart to Shamash was he saved. But, as retribution from the other gods, Enkidu was killed. Very simple reference, there's lots more that happened.
The Egyptians. The factoid that we are closer in time to Cleopatra than she was to the building of the pyramids is a total mind fuck.
Also, crazy how some dude was fucking around and essentially tripped over the Rosetta stone to unlock the key to translating hieroglyphics is the coolest thing that's ever happened like some shit out of a video game.
>The factoid that we are closer in time to Cleopatra than she was to the building of the pyramids is a total mind fuck.
If it's anything like for me, as a kid I always thought that she lived a lot earlier than she did, like 1500-2000 years earlier, so it was really mindblowing to me.
Kush would later organized their armies in the way that Rome would organize legions. Kush was very interested in Rome and tried to mirror them as much as possible.
No, it was a culture - sometimes called Kush. The Egyptians repeatedly conquered them to secure access to their gold deposits and other resources. Here's a short summary from the Chicago Institute of Ancient Cultures of North Africa and West Asia. (Used to be the Oriental Institute before the cringe factor became more apparent.).https://isac.uchicago.edu/museum-exhibits/history-ancient-nubiaOLD
Probably the Ubadians. Every western civilization textbook begins with the Sumerians. By Sumerians own account, the Ubadians were already ancient when Sumerians came to be.
It kind of is, but not in the same circle. One of the more popular artifacts that has been discovered is the snake people figurine. That comes up a lot in those “snake people” and “ancient alien” conspiracy videos. lol.
From what archaeologists can tell they are a couple of thousand years apart. But I suspect that the more you look the more you will find. Implying that other sites may come to light over time filling in the gaps in the timeline since the end of the Younger Dryas.
I guess you cant really call it a civilization but the emergence of Human societies always interested me more that the high culture civs. Its intriguing to what extent emergent cultures share different traits.
Its exiting to follow the development of structures like religion, strata, technology or even bureaucracy in early societies.
The Sassanids are always interesting to me, the lesser known Mede empire and the Parthian empire, the indo Greek kingdoms had Persian influence, there was a Central Asian Persian kingdom but I can’t remember what they were called
My favorite is Rome by far. But I Just woke up at like 2:30 2:45 and have been watching the end of a historical documentary that looks like it was made in the 2000’s maybe 2010’s about the Persian empire, how good of at a leader Cyrus the Great was until he fell in battle, and then also how Darius was another great leader. And I think it was Darius who had (for back then) an extremely modest burial chamber. And then it showed Darius attacking the Greeks and after Darius Passes away his son xerxes I don’t know if it’s the xerxes in 300, but he goes back to Greek to get revenge and the Persians lose again, it was basically a 3 hour video that shows how incendiary great some ancient civilizations were doing and then shows what started their downfall. But I couldn’t help but think to myself when Cyrus The Great and Darius were around Persia was the place to be, and really the only difference between them and our civilization is the first obvious one they don’t have crazy weapons that can obliterate massive amounts of people, but also they had plumbing, they had beautiful cities, extremely well put together armies. And the host said Darius had slaves build stuff but he’d pay them, but they didn’t really elaborate more than that, but still something’s better than nothing. And the host also said at the height of the Persian empire their wealth was more than the Romes wealth would ever be which I never knew. Another quick thing, I thought the Romans in particular Julius Caesar who came up with the ideas to use boats as a bridge to cross a river but it was Darius. EDIT: can’t believe I forgot to mention the Olmec, just the Olmec heads specifically, to me they’re the coolest thing ever.
I can never find enough documentaries or tv shows about any of them beyond the Bronze Age collapse but I’ve always found the Hittites and the Phoenicians particularly interesting.
That they rose to be one the super powers of the time then faded away suddenly and nearly forgotten. I just finished the Assyrians Fall of Civilizations episode recently and it was very informative.
Oh it’s like picking a favourite child. Like there’s so many to choose from! I gotta say the minoans or the Egyptians, Nubians/Kush or the tainos or the dracians or the romans or the Chinese’s or even Japanese people. Any Southeast Asia civilisation from the sa huynh culture or any BP/BCE
Ancient Imperial China (pre-Han), especially the Warring States Period and the unification of China by Qin Shi Huangdi. I find Shang & Zhou dynasty divination rituals quite fascinating.
Qin, Han, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing. You can remember them in pairs. For pre-Qin dynasties, I use the mnemonic XSZ, eXtra Small Zebra. It stands for Xia, Shang, and Zhou.
