Ancient civilizations were the basis for modern culture; their rich heritages were handed down to us, and they persisted because they had long-lasting effects on modern societies. Each civilization was unique, and each affects the world. Ancient civilizations include the Sumerians, the Egyptians, the Harappans, the Aryans, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Hittites, the Minoans, the Phoenicians, the Hebrews, and the Persians. Although people may study each of these civilizations distinctly, they all share significant contributions to our world today. They are also an essential part of world history and have much to offer when learning about different cultures. Each of the aforementioned ancient civilizations played an important role in modern society. We can learn or study much from those civilizations, and incorporating their principles and contributions may improve the quality of life today. For example, the Egyptians had the principles of integrity, faithfulness to commitments, a true sense of justice, and the protection of others. The Babylonians had qualities of integrity, a true sense of justice, dependence on God's power, and dependence on His existence. The Minoans had art appreciation, human origins, and modern circulation theory. The Phoenicians had nurturing nature, stewardship of the earth's resources, respect for animal life, loyalty to their peers, modesty, and also respected elders. The Persians had strong family values, an emphasis on education, both personal and academic integrity, special interest in the development of future generations, caring for animals, and tending to the needs of animals. With each of the features noted, there is a dose of modern society's culture and social issues. Furthermore, ancient civilizations have the potential of guiding individuals in solving properly or managing a contemporary society's difficulties.
# Ancient Civilizations and Their Impact on Modern Culture

12 min read

Published: June 28, 2024

Table of contents

## 1. Introduction to Ancient Civilizations

Ancient civilizations were the basis for modern culture; their rich heritages were handed down to us, and they persisted because they had long-lasting effects on modern societies. Each civilization was unique, and each affects the world. Ancient civilizations include the Sumerians, the Egyptians, the Harappans, the Aryans, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Hittites, the Minoans, the Phoenicians, the Hebrews, and the Persians. Although people may study each of these civilizations distinctly, they all share significant contributions to our world today. They are also an essential part of world history and have much to offer when learning about different cultures. Each of the aforementioned ancient civilizations played an important role in modern society. We can learn or study much from those civilizations, and incorporating their principles and contributions may improve the quality of life today. For example, the Egyptians had the principles of integrity, faithfulness to commitments, a true sense of justice, and the protection of others. The Babylonians had qualities of integrity, a true sense of justice, dependence on God's power, and dependence on His existence. The Minoans had art appreciation, human origins, and modern circulation theory. The Phoenicians had nurturing nature, stewardship of the earth's resources, respect for animal life, loyalty to their peers, modesty, and also respected elders. The Persians had strong family values, an emphasis on education, both personal and academic integrity, special interest in the development of future generations, caring for animals, and tending to the needs of animals. With each of the features noted, there is a dose of modern society's culture and social issues. Furthermore, ancient civilizations have the potential of guiding individuals in solving properly or managing a contemporary society's difficulties.

### 1.1. Definition and Scope of Ancient Civilizations

What were the great civilizations of the ancient world and how do they contribute to our modern culture? Are there ancient civilizations which had a significant influence on our social order today? These questions give rise to a vast array of other questions. How are ancient civilizations defined? Can concepts such as ancient 'civilization', 'culture', and 'society' be meaningfully applied beyond a certain relatively brief period of history? Is what we know as 'ancient Western civilization' such a unique development of the Hellenistic civilization that it is inappropriate to make comparisons between it and other civilizations, such as Chinese, Indian, and Islamic? If there are significant differences, can these differences be attributed to natural or logical factors? We may be familiar with the Western and Eastern civilizations such as the Greek civilization, the Roman culture, the Egyptian society, the Sumerian civilization, the Arabian society, and the Islamic culture. These civilizations are traditionally emphasized in world history materials and textbooks. Their works of art, literature, and science are usually the subject of study in courses in world literature, art, music, drama, and technology. Many schools and universities offer programs in the language, philosophy, and literature of these ancient societies, which contribute to our social heritage. We also have world areas studies departments specializing in the various aspects of the ancient societies.

