How long are the histories of the four major ancient civilizations (except ancient China)? From which year to which year?

The Four Ancient Civilizations "The Four Ancient Civilizations" refer to China, ancient India, ancient Egypt and ancient Babylon, the birthplaces of ancient civilizations. This definition was first used by Mr. Liang Qichao in his "Pacific Song of the Twentieth Century" in 1900. Liang Qichao's statement comes from the "cradle of four major civilizations" recognized by the world's academic circles at that time. But unfortunately, apart from China, the cultures of the other three ancient civilizations have disappeared from the earth, leaving only some historical traces. . Currently there are five ancient birthplaces of civilization recognized by international academic circles. "History of World Civilizations" (William McGaughey, USA) states that "Old Babylon (between 4000 BC and 2250 BC), ancient Egypt (3500 BC to 600 BC), ancient Greece (AD Between 3000 BC and 1100 BC), ancient India (2000 BC), ancient China (the Shang Dynasty was established in 1600 BC) - Westerners only recognize physical evidence but not academic knowledge, so they do not recognize the Five Emperors and Xia periods. Editor’s addition) is the birthplace of the world’s five major civilizations.” This is the statement most recognized by academic circles. Other statements include: "Ancient Egypt, ancient India, ancient Babylon, ancient Greece, ancient Maya" and "ancient Egypt, ancient India, ancient Babylon, ancient Inca, and China."

The current accepted statement in Chinese academic circles is that China is one of the birthplaces of world civilization, with a history of 4,078 years of civilization. It is also known as the "China" together with ancient Egypt, ancient Babylon, and ancient India. It is one of the "Four Ancient Civilizations".

The initial civilization of ancient Egypt (late 4000s BC to early 2000s)

The occurrence of civilization-Egypt is one of the birthplaces of human civilization. It has experienced its own ancient times. Stone Age and Mesolithic Age. Egypt's Neolithic culture (Merimda culture on the western edge of the delta, Fayon culture in central Egypt, Tassa-Badari culture, etc.) are all mixed agricultural and animal husbandry cultures. Although there is still debate about when and where Egypt's agriculture originated, in the 6000-5000 BC, its agricultural culture was quite developed and bronze tools were used, which laid the foundation for the early emergence of its civilization.

Early Dynasty Period According to the records of Manetho (an Egyptian priest who lived at the turn of the 4th to 3rd centuries BC), the ancient Egyptian King Menes founded the First Dynasty. Since then, Egypt has experienced 31 dynasties. Dynasty (until the Greek conquest). Modern Egyptologists have divided ancient Egyptian history into several periods, and each period included several dynasties of Manetho. The Early Dynasty period includes the 1st and 2nd Dynasties, which lasted from about 3100 to 2686 BC.

According to Manetho's records, Menes was not only the founder of the First Dynasty, but also the founder and unifier of the Egyptian state. After establishing his own country in the south, he conquered the delta region in the north. In order to consolidate his rule over the north, he established a fortress city at the junction of the river valley and the delta - Memphis (originally known as the White City, Memphis is the name of the city by the Greeks). Its patron saint is the god Ptah. (Creator of the world, patron of arts and crafts). Modern archeology has uncovered no physical evidence of the existence of Menes. Therefore, modern Egyptologists often regard Narmer or Aha and Menes who have cultural evidence as one person, and some scholars doubt the authenticity of Menes' existence.

The Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period

The socio-economic conditions of the Old Kingdom The Old Kingdom included the 3rd to 6th dynasties, which lasted from about 2686 to 2181 BC. All in Memphis. The construction of the pyramids began during this period, and the largest pyramid was also built during this period. Therefore, the Old Kingdom period is also called the Pyramid Period.

The Old Kingdom was a period when the slave economy of ancient Egypt developed significantly. The unification of the country created a relatively stable environment for social and economic development; the construction of water conservancy and irrigation systems on a larger scale provided important conditions for the development of agriculture. All major crops grown in Egypt in later generations (such as barley, wheat, flax , grapes, figs, etc.), were cultivated during the Old Kingdom.

