Why can I only study Greece,Rome and Egypt?

Question

in Ancient history subjects?

Id like to learn about European tribal groups like the Celts,Caledones,Taexali,Venicones,the early welsh groups,the slavs,etc arent they also part of European History.

Answer 1

Our education is derived from tradition and studying the "classics" especially Greece and Rome is an essential part of that tradition. If you want to understand what European scholars and writers were thinking in the past you need to know what they knew, so Greece and Rome are still the most important. Schools can not teach everything so they choose the traditional knowledge for introductory classed. Most of our knowledge about other cultures has been acquired in the last 100 years, as the interest and tools of historian have expanded beyond the written word. If you want to learn more there is a lot of information on the web, books written for the non expert and even TV shows on the history channel. What is taught in school should be the beginning of learning not the end.

Answer 2

Who says you can't study about other European tribal groups? There are specific sciences (Social Anthropology,Ethnology etc) whose subject is to study everything related to tribes and social formations of human being.

The reasons the emphasis is given to Greece,Rome and Egypt are because :

1. The first scripts are of Egyptian (hieroglyphic) and of Greek origin (iconographic,linear A,linear B and finally Greek alphabet)
Through the script we learn about a culture (for example the way a tribe lived, what political system they had, with which countries they traded etc)

2. Politics,philosophy,litterature etc (ancient Greek texts) provide valuable data regarding the ancient way of thinking. Through their expansion they influenced the rest of the world.

3. Romans were the first to establish a concluded law and administrative system which in several cases is still valid in our days. By studying Roman history you are in a position to understand better the laws that our society use today.

4. Through the excavations the most important archaeological foundings relate to these 3 cultures (we have evidence about their art,their settlements,the objects they were using and in comparison with the written texts more scientific conclusions are exctracted)

5. Lastly despite the special interest a country has to know its past, the priority is given to discover and save the information related to tribes who contributed to the world's progress.

The tribes you refer to, apparently did not leave substantial written monuments but their culture was based in oral traditions. While written history remains, oral history unless it is studied early enough, disappears ("έπεα πτερόεντα" = the words fly and they disappear).

Another difficulty is when it comes to nomadic tribes without a standard settlement, in this case it is very difficult to distinguish those details that characterize one tribe from another.

Of course it is always significant to discover and to investigate every single detail relates to all tribes that existed or still exist on our planet.

Answer 3

I would have to say because of the plethora of written documents from your aforementioned groups. The Celts and others had little written communication that survived. So we know little about them. I imagine you are young and anxious. When you get to college you will have all the oppotunities to do just what you want. Patience, please. Most of the groups you mentioned had little, if any far reaching effects on history. Even England and Wales were conquered by the Romans, Danes, etc. Or who ever decided to invade.

Answer 4

you might not like my answer, but it's simply because the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans were the most relatively well-understood people of the past and the most influential on modern Western society, such as the United States. how the western world works today is mostly due to those three civilizations.

Of course you can learn about those subsets of history such as the Celts and the others, but you either have to find a professor focusing on them or go to the library/book store and locate tomes zeroing in on them.

Answer 5

Greece, Rome, and Egypt are the centerpoints of how civilization began and advanced. You can study about the groups you are intrested in in your spare time, if you wanted to. Go complain to the board of education.

Answer 6

Because they suck :P