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7 Groundbreaking Ancient Civilizations that influence us today
Around 12,000 years ago, humans hunkered down. Though they had previously traversed the planet to forage for food, people made the decision to devote themselves to agriculture and spent their days planting seeds, picking produce and amassing the world’s first food surpluses.
Ultimately, the security provided by abundant food allowed portions of the human population to concentrate on converting small, agrarian settlements into vibrant cities. They could construct towering temples and palaces and throw themselves into the burgeoning endeavors of art, philosophy and politics.
Here are seven ancient societies that have gained a reputation for their ingenuity and innovation. (The exact timelines for these civilizations are approximate and subject to academic debate.)
Ancient Egypt (3100 B.C. to 30 B.C.)
By 6000 B.C., settlers arrived at the banks of the Nile and found an asylum from the scorching sands. They tilled the soil and built villages, and around 3100 B.C., these settlements became bustling metropolises, ruled by pharaohs who acted as statesmen — declaring laws, demanding taxes, waging war and overseeing their territory — and divine intermediaries between the people and their deities.
The Egyptians thrived for thousands of years under the pharaohs and found fame for their advances in several fields of knowledge. For instance, they possessed a vast awareness of what became arithmetic, astronomy and anatomy, and were credited with inventing medical surgery thanks to their skills in stitching wounds and setting broken bones. (It’s actually theorized that their mummification practices influenced their medical talents.)
The ancient Egyptians were also prolific writers. They independently invented a system of hieroglyphics featuring hundreds — if not thousands — of alphabetic, syllabic and logographic characters that they inscribed in stone. This early civilization also pioneered several derivative scripts that were written across papyrus, a tough material made from the pith of plants found throughout the floodplains. Above all, the people of ancient Egypt proved to be skilled builders. Their temples and tombs are considered among the grandest constructions ever executed, and their monuments such as the Great Sphinx and the Pyramids at Giza still remind us of their early ingenuity.