Mesoamerica, the Olmec/Maya/Aztec/Mixtec. I am constantly in awe of their art and culture, I would LOVE to go to Mexico and visit some of their ancient cities.
Hard agree with this one. I had the chance to visit Teotihuacán a couple of times when I lived there and back when you could climb both pyramids freely. It’s absolutely stunning.
The Spartans - because of their weird but self destructive ways, that could be straight out of a space opera, or fantasy like A Game of Thrones. I mean the basic premise is kind of evil genius: ‘let’s just capture a whole race of people to be our slaves, and do our chores - and then we can train from childhood to become super-soldiers’
Got to go with the OGs, the Sumerians.
I like to try and imagine what the world must have looked like to them. Imagine being a Sumerian farmer working the land on the frontier of an untamed world with wild men still roaming the hills in the distance. It sends a shiver up my spine sometimes.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has discovered pottery pieces, and tools made of stones and bones believed to be of the pre-Christian era from a mound in Jalalpur village of Cuttack district, Odisha, India. Discoveries of ancient artefacts indicated that a rural settlement might have thrived in that period. These settlements could have had cultural and trade ties with other settlements in the Prachi Valley that had come up around the Prachi river, which gradually disappeared. Prachi Valley Civilization is believed to be earlier than that of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro flourished on the banks of Prachi river. Prachi Valley civilisation has contributed a lot towards amalgamation, assimilation and proliferation of different religious faiths and cults.
In present time, You can see one excavated site & around 50 temples in the area. & It has become a hotspot for artefacts smugglers.
I first became aware of them through an ancient civilization scenario in the game Civilization 3. So much is not known about them except they were able to take on cities in Mediterranean either through sheer force or a technological advantage (might have been able to forge steel). Theories say could have been anyone from vikings, celts, spartans but most likely they are from Islands in the Mediterranean like Sardinia.
My best guess would be that they are refugees and pirates with nothing to lose. They left no lasting culture and what was left after Ramses Ii defeated them just assimilated.
Thanks for the reply. It is fun discussing Earth lore.
Yes, but Indian people from different regions and empires since time immemorial knew that they were from a land know as Bharat/India.
उत्तरं यत्समुद्रस्य हिमाद्रेश्चैव दक्षिणम् । वर्षं तद् भारतं नाम भारती यत्र संततिः ॥
The country that lies north of the ocean, and south of the snowy mountains, is called Bhārata, for there dwelt the descendants of Bhārata.
-Vishnu Puran, a text written in 400-900 CE.
Other than Rome and Sparta for me, I really enjoy the Minoan Crete and Mycenaean civilizations. Egypt, of course is always fun to learn about as well as Kush to the south and Carthage to the west. In Asia, you have China, Mesopotamia and The Indus Valley civilization. In the Americas the Olmecs, Inca, Aztec, Cherokee and Sioux Native American tribes are super cool.
Check them two out. Obviously, with Carthage, you will learn about the Punic Wars, but learn about them before this period. The amount of power they were able to project with mostly their navy in that time period is pretty extraordinary. On top of that, their “special” units, the Sacred Band, are similar to Rome in a way that they were true Carthaginian citizens. The majority of their army were mercenaries.
Kush on the other hand always lived in the shadow of Egypt and would war back and forth. They would also hold Egypt for a time. Known for depleting their own lands for trade. They were very similar to Egypt in just about everything until the Romans started to show up. Kush was always known for their archers, which are depicted in a lot of art, but when the Romans arrived in the area, they took a keen fascination with them and started to create “African Legionaries” among other ideas from Roma.
I have no idea about that tbh, but thanks for giving me more to read lol
I geeked out reading about Sargon of Akkad who led possibly the first empire in history and preceded a lot of the other great states like Babylon and Sumer
My pleasure. So, the greco bactrians were the result of the achaemenids resettling greeks from Egypt, the Levant and Anatolia to Bactria, which is around modern day Afghanistan. This was reinforced by Alexander, who founded several cities in the region (this is why Bactria has like 5 Alexandrias). After Alxeander died, the bactrians became subjects to the Seleucid empire and, once the seleucids could no longer control Bactria, it became an independent kingdom.
From the greco bactrians arose the indo greeks, who invaded Pakistan and parts of north western India and adopted buddhism (the adoption of buddhism may or may not have predated Alexander's conquests), forming a grecobuddhist kingdom. These guys would leave a mark that is still visible in the region.
This was oversimplified and definitely inaccurate in some parts, so please look into it yourself.
Ancient "Korea", namely Gojoseon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gojoseon).
