The Egypt was attracted for me. The mysterious and magnificent pyramid always make me surprised. As I know The following ancient civilization were brilliant in world history. which one are you admire? 1)Egypt 2)Roma 3)Greece 4)India 5)China 6)Incas 7)Mayans 8)others
I was so obsessed with the Greeks I once took a summer course in Greek Armor, spent the entire summer learning what the Greeks used to skewer each other (hint: it's long and sharp at the end) and the kinds of armor they wore. It would be insanely dull to everyone else, but I was hopelessly fascinated. LOL.
Cro Magnon because they were the first great adventurers, spanning out across the globe, inventing the tools and language needed to achieve the great task of populating the planet.
That sounds pretty cool to me. I did grammar school in Holland and studied Latin and Greek. A lot of it was studying their culture as well. Been to Rome (and Pompeii) twice and love it. Never been to Greece/Athens yet to check out those ruins but will deifnitely do that somewhere in the next few years. I often thought about it but could never decide whether I'd prefer the cleverness of the Greek or the sheer power of the Romans. Either lifestyle would be pretty interesting and I'd swap current life for a peak back in those days without a doubt. I've always dreamed of having a Roman villa in the hills of southern Italy - would be really nice to have my own vineyard/orchard. Pretty sure that will come true one day. (Working on it...)
I'd say Egypt and Egyptians since their culture is still full of mysteries getting revealed day by day with the recoveries of new tombs, mummies etc.
Greek One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance who ran up to him excitedly and said, "Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?" Wait a moment, Socrates replied. "Before you tell me I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Test of Three." "Three?" "That's right, Socrates continued. Before you talk to me about my student let's take a moment to test what you're going to say." The first test is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?" No, the man said, "Actually I just heard about it." All right, said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not." Now let's try the second test, the test of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?" "No, on the contrary..." So, Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him even Though you're not certain it's true?" The man shrugged, a little embarrassed. Socrates continued. "You may still pass though, because there is a third test - the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?" "No, not really..." Well, concluded Socrates, "If what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, Why tell it to me at all?" The man was defeated and ashamed. This is the reason Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.
There was a lot of biosexuality and sexual freedom in ancient Greek as well. Oedipus stole another king's boy and made him his lover.
Viking for sure... 1st they are a real explorer.. 2nd they conqured 2/3 of the world via sea 3rd some says that viking people embrace moslem teaching? is't true? 4th they started the ethics and code of conduct for seaman
I find it sad that you failed to list the Sumerians. No one has mentioned them in this thread up until this point................come on guys, it was the Sumerians who were responsible for developing the first written language called cuneiform script. Everyone knows about Greece, Rome, and The Mayans. The civilization of Sumer is the most impressive and underrated. They were aware of the existence of the 10th planet thousands of years before scientists in 2003 discovered an object orbiting near the Keiper belt codenamed 2003UB313.
If you haven't already, you might want to give Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae a read. By Steven Pressfield, a stirring account of the Spartan stand against Xerxes' invasion of Greece in 480 BC. A good look, too, at Spartan training and fighting tactics. Great book. Reminds me of Druids, by Morgan Llwyelyn, in some ways; both concern a hopelessly outmanned force and its valorous stand against an overwhelmingly superior force (in this latter case, the united tribes of Vercingetorix's army against Caesar's Army of Gaul). At any rate, There are two cultures I'd love to have visited: Greece and China.