[navarre]

We know now that Ancient history far surpasses modern history in terms of being interesting on every conceivable level. So, which is your fav Civilisation and why?

Mine are the Egyptians. I just find it so fascinating in terms of their language, their pyramids, their religion, their geography, their wars, their pharohs...

[Hearty_Beast]

Go Greeks!!

They have the best mythology

[Yumnaarrhhh]

Persia!

[Birdman1234567]

I have to agree, Greek Mythology is very interesting.

[Classical Liberal]

Rome - It is scary to think that mankind fell so far backwards from what Rome achieved.

I find just how vast their empire was amazing. Considering the transport networks and communications they had at the time it is like an empire nowadays that reaches out to Mars. And how their empire was sustained through capitalism.

[Democracy]

Ancient Persia...birthplace of wine and human rights baby

They're all fascinating though, such interesting cultures which continue to shape the world today (Greece and Rome especially).

[ak137]

Ancient Rome is the most interesting IMO.

[Phantom Lord]

You missed out a few, like Indus Valley civilisation

[ugk4life]

you should include the ancient vedic civilization of India.

[Pitt1988]

Mesopotamian period, so Babylonians for me. Amazing how advanced they seemed, for how long ago it was! I remember hearing something about the Bagdhad battery recently as well. That they actually figured out they could generate positive charge with acidic liquid in terracotta pots with a copper cylinder. Switched on, them lot......See what I did there

[arbissah]

Definitely ancient Mesopotamia!! (Babylon,Assyria,Sumer)

Creators of the wheel, writing, law, math, astronomy, philosophy, science and so much more. The list is endless..

[sexbo]

For power, organization and splendor - obviously Rome

For intellectual achievements - Greece.

[littleone271]

You forgot Atlantis

Just because it sunk before they'd completely mastered scuba diving it doesn't mean they weren't clever sausages!

That's a joke by the way... just incase the nutjobs/fruitloops of TSR go mental on me.

I voted Greece but my History is terrible! It seems that people's answers (those who seem to know what they're talking about) differ according to how they define greatness because I suppose greatness isn't very specific. I mean I like curry.. I think it's great.. but I don't think it's a very good idea to let all those cows wander around.

[Willez]

I voted for Ancient Rome; partially because their view of the gods - Zeus to Jupiter, etc - is fascinating and partially because of their incredible rate of expansion, organisation and power in relatively little time. If I could have a second choice, I'd choose Ancient Greece.

[Ferdowsi]

I voted Persia for patriotic reasons, but they are all really damn interesting, especially Ancient Egypt.

What do you mean by "Ancient Persia" ? Because there were three major empires of Persia before Islam (Achaemenids, Parthians, and Sassanids).

The first Persian Empire ruled over 44% of the worlds population at the time, no other empire in history has managed to beat that. The British had only about 27% and the Mongols about 33%. The second Persian empire had about 37% of the worlds population and yet its army was not the largest during its time, it managed to destroy the much larger armies of the Romans and others. It Influenced western culture through its influence upon Greek culture. It had considerable influence in the Bible (Daniel, Esther, Haggai, Esdras), and the religion of Persia at the time (Zoroastrianism) influenced the Judeo-Christian-Islamic traditions.

The stupid view of a Greek victory against tyranny (for example the awful film 300) ultimately the victor writes history, and the Ancient Greeks despised Persians after the Persian Wars. Greeks actually prospered in the Persian empire. Greek craftsmen worked in Susa and Persepolis and Persian goods were enjoyed by wealthy people in Athens, Persian Clothing was worn (but Greek women wore Persian men's fashions) and Persia actually guaranteed settlement of disputes between Greek cities. It also became a haven for Greek refugees (eg the democratic statesman Themistokles), and even Plato had a Persian student.

The practice of slavery in Achaemenid Persia was banned as well - Persians, unlike Romans, Egyptians, Greeks and many others, never openly practiced slavery. As a matter of fact Persians were anti slavery and the best example was freedom of 42,000 Jews from slavery of Babylon by Cyrus The Great.

There are some really fascinating remains from this empire, such as Persepolis, which is near Shiraz.





Persepolis was largely constructed by Darius the Great and Alexander the Great when he captured destroyed it in a drunken rage with his troops in revenge for when the Persians burnt the acropolis of Athens when they captured the city of Athens (the rubble created by the Persians can actually still be seen today!) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perserschutt

[Dirac Delta Function]

Sumerians. Those guys invented flippin everything. Babylon and Asssyria were their descendants, and a lot of Babylonian stuff was carried from Sumeria.

[Classical Liberal]

I think the Eygptians have the greatest example of why central economic control is bad. Pyramids. I mean really? Countless hours of labour were wasted on producing loads of buildings with absolutely no practical use. Such irrational results can only arise from central economic control. The Romans would never have done something so stupid. They made useful things. Like roads and aquaducts.

[Martyn*]

(Original post by Democracy)
Ancient Persia...birthplace of wine and human rights baby

They're all fascinating though, such interesting cultures which continue to shape the world today (Greece and Rome especially).

Horemheb gave the Egyptians some rights in 1323BC, before the Persians got their rights charter.

[Martyn*]

(Original post by arbissah)
Definitely ancient Mesopotamia!! (Babylon,Assyria,Sumer)

Creators of the wheel, writing, law, math, astronomy, philosophy, science and so much more. The list is endless..

That may be debatable.

[Martyn*]

(Original post by Pitt1988)
Mesopotamian period, so Babylonians for me. Amazing how advanced they seemed, for how long ago it was! I remember hearing something about the Bagdhad battery recently as well. That they actually figured out they could generate positive charge with acidic liquid in terracotta pots with a copper cylinder. Switched on, them lot......See what I did there

They could have got the technology from the Egyptians, although I cannot find any evidence that they had a battery.