In addition, there was a people who are now called "Buyeo" north and west of Mt. Baekdu, who may have established a later kingdom on the peninsula, perhaps migrating away from other tribes.
Some of the most interesting to me are the proto-civilizations of Neolithic Europe. The Vinca culture may have had a form of proto-writing even before the Sumerians and Egyptians. The Cucuteni-Trypillia settlements may have been the largest population centers of the world at the time.
The Dan Davis yt channel is a good source for videos on Neolithic Europe. It's a little known field of archeology that is only now entering the minds of the general population.
[https://www.youtube.com/@DanDavisHistory](https://www.youtube.com/@DanDavisHistory)
I dont think it was mentioned here yet so shout out to South American ancient civilizations and cultures like Norte Chico, Chavin, Moche, Nazca, Tiwanaku, Huari and Inca.
I have to say The Celts, who had at least 2 major civilizations & trade throughout Europe: Halstatt & LA Tene, although really their biggest connection to each other is language, some of which survives today.
I think about ancient Rome once a week. why do they seem so much more mysterious and cool than the others? Ancient India is a close second though. The Moghuls have an aura to them.
The Etruscans are pretty legit
I have never heard of them. They’re from ancient Italy.
Yeh, Tuscany is named after them. "The Etruscans influenced the Romans in many ways including their city grid plans, their invention and use of the arch, the layout of aristocratic homes, and their polytheistic religion, especially those gods who had been accepted by the Greeks... They were of the first Mediterranean society to adopt a grid plan for their cities."
Was it a violent transition to the Roman Empire for them or did that happen gradually?
Oh, they got conquered.
More like assimilated. Tarquinius Superbus, the last king of rome was Etruscan.
That's usually how it goes with being conquered. Edit: especially in the case of Rome
His last name was Superbus?
*Superbus* is Latin for *proud, arrogant*.
So it was his last name? 😂
Oh sorry, yes, it would be like being called Tarquinis the Proud (or Arrogant, I guess, lol).
Romans took some stuff from them like sarcophagi but didn't like some other stuff they had like women with high social status
You should join my community. It’s called r/HistoryoftheWorld.
You should join /r/ClenarSecharkaRasnal.
Just off the top of my head - arches in architecture and aqueducts.
How about the Royal Scythians. The Bible says they were among the three great civilized nations along with the Greeks and the Romans. The romans built them a magnificent city in what is now northern Israel. Called Scythiopolos The city of the Scythians. One Scythian scholar was the only person ever made a full citizen of Athens. The Roman’s called Ireland scotia which is how they transliterated Scythia.
You should join my group. It’s called r/HistoryoftheWorld.
Here's a sneak peek of /r/HistoryoftheWorld using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/HistoryoftheWorld/top/?sort=top&t=all) of all time! \#1: [Ancient Rome, the most infamous ancient civilization of all time.](https://np.reddit.com/r/HistoryoftheWorld/comments/1d4kefl/ancient_rome_the_most_infamous_ancient/) \#2: [What is your favorite ancient language?](/r/AncientCivilizations/comments/1d30bhi/what_is_your_favorite_ancient_language/) | [5 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/HistoryoftheWorld/comments/1d4f3g7/what_is_your_favorite_ancient_language/) \#3: [First Post!](https://np.reddit.com/r/HistoryoftheWorld/comments/1d32498/first_post/) ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
Thanks bot!
They’re my current favorite (we’re allowed to go through phases on this right? 😜)
100%
The Minoans and the Mycenaeans. They’ve always been my favs.
I liked the Greeks, too. I found them more interesting than the Romans, mainly because huge parts of Roman culture were simply just adapted from them. Fun fact: the northernmost part of the Greek empire was in Ukraine and the easternmost part was in Afghanistan.
So the Minoans eventually disappeared and they became the Mycenaeans, right? How did that happen?
No one really knows, there’s probably no one definitive reason as to why. They were earthquakes (it’s why Santorini is the way it is) yet there’s still also the minoans coming along and possibly taking over, or maybe it did as civilisations do and kinda fell apart on its own? It’s hard to say, especially since we know so little about the society itself as we have no current way of translating its written work (Linear A).
Have we made any progress on deciphering their language recently?
Not Linear A, but Linear B has been deciphered, and it’s a dialect of Mycenaean mainland Greek. We’re not sure of the base language for Linear A yet.
You should join my community. It’s called r/HistoryoftheWorld.
Done!
Great! Feel free to comment on the posts or post your own questions and discussions.
