The World’s Greatest Civilizations There are so many great ancient structures in the world it made me think which were the greatest civilizations and why did I feel this way. There are quite a few to choose from and there are some incredible structures they built. Could there be others we have yet to discover? I think the answer could easily be yes. We might even find evidence of them under the water in places we least suspected. What defines greatness? When I thought about this, I came to the conclusion some ancient cultures are great for different reasons that others but some of the reasons may have overlapped. An example of what I am talking about as far as overlapping are the Maya cultures and the Romans. We are finding out the Mayans are a far older culture than we first suspected and are older than the Roman culture. This surprised many archaeologists. The Mayans built cities all through Central America and Mexico. The real surprise came when we started to discover the scope of the city construction. It turned up in places we least suspected in the middle of dense jungles. So far it is said 417 cities have been found which the Maya have constructed and many are connected by roads which were elevated to prevent them from being overrun by the jungle. There are probably even more cities yet to be discovered. That was not the only thing which made them a great civilization, there was also the fact they were incredible astronomers and made an extremely accurate calendar that ran for 5,000 years. When we check the internet, we still find a lot of the old thinking about dates and cities. An example is you will find the number of cities is 40, yet in Guatemala scientists have found those 417 cities and believe the Maya date back to at least 1,000 B.C. and that was just there. The incredible number of cities we have found and the advanced way they were constructed put the Maya out there with the great cultures. Another great culture which shaped the modern world were the Romans. There construction and engineering were among the greatest the world had ever seen. There is an aqueduct still used today. It is the Aqua Virgo and is supplying water to many fountains in Italy including the famous Trevi Fountain. Aqua Virgo was built in 19 B.C. and it is incredible it still functions today. The Roman engineers were able to figure out how to make water flow uphill. There structures were not only functional, but among the most beautiful and some are open to the public today. The Roman Coliseum is said to be a marvel of engineering, not only because it is still standing, but also because it could be emptied out in record time because of its design. Some say no coliseum can be emptied that fast today. The Pantheon is considered the oldest building still in use in the world. It is used today as a Catholic Church and is open to the public. It was built about 125 A.D. and some say it could be even older. While the Romans were said to be great engineers they were not known as great inventors, but there is a hint we may have underestimated them. They somehow were able to develop a cup which used nano-technology. The cup changed colors as the light hit it. This shocked many archaeologists because it is unknown how the Romans could have worked on such a small scale. The Romans also brought law to some places which had none and built roads everywhere they went. They harnessed water as a power source and built sewage and pipe systems. The ancient Egyptians were known not only for the huge splendid constructions they created but there was a mysterious side to them. Even today many are interested in their myths and religious stories. They were able to build the Great Pyramid to an accuracy which would be hard for us to match today. The incredible structures which are still standing with their giant statues and such, boggles the mind. Scientists have found some of the great statues have faces which when built on statues in a row were exactly the same to such a degree it seems impossible for them to have accomplished this. The size of some of their temples are enormous. For years scientists wondered how they were able to do this, then it was found out they would put down a layer of stone, cover it with sand, do another layer and repeat the process and when finished they would remove all the sand, it was ingenious. There are many theories on how they move the huge blocks of stone and moved obelisks weighing so many tons let alone how they mined them at the quarry. It seems the examples of how they did this mining would have taken forever using string covered with sand. Then there are the mysteries they left us with such as the bird shaped plane found in a tomb. The plane could actually fly. The plaque at the temple of Abydos seems to show a plane, helicopter, and a boat. Today we see many references to the ancient Egyptians in naming, religion and other things. In ancient science and invention there can be only one super culture and that was the ancient Greeks. Before I go any further, I have to admit they were great builders when they wanted to be. They also proved themselves to be the greatest warriors of their time when Alexander conquered most of the known world and left his impression all over the planet. Recently an ancient building was found in Macedonia from about the 3rd century B.C. which had an incredible floor design, the structure was clearly owned by a rich and powerful person. I have spoken about the incredible inventions the ancient Greeks were responsible for and how they could have changed the world but were ignored after the Romans conquered the Greeks. They invented steam power which could have changed everything. They also invented robots, some of which could carry out a rudimentary program using ropes and such, and then there was the Antikythera mechanism, a mechanical computer with precise gears that shocked the world because of its advanced construction and what it was capable of. I guess it might be said when the Romans conquered the Greeks they set the world back a thousand years in technology.
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