A long time ago, Western countries made a classification of world civilizations. believes that ancient Babylon, ancient India, ancient Egypt and China belong to the four ancient civilizations of the world. In 1900, the modern Chinese thinker and politician Liang Qichao also recognized and spread this concept in his "Song of Peace in the Twentieth Century", creating a good opportunity for future generations to understand the four ancient civilizations.
However, as time goes by, researchers and historians gradually discovered that only the four ancient civilizations that originally had their own merits in remained the last Chinese civilization, while other civilizations that appeared earlier gradually disappeared.
So what caused this ending to accelerate the disappearance of other ancient civilizations? As the latest civilization among the four ancient civilizations, how did China become the last generation and continue to this day?
The extinction of ancient Babylonian civilization
The ancient Babylonian civilization was the first civilization among the four ancient civilizations in the world and the earliest civilization discovered in the world. But before that, it was not called ancient Babylon, but "Mesoamerican civilization", which means "the place between two rivers". The two rivers are the Euphrates River and Tigris River .
Because civilization originated early and mysterious, many ancient Jews and Greeks' poems and articles have promoted the beauty of ancient Babylon only once. Even the legend of " Eden " in " Bible " was created based on this place as the prototype.
In addition, during the thousands of years of the development of ancient Babylon, it has also born many ethnic groups such as Sumeran , Babylonian , Pernian , Pernian , laying the foundation for its colorful and complex civilization background. At the same time, it also created the world's first set of written codes, the first set of text " cuneiform " and the "Air Garden", one of the seventh wonders in the world.
These excellent civilizations are as bright as pearls in the long river of world history, making people think a lot. Some people sighed at the disappearance of ancient Babylon that if all the four major civilizations could survive the last like Chinese civilization, then today's world would definitely be a different and beautiful scenery.
Among the many reasons why ancient Babylon disappeared, there are three most common statements. One is that they are mostly destroyed by Egypt, Assyrian and other countries, the other is that they are destroyed by Persian Empire , and the other is that they are destroyed by Alexander the Great .
But the final statement is that the Persian Empire was the country that destroyed the ancient Babylonian state. Egypt, Assyria and other countries have indeed attacked ancient Babylon, but due to the incomplete attack, ancient Babylon has been rebuilt. 's reconstruction was just a fragmented reconstruction and did not allow it to establish capital and capabilities that could compete with other countries. Therefore, under the subsequent several offensives of the Persian Empire, ancient Babylon quickly fell down and never rebuilt. Alexander the Great just destroyed the Persian Empire, so it has no direct relationship with the destruction of ancient Babylon.
In addition, some archaeologists have done more in-depth research on the demise of ancient Babylon. found that the reason why ancient Babylon was so unpredictable was mainly related to its special geographical location. At that time, with the development of ancient Babylon, some later powerful empires were gradually established around it, such as Byzantine , Arab Empire , etc.
Because of the good geographical location of ancient Babylon, it naturally became the target of attack by multiple powerful countries. Moreover, at that time, the terrain of ancient Babylon was mostly desert-oriented, and was in a typical environment that was easy to attack and difficult to defend. was attacked one after another by other countries and defeated many times.
In addition to this, there is another very important reason that also accelerated the destruction of the ancient Babylonian Empire. is that it lacks obvious inclusiveness. Because it cannot tolerate and accept the civilizations of other countries well, After the ancient Babylonian Kingdom was eliminated, the Persian Empire immediately abandoned its civilization, introduced their own culture, and developed it into its own civilization.
The transformation of ancient Egyptian civilization
As another ancient civilization among the four ancient civilizations, the ancient Egyptian civilization originated around 3500 BC. Later, as time passed, it gradually entered the era of city-states and states, and entered the period of ancient kingdom rule around 2686 BC. Most of the achievements that attracted attention from later generations were built during that period, and China, India and other places at the same time were still in the Neolithic Age.
But even such a civilization with strong development potential cannot avoid repeating the mistakes of the ancient Babylonian civilization and eventually embarking on the road of decline.
In 525 BC, the Persian Empire, which also eliminated the Mesopotamian civilization, once again carried out annihilation of the ancient Egyptian civilization, and ancient Egypt has been occupied and ruled by foreign races.
According to the "History of Ancient Egypt" by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences , the population of ancient Egypt accounted for about 1.6 million during the Ancient Kingdom period, and gradually increased later, reaching nearly 3 million and 4 million by New Kingdom and post-Egypt periods respectively.
But later experts found that the demographic number was wrong. Take of the Ancient Egyptian Kingdom period for example. At that time, many pyramids were built. A pyramid would cost about tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people. If multiple people were built at the same time, wouldn’t it cost millions of people? So it means that the result of the population of only 1.6 million during the Ancient Egyptian Kingdom period later, it is likely that it was just the population of ancient Egypt that was about to disappear.
So there is a question, what caused such a big drop in the population of ancient Egypt?
The first statement is that during the development of ancient Egypt, it encountered a severe drought climate . 5,000 years ago, ancient Egypt was still an oasis area, with densely intertwined cities and populations. Later, as time passed, the ancient Egyptian area gradually became a large desert, and the only place on which the population relies on to survive was , the Nile River, , and the living environment became smaller, and the law of survival of the fittest appeared, so the population gradually became smaller.
The second important reason is the emergence of national laziness. As mentioned above, due to climate reasons, the ancient Egyptian people were concentrated on both sides of the Nile River. . At that time, due to the flooding of water on both sides of the Nile River, it brought a lot of silt suitable for planting crops to the ancient Egyptian people. The ancient Egypt started the farming era. However, because the silt brought by the Nile River was on both sides of the river, the silt was loose and soft, in fact, it did not require too much reclamation and farming from the people, and many people gradually gave up the essence of diligence and became lazy.
