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Ancient Chinese compass. Compass was used for exploring. Can also help them get back home.

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This is ancient Rome

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MessageToEagle.com - Going out on the streets of ancient Rome after dark was a very dangerous thing.

By the first century BC, the time of Julius Caesar, ancient Rome was a city of a million inhabitants. This was a city inhabited by people of all classes and a number of different nations. Here, live the rich and poor, slaves and ex-slaves, free and foreign. It was the world's first multicultural metropolis, complete with slums, multiple-occupancy tenements and sink estates. As glorious as some of the ancient Roman palaces and other buildings might have been, there was a different side of Rome.

Outside the splendid center, Rome was a place of narrow alleyways, a labyrinth of lanes and passageways. There was no street lighting, nowhere to throw your excrement and no police force.

The real city was the backstreets and they should be avoided after the lights went out or you risked being mugged and robbed by any group of thugs that came along.

Most rich people avoided going out after dark unless they were accompanied by private security team of slaves or their "long retinue of attendants". The only public protection you could hope for was the paramilitary force of the night watch, the vigiles.

Exactly what these watchmen did and how effective they were is unclear. They were split into battalions across the city and their main duty was to look out for fires breaking out.
See also: Ancient Inventions Of Firefighting Vehicles What Was A 'Triumvirate' In Ancient Rome? Ancient Roman Government Structure And The Twelve Tables
If you were a crime victim, you had no other option than to defend yourself. One particularly tricky case discussed in an ancient handbook on Roman law proves the line between crime and self-defense was very thim.. The case concerns a shop-keeper who kept his business open at night and left a lamp on the counter, which faced onto the street. A man came down the street and pinched the lamp, and the man in the shop went after him, and a brawl ensued. The thief was carrying a weapon - a piece of rope with a lump of metal at the end - and he coshed the shop-keeper, who retaliated and knocked out the eye of the thief.

This presented Roman lawyers with a tricky question: was the shopkeeper liable for the injury?

Still, night-time Rome wasn't just dangerous. There was also fun to be had in the clubs, taverns and bars late at night, if you dared to go out that is.
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Streets Of Ancient Rome Were Very Dangerous | MessageToEagle.com

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Share this:MessageToEagle.com - Going out on the streets of ancient Rome after dark was a very dangerous thing. By the first century BC, the time of Julius Caesar, ancient Rome was a city of a million inhabitants. This was a city inhabited by people of all classes and a number of different nations.

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The leaning tower of pisa

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Colossuem Roman Architecture

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Egyptian's number

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List of Romon and Greece's god

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Sumerian/Babylonian Mathematics - The Story of Mathematics

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The Story of Mathematics - Sumerian/Babylonian Mathematics

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Facts about pyramids

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The ancient Egyptians lived nearly 5000 years ago. They built incredible structures, called pyramids, which were so well-built that they remain in the desert of Egypt today. In this article, we will explore some interesting facts about these wondrous pyramids including why they were built, who built them and what we can learn about them.

1. The pyramids helped the dead into the afterlife

The ancient Egyptians built the pyramids as tombs for their kings, who were called pharaohs. They were designed and built to protect the dead pharaoh and help him on his journey to the afterlife. The pharaoh's family would often be buried alongside the king.

The ancient Egyptians were very religious and believed in up to 2000 gods and goddesses. They thought of death as a transition into a better world, and that only after death could people fulfill their potential. Pharaohs were thought to become gods in the next world. It was believed that each individual had three souls: the ka, the ba and the akh. To allow these souls to travel to the afterlife successfully, care of the body after death was very important. It is this strong belief system that inspired the ancient Egyptians to build such elaborate tombs for the highest in their society.

2. The pharaohs were mummified

Part of the very important process that the ancient Egyptians followed after death was mummification, which was performed by people who were professional embalmers. The idea was to preserve the body and prevent it from decomposing.

It would begin with the body being respectfully washed with palm wine and water from the river Nile. This was done in a tent made especially for the occasion, called an ibu.

A cut would then be made in the side of the body and the internal organs would be taken out. These were removed because they are the first part of the body that starts to rot. A long hook was then inserted up the nose and would latch onto the brain, which was then pulled out through the nostrils. The heart was kept inside because it was seen as essential to the essence of the person. The other organs were washed and dried.

The body was filled with a salt, called natron, which dries it out; the body was covered in the same salt. The body was then left for forty days, after which it was washed again with water from the river Nile and covered in oil.

The organs which had been dried out were wrapped in material and put back into the body. Other items such as sawdust, leaves and linen were also added to the body to give it more of a life-like appearance. In the early days of embalming, the organs were put in special containers (called canopic jars) and buried alongside the body. Later on, after the Egyptians started to put the organs back in the body, the jars were still used in the tombs a symbol of protection for the organs.

The body would be finally wrapped with thin strips of linen, starting at the head and working down the body. Amulets (small charms) were added into the linen to protect the body from evil spells.

Last, a mask was put on the body's head and the mummy was put into a coffin.

It was now ready to be placed in the tomb.

3. The Ancient Egyptians were not the first to build pyramids

Humans have been making structures in the pyramid shape for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians are the most well-known pyramid builders, though, maybe because so many survived. They built four-sided pyramids (an alternative is the three-sided pyramid), and to build them the Egyptians had to measure a perfect square as a base.

The ancient Egyptians built their pyramids out of limestone. It was a good stone to use as it was abundant in Egypt - the country had so much that it was sometimes referred to as the "state of stone". Most of the stone used to make the main parts of the pyramid was easy to quarry, rough and low grade. The inside walls, however, were covered in a fine white limestone, which was more rare and required more work and expertise to quarry and prepare. Other materials used sparingly included pink granite, basalt and alabaster. These would be sourced farther away and brought in on the Nile.

4. The pyramid location was well-planned

Most of the pyramids can be found at Giza, which is just outside Cairo, the capital of Egypt, although the earliest pyramids have been found at Saqqara, twelve miles (nineteen kilometers) south of Cairo.

There are several factors in choosing the location. First, for practical reasons it was important that they were close to the river Nile to allow materials to be brought in easily on boats. They are all found on the west of the Nile, which was no coincidence as, in ancient Egyptian mythology, the west (the land of the setting sun) was the land of the dead.

The pyramids were built on the edge of the dry desert - this is also significant because the dry conditions helped to preserve the pyramids and their contents.

5. The Sphinx guards the pyramids

The sphinx is part of ancient Egyptian mythology. It has a head of a human, but the body of a lion. Sometimes the image of the face that was used in depictions was a god or pharaoh. Many sphinx figures were built in areas where the ancient Egyptians wanted to be protected from evil spirits and spells, including temples and tombs. The famous one that we all know today, called the Great Sphinx, was built to guard the pyramids of Giza and their precious contents. It is the world's biggest and oldest surviving statue. It is thought to have been made around the year 2500 BC. The human head is thought to have been modeled on Pharaoh Khafra. The Great Sphinx is 241 feet (seventy-three meters) long, sixty-six feet (twenty meters) high and twenty feet (six meters) wide. The eyes alone are six feet (two meters) tall, and the ears are three feet (one meter)! The nose has eroded over the years, but it is believed to have been five feet (one and a half meters) long. The Great Sphinx used to be painted in bright colors, but as with the nose, the weather has taken its toll and it looks different today than it did in the time of the ancient Egyptians.