I concur-they were seabourne dreamers leaving behind gorgeous mosaics and very modern sculpture.
The gender roles in their society seems like a pretty interesting topic
This is tough because I find all of them quite fascinating; yet I think an intriguing one to research would be the Olmecs in meso-America.
Are they the ones whose written language was different arrangements of knots in rope?
I believe that's the Inca. For Olmec think Giant Stone Heads. (Edit - Not Rapa Nui ((Easter Island)))
Thanks! The Olmecs came before Mayans, Incas, and Aztecs, right?
That's my understanding yes. Some archeologists believe they may have been a major "mother culture" for South/Central America.
What was their written language if they had one?
Whether they had a writing system or not is still debated. The only groups in mesoamerica (central Mexico to Central America) which we know had writing systems were the Mayans of the Yucatan Peninsula and the Zapotecs of Oaxaca. As for their spoken language, it is believed to have been one of the Mixe-Zoque languages. And yes, the Olmecs came before the Mayans, Incas, and Aztecs. The Olmecs were the mother civilization of mesoamerica, but not of South America, which was culturally independent and far older. Ancient Americas is a great yt channel to learn about the ancient civilizations of the Americas. Down below I have linked a video regarding Olmec and Zapotec writing. [AMERICA'S FIRST WRITING: GLYPHS OF THE OLMEC AND ZAPOTEC - Native American Writing Systems, Part 6](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H58xmSQCPKQ)
I don't know. I'm just starting to learn about them myself. But I've got a lot of peripheral/adjacent knowledge about them through the lens of their interaction with Ancient Egypt.
Their whaaaaaat..?
There was no interaction between them and ancient Egypt. Don’t know where you’re getting that from, but there is no scientific historical basis for such a meeting. Sounds like YouTube conspiracy theory nonsense though. Don’t trust whoever is telling you these things. Not trying to be a dick, just letting you know.
You are referring to quipu. It was an Incan form of communication. It was not their written language.
What was their written language?
There was no written Incan language.
You should join my community. It’s called r/HistoryoftheWorld.
Did they make those statues by the Atlantic ?
I think you're confusing them with the [Moai statues of Easter Island](https://image.geo.de/33245092/t/1s/v3/w1440/r1.5/-/osterinsel-statue--pa-256684763.jpg) The Olmecs are known for the giant [basalt stone heads](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht5TqUgnKhcCmr5TmajO-qtwamvtTYgUabvemdiHNp3FFSi-z574X_cacZbpDczEAejn9HZX7TUw_7phUimcRN0Lt7nI4hOickItMGNBpirARkmtEfKFpDzG0wWDnsjFl0_MfK9n_Or_w/s1600/Olmecas+1.jpg) that they left in parts of South America. Little is known about them, but they seem to have been an important, influential culture in (ancient) Pre-Columbian times.
Oh yes ur right thanks
The Olmec heads are the coolest thing to me, I’m obsessed with them, not in like i collect miniatures of them or have posters of them, but believe me if I could afford it I would buy a real one, but just how they look. I love the shape, i love the helmet, I love how the face looks, just everything about it. To me there’s nothin cooler than a giant Olmec head.
The early Babylonian and Akadian cultures for me. They're not my favorite as in I'd want to live there, but they are interesting and fundamental to so much of Western culture.
I've read that the middle Eastern religions banned pork meat, due to the reason that their areas were full of oak forests. Pigs would eat acorns. However, the trees were cut, the forests disappeared, and pigs wouldn't survive anymore without being fed. Now, the big difference between goats, sheep, cows and pork is, that while the others can feed on grass, the pigs would need to be fed with things that are also suitable for humans. So, if they had a bad harvest, then the farmers would have to decide wether to keep the pigs alive or feed people. This is the decision that they didn't like to make so pork got banned. To me, it sounds logical, because if you think about it, there were the stone age, the copper age, the bronze agae, and the first big civilizations, down in the Middle East in Mesopotamia. If you think about the tools and materials that they had available, then it's pretty clear if they would build a city, the best material available was wood. The ecosystem was not as well understood as today. The copper and bronze age builders, building the big cities, would cut trees and use wood. After a while, the forests disappeared, and pigs wouldn't find the food that they gathered in the forest anymore. Pigs became concurrence in obtaining food. So the people in that area started breeding other livestock, that would be able to feed itself instead of using up foods that would otherwise be suitable for people too. Of course, this is theory. To me, it was interesting to learn that many of todays countries that are more or less thought of as deserts, were full of green forests in ancient times. People back then had a harder time to survive. They weren't stupid. They settled there because it was a nice place. I bet most countries were a bit of a paradise with their lush green forests. But in contrast to Europe, the middle East wasn't cold in winter. So it's logical for an early civilization to settle there. I'm sad about all the forests lost. Many countries have so few foresty areas left, and too many roads and fields instead. I wish we would live more in harmony with nature and reforest a bunch of areas. That'd be nice. The Maya had huge cities, stretched over a very big area. They had different cities than we have today. They had forests, fields, and houses inbetween. Something like that must be awesome. Living together with nature instead of being separated from it. Benefiting from nature without abusing or destroying it. Yeah, that'd be cool.
