Re: Greatest Civilization(s)
Well, lessee:
Mesopotamia/Sumeria: 60 minutes to an hour, basic agriculture, the wheel, written language, and first codified laws
Ancient Egypt: Measurement, irrigation, construction, and paper(?).
Ancient Greece: Mathematics, Philosophy, Medicine, Art, Advanced construction, military tactics(?), democracy (of a sort), trial by peers, and basic attempts at science.
Rome: Plumbing, military tactics, the republic, and rule by governor (Lead to Feudalism).
Ancient China: Gunpowder, rocketry, canals, paper money, civil service, tea, salt mining, water wheels, philosophy and mechanical clocks(?)
Ancient Japan: Sanitation and philosophy.
Medieval Europe: Rule of law, Precedent law and countless inventions/new philosophies (renaissance)
That's just off the top of my head, as you can see this is hardly an easy topic. For example, do you think that sun worship, leading to monotheism, was a big influence? If so most of those civilizations need to change. What about Buddhism?
My list doesn't even cover sailing, fishing, metallurgy, the first true scientific method (Although the Greek Hippocrates came very, very close) or countless other technologies and ideas that have shaped history.
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"Science is the poetry of reality." ~ Richard Dawkins

Last edited by John; 06-26-2006 at 07:45 AM..