6. The pyramids were NOT built by slaves

For many years it was believed that slaves built the pyramids, but more recently historians have concluded that the workers were in fact skilled artisans who were well-fed and well-paid. The Egyptians wanted to contribute to these great architectural wonders and saw their importance in national pride and religion. It would have taken 10,000 workers approximately ten years to build each individual pyramid.

It was hard work and many did die while on the construction site. As a tribute to these people, their bodies were buried close to the pharaoh's final resting place.

Some of the evidence to support this theory is the bones of many people found which are believed to belong to the laborers on the Giza site. The bodies were placed in specific positions, with their heads facing the west and their feet facing east, which is in keeping with ancient Egyptian religious burial customs. This type of burial would not have been awarded to mere slaves. From these graves, scientists have worked out that the workers ate meat regularly and worked extremely hard.

7. The curse of the pharaohs protects the pyramids

The curse of the pharaohs is a legend that is meant to protect to the pharaohs and their tombs from potential robbers. The curse is supposed to be cast upon anyone who disturbs the mummy of a pharaoh. Superstitions have grown over the years as archaeologists, who have been working on the tombs to discover more about the ancient Egyptians, have been struck with bad luck and sometimes even death, which has been attributed by some as part of the curse.

Some experts have argued that the reason many of the first people to enter the tombs became ill was not due to a supernatural curse, but instead bacteria or radiation. This theory is unproven though.

8. Tutankhamun's tomb remained intact

Tutankhamun was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh who ruled between 1332 and 1323 BC. He was also known as King Tut. His tomb was discovered by Howard Carter and George Herbert in 1922, in almost perfect condition. Unlike many other pyramids, Tutankhamun's had not been found and raided by robbers, which meant that the artifacts found inside were exactly as they had been left by the ancient Egyptians. One of the most famous and iconic images of the discovery was Tutankhamun's burial mask, which is now on exhibition at the Cairo museum. It has become the symbol that modern culture associates with the mummified pharaohs.

9. Pyramids help us learn about life in ancient Egypt

The ancient Egyptians carefully preserved their pharaohs, along with their belongings and their families, within the pyramids. Their reasons were purely religious but now, some 5000 years later, their efforts enable historians to learn about their culture, lifestyle, technology, values and religion. The artwork found in the tombs is particularly insightful. They show a variety of aspects of life, including farmers looking after their animals and land, fishermen, priests, religious ceremonies and funerals. These ancient burial grounds give us an understanding of their life as well as their death.

10. 130 pyramids have been found in Egypt

It is believed that the first significant pyramid was the Pyramid of Djoser, which was built in Saqqara in 2640 BC - over 4600 years ago. This early pyramid had large steps instead of a smooth surface. The steps were meant to help the pharaoh walk up to the next world.

The first of the pyramids the ancient Egyptians built in Giza is now known as the Great Pyramid of Giza. It is one of three called the Giza Necropoli (Cities of the Dead), and is the biggest of all of these three. It is the pyramid of Pharaoh Khufu and is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and has stood the test of time well, remaining almost completely intact. It was such an amazing structure when it was built - it was the largest structure that people had yet built, and remained so or over 3800 years. The weather has contributed to thirty-three feet (ten meters) being lost, yet it is still 480 feet (146 meters) tall.

Other notable and important sites where pyramids have been found include Meidum Dashur, Abusir and Lisht.
To learn more about the Ancient Egyptians, see:
25 Fascinating Facts About Egyptian Pyramids You May Not Know

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutankhamun
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/material.htm
http://www.ducksters.com/history/ancient_egypt/great_sphinx.php
http://www.mummies2pyramids.info/pyramids-tombs/tombs-of-pharaohs.htm
To view the complete list of sources, click here...

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Ancient Egypt Facts About Pyramids You Should Know!

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The ancient Egyptians lived nearly 5000 years ago. They built incredible structures, called pyramids, which were so well-built that they remain in the desert of Egypt today. In this article, we will explore some interesting facts about these wondrous pyramids including why they were built, who built them and what we can learn about them.

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Superior Technology of Ancient Egypt Civilization

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An overview of the major historical eras and geographic regions of the first civilizations. Part of the WritingThroughArt series of instructional videos on writing and art. More information about all images used in this video is available at: www.writingthroughart.org/credits.html

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Superior Technology of Ancient Egypt Civilization

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An overview of the major historical eras and geographic regions of the first civilizations. Part of the WritingThroughArt series of instructional videos on writing and art. More information about all images used in this video is available at: www.writingthroughart.org/credits.html

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The 7 most advanced ancient civilization

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Are you passionate about History? Read about some of the most advanced ancient civilizations of all time and take a trip to see the remnants of these forgotten worlds. 1) Ancient China 2100 - 221 BC
Along with the Four Great Inventions of Ancient China - printing, paper-making, the compass and gunpowder - the Ancient Chinese have also been credited with inventions ranging from kites to toilet paper. The first recorded observations of solar eclipses and comets were also made in China.

The Chinese brought time-keeping into our lives through Shadow Clocks - forerunners of the sundial which first appeared in China around 2,500 years ago. The crossbow was also developed by the Qin Dynasty which later became the main weapon of European warfare.
2) Ancient Egypt 3150 - 31 BC
The Ancient Egyptians are renowned for being advanced in areas such as Math and Architecture, but did you know that they were forward-thinking in the field of medicine too? Parasitic diseases and malaria were prevalent with the harsh living and working conditions near to the River Nile, with the added danger of crocodiles and hippos.

There is evidence that the Ancient Egyptians had knowledge of anatomy, injuries and practical treatments - with wounds being treated by bandaging with raw meat, opium being used for pain relief and linen soaked in honey to stop infections. Ancient Egyptian surgeons were able to set broken bones and stitch wounds, and garlic and onions were used for good health - a tradition that has continued to this day.

Ancient Egypt was also ahead of their time with regards to gender equality - they viewed all men and women (apart from slaves) as equal before the law. Egyptian women had significantly more choices and opportunities than many of the more modern societies of the period, two prominent examples being the female pharaohs: Hatshepsut and Cleopatra.
3) Inca Civilization 1200 - 1542 AD (Modern day Peru) The Sun Gate, Inca Trail by Dogtown Lens
From their capital of Cusco, Peru, the Incas conquered an Empire reaching from Southern Colombia to central Chile, and the roads they built created the most sophisticated and extensive transportation system in pre-Columbian South America. One part of this ancient road is the Inca Trail, leading to Machu Picchu. Whether reached by train (the easy way), or via the Inca Trail on a 2-4 day trek (the tiring way), seeing Machu Picchu up close is an essential experience for any modern-day South American adventure.