In terms of farm implements, the slave owner's economy used a heavy plow pulled by two oxen, which was much more advanced than using a simple wooden plow to plow the land. It can be seen from the paintings in the tombs of the nobles that agricultural technology is generally very primitive, but because the silt deposited after the flooding of the Nile River is very fertile, food production can still support the huge state machinery and vast ruling class of the Old Kingdom. craftsmen.

The royal family controls the government: The autocratic monarchy in the Ancient Kingdom was not only manifested in the king personally directly controlling the main power of the country, but also in the royal family controlling the government. Most of the high-ranking officials were members of the royal family. In the 4th Dynasty, the post of Visil was mostly held by princes. Even in the 5th and 6th Dynasties, there were still princes serving as Visil. Among the six prince tombs from the 5th to 6th dynasties in Saqqara, one served as Visir; two of them served as supervisors of royal affairs and army commanders. At the end of the Old Kingdom, the royal power weakened and the power of local nobles rose. Some local nobles served as visils. For example, in the 6th Dynasty, a visil named Zaw was originally a local noble. However, the reason why Zaw was able to hold the position of Visil may be related to the fact that his two sisters became queens.

The king has unlimited authority over his subjects: In ancient Egypt, the king was above the country, and all his subjects seemed to have become his slaves. When the subjects see the king, they can only kiss the dust at his feet. A concubine who is allowed to kiss the king's feet will feel a great honor. The servile attitude towards the king reflected in the inscriptions of some officials during the 5th and 6th dynasties (such as Unni and others) fully illustrates the nature of the relationship between the king and his ministers at that time. However, the relationship between officials and the king at the turn of the 3rd and 4th dynasties reflected in the inscriptions on the Meten tomb does not seem to be the same. The inscriptions of Henku and Ibi during the 5th and 6th dynasties seem to indicate that the relationship between local nobles and the king is also different. Not so. Perhaps, people like Unni were the cronies promoted by the king. Therefore, their attitude towards the king was very different from that of the local nobles.

The royal power was further deified: the monarchy used divine power to strengthen the royal power and the rule of the slave-owning class. In the early days of the Old Kingdom and before, the falcon god Horus was the main protector of kingship. A statue of King Habra of the 4th Dynasty shows Horus spreading his wings to protect his head. The king at that time also had the name of Horus (royal title). However, during the Old Kingdom, the worship of the sun god Ra gradually developed and became dominant in the 5th Dynasty. According to the Westerkar Papyrus, the first three kings of the 5th Dynasty all claimed that they were the sons of the god Ra, that is, they were descendants of the god Ra. From the 3rd Dynasty onwards, the king's name was written in an oval frame. This frame symbolizes the area where the sun shines and also indicates that the king is protected by the sun god. During the Old Kingdom, many kings had the name Ra at the end of their names. In order to gain support from theocratic forces, the kings of the Old Kingdom donated large amounts of land and labor to the temples. Deifying the royal power was not only a requirement of the royal power itself, but also the need of the ruling class at that time. The deification of royal power also means the deification of the slave-owning class regime. Therefore, it was also tolerated by the slave-owning class. For this reason, ancient Egyptian slave owners maintained an entire group of priests.

The construction of the pyramid

The pyramid is the tomb of the ancient Egyptian king. Because it resembles the Chinese character "gold", the Chinese call it "pyramid". The construction of the pyramids began with Djoser, the first king of the 3rd Dynasty. At that time, he asked the famous architect Imenhotep to design a tomb for him. Imenhotep originally designed and built a huge stone mastaba in Saqqara. But both Joser and Imhotep were dissatisfied and felt that it was not solemn and majestic enough. So Imenhotep added five more mastabas, one each smaller than the other, on top of it. This became the hierarchical pyramid of Djoser that can still be seen today. It is 61.2 meters high and has a base of It is 123.3 meters long from east to west and 107.4 meters long from north to south. There are corridors and tombs under the pyramid, a sacrificial temple is built next to the pyramid, and the entire building complex is surrounded by walls. During the reign of Sneferu, the first king of the 4th Dynasty, three pyramids were built. His first pyramid was at Maidumen, which was originally a hierarchical pyramid.

