As the birthplace of human civilization, the four ancient civilizations have left irreplaceable traces in human history: ancient Babylon, ancient Egypt, ancient India and China.
In addition to ancient Babylon has disappeared in the long river of history, the current Egypt and India are another continuation of the ancient Egyptian civilization and the ancient Indian civilization respectively.
1. The vanished kingdom of ancient Babylon
Many people have the deepest impression of the ancient Babylonian civilization, which should be the world's first relatively complete legal code in ancient times - the Code of Hammurabi and the "Hanging Garden", the ancient Babylonian kingdom existed in time, corresponding to the end of the Xia Dynasty to the beginning of the Shang Dynasty on the mainland.
In the 300 years of civilization, with the rise of cities, ancient Babylon has made achievements in economy, literature, art, etc., and when Hammurabi became king, ancient Babylon ushered in the peak of civilization.
Hammurabi, the sixth king of ancient Babylon, was a diligent ruler who built water conservancy, encouraged commerce, and set out ambitious plans for expansion.
From 1787 BC, Hammurabi began the road of unification, destroying the city-states of Yixin, Larsa, and Mali, a process that lasted about 35 years.
After this, the ancient kingdom of Babylon officially reached its zenith, and Hammurabi began to proclaim himself "King of the Four Corners of the World", and his ambitions were obvious.
However, although Hammurabi brought ancient Babylon to the top, his rule was not stable, and the more than 30-year campaign also greatly consumed manpower and material resources.
In order to strengthen his rule, Hammurabi formulated the Code of Hammurabi, and he also claimed to be a "man favored by God", which has the meaning of "divine authority of kings" in later generations.
He ordered the code to be engraved on the basalt in cuneiform script to proclaim it to his people.
Hammurabi's glory lasted only about half a century, and his successor, Samsui Luna, was attacked by other city-states during his reign, and there were struggles within the ancient Babylonian kingdom.
Under this internal and external troubles, ancient Babylon, which was at its peak, gradually went into decline.
More importantly, the political system of ancient Babylon was also one of the important reasons for the demise of ancient Babylon, the development of slavery and debt slavery system led to many slaves and debtors to rebel, and the internal contradictions within the kingdom were unprecedentedly intensified, resulting in the collapse of ancient Babylon from within, coupled with attacks from hostile city-states, and finally in 1595 BC, it was destroyed by the Hittite ruler Mursirisi I.
"To see a civilization, you must first look at its writing", writing is a symbol of a civilization, and the writing used in ancient Babylon is cuneiform, which is also one of the earliest human writings.
When ancient Babylon was still around, cuneiform was spread by the footsteps of the ancient Babylonians, but today, thousands of years later, cuneiform writing is almost impossible to trace.
What exactly the Code of Hammurabi carved on the black basalt may forever become a mystery lost in history.
On the other hand, in China, the oracle bone inscription of the Shang Dynasty, even after a thousand years, we can still study its specific meaning, decipher it one by one, and restore the ancient history recorded in writing, which is incomparable to other countries.
In addition to cuneiform, the ancient Babylonians were also very successful in science and many other areas.
In astronomy, the ancient Babylonians could already distinguish between stars, and in mathematics they mastered the simple rules of the four.
It can be said that in that period, ancient Babylon should be one of the most advanced civilizations in the world, but such a glorious civilization could not escape the fate of extinction in the end.
2. The unique ancient Indian civilization
Among the four ancient civilizations, ancient India is perhaps the most special existence, because it is like a melting pot, the composition is extremely complex, and it is also the latest to be discovered.
In addition, among the other three ancient civilizations, ancient India had the most contacts with China and was also the country with the most profound cultural influence.
The ancient Indian civilization was excavated in 1922 a hundred years ago in the present-day Harappa region of India, so it is also known as the "Harappa Culture", according to experts, the existence time of the "Harappan Culture" is about 2300 BC to 1750 BC, about the Xia Dynasty period on the mainland.
Although today's India claims to be a continuation of the ancient Indian civilization, in fact, the current Indian civilization can only be said to be a branch of the ancient Indian civilization after thousands of years of evolution.
In the early days of the formation of ancient Indian civilization, a large number of cities appeared, and around these cities, civilization gradually developed. According to the excavated ruins of the city, the ancient Indian civilization at that time was in the leading position in the world.
Then, with the invasion of nomadic peoples, the ancient Indian civilization faced decline, and in the following period, the ancient Indian civilization centered on Magadha began to occupy a central position.