If you want to complete the trek you'd better be quick though - with trekking numbers strictly limited by the government and rumors that it may be closed to the public in future, time may be running out to complete a pilgrimage to this great archaeological site.
4) Ancient Greece 800 BC - 146 BC
Although well known for their sophistication in Architecture, Math and Astrology, the Ancient Greeks took great strides in the literary world too - playwright Aeschylus invented 'drama' through the idea of dialogue, Sophocles is credited with developing irony as a literary technique, and Euipedes used plays to challenge social norms - something that has continued to the present day.
5) Maya Civilization 2000 BC - early 16th Century (Modern day Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras)
Referenced in Blockbuster disaster film 2012, the Maya are well known for being brilliant astrologists and outstanding mathematicians, credited with the invention of zero and measuring the length of a solar year with great accuracy.

What is less well known is the sophistication of the methods they used to produce food - with permanent raised fields, wild harvesting, forest gardens and terracing supporting the population - practices that modern-day Maya people continue today. If you'd like to check out some Maya archaeological sites, Palenque in Mexico, Tikal in Guatemala and Copan in western Honduras are well worth a visit.
6) Osirian Civilization (Modern day Mediterranean)
With around 200 known sunken cities in the Mediterranean, we know that the Osirian Civilization, from the time of Atlantis and Rama, was extremely technologically advanced, with megalithic structures (comprised of very large stones) that were earthquake-proof, and evidence of electricity.

An awesome example of this advanced technology is the Osirian platform found at Baalbek, Lebanon. Made of individual stones, some of which are nearly 100ft long and are estimated to weigh up to 1500 tons each, there are multiple theories about how these stones might have been moved - from using wooden rollers, to flipping them over with levers.

Over the last hundred years, the cities of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro (Mound of the Dead) have been discovered in modern-day Pakistan, in the Indus Valley, but what made this ancient civilization so advanced?

Archaeologists believe that these cities were conceived in their entirety before being built, demonstrating an incredibly advanced example of early city planning. Even more incredible is that the sewage system found in these ancient cities was actually superior to that found Pakistan, India and many Asian countries today.
Have you visited any of these sites? What other civilizations would you add to the list? Post your comments below! If you liked this you might also like: 9 Most Mathematically Interesting Buildings in the World Main image - Machu Picchu by Dogtown Lens * Please note, the existence of the Osirian and Rama Civilizations are disputed by some Historians. Details of these ancient civilizations remain shrouded in mystery.
Tagged as: central america, destination ideas, egypt, great wall china, Greece, Inca trail, macchu picchu, maya ruins, peru, south america, yucatan

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7 Most Advanced Ancient Civilizations in the World

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Are you passionate about History? Read about some of the most advanced ancient civilizations of all time and take a trip to see the remnants of these forgotten worlds. 1) Ancient China 2100 - 221 BC Along with the Four Great Inventions of Ancient China - printing, paper-making, the compass and gunpowder - the Ancient Chinese have also been credited with inventions ranging from kites to toilet paper.

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Superior Technology of Ancient Egypt Civilization

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An overview of the major historical eras and geographic regions of the first civilizations. Part of the WritingThroughArt series of instructional videos on writing and art. More information about all images used in this video is available at: www.writingthroughart.org/credits.html

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10 civilazation you never heard of

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10 Civilizations You've Never Heard Of Lost languages and mysterious disappearances are just some of the interesting things about these 10 lesser known civilizations. Where else to find All Time 10s... Videos in the Endcard: Click to Subscribe..

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Chinese Mathematics - The Story of Mathematics

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Civilizations are intimately associated with additional characteristics such as centralization, the domestication of plant and animal species (including humans), specialization of labour, culturally-ingrained ideologies of progress, monumental architecture, taxation, societal dependence upon farming, and expansionism.

Historically, "a civilization" has often been understood as a larger and "more advanced" culture, in implied contrast to smaller, supposedly less advanced cultures. In this broad sense, a civilization contrasts with non-centralized tribal societies, including the cultures of nomadic pastoralists, Neolithic societies or hunter-gatherers; however, sometimes it also contrasts with the cultures found within civilizations themselves. Civilizations are organized densely-populated settlements divided into hierarchical social classes with a ruling elite and subordinate urban and rural populations, which engage in intensive agriculture, mining, small-scale manufacture and trade. Civilization concentrates power, extending human control over the rest of nature, including over other human beings.

Civilization, as its etymology (see below) suggests, is a concept originally associated with towns and cities. The earliest emergence of civilizations is generally connected with the final stages of the Neolithic Revolution in West Asia, culminating in the relatively rapid process of urban revolution and state-formation, a political development associated with the appearance of a governing elite.

The English word civilization comes from the 16th-century French civilisé ("civilized"), from Latin civilis ("civil"), related to civis ("citizen") and civitas ("city"). The fundamental treatise is Norbert Elias's The Civilizing Process (1939), which traces social mores from medieval courtly society to the Early Modern period. In The Philosophy of Civilization (1923), Albert Schweitzer outlines two opinions: one purely material and the other material and ethical. He said that the world crisis was from humanity losing the ethical idea of civilization, "the sum total of all progress made by man in every sphere of action and from every point of view in so far as the progress helps towards the spiritual perfecting of individuals as the progress of all progress".

Related words like "civility" developed in the mid-16th century. The abstract noun "civilization", meaning "civilized condition", came in the 1760s, again from French. The first known use in French is in 1757, by Victor de Riqueti, marquis de Mirabeau, and the first use in English is attributed to Adam Ferguson, who in his 1767 Essay on the History of Civil Society wrote, "Not only the individual advances from infancy to manhood but the species itself from rudeness to civilisation". The word was therefore opposed to barbarism or rudeness, in the active pursuit of progress characteristic of the Age of Enlightenment.

In the late 1700s and early 1800s, during the French Revolution, "civilization" was used in the singular, never in the plural, and meant the progress of humanity as a whole. This is still the case in French. The use of "civilizations" as a countable noun was in occasional use in the 19th century, but has become much more common in the later 20th century, sometimes just meaning culture (itself in origin an uncountable noun, made countable in the context of ethnography). Only in this generalized sense does it become possible to speak of a "medieval civilization", which in Elias's sense would have been an oxymoron.

Already in the 18th century, civilization was not always seen as an improvement. One historically important distinction between culture and civilization is from the writings of Rousseau, particularly his work about education, . Here, civilization, being more rational and socially driven, is not fully in accord with human nature, and "human wholeness is achievable only through the recovery of or approximation to an original discursive or prerational natural unity" (see noble savage). From this, a new approach was developed, especially in Germany, first by Johann Gottfried Herder and later by philosophers such as Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. This sees cultures as natural organisms, not defined by "conscious, rational, deliberative acts", but a kind of pre-rational "folk spirit". Civilization, in contrast, though more rational and more successful in material progress, is unnatural and leads to "vices of social life" such as guile, hypocrisy, envy and avarice. In World War II, Leo Strauss, having fled Germany, argued in New York that this opinion of civilization was behind Nazism and German militarism and nihilism.