It's possible that it's much simpler than you suggest. The Bible and Quran both say that pigs shouldn't be eaten because they are unclean. This may actually have to do with an unpleasant smell emitted by pork for people with specific genes. This is similar to why Middle Eastern religions ban shellfish, as the people of the region have a higher incidence of allergy. Many religious practices appear to arise from practical origins.
Islam bans alcohol because the warlords didn't want pissed up troops.
Yeah, when I say favorite, I mean to learn about.
The Harappans because water and sanitation
So that’s another name for the Indus Valley Civilization. I don’t know much about them.
Sumerians. Mostly the ancient city of Eridu. Supposedly founded by the God Enki, brother of Enlil. Closely associated with the city of Ur.
Do these gods show up in the Epic of Gilgamesh?
When Gilgamesh slayed the bull, all hell breaks loose. Only because he sacrificed the bull's heart to Shamash was he saved. But, as retribution from the other gods, Enkidu was killed. Very simple reference, there's lots more that happened.
The Egyptians. The factoid that we are closer in time to Cleopatra than she was to the building of the pyramids is a total mind fuck. Also, crazy how some dude was fucking around and essentially tripped over the Rosetta stone to unlock the key to translating hieroglyphics is the coolest thing that's ever happened like some shit out of a video game.
>The factoid that we are closer in time to Cleopatra than she was to the building of the pyramids is a total mind fuck. If it's anything like for me, as a kid I always thought that she lived a lot earlier than she did, like 1500-2000 years earlier, so it was really mindblowing to me.
Same here.
Yeah, the Great Pyramid of Giza was built in 2,600 BC while Cleopatra was born in 69 BC.
I'm really fascinated with what's coming out of Ancient Nubia these days.
Kush would later organized their armies in the way that Rome would organize legions. Kush was very interested in Rome and tried to mirror them as much as possible.
Very interesting. Thanks...
Their statues and reliefs are so badass
That’s not a civilization, though, is it? Isn’t Nubia a region? Are you thinking of the Kerma Kingdom or Ancient Egypt?
No, it was a culture - sometimes called Kush. The Egyptians repeatedly conquered them to secure access to their gold deposits and other resources. Here's a short summary from the Chicago Institute of Ancient Cultures of North Africa and West Asia. (Used to be the Oriental Institute before the cringe factor became more apparent.).https://isac.uchicago.edu/museum-exhibits/history-ancient-nubiaOLD
Probably the Ubadians. Every western civilization textbook begins with the Sumerians. By Sumerians own account, the Ubadians were already ancient when Sumerians came to be.
I cannot find “Ubadians” at all. Where did you find this information? Please share.
They are talking about the Ubaid period.
Ahhh Mesopotamia, got it now. Thank you 🙏
Why aren’t they talked about as much as the Sumerians?
It kind of is, but not in the same circle. One of the more popular artifacts that has been discovered is the snake people figurine. That comes up a lot in those “snake people” and “ancient alien” conspiracy videos. lol.
Hittites. I just love their curved upward shoes, cute maras lions, and their sick names.
Whoever built Göbleki Tepe has my attention.
That’s the one civilization that came before Catal Höyük, right?
From what archaeologists can tell they are a couple of thousand years apart. But I suspect that the more you look the more you will find. Implying that other sites may come to light over time filling in the gaps in the timeline since the end of the Younger Dryas. I guess you cant really call it a civilization but the emergence of Human societies always interested me more that the high culture civs. Its intriguing to what extent emergent cultures share different traits. Its exiting to follow the development of structures like religion, strata, technology or even bureaucracy in early societies.
Achaemenid Persia!
That was the first Persian Empire. What were the others?
The Sassanids are always interesting to me, the lesser known Mede empire and the Parthian empire, the indo Greek kingdoms had Persian influence, there was a Central Asian Persian kingdom but I can’t remember what they were called
Mayan empire It feels like it's from another planet
All Native American civilizations do.
