2007-09-12 17:36:54 · 15 answers · asked by Anonymous in Social Science ➔ Anthropology
Please not America, It is an insult to history! We are too young to come to even think about that. Read your history.
2007-09-12 17:59:17 · update #1
Thats a hard one. The Golden Age of Athens, the Egyptians, Rome (for a time, at least), the Minoans, I can go on and on. These are the people that CREATED what our foundations are built on. But to pick just one? Thats a hard one without knowing what criteria we're looking for. One gave women more freedom while another had indoor AC and heat well over 2000 years ago. Its hard to decide!
2007-09-12 19:37:11 · answer #1 · answered by ? 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I use to be a historian as well as an anthropologist, but I got so sick of history that I went back to school and got a degree in science, so my answer may be slanted.
There have been no great civilizations in history because we are yet to become civilized. How can we justify the calling of one group of people on this planet civilized solely based on their reaching a higher level of comfort based upon the oppression of others? We can not blame them however, because as has always been shown, if given a chance the oppressed would do the same to their oppressors. We should look at the good and bad of all peoples and at the same time remember that victors write history, or their conquered slaves as in the case of the Romans. I would like to know what Carthage was like, but Cato said "...and Carthage must be destroyed."
Perhaps, we are the greatest civilization in history, our "global culture" that is, because I remember in some movie there was a line about a tribe that judged its greatness by the strength of its enemies, and we are fighting and destroying Mother Earth itself. Therefore, we are the greatest civilization because we could not see that by allowing the earth to be raped and pillaged the enemy killed will be ourselves.
2007-09-12 23:21:15 · answer #2 · answered by Major Bob 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The Sumerians without a doubt. The world's first true civilization. They were the model for all other "superior" civilizations. They had the first schools, a bicameral congress, the first historians, the first cosmogony, the first medicine, agriculture and the first law codes, They taught science, math, geography and theology. Their language was a marvel. The first writing in the world comes from them. We have texts on many subjects from forecasts to formulas to contracts to poems and tales of kings. The Sumerians also had the first cities 10,000-50,000 inhabitants. They were wise urban planners, laying the cities out in grids facilitating commerce. The list goes on an on, they had the first weavers and surgeons, they knew more about the stars and cosmos 5,000 years ago then most kids in public school do today.
2007-09-13 04:01:39 · answer #3 · answered by talking2tigers 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
It was not the Romans if you judge by what 'fun' they had. The Romans amused themselves by watching the lions eat the Christians alive. And by nailing thieves to a cross and watching them die an agonizing death over 1-2 days. It was a blessing that the 'barbarians' finished them off.
It also was not the Aztecs, Mayans, or the Incas. It took only 160 Spaniards to kill, loot, and destroy cities of tens of thousands of these peoples.
Maybe the Egyptians for shear length of time in power.
For conquering nature, eliminating famines, diseases, and giving material wealth to the masses, it is hard to argue against the present Western democracies.
2007-09-13 18:39:38 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The greatest civilization, besides the democracy enjoyed by America you scorn, was the one following the Middle Ages.
2007-09-13 11:08:57 · answer #5 · answered by budrow54 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Good God we have a bunch of morons who cant understand English. The question is a general question not a categorization.
What about the British empire. Now that is a civilization.
2007-09-13 17:27:50 · answer #6 · answered by cynic 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ancient Rome.
2007-09-12 17:39:18 · answer #7 · answered by MaHaMeHe 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
My goodness, how are you expecting to pick just one of the ancient civilizations as the best? Every one of them has contributed something to this world that still lingers today. From the first governments to the cultural bases of all of our societies, their inventions (aquifers, plumbing systems, ways to grow crop, war tactics, etc.) they have all contributed and therefore they are all important.
2007-09-13 05:01:26 · answer #8 · answered by rosey459 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Rome
2007-09-12 20:30:03 · answer #9 · answered by bravozulu 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I would have to say the Roman Empire, for the time they held the world and, the amount of territory they conquered.
2007-09-12 22:15:53 · answer #10 · answered by cowboydoc 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