Later, the steps on each level were filled in to form a pyramid. Later, he ordered people to build a true pyramid for him in Dashur. However, due to errors in the design, the pyramid was discovered halfway through the construction. The angle was so great that the angle had to be changed, resulting in a diamond-shaped pyramid, or a curved pyramid. Of course, Sneferu was not satisfied with this, so he ordered another true pyramid pyramid to be built in Dashur. It can be said that the Sneferu period was the period of transition from hierarchical pyramids to true pyramidal pyramids. The largest pyramid was built by King Khufu of the 4th Dynasty (the Greeks called him Cheops). Its architect was Khufu's brother Hemion. The site was chosen on the west bank of the Nile near Memphis. Kizer. The pyramid is 146.5 meters high and each side is approximately 230 meters long. It is said that the pyramid used about 2.3 million stones of various sizes, with an average weight of about 2.5 tons each. The tomb chamber was originally built at the bottom of the tower, and later a tomb chamber was built in the middle of the tower. The entrance of this pyramid is located 13 meters above the ground on the north side of the tower and is triangular in shape, so that the weight of the tower can be evenly distributed and will not crush the passage opening.

According to Herodotus, it took 30 years to build Khufu’s pyramid. The first 10 years were spent on building roads to transport stones and building underground tombs, and the last 20 years were spent on building the pyramid. It employs 100,000 people every year.

Beside Khufu’s pyramid, there are also the tombs of two kings of the dynasty, Habra (the Greeks called him Qifrin) and Menkaure (the Greeks called him Mekelinus). pyramid. Not far in front of the Pyramid of Habra, there is a Sphinx (Sphinx) of the king. It is about 20 meters high and 50 meters long. It is carved from a single piece of stone. It is said that its face is modeled after Habra. The statue is carved. The ancient Egyptians believed that lions were the guardians of the gateway to heaven.

Around these pyramids, there are many mastabas of nobles, which symbolically reflects the supremacy of the monarchy over its subjects.

Ancient India

The world where Buddha and dreams intertwined - Indian culture

India is a close neighbor of our country, but due to the barrier of the towering Himalayan snow-capped mountains, we Little is known about this neighbor's situation. "Going to the West to learn Buddhist scriptures" has become synonymous with hardship in the ears of the Chinese, just like the Nile River and Mesopotamia in ancient Egypt, the Yellow River, the Yangtze River in China, the Indus River, and the Ganges River. It also gave birth to an ancient culture that shines brightly in the world and shines through history.

Half a million years ago, there were ancient ancestors in the Indian subcontinent. They also practiced slash-and-burn farming, fished, hunted and gathered, and thrived here from generation to generation. By the Neolithic Age, about 10,000 years ago, India was dotted with settlements, and people had begun to engage in agriculture, domesticate livestock, and make exquisite living utensils. All this provided fertile ground for the birth of a splendid ancient civilization. In the South Asian subcontinent, there is an ancient country with the towering Himalayas as its headrest and the vast Indian Ocean as its feet. This is India, known as the "Land of the Moon". Because its land is shaped like a cow's head, some people also call it the "Land of Cow Skulls".

India, an ancient civilization of spiritual travels

The Ganges River starts from the Himalayas and passes through an Asian peninsula surrounded by the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. It nourishes this land and also It gave birth to a glorious civilization and became the "holy river" of a country. And this lucky country is one of the four ancient civilizations in the world - India.

India is a melting pot of cultures. The country's unique historical background encompasses a variety of cultural trends from ancient times to modern times, from the West to the East, and from Asia to Europe. In addition, it is a country composed of five major ethnic groups, and it is like a large cultural museum. Mumbai, on the west bank of the capital New Delhi, is the center of culture, while Kolkata has news about culture every day. The diverse music, dance, dance dramas and comedy dazzle tourists and make them forget to leave.

After living in noisy big cities for a long time, people yearn to return to nature. The basis of Indian traditional music is "nature".

It celebrates the relationship between people, the relationship between people and nature, and the relationship between people and God. The melodies of the four seasons are reflected in the traditional tune "raga" - legend has it that the ancients were inspired by the chirping of birds and the sound of burning branches in the forest to create the first "raga". As for the content of the song, it originated from North Indian religious rituals. To this day, traditional songs still retain the ancient pronunciation, and the singer's voice is pure, allowing the songs to maintain a simple and pure hymn feel. Even if you don't understand the lyrics, you can still feel the sacredness and peace of nature.