Social scientists such as V. Gordon Childe have named a number of traits that distinguish a civilization from other kinds of society. Civilizations have been distinguished by their means of subsistence, types of livelihood, settlement patterns, forms of government, social stratification, economic systems, literacy and other cultural traits. Andrew Nikiforuk argues that "civilizations relied on shackled human muscle. It took the energy of slaves to plant crops, clothe emperors, and build cities" and considers slavery to be a common feature of pre-modern civilizations.

All civilizations have depended on agriculture for subsistence, with the possible exception of some early civilizations in Peru which may have depended upon maritime resources.

The traditional "surplus model" postulates that cereal farming results in accumulated storage and a surplus of food, particularly when people use intensive agricultural techniques such as artificial fertilization, irrigation and crop rotation. It is possible but more difficult to accumulate horticultural production, and so civilizations based on horticultural gardening have been very rare. Grain surpluses have been especially important because grain can be stored for a long time.

A research from the Journal of Political Economy contradicts the surplus model. It postulates that horticultural gardening was more productive than cereal farming. However, only cereal farming produced civilization because of the appropriability of yearly harvest. Rural populations that could only grow cereals could be taxed allowing for a taxing elite and urban development. This also had a negative effect on rural population, increasing relative agricultural output per farmer. Farming efficiency created food surplus and sustained the food surplus through decreasing rural population growth in favour of urban growth. Suitability of highly productive roots and tubers was in fact a curse of plenty, which prevented the emergence of states and impeded economic development.

A surplus of food permits some people to do things besides producing food for a living: early civilizations included soldiers, artisans, priests and priestesses, and other people with specialized careers. A surplus of food results in a division of labour and a more diverse range of human activity, a defining trait of civilizations. However, in some places hunter-gatherers have had access to food surpluses, such as among some of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest and perhaps during the Mesolithic Natufian culture. It is possible that food surpluses and relatively large scale social organization and division of labour predates plant and animal domestication.

Civilizations have distinctly different settlement patterns from other societies. The word "civilization" is sometimes simply defined as "' living in cities'". Non-farmers tend to gather in cities to work and to trade.

Compared with other societies, civilizations have a more complex political structure, namely the state. State societies are more stratified than other societies; there is a greater difference among the social classes. The ruling class, normally concentrated in the cities, has control over much of the surplus and exercises its will through the actions of a government or bureaucracy. Morton Fried, a conflict theorist and Elman Service, an integration theorist, have classified human cultures based on political systems and social inequality. This system of classification contains four categories

Economically, civilizations display more complex patterns of ownership and exchange than less organized societies. Living in one place allows people to accumulate more personal possessions than nomadic people. Some people also acquire landed property, or private ownership of the land. Because a percentage of people in civilizations do not grow their own food, they must trade their goods and services for food in a market system, or receive food through the levy of tribute, redistributive taxation, tariffs or tithes from the food producing segment of the population. Early human cultures functioned through a gift economy supplemented by limited barter systems. By the early Iron Age, contemporary civilizations developed money as a medium of exchange for increasingly complex transactions. In a village, the potter makes a pot for the brewer and the brewer compensates the potter by giving him a certain amount of beer. In a city, the potter may need a new roof, the roofer may need new shoes, the cobbler may need new horseshoes, the blacksmith may need a new coat and the tanner may need a new pot. These people may not be personally acquainted with one another and their needs may not occur all at the same time. A monetary system is a way of organizing these obligations to ensure that they are fulfilled. From the days of the earliest monetarized civilizations, monopolistic controls of monetary systems have benefited the social and political elites.

The transition from simpler to more complex economies does not necessarily mean an improvement in the living standards of the populace. For example, although the Middle Ages is often portrayed as an era of decline from the Roman Empire, studies have shown that the average stature of males in the Middle Ages (c. 500 to 1500 CE) was greater than it was for males during the preceding Roman Empire and the succeeding Early Modern Period (c. 1500 to 1800 CE). Also, the Plains Indians of North America in the 19th century were taller than their "civilized" American and European counterparts. The average stature of a population is a good measurement of the adequacy of its access to necessities, especially food, and its freedom from disease.

Writing, developed first by people in Sumer, is considered a hallmark of civilization and "appears to accompany the rise of complex administrative bureaucracies or the conquest state". Traders and bureaucrats relied on writing to keep accurate records. Like money, the writing was necessitated by the size of the population of a city and the complexity of its commerce among people who are not all personally acquainted with each other. However, writing is not always necessary for civilization, as shown by the Inca civilization of the Andes, which did not use writing at all but except for a complex recording system consisting of knotted strings of different lengths and colors: the " Quipus", and still functioned as a civilized society.

Aided by their division of labour and central government planning, civilizations have developed many other diverse cultural traits. These include organized religion, development in the arts, and countless new advances in science and technology.

Throughout history, successful civilizations have spread, taking over more and more territory, and assimilating more and more previously-uncivilized people. Nevertheless, some tribes or people remain uncivilized even to this day. These cultures are called by some " primitive", a term that is regarded by others as pejorative. "Primitive" implies in some way that a culture is "first" (Latin = primus), that it has not changed since the dawn of humanity, though this has been demonstrated not to be true. Specifically, as all of today's cultures are contemporaries, today's so-called primitive cultures are in no way antecedent to those we consider civilized. Anthropologists today use the term " non-literate" to describe these peoples.

Civilization has been spread by colonization, invasion, religious conversion, the extension of bureaucratic control and trade, and by introducing agriculture and writing to non-literate peoples. Some non-civilized people may willingly adapt to civilized behaviour. But civilization is also spread by the technical, material and social dominance that civilization engenders.

Assessments of what level of civilization a polity has reached are based on comparisons of the relative importance of agricultural as opposed to trading or manufacturing capacities, the territorial extensions of its power, the complexity of its division of labour, and the carrying capacity of its urban centres. Secondary elements include a developed transportation system, writing, standardized measurement, currency, contractual and tort-based legal systems, art, architecture, mathematics, scientific understanding, metallurgy, political structures, and organized religion.

Traditionally, polities that managed to achieve notable military, ideological and economic power defined themselves as "civilized" as opposed to other societies or human groupings outside their sphere of influence - calling the latter barbarians, savages, and primitives.

"Civilization" can also refer to the culture of a complex society, not just the society itself. Every society, civilization or not, has a specific set of ideas and customs, and a certain set of manufactures and arts that make it unique. Civilizations tend to develop intricate cultures, including a state-based decision making apparatus, a literature, professional art, architecture, organized religion and complex customs of education, coercion and control associated with maintaining the elite.

The intricate culture associated with civilization has a tendency to spread to and influence other cultures, sometimes assimilating them into the civilization (a classic example being Chinese civilization and its influence on nearby civilizations such as Korea, Japan and Vietnam). Many civilizations are actually large cultural spheres containing many nations and regions. The civilization in which someone lives is that person's broadest cultural identity.

