History, in our case Western History to be more precise, is a series of adaptations, re-examination, modification and then implementation of ideas given to us by preceding generations starting with the first, Sumeria. All that we do today, including our very special Judeo/Christian religion has its origins in Sumeria. The idea and questions regarding government…do we need a government, why we need it, what is its form to take and what are its responsibilities to us and what are ours to it…were all first asked 6000 years ago in the world's first cities. Succeeding peoples have added, re-interpreted and either advanced or restrained civilization, in accordance with their own needs, ever since.
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# Most Influential Ancient Civilizations

## Which Anicnet Civilization was the most influential?

- ### Sumeria

Votes: 28

29.8%

- ### Babylonia

Votes: 5

5.3%

- ### Egypt

Votes: 35

37.2%

- ### Assyria

Votes: 0

0.0%

- ### Hittites

Votes: 1

1.1%

- ### Persia

Votes: 8

8.5%

- ### India

Votes: 17

18.1%

- Total voters94

- 1

- 2

- 3

- …

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#### CelticBard

Joined Aug 2006

758 Posts | 1+

Roving

Discussion Starter

Of the listed peoples, which do you believe is the most influential on history? Think about the region before and after the rise and fall of these civilizations.

#### Blood of Odin

Joined Aug 2006

78 Posts | 0+

Salinas, CA

#### CelticBard

Joined Aug 2006

758 Posts | 1+

Roving

Discussion Starter

Sumeria gave the Near East it's religion. Basically all the daughter cultures followed with the Sumerian gods, much like Rome using Greek deities with different names.

#### Lab-rat

Joined Aug 2006

54 Posts | 0+

I will re-post what I said in another one some time back. It is my opinion based on many years of study regarding the ancient world. That does not make me an expert but it sure gave me an opinion.

In an attempt to share my enthusiasm with you, I would like to very respectfully add a personal opinion for your consideration:

Sumeria is to history what the alphabet is to language. (Pause…think about that for a second so you get my drift please) One most first learn the alphabet before learning words and words before sentences and sentences before paragraphs, etc. One thing is dependant upon the thing which precedes it. We build upon knowledge and understanding a stone at a time. Sumeria is the acb's of western history; the alphabet.

When the Sumerians built the first cities, they created the first of almost every fundamental and essential element of our civilization because they were compelled to do so, because they were the first to confront the issues associated with civilization. That was then adapted by succeeding peoples, generation after generation of humankind who took what the Sumerians achieved and added, and or subtracted from what they learned. Civilization has been built brick by brick until this day and Sumeria was the first brick, the foundation upon which all others are placed.

History, in our case Western History to be more precise, is a series of adaptations, re-examination, modification and then implementation of ideas given to us by preceding generations starting with the first, Sumeria. All that we do today, including our very special Judeo/Christian religion has its origins in Sumeria. The idea and questions regarding government…do we need a government, why we need it, what is its form to take and what are its responsibilities to us and what are ours to it…were all first asked 6000 years ago in the world's first cities. Succeeding peoples have added, re-interpreted and either advanced or restrained civilization, in accordance with their own needs, ever since.

From them, civilization spread across the Fertile Crescent towards the Sea, then upward into Anatolia and downward to Egypt where it ran head long into a culture that was very much its cousin. (Let's stop here and remember that there is a strong relationship between civilization and culture, but they are two separate ideas.) It mixed with that civilization, and then spread to the Greek isles and eventually the mainland, coming at the Greeks from two directions; Anatolia from the east and Egypt from the south. "Asia" is a Greek based word that loosely means "That shore line right over there that I can see from here in Greece." It was that close. They had a deep relationship with the Mid-East and Egypt. It was from Asia the Greeks learned to write and do complicated mathematics. Even during the time of Alexander, it was Mid-Eastern ideas that crept into his way of thinking. (God King) When confronted by a Greek tourist around 500 BCE, an Egyptian priest was over heard to say "And to think, we taught those upstarts all they know."

Scholars of yester-year liked to claim in their Euro-centric haze that Greece was the birth place of Western Civilization where now we know, because of advanced archeological work and discoveries, a better statement is that Greece was the first of what became the European interpretation of Mesopotamian Civilization. What occurred was the Greek culture putting its own spin on Mesopotamian civilization.

I think you know from there it was spread to Sicily, Italy and into Europe: And them being our forefathers, to you and me.

So again, as Sumeria gave birth to our civilization, understanding them assists us in understanding all that came afterward, including we today living in the Western Hemisphere. It is difficult to fully understand where and what we are today if we do not fully understand our complete heritage: From letters to words, to sentences, to paragraphs and from there to understanding.

That is the way I have come to see it and maybe you will give that some study and thought.

This being the case, Sumeria far and away was the most influential of ancient cultures and civilizations in that, it was the first and by that very fact, had to do every thing first. Thus they set the essential foundations for all the civilizations which came afterward.