Natyam, one of the oldest dances in India, means "the art of dance" in Hindi. In addition to emphasizing the rhythm of dance, it also emphasizes that the accompaniment music must be pleasant to the ear, consisting of solemn poetry and simple music. This dance was originally used for sacrifices and could fully reflect the emotions of the dancers. It was originally performed by temple dancers in temples. The key to this dance is to keep your upper body straight, your legs half-bent, your knees spread apart, and your feet like a half-open fan. Although there are strict movement specifications, every actor's performance is actually different, and most of the time the performances are improvised, so each Natyam has a very strong personal style.

Now, this traditional dance is making a comeback in a retro trend. However, in ancient times, Natyam was usually performed solo, but now group dances are more popular. A group of graceful dancers in gorgeous traditional costumes dance like fairies to beautiful music, and the effect is even better than dancing alone. Today, Natyam has developed into an art system that pays attention to technology.

Food cooked in clay oven charcoal fire

Indian curry is famous all over the world. Many people think that rice and curry are staple foods and spices of india. But in fact, only some places in India use rice as the staple food, and curry is an unfamiliar seasoning to most Indians. In fact, the lack of a unified style is the biggest feature of Indian cuisine. And not only are the eating habits very different between cities in India, but every family has a distinct eating style. But in general, chicken, fish and lamb are the most common. Gravy is a staple sauce in India and is popular throughout India. Of course, each place's gravy has its own distinctly local flavor. In Indian kitchens, only fresh green chillies and sun-dried red chillies are spicy. So tourists who don’t like spicy food don’t have to worry about not being able to eat authentic Indian food. For tourists, India's most famous traditional dish has its origins in the Indian royal family. Stews, sauces and rice are the basis of three different cooking styles. But after all, royal food can only be eaten in specialized restaurants and big hotels, and ordinary people are not "cold" by it. In the local area, many popular Indian dishes are very popular at home, such as unleavened oatmeal bread and green mustard cooked over coal fire all night. Such a simple winter snack is popular among farmers and city dwellers alike. They all regard it as their favorite. In southern cities, authentic crispy pancakes and steamed rice cakes are famous. As for some coastal areas, in addition to seafood meals such as crabs, lobsters, tiger shrimps and shellfish, fragrant coconut is also the most commonly used ingredient.

The clay oven charcoal cooking method is a unique cooking method in India. It is very particular about time control. When the furnace temperature reaches 600 degrees Celsius, the cooking difference of one or two minutes, or even one or two seconds, affects the success or failure of cooking. The meat cooked in this way does not require oil, and is dipped in yogurt when eating. Even before the food is served, the sizzling sound of the charcoal fire and the lingering aroma will already make your index fingers tickle.

In addition, in many places in India, people like to use a large shallow plate called "thali" to serve food. When eating with "thali", you should taste it slowly as the locals do. Gobbling it up will only make the locals laugh.

The Soul of Tianzhu - Exhibition of Bronze Statues from Ancient India

Ancient India was a land of myths, with extremely developed religion and philosophy. Therefore, ancient bronze statues in India are often symbols of mythology, religious idols and philosophical metaphors, integrating the spirits of the gods.

The tradition of bronze statues in India is very long and can be traced back to the bronze statuette "Dancing Girl" of the Indus River Age about 2500-1500 BC. Brahmanism (the predecessor of Hinduism), Buddhism, and Jainism, which emerged in succession from the 9th to 6th centuries BC, provided eternal themes for ancient Indian art, including bronze statues. In the Middle Ages of India (7th to 13th century AD), Indian bronze statues reached their heyday.

The world's earliest civilization - Mesopotamia (Mesopotamia, Greek means the land between the two rivers.) Civilization (also known as the Mesopotamia Civilization) originated from the Tigris River (Tigris) The basin between the Euphrates River and the Euphrates River - the Sumer region (middle and lower reaches). Mesopotas was the seat of ancient Babylon, in what is now the territory of the Republic of Iraq.