It is precisely the protection of this cultural identity that is becoming increasingly important nationally and internationally. According to international law, the United Nations and UNESCO try to set up and enforce relevant rules. The aim is to preserve the cultural heritage of humanity and also the cultural identity, especially in the case of war and armed conflict. According to Karl von Habsburg, President of Blue Shield International, the destruction of cultural assets is also part of psychological warfare. The target of the attack is often the opponent's cultural identity, which is why symbolic cultural assets become a main target. It is also intended to destroy the particularly sensitive cultural memory (museums, archives, monuments, etc.), the grown cultural diversity, and the economic basis (such as tourism) of a state, region or community.

Many historians have focused on these broad cultural spheres and have treated civilizations as discrete units. Early twentieth-century philosopher Oswald Spengler, uses the German word Kultur, "culture", for what many call a "civilization". Spengler believed a civilization's coherence is based on a single primary cultural symbol. Cultures experience cycles of birth, life, decline, and death, often supplanted by a potent new culture, formed around a compelling new cultural symbol. Spengler states civilization is the beginning of the decline of a culture as "the most external and artificial states of which a species of developed humanity is capable".

This "unified culture" concept of civilization also influenced the theories of historian Arnold J. Toynbee in the mid-twentieth century. Toynbee explored civilization processes in his multi-volume A Study of History, which traced the rise and, in most cases, the decline of 21 civilizations and five "arrested civilizations". Civilizations generally declined and fell, according to Toynbee, because of the failure of a "creative minority", through moral or religious decline, to meet some important challenge, rather than mere economic or environmental causes.

Samuel P. Huntington defines civilization as "the highest cultural grouping of people and the broadest level of cultural identity people have short of that which distinguishes humans from other species". Huntington's theories about civilizations are discussed below.

Another group of theorists, making use of systems theory, looks at a civilization as a complex system, i.e., a framework by which a group of objects can be analysed that work in concert to produce some result. Civilizations can be seen as networks of cities that emerge from pre-urban cultures and are defined by the economic, political, military, diplomatic, social and cultural interactions among them. Any organization is a complex social system and a civilization is a large organization. Systems theory helps guard against superficial and misleading analogies in the study and description of civilizations.

Systems theorists look at many types of relations between cities, including economic relations, cultural exchanges and political/diplomatic/military relations. These spheres often occur on different scales. For example, trade networks were, until the nineteenth century, much larger than either cultural spheres or political spheres. Extensive trade routes, including the Silk Road through Central Asia and Indian Ocean sea routes linking the Roman Empire, Persian Empire, India and China, were well established 2000 years ago when these civilizations scarcely shared any political, diplomatic, military, or cultural relations. The first evidence of such long-distance trade is in the ancient world. During the Uruk period, Guillermo Algaze has argued that trade relations connected Egypt, Mesopotamia, Iran and Afghanistan. Resin found later in the Royal Cemetery at Ur is suggested was traded northwards from Mozambique.

Many theorists argue that the entire world has already become integrated into a single " world system", a process known as globalization. Different civilizations and societies all over the globe are economically, politically, and even culturally interdependent in many ways. There is debate over when this integration began, and what sort of integration - cultural, technological, economic, political, or military-diplomatic - is the key indicator in determining the extent of a civilization. David Wilkinson has proposed that economic and military-diplomatic integration of the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations resulted in the creation of what he calls the "Central Civilization" around 1500 BCE. Central Civilization later expanded to include the entire Middle East and Europe, and then expanded to a global scale with European colonization, integrating the Americas, Australia, China and Japan by the nineteenth century. According to Wilkinson, civilizations can be culturally heterogeneous, like the Central Civilization, or homogeneous, like the Japanese civilization. What Huntington calls the "clash of civilizations" might be characterized by Wilkinson as a clash of cultural spheres within a single global civilization. Others point to the Crusading movement as the first step in globalization. The more conventional viewpoint is that networks of societies have expanded and shrunk since ancient times, and that the current globalized economy and culture is a product of recent European colonialism.[citation needed ]

The notion of world history as a succession of "civilizations" is an entirely modern one. In the European Age of Discovery, emerging Modernity was put into stark contrast with the Neolithic and Mesolithic stage of the cultures of many of the peoples they encountered. The term "civilization" as it is now most commonly understood, a complex state with centralization, social stratification and specialization of labour, corresponds to early empires that arise in the Fertile Crescent in the Early Bronze Age, around roughly 3000 BC. Gordon Childe defined the emergence of civilization as the result of two successive revolutions: the Neolithic Revolution, triggering the development of settled communities, and the Urban Revolution.

Urban Revolution

At first, the Neolithic was associated with shifting subsistence cultivation, where continuous farming led to the depletion of soil fertility resulting in the requirement to cultivate fields further and further removed from the settlement, eventually compelling the settlement itself to move. In major semi-arid river valleys, annual flooding renewed soil fertility every year, with the result that population densities could rise significantly. This encouraged a secondary products revolution in which people used domesticated animals not just for meat, but also for milk, wool, manure and pulling ploughs and carts - a development that spread through the Eurasian Oecumene.[definition needed ]

The earlier neolithic technology and lifestyle were established first in Western Asia (for example at Göbekli Tepe, from about 9,130 BCE), and later in the Yellow River and Yangtze basins in China (for example the Peiligang and Pengtoushan cultures), and later spread. Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BCE, with civilizations developing from 7,400 years ago. This area has been identified as having "inspired some of the most important developments in human history including the invention of the wheel, the planting of the first cereal crops, the building of the earliest cities and the development of the written cursive script". Similar pre-civilized "neolithic revolutions" also began independently from 7,000 BCE in northwestern South America (the Norte Chico civilization) and Mesoamerica.

The 8.2 Kiloyear Arid Event and the 5.9 Kiloyear Interpluvial saw the drying out of semiarid regions and a major spread of deserts. This climate change shifted the cost-benefit ratio of endemic violence between communities, which saw the abandonment of unwalled village communities and the appearance of walled cities, associated with the first civilizations.

This " urban revolution" marked the beginning of the accumulation of transferable surpluses, which helped economies and cities develop. It was associated with the state monopoly of violence, the appearance of a soldier class and endemic warfare, the rapid development of hierarchies, and the appearance of human sacrifice.

The civilized urban revolution in turn was dependent upon the development of sedentism, the domestication of grains, plants and animals, the permanence of settlements and development of lifestyles that facilitated economies of scale and accumulation of surplus production by certain social sectors. The transition from complex cultures to civilizations, while still disputed, seems to be associated with the development of state structures, in which power was further monopolized by an elite ruling class who practiced human sacrifice.

Towards the end of the Neolithic period, various elitist Chalcolithic civilizations began to rise in various "cradles" from around 3600 BCE beginning with Mesopotamia, expanding into large-scale empires in the course of the Bronze Age ( Akkadian Empire, Old Kingdom of Egypt, Neo-Sumerian Empire, Old Assyrian Empire, Babylonian Empire, Hittite Empire, and to some degree the territorial expansions of the Elamites, Hurrians, Amorites and Ebla).