## 2. Key Ancient Civilizations

What are the main seven key ancient civilizations? The first step in the development of human society led to cave dwelling, a rudimentary form of an association of people. The second led to the possibility of settlement in one place. A more advanced form of society occurred with the next step when cities came into existence. This type of social life came into being around 5,000 years ago. We call this the period of ancient civilization. This period in human history also led to social and cultural evolution. Most of the ancient civilizations belong to river valleys. The river valley provided food, water, and also supported agriculture and social life. The most influential civilizations of this period were Mesopotamia and Egyptian Culture, India, and Indian Culture, China, and Chinese Culture. All of these ancient cultures can be divided into two types: those who appeared around the time of the Cradle and developed independent cultures and languages, and those who were not Soviets and were assimilated by the Soviet culture and can be considered as part of the Cradle. In this text, we will mention seven cultures: Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and Indian Culture, China, and Chinese Culture.

### 2.1. Mesopotamia

Ancient Mesopotamia is considered to be the cradle of civilization. After all, some of humanity's earliest cities were established there. Sumer was an ancient civilization in southwestern Mesopotamia, in the region where Iraq is today. Ancient Sumer was formed when several city-states, the development of which were likely influenced by the river system, established each new leader faster than before. When a Sumerian city was established, they were walled and without river access, due to weather. Mesopotamians consolidated their efforts to achieve economic, architectural, and political activities. Administrative organization, economic structure, and aesthetic arts of Mesopotamians influenced regions, states, civilians and we are in Euphrates and Tigris river. The Tigris is a river that hosts Mesopotamia, the ancient system, and the civilization in which it originated. The Sumerians in southern Mesopotamia settled in a flat region without any existing infiltration. On the other hand, rivers including the Euphrates have provided the Sumerians abundant irrigation water, fish, and reed. To the region, the Sumerians, Kish, Akkad, Larrak, Nippur, and Ur, were the important cities that provided the Mesopotamians food, clay, wood, copper, and gold. The Tigris also hosted people's settlements on its banks at the same time. The cities were built by the Sumerians because of the need for food. The Sumerians began in southern Mesopotamia with wild barley and saved a settlement for the necessity of providing food for the citizens of the establishment of the settlements. According to the archaeological findings, the first settlement dating back to 5000 BC was the Dikilitash settlement of the Ubaid civilization. When the predetermined criteria were examined, it was observed that the first Mesopotamian settlement was observed at 4250 BC in the site called Eridu. At this point, the Eridu society has been a majority of the farming population. Accordingly, the Eridu Society has shifted to a more organized structure as the population has increased. The society, which settled in Yuri, turns into a more complex society. As it can be seen, the Sumerian cities that originated from small settlements continued to develop. The development of Sumerian cities allowed the abundance of food to cause the fast succession of the Sumerian leaders and the rapid growth of the city-states. This rapid growth led to the decision of civilized life, and to the creation of the first empires in the Mesopotamian region due to war and irrigation problems.

### 2.2. Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt occupied what we would call today the southeastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea, and there it flourished for more than 30 centuries, until the period when the entire eastern Mediterranean came under Hellenistic influence. To most of us, Egypt suggests pyramids, mummies, the Sphinx, and one of the oldest recorded religions, a body of traditions that can be traced back to about 3000 B.C. These, of course, are what can be seen and studied by the casual visitor, or what we can glean from the representations of Egypt that fill our museums. But actually the impact of its civilization has been much greater than these things might suggest. More than any other ancient people, the Egyptians made themselves famous for everything. Their pre-eminence was not in the field of pure invention; it was not a technological society, and others were to take over and carry to greater heights many of the technical arts the Egyptians knew. Their important contributions to the evolution of the arts were architectural. But remembering that they made no contributions to the visual arts apart from their innovations in architectural planning, and none at all in terms of new musical instruments, should not cloud the appreciation of the gifts they did make. It was not only in building design and planning that the Egyptians made important contributions in those early days; their specific knowledge of a large number of the phenomena and materials that were later to become very common is noteworthy and includes some familiar details. The express tanks, the manufacture of black glass that they knew and the interaction of chemicals in coloring can all be taken as forerunners of quite specialized knowledge and abilities. This was the measure of what the known world distinguished as it regarded the Egyptian intellect. As specialists of far-reaching interests and potentialities, the ancients were inordinately impressed with the Egyptians, for the Egyptians had maintained their supremacy over all other origins, and it was only to these and a few less important historical periods that the Greeks looked. The Roman penchant for imposing Egyptian cults on the Roman deities further demonstrates the mighty significance of ancient Egyptian civilization to the rest of classical civilization; some of these cults had been recognized many centuries before.