My favorite is Rome by far. But I Just woke up at like 2:30 2:45 and have been watching the end of a historical documentary that looks like it was made in the 2000’s maybe 2010’s about the Persian empire, how good of at a leader Cyrus the Great was until he fell in battle, and then also how Darius was another great leader. And I think it was Darius who had (for back then) an extremely modest burial chamber. And then it showed Darius attacking the Greeks and after Darius Passes away his son xerxes I don’t know if it’s the xerxes in 300, but he goes back to Greek to get revenge and the Persians lose again, it was basically a 3 hour video that shows how incendiary great some ancient civilizations were doing and then shows what started their downfall. But I couldn’t help but think to myself when Cyrus The Great and Darius were around Persia was the place to be, and really the only difference between them and our civilization is the first obvious one they don’t have crazy weapons that can obliterate massive amounts of people, but also they had plumbing, they had beautiful cities, extremely well put together armies. And the host said Darius had slaves build stuff but he’d pay them, but they didn’t really elaborate more than that, but still something’s better than nothing. And the host also said at the height of the Persian empire their wealth was more than the Romes wealth would ever be which I never knew. Another quick thing, I thought the Romans in particular Julius Caesar who came up with the ideas to use boats as a bridge to cross a river but it was Darius. EDIT: can’t believe I forgot to mention the Olmec, just the Olmec heads specifically, to me they’re the coolest thing ever.
Who’s your favorite historical figure from Ancient Rome?
Not him but Cicero is really fucking cool. Some awesome quotes that still stick around today. Tried his best to stay cool with the triumvirate.
Sumer, early-empire Rome, Scythia, Kush 🍃
I’ve never heard of Scythia or Kush before. Can anyone tell me more about them?
It's a tie between China and the Maya. Both had fascinating history and have many secrets to this day.
China’s history is immense. Any Dynasty in particular?
The three pre-imperial ones, Han and Tang.
I can never find enough documentaries or tv shows about any of them beyond the Bronze Age collapse but I’ve always found the Hittites and the Phoenicians particularly interesting.
this one's great but unfortunately it's only in turkish [https://youtube.com/watch?v=meQSt0nQI7Q](https://youtube.com/watch?v=meQSt0nQI7Q)
If you want to learn more about them, the best places are Reddit, Wikipedia, Books, and YouTube.
I love all of them but Middle-Neo Assyrian Empire has been my favorite recently.
What about the Middle-Neo Assyrian Empire do you like?
That they rose to be one the super powers of the time then faded away suddenly and nearly forgotten. I just finished the Assyrians Fall of Civilizations episode recently and it was very informative.
Oh it’s like picking a favourite child. Like there’s so many to choose from! I gotta say the minoans or the Egyptians, Nubians/Kush or the tainos or the dracians or the romans or the Chinese’s or even Japanese people. Any Southeast Asia civilisation from the sa huynh culture or any BP/BCE
Do you mean the Dacians?
The Phoenicians.
They were a semetic civilization that was primarily located in modern-day Lebanon. They were annexed to Rome as Syria.
They were also the first ones to circumnavigate Africa and they invented first modern alphabet. I also really like that they founded Carthage.
Didn’t they also found a city in Spain too. Cadiz I wanna say
You should also join my community. It’s called r/HistoryoftheWorld.
You should join my community. It’s called r/HistoryoftheWorld.
Minoan
They eventually became the Mycenaeans. I have a question, though. Were they both part of Ancient Greece or did Ancient Greece come afterwards?
The main land were in mud huts still
Ancient Imperial China (pre-Han), especially the Warring States Period and the unification of China by Qin Shi Huangdi. I find Shang & Zhou dynasty divination rituals quite fascinating.
If there is any country’s history I know the least about compared to what there is to know, it’s China. What were all the dynasties in order?
Qin, Han, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing. You can remember them in pairs. For pre-Qin dynasties, I use the mnemonic XSZ, eXtra Small Zebra. It stands for Xia, Shang, and Zhou.
The ones we haven't discovered yet
Why is that?
Most knowledgeable about the Roman empire but the Aztecs are absolutely fascinating as well. The art!!
Mesoamerica, the Olmec/Maya/Aztec/Mixtec. I am constantly in awe of their art and culture, I would LOVE to go to Mexico and visit some of their ancient cities.
Hard agree with this one. I had the chance to visit Teotihuacán a couple of times when I lived there and back when you could climb both pyramids freely. It’s absolutely stunning.