A later development took place independently in the Pre-Columbian Americas. Urbanization in the Norte Chico civilization in coastal Peru emerged about 3200 BCE; the oldest known Mayan city, located in Guatemala, dates to about 750 BCE. and Teotihuacan in Mexico was one of the largest cities in the world in 350 CE with a population of about 125,000.

The Bronze Age collapse was followed by the Iron Age around 1200 BCE, during which a number of new civilizations emerged, culminating in a period from the 8th to the 3rd century BCE which Karl Jaspers termed the Axial Age, presented as a critical transitional phase leading to classical civilization.

A major technological and cultural transition to modernity began approximately 1500 CE in Western Europe, and from this beginning new approaches to science and law spread rapidly around the world, incorporating earlier cultures into the technological and industrial society of the present.

Civilizations are traditionally understood as ending in one of two ways; either through incorporation into another expanding civilization (e.g. As Ancient Egypt was incorporated into Hellenistic Greek, and subsequently Roman civilizations), or by collapsing and reverting to a simpler form of living, as happens in so-called Dark Ages.

There have been many explanations put forward for the collapse of civilization. Some focus on historical examples, and others on general theory.

Ibn Khaldūn's Muqaddimah influenced theories of the analysis, growth and decline of the Islamic civilization.[64] He suggested repeated invasions from nomadic peoples limited development and led to social collapse.

Edward Gibbon's work The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is a well-known and detailed analysis of the fall of Roman civilization. Gibbon suggested the final act of the collapse of Rome was the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 CE. For Gibbon, "The decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the cause of the destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest; and, as soon as time or accident had removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its own weight. The story of the ruin is simple and obvious; and instead of inquiring why the Roman Empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it has subsisted for so long".[65]

Theodor Mommsen in his History of Rome suggested Rome collapsed with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE and he also tended towards a biological analogy of "genesis", "growth", "senescence", "collapse" and "decay".

Oswald Spengler, in his Decline of the West rejected Petrarch's chronological division, and suggested that there had been only eight "mature civilizations". Growing cultures, he argued, tend to develop into imperialistic civilizations, which expand and ultimately collapse, with democratic forms of government ushering in plutocracy and ultimately imperialism.

Arnold J. Toynbee in his A Study of History suggested that there had been a much larger number of civilizations, including a small number of arrested civilizations, and that all civilizations tended to go through the cycle identified by Mommsen. The cause of the fall of a civilization occurred when a cultural elite became a parasitic elite, leading to the rise of internal and external proletariats.

Joseph Tainter in The Collapse of Complex Societies suggested that there were diminishing returns to complexity, due to which, as states achieved a maximum permissible complexity, they would decline when further increases actually produced a negative return. Tainter suggested that Rome achieved this figure in the 2nd century CE.

Jared Diamond in his 2005 book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed suggests five major reasons for the collapse of 41 studied cultures: environmental damage, such as deforestation and soil erosion; climate change; dependence upon long-distance trade for needed resources; increasing levels of internal and external violence, such as war or invasion; and societal responses to internal and environmental problems.

Peter Turchin in his Historical Dynamics and Andrey Korotayev et al. in their Introduction to Social Macrodynamics, Secular Cycles, and Millennial Trends suggest a number of mathematical models describing collapse of agrarian civilizations. For example, the basic logic of Turchin's "fiscal-demographic" model can be outlined as follows: during the initial phase of a sociodemographic cycle we observe relatively high levels of per capita production and consumption, which leads not only to relatively high population growth rates, but also to relatively high rates of surplus production. As a result, during this phase the population can afford to pay taxes without great problems, the taxes are quite easily collectible, and the population growth is accompanied by the growth of state revenues. During the intermediate phase, the increasing population growth leads to the decrease of per capita production and consumption levels, it becomes more and more difficult to collect taxes, and state revenues stop growing, whereas the state expenditures grow due to the growth of the population controlled by the state. As a result, during this phase the state starts experiencing considerable fiscal problems. During the final pre-collapse phases the overpopulation leads to further decrease of per capita production, the surplus production further decreases, state revenues shrink, but the state needs more and more resources to control the growing (though with lower and lower rates) population. Eventually this leads to famines, epidemics, state breakdown, and demographic and civilization collapse (Peter Turchin. Historical Dynamics. Princeton University Press, 2003:121-127; Andrey Korotayev et al. Secular Cycles and Millennial Trends. Moscow: Russian Academy of Sciences, 2006).

Peter Heather argues in his book The Fall of the Roman Empire: a New History of Rome and the Barbarians[66] that this civilization did not end for moral or economic reasons, but because centuries of contact with barbarians across the frontier generated its own nemesis by making them a more sophisticated and dangerous adversary. The fact that Rome needed to generate ever greater revenues to equip and re-equip armies that were for the first time repeatedly defeated in the field, led to the dismemberment of the Empire. Although this argument is specific to Rome, it can also be applied to the Asiatic Empire of the Egyptians, to the Han and Tang dynasties of China, to the Muslim Abbasid Caliphate and others.

Bryan Ward-Perkins, in his book The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization,[67] argues from mostly archaeological evidence that the collapse of Roman civilization in western Europe had deleterious impacts on the living standards of the population, unlike some historians who downplay this. The collapse of complex society meant that even basic plumbing for the elite disappeared from the continent for 1,000 years. Similar impacts have been postulated for the Dark Age after the Late Bronze Age collapse in the Eastern Mediterranean, the collapse of the Maya, on Easter Island and elsewhere.

Arthur Demarest argues in Ancient Maya: The Rise and Fall of a Rainforest Civilization,[68] using a holistic perspective to the most recent evidence from archeology, paleoecology, and epigraphy, that no one explanation is sufficient but that a series of erratic, complex events, including loss of soil fertility, drought and rising levels of internal and external violence led to the disintegration of the courts of Mayan kingdoms, which began a spiral of decline and decay. He argues that the collapse of the Maya has lessons for civilization today.

Jeffrey A. McNeely has recently suggested that "a review of historical evidence shows that past civilizations have tended to over-exploit their forests, and that such abuse of important resources has been a significant factor in the decline of the over-exploiting society".[69]

Thomas Homer-Dixon in The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization, where he considers that the fall in the energy return on investments. The energy expended to energy yield ratio is central to limiting the survival of civilizations. The degree of social complexity is associated strongly, he suggests, with the amount of disposable energy environmental, economic and technological systems allow. When this amount decreases civilizations either have to access new energy sources or they will collapse.

Feliks Koneczny in his work "On the Plurality of Civilizations" calls his study the science on civilizations. He asserts that civilizations fall not because they must or there exist some cyclical or a "biological" life span and that there stil exist two ancient civilizations - Brahmin-Hindu and Chinese - which are not ready to fall any time soon. Koneczny claimed that civilizations cannot be mixed into hybrids, an inferior civilization when given equal rights within a highly developed civilization will overcome it. One of Koneczny's claims in his study on civilizations is that "a person cannot be civilized in two or more ways" without falling into what he calls an "abcivilized state" (as in abnormal). He also stated that when two or more civilizations exist next to one another and as long as they are vital, they will be in an existential combat imposing its own "method of organizing social life" upon the other.[70] Absorbing alien "method of organizing social life" that is civilization and giving it equal rights yields a process of decay and decomposition.

