Advanced Civilizations
An advanced civilization (or civilization) is a civilization that is more developed than other civilizations in ancient times.[citation needed] Such civilizations include the Ancient Egyptians, the Ancient Romans, the Incas, and more. There are factors which make a civilization more advanced than others, which include a more developed agriculture, government, culture, and more factors which result in keen expansion in civilization.[citation needed] Civilizations are basically more advanced if they are more developed in these factors in earlier times, such as the ancient Egyptians, who are developed and advanced and began their civilization as early as 3000 BCE.[citation needed] The oldest civilization in the world are the Sumerians in Mesopotamia, who started their civilization in 6100 BCE[1]. Civilizations are also considered an advanced civilization when contrast to smaller and less developed civilizations.
History[edit]
Though there are a few advanced civilizations in ancient times, each has an interesting history and is unique. Although each was also developed independently, the process happened to be slow and gradually done.[2] In ancient civilizations, it is mostly over a number of periods in the timeline and is even similar to modern civilizations, which only develop under a certain amount of time depending on various factors. For instance, the Sumerians saw the beginning of the first city-states during the Uruk period in their timeline. The civilization also flourished between 4100-1750 BCE, when it gained advances in art, culture and development.[3]
Civilizations also grow under the rule of a good leader. An example is the ancient Romans, who had leaders such as Julius Caesar, Augustus, Hadrian, and other great leaders who brought the ancient Romans to a world power and domination in the ancient world. For instance, Julius Caesar transformed Rome by becoming the first dictator in ancient Rome and forming the first Triumvirate with the help of Marcus Licinius Crassus and Pompey, overcoming the Roman Senate. He then became the first dictator by leading his army to Italy and defeating Pompey after Crassus' death.[4]
The Incas[edit]
The Incas were on one of the Andean civilizations situated in modern-day Peru and Chile[citation needed], and were advanced in art, architecture, agriculture and more. They created an advanced road system, which was used for a
variety of purposes.[citation needed] They used roads for the transportation of goods and resources, as well as military and government purposes. Both armies and workers used the roads for quick transportation of materials and was also used for religious activities as well. Aside from construction and organization, the Incas used terrace farming to grow their crops as the steep hills of the Andes did not provide a flat base for crops to grow. They also constructed a range of religious temples, structures and other buildings using a wide variety of materials.[5]
The Incas kept a mandatory system known as the Mit'a, which was one of the best inventions of the Incan government. It was a kind of labor tax service for the Incas. All males between the age of 15 and 50 were required to join the Mit'a.[citation needed] The service of the Mit'a was mainly all public services, and also transporting religious objects across the Incan empire. It was used amongst the Incas until the Spanish invaders took the Mit'a system to use it for their own needs during 1500s and used it to supply the workforce necessary for their silver mines.[citation needed] The Inca army was also advanced, having well-trained soldiers. It was used by the Tawantin Suyu for the purpose of expanding the Incan empire and defend the Sapa Inca or the monarchy of the Incas, and was one of the reasons why proper, well-built roads were constructed, for the purpose of soldiers' marching and to facilitate the movement of the army's members.[citation needed]
Inca religion was mostly based on earlier Andean traditions, particularly the ancient Wari civilization and a few others. The Incas had a view of the world itself, that the world was created at Lake Titicaca, which was considered a sacred place for the Andean people, and that location was visited by the Incas regularly on pilgrimages.[6] The Incas used to worship gods and deities by religious temples and even believed in omens.
Architecture[edit]
Inca architecture was the most significant architecture during the Pre-Columbian era in South America.[citation needed] Out of the materials they used, stone was mainly used to build interlocking blocks for constructions. The Incas used three main types of stones: the Yucay limestone, green Sacsayhuaman diorite porphyry, and black andesite. Each block of stone used could weigh a large number of tons and were shaped with only bronze tools. Blocks were moved during construction using ropes, levers, poles, logs ramps. Incan buildings were highly resistant, especially interlocking blocks and sloping walls, and were strong against earthquakes. Gold sheeting in Incan buildings are rare and only built for exclusive purposes, such as the Coricancha temple in Peru, which is almost entirely built with gold.[7]
The Ancient Egyptians[edit]
The ancient Egyptians were highly advanced in government, agriculture, military and culture. They developed their civilization in early times and made many inventions which last today. They created an advanced writing system known as Hieroglyphics, which are symbolized pictures representing words, and invented an early paper known as Papyrus for writing with ink. Aside from early inventions, their skill in mathematics was recorded in ancient papyrus, which shows basic and complex fractions written in 1650 BCE.[citation needed] The ancient Egyptians were also advanced in early medicine, which was recorded extensively between the 33rd century BCE until 525 BCE[citation needed]. They used opium as a painkiller and foods such as onion and garlic for health benefits. There are also very famous Egyptian doctors from ancient times, such as Imhotep, who, two thousand years after his death, had risen in his status as the "god of medicine" and initially the high priest of the sun god Ra at Heliopolis.[citation needed]
The Egyptian culture in ancient times was very diverse. The Egyptians believed in various gods and goddesses, such as the god of the sun, Ra, the god of death, Anubis, the god of the sky and war, Horus, and many more deities. They were also the first people to create the process of mummification, believing in the afterlife. The ancient Egyptian society was also having beliefs due to religion. An example is that the Egyptians gave the most rights and privileges to women and treated them equally with men, due to the belief that the Egyptian goddess Isis had given equal rights to both women and men.[8] Other than society, military was organized in ancient Egypt, split over different groups over the periods of timeline. A major advanced in warfare and technology came around 1600 BC during the New Kingdom period in ancient Egyptian armies.