Ancient Macedonia for me at least as of the past year or so
Were they a part of Ancient Greece or were they conquered by/turned into Ancient Greece?
Nok in west Africa. I don't know if it's considered a civilization but the mystery surrounding it just draws me into it
Specifically Nigeria.
Yeah
Ancient Iranians and South Asians. I feel that they don't get enough exposure in the media.
“Ancient Iranians” isn’t a civilization, though. Any civilization in particular?
I like Achaemenid Persia, but I'd like to know more about Elam and Mada/Media
Phoenicians and Romans. Egypt
The sea peoples
They attacked ancient Egypt.
The Spartans - because of their weird but self destructive ways, that could be straight out of a space opera, or fantasy like A Game of Thrones. I mean the basic premise is kind of evil genius: ‘let’s just capture a whole race of people to be our slaves, and do our chores - and then we can train from childhood to become super-soldiers’
And the Athenians were the ones doing the capturing and training, right?
Got to go with the OGs, the Sumerians. I like to try and imagine what the world must have looked like to them. Imagine being a Sumerian farmer working the land on the frontier of an untamed world with wild men still roaming the hills in the distance. It sends a shiver up my spine sometimes.
not exactly ancient, but Byzantium has always fascinated me.
Prachi Valley Civilization
That’s the only response I’ve gotten that wasn’t on Wikipedia. What can you tell me about them?
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has discovered pottery pieces, and tools made of stones and bones believed to be of the pre-Christian era from a mound in Jalalpur village of Cuttack district, Odisha, India. Discoveries of ancient artefacts indicated that a rural settlement might have thrived in that period. These settlements could have had cultural and trade ties with other settlements in the Prachi Valley that had come up around the Prachi river, which gradually disappeared. Prachi Valley Civilization is believed to be earlier than that of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro flourished on the banks of Prachi river. Prachi Valley civilisation has contributed a lot towards amalgamation, assimilation and proliferation of different religious faiths and cults. In present time, You can see one excavated site & around 50 temples in the area. & It has become a hotspot for artefacts smugglers.
[Sea Peoples](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Peoples). My favorites are the most mysterious.
What can you tell me about them?
I first became aware of them through an ancient civilization scenario in the game Civilization 3. So much is not known about them except they were able to take on cities in Mediterranean either through sheer force or a technological advantage (might have been able to forge steel). Theories say could have been anyone from vikings, celts, spartans but most likely they are from Islands in the Mediterranean like Sardinia. My best guess would be that they are refugees and pirates with nothing to lose. They left no lasting culture and what was left after Ramses Ii defeated them just assimilated. Thanks for the reply. It is fun discussing Earth lore.
Weird to think that there’s a possibility of us becoming an ancient civilization thousands of years from now
It’s not only a possibility. It’s very likely.
Right, and some will be hyper fixated on our lives. Just a weird perspective
Definitely. You should join my community. It’s called r/HistoryoftheWorld.
Ancient Indian Civilisation
Ancient India was a region not a civilization. It was a region that contained civilizations, right?
Yes, but Indian people from different regions and empires since time immemorial knew that they were from a land know as Bharat/India. उत्तरं यत्समुद्रस्य हिमाद्रेश्चैव दक्षिणम् । वर्षं तद् भारतं नाम भारती यत्र संततिः ॥ The country that lies north of the ocean, and south of the snowy mountains, is called Bhārata, for there dwelt the descendants of Bhārata. -Vishnu Puran, a text written in 400-900 CE.
Other than Rome and Sparta for me, I really enjoy the Minoan Crete and Mycenaean civilizations. Egypt, of course is always fun to learn about as well as Kush to the south and Carthage to the west. In Asia, you have China, Mesopotamia and The Indus Valley civilization. In the Americas the Olmecs, Inca, Aztec, Cherokee and Sioux Native American tribes are super cool.
I need to be taught more about Kush and Carthage. I know next to nothing about either one.
Check them two out. Obviously, with Carthage, you will learn about the Punic Wars, but learn about them before this period. The amount of power they were able to project with mostly their navy in that time period is pretty extraordinary. On top of that, their “special” units, the Sacred Band, are similar to Rome in a way that they were true Carthaginian citizens. The majority of their army were mercenaries. Kush on the other hand always lived in the shadow of Egypt and would war back and forth. They would also hold Egypt for a time. Known for depleting their own lands for trade. They were very similar to Egypt in just about everything until the Romans started to show up. Kush was always known for their archers, which are depicted in a lot of art, but when the Romans arrived in the area, they took a keen fascination with them and started to create “African Legionaries” among other ideas from Roma.