But the peace did not last, as the Persians stepped into the land of ancient India, the kingdom of Magadha was devastated, and the ancient Indian civilization was once controlled by the Persians.
This situation lasted until Alexander's crusade, and after the defeat of the Persians, the masters of the land became the Greeks and Macedonians.
Thereafter, the southern part of the Indian peninsula belonged to Magadha and the northern part was occupied by the Greeks, a division that lasted until around 300 BC.
It was around 300 B.C. that ancient India ushered in its peak period, which was the Mauryan Empire, which was more than 2,000 years ago.
Under Chandragupta's leadership, wars broke out against the invaders in many parts of India, and after driving out the invaders, the rebels invaded Magadha's capital, unifying the Indian peninsula.
Since then, the ancient Indian civilization has entered the era of the Mauryan Dynasty, which is also the most prosperous period of the ancient Indian civilization.
The Mauryan Empire left behind many contributions to the natural sciences for later generations, such as the world-wide notation, and also the epic works of Magabharata and Ramayana.
Throughout the development of ancient civilizations, all of them were accompanied by wars, and similarly, the development of the Mauryan Empire was also accompanied by gunsmoke. During the reign of Emperor Ashoka, in order to expand his territory and consolidate his rule, he fought foreign wars for more than ten years.
However, after years of war, Ashoka may not bear to see the cruelty of war, and in his later years converted to Buddhism, and at the same time vigorously developed the economy, so that the country gradually prospered.
But the glory of the Mauryan Dynasty only lasted for more than a hundred years, after the fall of the dynasty, there were many countries in the Indian Peninsula, because most of these countries were very weak, did not unify India, therefore, the international definition of ancient Indian civilization, most of them are concentrated in the period of the Mauryan Dynasty.
Since the Mauryan Dynasty, the inheritance of ancient Indian civilization has completely fallen into a very chaotic state, and the orthodox inheritance of ancient Indian civilization may no longer exist.
Moreover, in modern times, the British established colonial rule in India, which made it a fault line between India and ancient India.
In the final analysis, the international community does not recognize that the current India is a continuation of the ancient Indian civilization, because the ancient Indian civilization itself is a "melting pot", extremely diverse, and after thousands of years of evolution of multiple ethnic groups, no one can represent the orthodox ancient Indian civilization, and there is a fault line between today's India and ancient India that cannot be ignored, which is also one of the reasons why it is not recognized.
3. The mysterious ancient Egyptian civilization
Ancient Egyptian civilization has always been shrouded in a veil of mystery in many people's minds, which was produced under the influence of various factors such as pyramids, sphinxes, Cleopatra, mummies, and various movies.
Ancient Egyptian civilization is one of the four ancient civilizations, which formed an earlier civilization, and in the Faiyum region of Egypt about 7,450 years ago, tribal organizations had appeared, gradually forming city-states, and then developing into states.
5150 years ago, the unification of northern and southern Egypt was completed, and the ancient Egyptians established the world's first unified state, after which, the dynasty lasted for 3,000 years, until around 30 BC, the Romans conquered the 32nd dynasty of ancient Egypt.
However, the ancient Egyptian civilization did not disappear with the fall of the dynasty, and the civilization continued until 639 AD, when the Arab Empire Islamized it.
It is more reasonable to say that the current Egypt is a branch of the ancient Egyptian civilization and a country formed after the evolution of modern society, so it is not difficult to understand that Egypt is not recognized as an ancient civilization.
When people think of Egypt now, the first thing that comes to mind is the tall pyramids, but these majestic buildings are actually the tombs of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs.
How these pyramids were built remains a mystery to this day, but judging from the scale and difficulty of their construction, the development of ancient Egyptian civilization seems to be somewhat strange.
In fact, behind this represents the high development and high productivity of ancient Egyptian civilization, in addition to the pyramids, the ancient Egyptians also have high achievements in mathematics, medicine, manufacturing and processing.
For example, they invented a mathematical notation for simple mathematical operations, and in astronomy, they were the first civilization to use the solar calendar, when the ancient Egyptians divided the year into 365 days.
Moreover, the earliest record of the profession of doctor in the world today was found in an ancient Egyptian document dating back 4,700 years.
Ancient Egyptian civilization has been inherited for more than 6,000 years, and it is one of the few super civilizations in human history, whether in terms of its culture and art, or in terms of science.
Although 6,000 years is not worth mentioning for the earth, for human beings, it is already a sea of vicissitudes, not to mention the greatness of civilization, which transcends time and space.
But such a super civilization still cannot avoid the fate of extinction, is this the inevitable and ultimate destination of the development of all civilizations?