As of this, ancient civilization began to decline, and farming tools also stayed in the bronze stone age for a long time. At that time, its neighbors, West Asia and other countries had entered the Iron Age long before 1,000 BC, while ancient Egypt was postponed to the 8th century BC before gradually starting the iron life.
The third reason is the invasion of foreign enemies . After ancient Egypt was defeated by the Persian Empire, it became a province of the Persian Empire. But luckier than ancient Babylon, the ancient Egyptian people were still maintaining their national characteristics and cultural customs at that time.
However, later, under the rule of the Arab Empire, ancient Egypt was forcibly changed its beliefs by the Arab Empire and accepted the culture of Islam. The background of ancient Egypt gradually turned to Islamic civilization.
Now, although Egypt, which regards Islam as its state religion, is a sovereign state, it has no similarities compared to ancient Egypt, and there is no great inheritance relationship between the two.
The disappearance of ancient Indian civilization
Ancient Indian civilization originated between 1800 BC and 600 BC, and its origin was in the Indus River basin. For ancient Indian civilization, during its development, whether it is urban construction, cultural heritage, religious belief, or political system, they were all expected by other civilizations in the world. For a long time, has occupied a dominant position in the process of world development.
Many scholars have experienced such curiosity when studying the history of the decline of ancient Indian civilization. They are wondering what influences and influences such a prosperous and powerful civilization were destroyed? After a period of research and exploration, they gradually discovered that one of the reasons for the decline of ancient Indian civilization by was that the cause of the decline of ancient Egyptian civilization had obvious similarities, that is, a climate that was extremely unsuitable for people's survival - drought. The emergence of extreme weather such as
caused a devastating blow to ancient India, an ancient civilization with agricultural development as its lifeline. At that time, they did not have the ability to compete with natural disaster , so they could only bear it silently, and the quality of life of most people also declined, and the entire civilization began to have signs of decline.
When ancient Indian civilization gradually showed a decline due to climate reasons, around 1500 BC, Aryans entered the field of ancient Indian civilization. At that time, the ancient Indian people died and moved, Therefore, the Aryans directly occupied the Indus River Plain without much energy, and invaded the Ganges River Plain before they stopped. Later, the Ganges River civilization was established in the Hengping Plain Domain.
Regarding this history, data shows that the Aryans have lived in the Ganges Plain instead of the Indus Plain after occupying the Indus Plain and the Ganges Plain. This may also indirectly indicate that the Indus Plain at that time was no longer suitable for human survival and development.
Chinese civilization
Among the four ancient civilizations, Chinese civilization was the last to be born, but it is also the only civilization that has continued to this day without any faults.
During the thousand years of inheritance of Chinese civilization, although China has also experienced incidents of being invaded by other countries and being plundered by natural disasters, we can still find a very clear and long-standing trajectory of civilization development, which is our ancient history - Qin Dynasty to Qing Dynasty history. This is one of the important manifestations of my country's long history of civilization.
Another phenomenon that can very accurately reflect the long-lasting culture is the continuation of words. Compared with vernacular Chinese, most people may find it difficult to read, but the difference is only in the understanding of words and sentences. Most of the words can be read clearly. As for the meaning of words, as long as you have a little training, you will be able to easily understand them in no time.
And various Chinese cultures, such as Taoist culture, Confucian culture, Confucian culture, Legalism culture, are also indispensable aspects that can express the long-lasting civilization. because of some of the cultures and ideas, they are still affecting our living habits and lifestyles.
Through the above results, we can undoubtedly conclude that Chinese is indeed the only ancient civilization among the four ancient civilizations that have been passed down to this day and have never stopped.
The reasons why Chinese civilization has been passed down to this day can be roughly explained from the following aspects. , one of them is its unique geographical location. Like the other three ancient civilizations, Chinese civilization also originated from areas with abundant water flow, namely the Yellow River basin and the Yangtze River basin. Then, as time goes by, it gradually expanded to the Pearl River and Liaohe basin.
However, unlike the Mesopotamian civilization and ancient Indian civilization, the basins on which Chinese civilization relies did not produce any harsh climatic conditions that destroyed civilization. On the contrary, also brought our ancestors a vast area of uniform hot and cold, suitable for survival and farming, laying a certain foundation for the subsequent population extension and development and the accumulation and continuation of civilization.
Although the vast plain conditions have brought positive effects to the development of our civilization, how can a civilization last for a long time be satisfied? So next we have to mention another factor that helps maintain Chinese culture - the protective barrier around the country.
Analysis of China's geographical location from the map, we can find that The southwest of Chinese civilization is Qinghai-Tibet Plateau , known as the "roof of the world", the southeast is the sea, the south is vast from the jungle, and the north is Mongolian Plateau .
, a geographical situation that is surrounded as a whole, has allowed China to gain a strategic depth that lasts thousands of miles in the war. Even if the external enemies can achieve temporary victory, they will not be able to drive forward. This advantage of largely provided China with time and space for combat preparation during wars, and also created conditions for the continuous development of civilization.
In addition to the above good conditions, China also has an advantage that ancient Babylonian civilization lacks very much, that is, our country's inclusiveness and inclusiveness.
In the long river of history, during the invasion of foreign cultures, Chinese civilization did not show repulsion like the Uni-Divine Cult civilization, but followed the ideas of "self-centered and used for me", absorbed good culture, and abandoned bad culture.
It is also true that we can ensure that Chinese civilization is endless and endless, and that Chinese civilization becomes the only ancient civilization system among the four ancient civilizations that has not been destroyed or replaced.
After reading this article, do you think which civilization in ancient Babylonian civilization, ancient Egyptian civilization and ancient Indian civilization has the most regrettable disappearance?
Author: Fuying Proofreader: Chuanchuan
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