Ancient Civilizations
The civilizations of today can find their roots in the past. Were the people of past civilizations so much different than we are today? Civilization...from wandering groups we settled into communities and started farming about 10,000 years ago. Since we now stayed in one place we began to collect things - the concept of possession is now born. Civilizations are about the people that contribute their work, ideas, and dreams together. Many past civilizations have shared common threads, good and bad, with the people of today. Law, religion, love of family, slavery, wars, theatre, pastimes such as storytelling, and wonder about the unknown such as the stars in the night sky are examples of such threads.
The ancient Egyptian civilization lasted for about 3000 years. The United States independence as a country was recognized in September 1783 (declared in July 1776). In comparison this civilization has been around for only a fraction of the time of the Egyptians. As part of our adaption skills many civilizations build from ideas of older civilizations. As time progresses we, like nature, experiment and transform our societies through reform and technology.
Ancient Egyptians fashion of clothes during the time of their civilization, like many societies, their dress resembled social status and also was suited to the climate conditions of the land. The pyramids of Giza are an architectual feat especially for the technology of their time. Language in this civilization is the second oldest written language in history (starting around 3200 BC).
Ancient Rome had a vast empire which spread over three continents. It lasted for a long time, from 625 BC to 476 AD = 1101 years. The Romans had a powerful army, invented new methods to mill grains faster to feed an expanding population, and had to delegate power to kings in order to maintain control of such a large empire. Roads, Art, monuments, elegant public facilities and architecture were some of the achievements of this civilization.
The Ancient Greeks had many discoveries to share with the world. Eratosthenes, who lived in the third century B.C. and was a head librarian at the library of Alexandria, calculated a fairly accurate measurement (within a few percent) of the Earth's circumference by taking note of the position of the sun at noon in two locations on the Earth. By using sticks he figured out the degrees of the shadow produced in one location where the other (at high noon) had no shadow; then, assuming the world was round, he simply did the math.