Political scientist Samuel Huntington has argued that the defining characteristic of the 21st century will be a clash of civilizations. According to Huntington, conflicts between civilizations will supplant the conflicts between nation-states and ideologies that characterized the 19th and 20th centuries. These views have been strongly challenged by others like Edward Said, Muhammed Asadi and Amartya Sen. Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris have argued that the "true clash of civilizations" between the Muslim world and the West is caused by the Muslim rejection of the West's more liberal sexual values, rather than a difference in political ideology, although they note that this lack of tolerance is likely to lead to an eventual rejection of (true) democracy. In Identity and Violence Sen questions if people should be divided along the lines of a supposed "civilization", defined by religion and culture only. He argues that this ignores the many others identities that make up people and leads to a focus on differences.

Cultural Historian Morris Berman suggests in Dark Ages America: the End of Empire that in the corporate consumerist United States, the very factors that once propelled it to greatness―extreme individualism, territorial and economic expansion, and the pursuit of material wealth―have pushed the United States across a critical threshold where collapse is inevitable. Politically associated with over-reach, and as a result of the environmental exhaustion and polarization of wealth between rich and poor, he concludes the current system is fast arriving at a situation where continuation of the existing system saddled with huge deficits and a hollowed-out economy is physically, socially, economically and politically impossible. Although developed in much more depth, Berman's thesis is similar in some ways to that of Urban Planner, Jane Jacobs who argues that the five pillars of United States culture are in serious decay: community and family; higher education; the effective practice of science; taxation and government; and the self-regulation of the learned professions. The corrosion of these pillars, Jacobs argues, is linked to societal ills such as environmental crisis, racism and the growing gulf between rich and poor.

Cultural critic and author Derrick Jensen argues that modern civilization is directed towards the domination of the environment and humanity itself in an intrinsically harmful, unsustainable, and self-destructive fashion. Defending his definition both linguistically and historically, he defines civilization as "a culture... that both leads to and emerges from the growth of cities", with "cities" defined as "people living more or less permanently in one place in densities high enough to require the routine importation of food and other necessities of life". This need for civilizations to import ever more resources, he argues, stems from their over-exploitation and diminution of their own local resources. Therefore, civilizations inherently adopt imperialist and expansionist policies and, to maintain these, highly militarized, hierarchically structured, and coercion-based cultures and lifestyles.

The Kardashev scale classifies civilizations based on their level of technological advancement, specifically measured by the amount of energy a civilization is able to harness. The scale is only hypothetical, but it puts energy consumption in a cosmic perspective. The Kardashev scale makes provisions for civilizations far more technologically advanced than any currently known to exist.

The Persepolis in Iran: Pictures of the Gate of All Nations, the main entrance for all representatives of other nations and states. Persepolis appears to have been a grand ceremonial complex, that it was especially used for celebrating Nowruz, the Persian New Year, in 515 BC.

The Roman Forum in Rome, Italy, the political, economic, cultural and religious center of the Ancient Rome civilization, during the Republic and later Empire, its ruins still visible today in modern-day Rome.

Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. An architectural and cultural icon of Byzantine and Eastern Orthodox civilization. Its influence, both architecturally and liturgically, was widespread and enduring in the Eastern Christianity, Western Christianity, and Ottoman architecture. Represents the legacy of the Byzantine Empire one of the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe, noted for its art, architecture, science, medicine, and law.

The current scientific consensus is that human beings are the only animal species with the cognitive ability to create civilizations that has emerged on Earth. A recent thought experiment, the silurian hypothesis, however, considers whether it would "be possible to detect an industrial civilization in the geological record" given the paucity of geological information about eras before the quaternary.

Astronomers speculate about the existence of communicating intelligent civilizations within and beyond the Milky Way galaxy, usually using variants of the Drake equation. They also conduct searches for such intelligences - such as for technological traces, called " technosignatures". The proposed proto-scientific field " xenoarchaeology" is concerned with the study of artifact remains of non-human civilizations to reconstruct and interpret past lives of alien societies if such get discovered and confirmed scientifically.

Brinton, Crane; et al. (1984). A History of Civilization: Prehistory to 1715 (6th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-389866-8.

Collcutt, Martin; Marius Jansen; Isao Kumakura (1988). Cultural Atlas of Japan. New York: Facts on File. ISBN 978-0-8160-1927-4.

J. Currie Elles (1908), The influence of commerce on civilization: the Joseph Fisher lecture on commerce delivered at the University of Adelaide by J. Currie Elles esq., April 23rd, 1908 (1st ed.), Adelaide: W. K. Thomas & Co., Wikidata Q106369892

Ferrill, Arther (1985). The Origins of War: From the Stone Age to Alexander the Great. New York: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-25093-8.

Fuller, J.F.C. (1954-57). A Military History of the Western World. 3 vols. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.

1. From the Earliest Times to the Battle of Lepanto. ISBN 0-306-80304-6 (1987 reprint).

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3. From the American Civil War to the End of World War II. ISBN 0-306-80306-2 (1987 reprint).

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Sandall, Roger (2001). The Culture Cult: Designer Tribalism and Other Essays. Boulder, Colo.: Westview. ISBN 978-0-8133-3863-7.

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Civilizations are intimately associated with additional characteristics such as centralization, the domestication of plant and animal species (including humans), specialization of labour, culturally-ingrained ideologies of progress, monumental architecture, taxation, societal dependence upon farming, and expansionism. Historically, "a civilization" has often been understood as a larger and "more advanced" culture, in implied contrast to smaller, supposedly less advanced cultures.

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romans numbers.

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ancient numbers

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First they can learn more about the mathematics of our own system by comparing it to the systems of ancient civilizations. In addition they can learn more about those ancient civilizations from understanding better how they wrote numbers. Objective: Students will be able to demonstrate their understanding of the four ...

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Ancient Rome Coliseum

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Egyptian Numerals

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Egyptian numerals was used in Ancient Egypt from around 3000 BC until the early first millennium AD. It was a system of numeration based on multiples of ten, often rounded off to the higher power, written in hieroglyphs.

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chinese math system

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Chinese Mathematics - The Story of Mathematics

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The Story of Mathematics - Chinese Mathematics

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Romans clotes.

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ancient egyptian house

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Dwelling House. The ancient dwelling houses were all rectangular with the four house posts in the corners. The gabled roof extended from 2 to 3 feet above the ground and was thatched with pandanus sheets. Lister (15) says, "There were no walls, but a low fence or railing formed a definite limit to the inside of the house.