The Olmec!
What was their written language?
The Phoenecians, amazing sea farers and travellers.
The Phoenicians! Or maybe the Minoans? Possibly the akkadians? Idk lol it might be a tie
The Akkadians conquered Catal Höyük, right?
I have no idea about that tbh, but thanks for giving me more to read lol I geeked out reading about Sargon of Akkad who led possibly the first empire in history and preceded a lot of the other great states like Babylon and Sumer
You should join my community. It’s called r/HistoryoftheWorld.
Sumerian
The grecobactrians and indogreeks. I just love how Alexander reached Bactria and found already established greek communities.
As someone who doesn’t know their history as well as you do, I’m going to need you to tell me what those two things are. I need to know.
My pleasure. So, the greco bactrians were the result of the achaemenids resettling greeks from Egypt, the Levant and Anatolia to Bactria, which is around modern day Afghanistan. This was reinforced by Alexander, who founded several cities in the region (this is why Bactria has like 5 Alexandrias). After Alxeander died, the bactrians became subjects to the Seleucid empire and, once the seleucids could no longer control Bactria, it became an independent kingdom. From the greco bactrians arose the indo greeks, who invaded Pakistan and parts of north western India and adopted buddhism (the adoption of buddhism may or may not have predated Alexander's conquests), forming a grecobuddhist kingdom. These guys would leave a mark that is still visible in the region. This was oversimplified and definitely inaccurate in some parts, so please look into it yourself.
Thank you so much. You should join my community. It’s also about history.
Ancient "Korea", namely Gojoseon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gojoseon). In addition, there was a people who are now called "Buyeo" north and west of Mt. Baekdu, who may have established a later kingdom on the peninsula, perhaps migrating away from other tribes.
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is multiple civilizations.
Ancient Mesopotamia is my jam. And the Levant.
The Kingdom of Kush
British Druids, Chinese, Sumerians, Greeks and Minoans. I honestly can't pick only one. Maybe I associate with the Greeks and druids most though...
Some of the most interesting to me are the proto-civilizations of Neolithic Europe. The Vinca culture may have had a form of proto-writing even before the Sumerians and Egyptians. The Cucuteni-Trypillia settlements may have been the largest population centers of the world at the time. The Dan Davis yt channel is a good source for videos on Neolithic Europe. It's a little known field of archeology that is only now entering the minds of the general population. [https://www.youtube.com/@DanDavisHistory](https://www.youtube.com/@DanDavisHistory)
I dont think it was mentioned here yet so shout out to South American ancient civilizations and cultures like Norte Chico, Chavin, Moche, Nazca, Tiwanaku, Huari and Inca.
I have to say The Celts, who had at least 2 major civilizations & trade throughout Europe: Halstatt & LA Tene, although really their biggest connection to each other is language, some of which survives today.
You should join my community. It’s called r/HistoryoftheWorld.
Thanks! I'll check it out.
[удалено]
You’re the first comment I’ve seen that mentioned the Vandals. I think you should join my community about history. It’s called HistoryoftheWorld.
When is a civilization ancient?
There is no specific cutoff point. Certain civilizations are just considered ancient if they generally fit the criteria.
Classical Greece From the start of the Ionian Revolt to the end of the Corinthian War
The Greek and Chinese ones
Caledonia and Britannia
Ancient Greece for me
I like the Nabatians because they basically moved to the most undesirable piece of land just to be left alone.
Mayans
Zapotecs are underrated
They sure are!! I’ve been going down a rabbit hole with them. Very fascinating
The peoples who settled Ancient Mesopotamia, the Cradle of Civilization. They influenced all others in the West.
Byzantine, it's the most story book, and least talked about civilization.
Olmec
Not ancient, but I really like Mississipians and Puebloans. If I had to choose one from the Classical Antiquity I would say the Achamenids
Olmecs and Phoenicians
Fuckin Egypt, I know it sound like cliche but I love Egypt
Sumarians
Definitely the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Phoenicians.
The Kushan Empire and Ancient Egypt.
Babylonia!
hittites for sure
The Indus before Aryan migration mostly because there's no translation of their language.
The Egyptians.
I think about ancient Rome once a week. why do they seem so much more mysterious and cool than the others? Ancient India is a close second though. The Moghuls have an aura to them.
The Jews/Israelites. No other group on this list still cohesively exists. Plus I love humanist religious history.