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Ancient CivilizationAncient-Civilization.info is a comprehensive online resource for information about the history of human civilization. The aim of our staff is to introduce our readers to the ancient civilizations that thrived thousands of years ago. We cover all of the most well-known known civilizations including the Aztecs, Mayans, Egyptyions, and Romans, as well as many lesser-known civilizations such as the Pacific Northwest Coastal Native Americans, Gauls, Sumerians, and others. Latest News and Updates
IntroductionThe span of recorded history is roughly 5,000-5,500 years, with cuneiform possibly being the oldest form of writing. Genetic evidence, however, points to the first appearance of human beings about 150,000 years ago. There is also a growing body of evidence that Homo sapiens first left Africa about 60,000 years ago. The people who lived in ancient civilizations invented many things that we still use today. The Mayans made significant advances in the field of mathematics, they have been credited with the creation and use of the number zero. The Babylonians modified and transformed their Sumerian heritage in accordance with their own culture and ethos. The resulting way of life proved to be so effective that it underwent relatively little change for some 1200 years. It exerted influence on all the neighboring countries, especially the kingdom of Assyria, which adopted Babylonian culture almost in its entirety. The Aztec people dominated central and southern Mexico from the 14th to the 16th century and are best known for having established an elaborate and wide-ranging empire destroyed by Spanish invaders led by Hernán Cortéz. The Aztecs are credited with the discovery of chocolate, made from the fruit of the cacao tree. The western world owes much to the civilization of the ancient Greeks. Throughout the history of Greece the triumph of the Greek spirit is evident in sport, art, architecture and philosophy. Famous Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle contributed to the fields of logic, ethics, politics, metaphysics, biology, physics, psychology, poetry, and rhetoric. The Ancient Greeks were responsible for the development of early forms of democracy, known to us as direct democracy. Ancient Greek architecture, demonstrated by the Statue of Zeus, continues to amaze contemporary historians. Ancient Egyptian civilization, which many regard as one of the fountainheads of Western culture, was one of the greatest in the history of the world. Describing the development of Egyptian civilization, like attempts to identify its intellectual foundations, is largely a process of conjecture based on archaeological discoveries of enduring ruins, tombs, and monuments, many of which contain invaluable specimens of ancient Egyptian culture. Inscriptions in hieroglyphs, for instance, have provided priceless data. The ancient Roman civilization succeeded the Greeks as the dominant political cultural force in the Mediterranean basin, centred initially in the heart of the Italian peninsula. From a legendary foundation on the date of 21 April 753 BC, the Roman civilization rose to expand and encompass the entire known world. Today, the ancient Roman empire is studied for many reasons. The Roman republican constitution, the essentials of which were fixed as early as 509 BC, is a model for many democracies. Roman architecture, with the invention of concrete and its ability to vault great spans, was unmatched until recent times. » Browse Civilizations by Time Period 
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