Daily life in Ancient Egypt was developed in ancient times. The ancient Egyptians gave great importance to hygiene and appearance, most bathing in the river Nile and used a number of ointments and creams to cover dirty skin and used perfumes to cover bad odors and provide a soothing skin.[citation needed] Rare as it is in ancient times, the ancient Egyptians used wigs for the purpose of protection from lice.[citation needed] The ancient Egyptians spend a large amount of leisure time with board games and music. Senet, Mehen and Hounds and jackals are examples of popular ancient Egyptian games. With children, juggling and ball games were popular, and with wealthy people, they enjoyed hunting, boating and fishing.[citation needed]
The Egyptians also treated the ancient Pharaohs highly and respectively, constructing temples and pyramids in honor of them, as monarchy was the form of government in ancient Egypt. Pharaohs were typically male, though a small number of famous female pharaohs were present, such as Hatshepsut and Cleopatra. The pharaoh was responsible of collecting and managing taxes, the laws, protecting Egypt from foreign invasion and constructing buildings in his own honor[9]. Constructions such as the Pyramid of Djoser, the temple of Abu Simbel and the Pyramid of Khafre are examples of buildings that were built for pharaohs.
The Indus Valley Civilization[edit]
The Indus Valley Civilization was a civilization of the Bronze Age situated in the Indus River valley and is one of the earliest developed civilizations (along with Egypt and Mesopotamia), starting its civilization in 3300 BCE.[citation needed] This civilization was advanced in mainly city-planning and agriculture, as well as writing, having developed a writing system in early times[10], and contains two large cities Harappa and Mohenjo-daro (which is now in Pakistan)[10][11]. They were also developed in arts and crafts, being one of the first ever skilled craftsmen.[citation needed] The architecture of the Indus people was unique in a manner, and they did not construct temples or monumental structures and they did not keep recordings on kings or royal families.[11] The civilization was, however, highly developed in city-planning and even contained an efficient sewer system and drainage system in each city, comparable to even the early Romans[11]. The Harappans in the civilization also formed a general measure system as well as measuring weights, using a binary system for lower measurements and a decimal system for heavier weights[10]. The civilization was advanced at ancient times in using an advanced measurement system, as scholar John Keay comments:
"What amazed all these pioneers, and what remains the distinctive characteristic of the several hundred Harappan sites now known, is their apparent similarity: “Our overwhelming impression is of cultural uniformity, both throughout the several centuries during which the Harappan civilization flourished, and over the vast area it occupied.” The ubiquitous bricks, for instance, are all of standardized dimensions, just as the stone cubes used by the Harappans to measure weights are also standard and based on the modular system."