### 2.3. Indus Valley Civilization

The Indus Valley or Harappan civilization was the largest of the four ancient urban civilizations and is considered one of the best with respect to its organization and infrastructure. The remnants of the Indus Valley Civilization were discovered first in the earlier part of the 20th century when the land survey before the digging of canal revealed the presence of the striking ruins of the ancient city known as Harappa or Harappan situated alongside the Indus River. Thereafter, the excavations at Mohenjodaro, Chanhudaro, Dholavira, and Kalibangan sites revealed urban settlements that belong to the period 2500–1900 BCE. Harappans were responsible for several significant technological innovations such as standardization, transport, trade, crafts, and agriculture. It is likely that farmers advocated cereal production on the fertile plains of the Indus Valley and exploited the sea for coastal trade. Such export contacts included Coca, copper, Ti, pottery, and beads. In return, traders from Mesopotamia imported gold, silver, beads of semi-precious stones, and jewelry. Not only did Harappaners gain confidence in the use of metal and stone to make jewelry, they were also adept at the creation of small stone weights. Small stone weights in the form of cubes, rectangular prisms, disk-shaped, cylindrical, and perforated objects were found in the Indus Valley. The precise statement of these weights helps to regulate trade and the measurement of money.

### 2.4. Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece was, in the words of its most famous historian Herodotus, the 'father of the modern world'. As the heirs to the civilization developed in the ancient Greek city-states, the Roman civilization, which eventually became the Roman Empire, established, advanced, and enforced the ideas and beliefs begun in the city-states. Later, the ideas and beliefs of the Romans were carried far and with great determination forward by Spain and England. Ancient Greece, and the much repressed or obscured lessons of its origins as seen in the development of its city-states, continues to exercise a strong influence on Western civilizations. Theological beliefs helped direct the thoughts of Greek philosophers who launched 'science' upon its way. Further, they, along with Roman jurists, developed into Western beliefs to guide the thoughts and actions of man, and Protestant theology then freed them so that they could be developed into the God-directed changes needed for industrial life at machines' tempo. The form, start position, and operation of capitalistic systems eventually found creative expression there. Finally, ancient Greece saw the development of both the 'rich inclination to possess a harmonious order between man and his environment' and the individuals with 'the ability to go about doing something to make the inclination a reality.'

### 2.5. Ancient Rome

Rome conquered Greece and adopted many of the innovations and ideas of ancient Greek culture. The government, which was established, was stable and long-lasting, which added to the legacy that Rome passed down to future generations. With their expertise in engineering, architecture, law, politics, and their establishment of justice, the Romans extremely influenced modern society. Their language is the root of many of the languages spoken today. The Latin alphabet is also the foundation for all alphabet systems in the Western hemisphere. Romans believed in gods and goddesses and built temples to honor them. Romans also spent time at baths, took part in public events, watched gladiator games, and enjoyed the circus races. From the Roman civilization, many modern-day sports such as car races and field events stem from. Of all the civilizations of the ancient world, the Etruscans never surpassed the Romans in engineering, philosophy, art, literature, or drama. They were a warlike people who were governed first by kings and then by elected officials. Due to many revolts by lower-class citizens, the Roman Civil War broke out. With many devastating losses, Rome turned into an empire with all of the provinces being governed by the emperor. Rome's system of roads and currency was borrowed from the ancient Greeks. The contribution that stands out the most is the Romans' establishment of the 12 tables, which has become the foundation for many modern legal systems.