In the last period of the ancient Egyptian dynasty, the Ptolemaic dynasty, the last pharaoh of the dynasty was the familiar "Cleopatra" - Cleopatra VII.
At that time, the glory of the dynasty was gone, the status of a great power no longer existed, and even Cleopatra pinned the fate of the dynasty on Caesar.
After Caesar's death, Cleopatra was defeated in the struggle against Octavian, and the ancient Egyptian dynasty was forced to fall into the territory of the Roman Empire.
This event represented the fall of the ancient Egyptian kingdom, but its civilization continued to spread, and in the next six or seven hundred years, with the rise of the Arab Empire, Egypt was invaded by the Arabs and gradually Islamized, and the ancient Egyptian civilization officially disappeared into history.
Today's Egypt was gradually formed after more than 1,000 years of evolution after being Islamized.
Therefore, the current Egypt and the ancient Egyptian civilization, which is the origin of human civilization, are no longer the same, so they are not recognized by the international community, and it is inevitable that they will not be recognized.
Fourth, the Chinese civilization is in the same lineage
As the only existing ancient civilization recognized by all countries in the world, the history of Chinese civilization spans more than 5,000 years.
Unlike the other three ancient countries, the Chinese civilization is the only civilization that has been passed down to the present day without interruption.
Ancient Egypt lost its civilization due to the invasion of Arabia, ancient India was destroyed by the invasion of nomads, and ancient Babylon was weakened by war, and the flame of civilization was finally extinguished.
Only the Chinese civilization has survived 5,000 years of vicissitudes and is still influencing the world.
So why has Chinese civilization been able to survive to this day and has not died out like the other three countries?
You must know that in the history of China, wars have hardly stopped, but unlike other ancient countries, most of the wars in Chinese history have been civil wars, that is, the change of dynasties, rather than the invasion of other peoples.
In this case, the change of dynasty will not affect the inheritance of Chinese civilization, because the ruler is still the Chinese nation, and the civilization will naturally be inherited in one line and will not die out.
In addition, as the carrier of Chinese civilization, the thousand-year-old evolution of Chinese characters is a witness to the development of Chinese civilization.
The earliest mature Chinese characters were oracle bone inscriptions, which gradually evolved and developed, but in the Warring States period, there was a "troubled era" in the development of Chinese characters.
During the Warring States period, almost every country had its own writing, currency, and weights and measures, and these were all symbols of a civilization.
And these ended with Qin Shi Huang's unification of the six kingdoms, from the perspective of the present, Qin Shi Huang's policy of "the same car on the same track, the same book on the same text" is absolutely correct, because this is one of the signs of the true unity of the country, and these measures also avoid the division of civilization.
Although the Chinese civilization is also composed of many ethnic groups, the Chinese civilization has always been pluralistic and inclusive, and the perennial wars have made different ethnic groups living on the land of China invariably realize that only cultural tolerance can live peacefully.
Under the influence of this ideology, even dynasties established by ethnic minorities vigorously promoted integration with the Han Chinese, as was the case with Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
On the other hand, the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty regarded the Han people as grassy mustard, which led to an unprecedented intensification of national and class contradictions, and eventually led to the revolt of the people and the demise of the dynasty.
In contrast, the Manchus who established the Qing Dynasty were still relatively intelligent, and they knew that it was impossible for the Manchus to sit firmly on the throne alone.
Therefore, starting from Shunzhi, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty implemented a series of measures, continued to hold imperial examinations to select talents, promoted Confucian culture, etc., and vigorously promoted the integration of Manchu and Han, which is also the embodiment of the core of Chinese civilization.
In addition, the most important thing is the sense of national identity and cultural identity of the Chinese.
Since the beginning of modern times, although there have been many invaders who have tried to destroy Chinese culture, this has not worked at all.
Because the imprint of Chinese civilization has been deeply imprinted in the bones of every Chinese with generations of people living on this land, and this is one of the reasons why only China is recognized by the world.
History is like an hourglass, and only a civilization that is enough to shake the past and the present can be saved from passing in the hourglass and remembered by history.
In addition to the four ancient civilizations, there must be many other civilizations, but they have all fallen slowly in the hourglass like quicksand and turned into dust.
Although some civilizations have been dead for a long time, the relics they left behind have passed through thousands of years, showing its heroic appearance covered with river sand to future generations, and the inheritance of civilization still requires the efforts of generation after generation, constantly improving, excavating, and innovating, so that a civilization can transcend the boundaries of time and space and have a long history.