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This is Fun Fact about Greece

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Greece is a great place to travel, explore and live! Would you like to travel to Greece? Whether you're looking to follow in the footsteps of the Romans who looked upon Greek culture and learning as the pre-eminent path to knowledge of art, philosophy and political theory, or simply to enjoy a holiday visiting unhurried white-washed villages flanking inviting beaches, people watching at lazy cafes, shopping all day or dancing the night away, Greece will not disappoint.

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Greek Alphabet

For thousands of years, humans wrote without any letters. They simply drew pictures to make their point. You didn't have to know a certain language to understand these pictures. Modern-day drivers know that a road sign with an airplane on it means that an airport is nearby, no matter what language they speak. These ancient pictures worked the same way. Over time, these drawings changed into symbols. There could be thousands of these symbols, so it took many years to learn to write.

Over many, many years, these symbols became letters. We don't know exactly when this happened. We also don't know whose idea it was, but it was a good one. We do know that the first alphabet appeared in the Middle East, in an area called the Levant. There are very old stones from the Levant with writing that isn't really pictures, but isn't really letters, either. It's a cross between the two. It is believed that this happened sometime in the 8th century BCE.

These very early letters were probably brought to the Greeks by the Phoenicians, another ancient people. The Greeks added a new twist by adding vowels and deciding how each letter should be pronounced. The result was the alphabet. (The word alphabet comes from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, alpha and beta.) Eventually, the Romans came along and made some changes to what the Greeks had done.....and presto! The result was the very letters you're reading!

In the very earliest societies, writing was used simply for record-keeping. They had to know how many chariots they had, right? In other words, writing was used only for business. But the Greeks were different. They loved life and enjoyed having a good time. The earliest Greek writing is about dancing and enjoying life.

Once the Greeks had their alphabet in place, they wrote all sorts of things. They wrote their names on pottery to show that it belonged to them. They wrote poems and stories, sometimes on vases. They wrote offerings to the gods. Sometimes they wrote riddles and jokes!
Some interesting facts about the Greek alphabet:

It was originally written (and read) from right to left.

Eventually, the Greek alphabet changed to boustrophedon. This translates to "turning like oxen." That meant that the direction of writing alternated with each line. By the 5th century BCE, Greek writing settled into the same pattern we use today.

They cut it down from thousands of characters to only about twenty-four. This made it much easier to learn. And because Greeks made it easier to learn to read and write, Greeks were much more educated than other ancient peoples.

Greek was originally written with only capital letters.

A system of writing that could be understood by almost everyone may even have helped Greece become a democracy! Having an alphabet meant that writing was not something that belonged only to a small group of people.

There were originally different local versions of the Greek alphabet. Eventually, the version used in the city-state of Ionia became the standard Greek alphabet.

Below you can learn more about the Greek alphabet and listen to the sound of each letter

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For thousands of years, humans wrote without any letters. They simply drew pictures to make their point. You didn't have to know a certain language to understand these pictures. Modern-day drivers know that a road sign with an airplane on it means that an airport is nearby, no matter what language they speak.

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This is the silk road map

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This is the great China wall.

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Anceint clothes

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Anceint quill pen

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These are the ancient China math system

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These are the ancient China inventions

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Kids learn about the inventions and technology of Ancient China to Europe such as paper, the compass, printing, and gunpowder.

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Wow facts about Egyptian pyramids

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25 Fascinating Facts About Egyptian Pyramids You May Not Know

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Ancient math systems

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Ancient Egypt symbols

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This is ancient Greeks math system

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This is a China's spoon

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Ancient Rome's invent

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Ancient History Lists provide the top outstanding list about the different era including political, war, social, cultural aspects.

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Ancient Egypt

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Watch my amazing website created on emaze - The stunning web site builder.

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Example of Roman Math System

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Roman Mathematics - The Story of Mathematics

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The Story of Mathematics - Roman Mathematics

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Ancient Chinese Abacus

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Four Great Inventions Of Ancient China

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Four Inventions of Ancient China: Paper Making, Gunpowder, Printing, Compass

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Papermaking, gunpowder, printing and the compass are four great ancient inventions by Chinese people that have had a huge impact on the entire world.

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Ancient Italy number

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Egyptian Mathematics Numbers Hieroglyphs and Math problems for kids

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Ancient sports

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Ancient Roman Sports and Activities - Crystalinks

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A gladiator (Latin: gladiator, "swordsman", from gladius, "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their legal and social standing and their lives by appearing in the arena.

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Ancient Greek numerals is not the same numerals we use today . If you think its  not different look at my poster .See if it's different.https://www.google.co.th/search?q=ancient++math&client=safari&channel=ipad_bm&prmd=ivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjMu4Odl_jPAhUDgLwKHfKXD48Q_AUIBygB&biw=1024&bih=704#imgrc=ehvV-ofFLGAFRM%3A

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ancient Chinese silk

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Jul 28, 2017 ... Silk is a fabric first produced in Neolithic China from the filaments of the cocoon of the silk worm. It became a staple source of income for small farmers and, as weaving techniques improved, the reputation of Chinese silk spread so that it became highly desired across the empires of the ancient world.

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Ancient Chinese Numerals

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Ancient Bangkok house

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ancient roman numerous

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ancient Chinese crossbow

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This is a ancient chinese sword

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ancient Chinese clock

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ancient thai silk

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After silk originated in ancient China and India where the practice of weaving silk began around 2,640 BCE, Chinese merchants spread the use of silk throughout Asia through trade. Some accounts indicate that archaeologists found the first fibers of silk in Thailand to be over 3,000 years old in the ruins of Baan Chiang.

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This is the ancient china gunpowder

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Chinese invention timeline

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In 1000, 1100, 1200, and 1300, China was the most advanced place in the world. Marco Polo (1254-1324) recognized this when he got to China in the late 13th century after traveling through much of Asia.

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Check out the Maya math system of only three symbols and play a game.

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I am Itzamná, Maya Lord of Knowledge and Wisdom. I am here to tell you about my people, who were expert mathematicians.

The ancient Maya used mathematics to support many activities in their daily lives, from market transactions to predicting eclipses and making sophisticated calendar calculations. Maya mathematics is vigesimal, which means that instead of counting by tens, Maya math counts by twenties. Not long ago, traditional people in the Yucatán still used seeds, sticks and shells to make calculations.

Instead of the numbers 0 to 9,
Maya Math uses three symbols:

A dot represents the number 1

A stick represents the number 5

A shell represents the number 0

This system allows very large numbers to be written - and long periods of time to be recorded - and makes complex math possible. Now that you know something about Maya math, do you think you are ready for the challenge?

New at Maya math? Click here to learn the basics and receive help from me, Itzamná.

Are you ready?
Click here to accept my challenge.

Looking for an activity to do in the classroom? Click here to download a Maya math lesson.

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I am Itzamná, Maya Lord of Knowledge and Wisdom. I am here to tell you about my people, who were expert mathematicians. The ancient Maya used mathematics to support many activities in their daily lives, from market transactions to predicting eclipses and making sophisticated calendar calculations.

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Video on Ancient Civilizations

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The History of Civilization for Kids: How Civilization Began - FreeSchool