## 3. Influences of Ancient Civilizations on Modern Culture

The two civilizations of the Old World that have the greatest influences on modern culture are Mesopotamia and Egypt. The transition from predominantly agricultural societies to more urban and industrial societies began here. The elements of their cultures that have had an impact on our modern civilization in terms of organized government, religion, art and architecture, science and technology, language and writing, work, and everyday living are as follows. A major development during this period was the emergence of nations and small city-states, such as Sumer and Egypt, that were essentially urban centers or clusters of several urban centers. Throughout history, these centers have been the locations of various social phenomena, including government, commerce, industries, education, and centers for the arts. Although it is tempting to view the legacies of ancient civilizations as historical survivals, their original purposes and the results of later manipulation and pruning govern the form and use of these monuments and institutions. Government: A government is often defined as 'a political organization that exercises a monopoly of force in a given area with its authority ultimately backed up by a willingness to use force against other authoritative organizations.' Mesopotamia established that a city-state is a workable form of social organization. This initial experiment and its replications provided important evidence regarding methods to organize, govern, and supply the services required to establish an urban center. Religion: Belief in an afterlife and the possibility of affecting events in the afterlife were powerful motivators of behavior in ancient times and remain so today. Both Egypt and the various peoples who lived in Mesopotamia were particularly interested in placating and supplicating the gods. Art and Architecture: Art and theater are manifestations of culture. Sculpted forms of religious characters appear in Egypt and Mesopotamia and live again today through museums. In addition, research shows that the artistic styles of the past are related to artistic expressions of the present day. Science and Technology: The bases of science and technology have never been purely rational. In Mesopotamia, the interests in mathematics led to the development of a sex-60 system of numbering that is still used to measure time. This essential development became related to interested in astronomy and celestial mechanics. Language and Writing: It is generally accepted that the alphabets in common use throughout the world derive either directly or indirectly from the Phoenician alphabet. Despite the influence of Latin, the use of the Phoenician alphabet continues to expand in the form of the Arabic alphabet, which is now the script for such languages as Arabic, Farsi, and Urdu. Work and Everyday Living: The 'nine-to-five' day possibly began in ancient Egypt, although the duration of labor for one day still encompassed the entire 24-hour period. Through the instrument of the water clock, ordinary folks too could tell when to work and when to relax.

### 3.1. Architecture and Engineering

The architecture and engineering achievements of ancient civilizations continue to impress and confuse us. Throughout the world, archaeologists have found the ruins of massive buildings and the remnants of complex infrastructure. Many of the techniques used to create these structures seem to be incredibly advanced. Less advanced civilizations frequently appear to have succeeded in building even more impressive things than their successors by utilizing extremely advanced engineering techniques that have been lost to us. For example, the Romans built massive infrastructure in far-flung locations, occasionally forgetting Rome's own advanced engineering techniques. One explanation of this is that an advanced level of knowledge had been retained by certain Romans as a professional secret, much like the technique for creating Damascus steel, which is now forgotten. The ideas we attribute to ancient civilizations regarding physics and mathematics are often seen as pure philosophical speculation. The ancient engineers are often viewed as impractical or otherwise exploited talents, too poor to carry out experiments. However, recent research in the field of experimental archaeology and ethno-archaeology conducted with a mindset oriented towards physics has indicated that many of the major ideas attributed to ancient civilizations regarding materials are the results of centuries of practical experimentation. Their knowledge of, for example, structural mechanics, materials science, the strength of materials, and fluid dynamics seems to have been much more complete than previously thought. Their understanding of atomic structure and the formation and heat treatment of metals could also be very advanced, lost to us due to the fact that it was not attributed to various philosophical traditions. The concept of an ethnic body of knowledge that is not bound to an individual, as is common in cosmopolitan philosophical subjects or even science, could also have existed. There was, for example, a hereditary caste of blacksmiths in Egypt and in many other of the earliest great civilizations. For example, modern research using advanced techniques has shown that during one of the major construction eras in Egypt (around 2700 BCE), the Egyptians knew about as much as we do regarding the physical properties and atomic structure of matter. They made glass from crystal sources, the color of the glass being controlled by the addition of specific ions. It is also now known through a project spearheaded by the Information Technology Institute in Giza, Egypt, that the first concrete in recorded history, now known as Egyptian Blue, was produced by adding copper ions to precipitate calcium to a specific type of calcium silicate hydrate, a main component of modern cement and concrete. Data obtained using x-ray and nuclear scattering procedures show how the material was prepared and also help one understand how it was used. A study of the construction techniques of the pyramids shows that a number of the ideas we still use in engineering today were realized through trial and error by these ancient scientists.

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