The Indus people happen to be mainly artisans, farmers and merchants, as agriculture played an important role in the civilization, and inventions such as the wheel were used to make carts. Other devices such as flat-bottomed boats and the sail might have also been used. Art in the Indus Valley Civilization primarily speaks of statuary figures, seals, ceramics and jewellery as well as terracotta figures. One of the most popular prehistoric sculptures of the Indus Valley civilization is the Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-Daro, which is a sculpture depicting a teenage girl and made out of lost-wax dating from about 2300-1750 BC.[11][12][13] Other known artifacts include the Pashupati seal, a seal made out of steatite by the Indus people and which was uncovered in the 1928-29 Archaeological Survey of India excavations in Mohenjo-daro (which was a city of the Indus Valley Civilization).[citation needed]
The culture of the Indus Valley civilization was mostly a goddess-based religious culture, which is a reason why goddesses or a mother goddess are often represented as terracotta figurines.[14] The mother goddess in their religion represents fertility by extension as well as nature, creation and motherhood.[citation needed] Other deities of the IVC religion have not been clear, though a large representation of religion comes through the Indus seals. Though any human beings on the seals have been only generally accepted as deities, there are other religious significances in them.[citation needed] For instance, a seal found in Mohenjo-daro (sometimes called the sacrifice seal) depicts a human with horns and bangles on both arms with another human kneeling before it is generally considered as a worshipper or priest worshipping a deity, though it is still unclarified.[citation needed] Moreover, the Pashupati seal was interpretated to be having a prototype of the Hindu God Shiva by the archeologist John Marshall, who first analyzed the meanings of the Indus seals.[citation needed]
Meanwhile, there are no evidence of temples or any other buildings that are associated with the Indus religion, aside from the Great Bath in Mohenjo-daro, though it is only a mere guess that it was pool for some religious ritual for the Indus people, but it could have even been just a swimming pool for recreation, as no archeological evidence or any ancient records have proven its true purpose.[11]
The Sumerians[edit]
The Sumerians in the ancient region of Mesopotamia were one of the oldest civilizations, dating back to 4500-4000 BC and developing the Sumerian language only after they settled down.[15] They were advanced in agriculture, architecture, culture and others. The first people who settled down were known as the Ubaidians, or Proto-Euphrateans. These new settlers were not the Sumerians themselves, but people from an unknown region, though their first artifacts have been found in Al Ubaid, and are believed to have originated in the region of the Euphrates River.[16][15] After the Ubaidians immigrated to another region of Mesopotamia, new people settled down in Sumer, who were the first Sumerians, and brought the first Sumerian culture and language. [15]
The Sumerians built temples for religious practices, as well as for cultural and political reasons, and priests held a high place in society as they were considered as mediators between men and cosmic forces.[citation needed] The Sumerians also believed in the afterlife and heaven, and they represented the planets with deities, such as the god Ki of the Earth, and the goddess Inanna of the planet Venus. There are a large number of gods in Sumerian mythology, but they often worshipped major deities such as Enlil, the god of wind, air and storms, Enki, the god of water, knowledge, creation and crafts, Anu, the supreme God of the sky and heavens, and lastly the goddess Inanna, representing love, war and fertility.[citation needed] Gods were also represented as animals in Sumerian art. Sumerian temples (called Ziggurats) designed to be built compact, with forecourts, a central pond for purification, a room for the priests, and a place for animal and vegetable sacrifices, and the Sumerians also practiced human sacrifice in order to please the gods. Temple designs were changed throughout different times, adding a terrace to its general construction in later periods[citation needed] The underworld was a Sumerian belief as well, which in their mythology was ruled by the goddess Ereshkigal and was the place of the dead.[citation needed]
The Sumerian military forces were developed in military techniques and technology, as there were constant wars between the Sumerian city-states. The Sumerian army composed mostly of soldiers with battle-axes and lances, and also used carts harnessed with onagers, and showed their defensive tactics as they built defensive walls around their city-states like the Romans.[citation needed]
Meanwhile, Sumerian art mostly consists of architecture, statues and figures of realistic humans and animals, and paintings or drawings, and mostly followed the culture and style of other Mesopotamian arts. Sculptures were common and nearly all served as ritual equipment for Sumerian temples, though no identifiable cult sculptures of Sumerian gods or goddesses have been found yet. There are also a number of sculptures on men kneeling and praying, which were made out of stone.[17] There are also various vessels made out stone or alabaster, carved in deep relief and held offerings for deities as they were for temples.[citation needed]
References[edit]
- ↑ "Sumerians Timeline". www.worldhistory.org. Retrieved 2022-12-24.
- ↑ "Essay on As civilization advances culture declines, Culture advances by Pradeep B.V.H." civilserviceindia.com. Retrieved 2022-12-24.
- ↑ Mark, Joshua J. "Sumerians". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2022-12-24.
- ↑ "Julius Caesar | Biography, Conquests, Facts, & Death | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-12-24.
- ↑ "Top 5 Ancient Incan Inventions". HowStuffWorks. 2011-01-12. Retrieved 2022-12-24.
- ↑ Cartwright, Mark. "Inca Religion". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
- ↑ Cartwright, Mark. "Inca Architecture". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2022-12-25.
- ↑ Mark, Joshua J. "Ancient Egyptian Culture". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2022-12-25.
- ↑ Mark, Joshua J. "Pharaoh". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "Indus civilization - Craft, technology, and artifacts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 Mark, Joshua J. "Indus Valley Civilization". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
- ↑ "Who Was the Famous Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-Daro?". ThoughtCo. Retrieved 2022-12-30.
- ↑ "Art of the Indus Valley Civilization". Unacademy. Retrieved 2022-12-30.
- ↑ Marrison, Richard (2020-03-28). "Religion and culture of Indus valley civilization". historyten.com. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 "Sumer | Definition, Cities, Rulers, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2023-01-02.
- ↑ Mark, Joshua J. "Sumer". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2023-01-02.
- ↑ "Mesopotamian art and architecture - Sumerian period | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2023-01-03.
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