#### Ragz

Joined Jun 2006

257 Posts | 2+

Many of the choices given after Sumeria are in fact re-interpretations of Sumeria culture. Sumeria, Akkad, Amorites, Assyrians, Persians and a host of others who I will leave out for space purposes, was the way it came together. But Babylon, Assyria, the whole darn flock of them went so far as to pray to Sumerian gods...under different names, but the same folks, used the same form of writing for the most part, followed the same laws, told of the same legends, read the same epics, built their towns the same, built their temples the same and all in all lived the same as those first Sumerians....don't forget Abraham was from Ur and the Hebrew religion is steeped in Sumerian mythology, as is Christianity. They are everyone's daddy and mommy.....even ours.

#### CelticBard

Joined Aug 2006

758 Posts | 1+

Roving

Discussion Starter

That's a pretty good analogy, I totally agree with it.

#### Illg

Joined Aug 2006

52 Posts | 0+

Seattle, Washington, USA

I looked at the list. . . and wondered where China was. China has influenced a lot of civilizations. Just not, primarily Western ones. Or are you only concerned with "Westerncentric" history?

Anne G

#### CelticBard

Joined Aug 2006

758 Posts | 1+

Roving

Discussion Starter

I'm already having this argument, albeit fruitless, with Uber in the War and Military Section... Yes, I am very Westerncentric and with good reason.

#### Nikd

Joined Jul 2006

1,315 Posts | 1+

Hellas

Sumerians, 1st cities, writing, agriculture, goverment. The first organized tribe in modern terms.

#### Commander

Joined Jun 2006

1,365 Posts | 14+

Jacksonville, FL

Raqz and Dr. Robert Guisepi have great info on Ancient Sumeria on their website.

#### Dr Realism

Joined Sep 2006

1,453 Posts | 5+

Korea (but I'm American!)

I would have to vote China, though it's not on the poll. It's civilization goes back over 4-5,000 years and it's still here. Most cultures that came in contact with the Chinese were sinisized. The Chinese made many 1st discoveries as well. Many of the major countries surrounding China, adopted their writing system and Korea, Japan, and Mongolia still use it today. For thousands of years, the world has been trying to get a hold of the silks and other goods that come from China. China was the purpose of the Silk Road. Gunpowder came out of China. As did printing and many other achievements. Also, where would the world be today, without Chinese takeout?:D

#### Nick

Joined Jul 2006

6,111 Posts | 7+

UK

Why isn't Rome on there?

They left civilisation a fair legal system, the Western alphabet, advanced technology and some of the greatest architecture of the ancient world.

#### Nikd

Joined Jul 2006

1,315 Posts | 1+

Hellas

They speak about elder civilizations.

#### odude

Joined Jan 2007

2 Posts | 0+

The Sumerians had the first written language and much of the mythology was copied into Bible mythology.

#### MrStoff1989

Joined Aug 2006

846 Posts | 1+

Tennessee

I was suprised to not see the Incans on there. They had the most accurate calander to date! They were essentially the greeks of the Americas!

#### Tilemachos

Joined Sep 2006

105 Posts | 0+

Hellas-Greece

Why isn't the Hellenic civilisation an option of the poll?

Everybody knows that Hellenes (Greeks) created the alphabet (Hellenic word again). Works of poetry and astrology (Orphean hymns) have been uncovered that their origin is 11860, 5000 and 3.600 years old. (astrology - astrologia in Greek language)

Have you got anything older than that?

#### Dr Realism

Joined Sep 2006

1,453 Posts | 5+

Korea (but I'm American!)

The Greeks created "THE" alphabet?! I didn't realize that there was only one alphabet in the world.:rolleyes:

China is the oldest continuous civilization in the world. It has remained powerful and influential for the majority of its existence and has dominated East Asia since there was an East Asia. The Hitties, Egyptians, Sumerians, Babylonians, Incans, and Romans are all gone but the Chinese now make up over 1/6 of the Earth's population. When was the last time that the Greeks were powerful or influenced other civilizations?

China has given the Earth so many things including: paper, ink, printing, gunpowder, the compass, the rudder, the crossbow, the toothbrush, toilet paper, matches, tea, cast iron, the blast furnace, cannons, bombs, herbal medicine, the abacus, paper money, silk, Kung fu, fortune cookies, Bruce Lee movies, Jackie Chan.

They also built the Great Walls. What structure can really compare with the Great Walls?

#### Tilemachos

Joined Sep 2006

105 Posts | 0+

Hellas-Greece

OK I assume you were joking :)

#### heikstheo

Joined Feb 2007

538 Posts | 0+

Ohio

Last edited: Feb 20, 2007

Technically speaking, the Greeks developed their alphabet by ripping off with the Semitic aleph-beth.

#### okamido

Joined Jun 2009

29,886 Posts | 44+

land of Califia

Out of the ones listed, I have to go with Egypt.....tried and true.

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