The knowledge of the four ancient civilizations is learned in books, but few people ask why they are the four ancient civilizations, and few people ask where the four ancient civilizations come from. In fact, the concept of "four ancient civilizations", which is well known to Chinese women and children, was introduced to China from the West, and the knowledge that Chinese are familiar with the ancient civilizations of the world was first put forward by Mr. Liang Qichao.
The emergence of the "Four Ancient Civilizations" is not to emphasize how long the history of these four countries is, and there is no particular order of ranking. The concept of ancient civilizations proposes that these four countries are the birthplaces of human civilization, and the birthplaces of the four civilizations are completely independent and influencing the surrounding countries.
The formation of the four major civilizations has gone through a long process, and each civilization has its own distinctive characteristics and the characteristics of its own region. Obviously, the four ancient civilizations, India and Egypt, still exist, but the word "ancient" is added in front of it, and China does not need to become "ancient China", why is this?
The birthplace of the four major civilizations
The origin of human civilization originated from river basins, water is the source of life, and the two river basins, the Nile, the Ganges and the Yellow River are the pregnant beds of the four ancient countries. As the most primitive source of civilization, the flat terrain of the river basin is very suitable for human habitation, so human beings live by the river, and gradually appear in the development and growth of their own national civilization.
The two river basins of ancient Babylon were the Euphrates and Tigris, the ancient Indian civilization in the Ganges Valley invented the caste system and far-reaching Buddhist culture, the ancient Egypt in the Nile Valley was a mysterious and mysterious pharaonic civilization, and China in the Yellow River Valley gave birth to the Chinese civilization.
Due to the lack of specific and accurate written records of ancient civilizations, it is unknown which of the four civilizations first appeared.
The proximity of the four ancient civilizations to the water source made the agricultural civilization production of the four ancient countries very developed, and the human beings at that time mainly lived a self-help small-scale peasant economy. Although the population was small at the time, they all had a hierarchical system. The four ancient kingdoms all believed in gods and believed in imaginary theocracy.
Ancient Babylon, an ancient Western country that has disappeared
Ancient Babylon disappeared completely in 1595 B.C., it was the first of the four ancient kingdoms to disappear, and only existed in the world for about 300 years, which is 100 years less than the life span of the Han Dynasty on the mainland.
The first ancient Babylon was founded by a group of people called the Amorites, who settled and developed here in the Mesopotamian plains of the Two Rivers Valley, believing that the plains of Mesopotamia were their dream home.
Ancient Babylon lived a self-sufficient life, developing architecture, economy, and culture on the plains of Mesopotamia, and at the peak of ancient Babylon during the time of Hammurabi, the hanging gardens they built became a fairytale paradise. Under the rule of civilization, the first legal code, the Code of Hammurabi, followed.
The abundance of food and lavish decorations in ancient Babylon made the refugees who roamed the desert and steppes around them, and these refugees had long been in need of hunting and self-preservation, so the refugees were extremely effective compared to the ancient Babylonians who planted the fields and danced.
After two invasions by refugees, ancient Babylon was integrated into the ethnic culture from the western eight, and finally the cuneiform script used by ancient Babylon was forgotten in the long river of history, and ancient Babylon collapsed with it.
Eat from the sky – Ancient Egypt
The civilization of ancient Egypt shocked China and the rest of the world, and many unsolved mysteries such as its pyramids, sphinxes, and mummies are still the secrets explored by modern people. Ancient Egypt had a strict political system, a writing system, and a mystical religion. Compared to the other two ancient civilizations, ancient Egypt existed for the longest time.
Ancient Egypt was originally a city-state gathered near the Nile Valley, and as it continued to develop, "small city-states" grew into "great powers", followed by pharaohs. Due to the relative perfection of ancient Egypt in all aspects, it can be regarded as the overlord of the Nile, and its civilization has influenced the development of surrounding countries, such as ancient Greece and ancient Rome, which have the shadow of ancient Egypt.
Who would have thought that a country with a glorious civilization would disappear due to climate change? According to research, the Nile River dried up due to the warming of the climate, leaving ancient Egypt without water, and with the loss of agricultural products, such a huge country fell into a famine crisis. But in fact, the real reason for the demise of ancient Egypt was political confrontation.
The supreme ruler of ancient Egypt was called the pharaoh, who needed to give some of the power to the civil officials to consolidate the stability of the country. Due to the dispersion of the pharaoh's power, which led to the independence of local officials and the division of local powers, the power of the pharaoh was very fragile, and ancient Egypt was unable to resist foreign invasion, and the country also disappeared.
In 639 B.C., the land of ancient Egypt was occupied by the Arabs and the Islamic kingdom was established, and the ancient Egyptian language and religion of this land perished along with it.
The Vanishing Tianzhu Holy Land Ancient - India
The water of the Ganges River is the mother river of ancient India, and in the eyes of ancient India, the Ganges is a symbol of tolerance and civilization. As the birthplace of Buddhism, ancient India was a sacred place for Buddhist pilgrimage, and at the same time, ancient India also gave birth to world civilizations such as Arabic numerals and the epics of the Magabharata and the Ramayana.
In the process of development, India has forgotten the general meaning of Buddhism, and only retained the strict racial hierarchy, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras are insurmountable, the gap between the rich and the poor is huge, the power is overturned, and it is like a fantasy for the poor castes to change their lives.
The only continuation of the four ancient civilizations - China
As one of the four ancient civilizations, China does not need to add the word "ancient" in front of it The reason why China does not need to add the word "ancient" in front of it is that whether it is in the era of agriculture or the age of science and technology, the Chinese civilization has not been interrupted, and the blood of Yan and Huang is in the same line, and when resisting foreign aggression, China has also resisted stubbornly, guarded its homeland, and preserved its own civilization.
Even the development of China is to seek common ground and seek differences, and to learn foreign cultures does not forget to develop their own culture, so that culture can develop continuously. Whether it is language, writing or symbols, China is the one that has preserved and inherited the best among the four countries. Egypt and India still exist today, but their cultures have been disconnected and have not been connected with their previous civilizations.
Brief summary:
The real demise of a nation is the demise of its culture. This was the case of ancient Babylon, ancient India, and ancient Egypt, and while Egypt and India still existed, their truly brilliant civilizations were lost to history. The development of civilization does not mean blindly discarding, but should discard the dross of existence, and preserve and continue the essence of existence.
The disappearance of the cultures of ancient Egypt, ancient Babylon and ancient India makes people sigh, because the glory of their cultural civilization will never be restored, and people can only slowly find and relive it in the existing clue records.