xz4) Exploring the Top 10 Ancient Civilizations That Shaped History

 Exploring the Top 10 Ancient Civilizations That Shaped History

10: The Incan Civilization

The Incan Empire was the largest empire in South America in the pre-Columbian era. This civilization flourished in the areas of present-day Ecuador, Peru, and Chile and had its administrative, military, and political center at Cusco which lies in modern-day Peru.

The Incan civilization was a well-established and flourishing society. The Incas were devout followers of the sun god Inti, and their king was referred to as “Sapa Inca” meaning the child of the sun.

The first Incan emperor, Pachacuti, transformed the capital from a modest village into a great city laid out in the shape of a puma. He continued to expand the tradition of ancestor worship.

9: The Aztec Civilization

The Aztecs came on to the scene pretty much around the time when the Incas were emerging as powerful contenders in South America. Around the 1200s and early 1300s, the people in present-day Mexico lived in three big rival cities – Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan.

Around 1325, these rivals created an alliance and the new state came to dominate the Valley of Mexico. Back then, the people preferred the name Mexica to Aztecs.

The rise of the Aztecs was within a century of the fall of another influential civilization in Mexico and Central America – the Mayans.

8: The Roman Civilization

Roman civilization emerged around the sixth century BC. Even the story behind the foundation of ancient Rome is the stuff of legend and myth. At the height of its power, the Roman Empire ruled over a huge chunk of land, and all the present-day Mediterranean countries were part of ancient Rome.

Early Rome was governed by kings, but after only seven of them had ruled, the people took control over their own city and ruled themselves. They introduced a council known as the Senate which ruled over them. From this point, Rome was referred to as the Roman Republic.

Rome also saw the rise and fall of some of the greatest emperors in human history, like Julius Caesar, Trajan, and Augustus. But eventually, the empire became so vast that it was simply not possible to bring it under single rule.

7: The Persian Civilization

There was a time when the ancient Persian civilization was, in fact, the most powerful empire in the world.

Though only in power for a little over 200 years, the Persians conquered lands that covered over two million square miles. From the southern parts of Egypt to parts of Greece and east to parts of India, the Persian Empire was known for its military strength and wise rulers.

Before they created such a vast empire in the space of just 200 years, before 550 BC, Persia (or Persis as it was called back then) was divided into factions among a number of leaders. But then King Cyrus II, who later on became known as Cyrus the Great, came into power and unified the entire Persian kingdom before going on to conquer ancient Babylon.

6: The Ancient Greek Civilization

The ancient Greeks may not have been the oldest civilization, but they are doubtlessly one of the most influential.

Even though the rise of ancient Greece came from the Cycladic and Minoan civilizations (2700 BC–1500 BC), there is evidence of burials in the Franchthi Cave in Argolid, Greece, dating back to around 7250 BC.

The history of this civilization is spread over such a long period of time that historians have divided it into different periods, the most popular of them being the Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods. These periods saw a number of ancient Greeks come into the limelight, many of whom changed the world forever and are still being talked about to this day.

5: The Chinese Civilization

Ancient China – also known as Han China – comes in at number five and doubtlessly has one of the most diverse histories. In fact, if you consider all the dynasties from the very first to the very last that ever ruled in China, a significantly huge period of time needs to be covered.

The Yellow River civilization is said to be the beginning of the entire Chinese civilization as this is where the earliest dynasties were based. It was around 2700 BC that the legendary Yellow Emperor began his rule, which later led to the birth of many dynasties that went on to rule mainland China.

In 2070 BC, the Xia dynasty became the first to rule the whole of China as described in ancient historical chronicles. From then on, there were a number of dynasties that held control during different periods of time until the end of the Qing dynasty in 1912 AD with the Xinhai Revolution.

4: The Maya Civilization

The ancient Maya civilization flourished in Central America from about 2600 BC and has been much talked about because of the calendar it introduced.

Once established, the Mayan civilization went on to prosper and become highly sophisticated with a booming population of about 19 million at its peak. By 700 BC, the Mayans had already devised their own system of writing which they used to create solar calendars carved in stone.

3: The Ancient Egyptian Civilization

Ancient Egypt is one of the oldest and culturally rich civilizations on this list. The ancient Egyptian civilization, a majestic civilization from the banks of the Nile, is known for its prodigious culture, its pharaohs, the enduring pyramids, and the Sphinx.

The civilization coalesced around 3150 BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology) with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh. But this would not have been possible had there not already been settlers around the Nile valley in early 3500 BC.

The history of ancient Egypt can be divided into a series of stable kingdoms separated by periods of relative instability known as intermediate periods: The Old Kingdom of the Early Bronze Age, the Middle Kingdom of the Middle Bronze Age and the New Kingdom of the Late Bronze Age.

2: The Indus Valley Civilization

One of the oldest civilizations on this list, the Indus Valley civilization lies at the very heart of subsequent civilizations that arose in the region of the Indus Valley.

This civilization flourished in areas extending from what is today northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India. Along with Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, it was one of three early civilizations of the ancient world, and of the three, it was the most widespread, covering an area of 1.25 million kilometers.

1: The Mesopotamian Civilization

And here it is, the first civilization to have ever emerged. The origin of Mesopotamia dates back so far that there is no known evidence of any other civilized society before them.

The timeline of ancient Mesopotamia is usually held to be from around 3300 BC to 750 BC. Mesopotamia is generally credited as being the first place where civilized society truly began to take shape.

It was somewhere around 8000 BC that people developed the idea of agriculture and slowly started to domesticate animals for both food and to assist in farming.

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