The period from 4000 BC to 2250 BC was the heyday of the Mesopotamian civilization. The Old Testament calls it the "Land of Shinar". The fertile soil deposited along the banks of the two rivers due to river flooding was known in history as the "Fertile Crescent" (the area in South America that is as famous as the "Golden Triangle" is called the "Crescent of Sin"). Since the two rivers do not flood regularly like the Nile, the time must be determined by observing celestial phenomena. The Sumerians living in the lower reaches invented the lunar calendar, using the moon's waxing and waning as the standard for timing, and divided the year into 12 months with 354 days. They also invented the leap month and arranged the 11 days that differed from the solar calendar. Divide an hour into 60 minutes and use 7 days as a week. He is also able to solve the four arithmetic operations of fractions, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and solve quadratic equations of one variable, and invented the decimal and hexadecimal methods. They divided the circle into 360 degrees and knew that π was approximately 3. It can even calculate the area of ??irregular polygons and the volume of some cones.

In 4000 BC, the Sumerians were the first to invent ideographic and signifying hieroglyphs, because most of these writings were carved on bricks, stones or black basalt. On the clay tablets, "the strokes are heavy and the impressions are deep", which are in the shape of a sharp wedge and resemble a wooden wedge, so they are called cuneiform writing.

Buddhism

Buddhism emerged in the 6th century BC. Its founder was Siddhartha Gautama, who was later revered as "Sakyamuni". His disciples called him "Buddha", which means "the one with great enlightenment". Buddhism advocates the equality of all living beings and believes that the root cause of human suffering lies in human desires. Only by practicing hard and eliminating desires can we achieve the "Ultimate World". [Edit this paragraph] Ancient Babylon Ancient Babylon

The world's earliest civilization - Mesopotamia (Mesopotamia, Greek means the land between the two rivers.) Civilization (also known as the Two Rivers) Civilization) originated in the basin between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers - the Sumer region (middle and lower reaches). Mesopotaya is the location of ancient Babylon, in today's Iraq.

The period from 4000 BC to 2250 BC was the heyday of the Mesopotamian civilization. The Old Testament calls it the "Land of Shinar". The fertile soil accumulated along the banks of the two rivers due to river flooding was known as the "Fertile Crescent" in history (the area in South America that is as famous as the "Golden Triangle" can be called the "Crescent of Sin"). Since the two rivers do not flood regularly like the Nile, the time must be determined by observing celestial phenomena. The Sumerians living in the lower reaches invented the lunar calendar, using the moon's waxing and waning as the standard for timing, and divided the year into 12 months with 354 days. They also invented the leap month and arranged the 11 days that differed from the solar calendar. Divide an hour into 60 minutes and use 7 days as a week. He is also able to solve the four arithmetic operations of fractions, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and solve quadratic equations of one variable, and invented the decimal and hexadecimal methods. They divided the circle into 360 degrees and knew that π was approximately 3. It can even calculate the area of ??irregular polygons and the volume of some cones.

In 4000 BC, the Sumerians were the first to invent ideographic and signifying hieroglyphs, because most of these writings were carved on bricks, stones or black basalt. On the clay tablets, "the strokes are heavy and the impressions are deep", which are in the shape of a sharp wedge and resemble a wooden wedge, so they are called cuneiform writing.

Hanging Gardens is one of the seven wonders of the world. Legend has it that this garden was built for the queen by the then king Nebuchadnezzar II. Because Babylon is located in a desert, the climate is hot. The queen's hometown is warm in spring and cool in summer, which is very comfortable. The queen became ill over time because she missed her hometown with its rolling hills and lush trees. In order not to make the queen sad, the king ordered the craftsmen to build a garden on the rockery. The garden is divided into three levels, equipped with waterways and planted with many exotic flowers and plants. From a distance, the garden looks like it is growing in the air, so it is called a hanging garden.

The subsequent Nile River Civilization and Indus River Civilization developed with the promotion of the Mesopotamia Civilization. The Greeks learned mathematics, physics, and philosophy from there; the Jews learned theology from there and spread it to the world; the Arabs learned architecture from there, and used it to educate the entire medieval barbaric Europe.

About 2000 BC, the Amorites established the Kingdom of Babylon with the city of Babylon as its capital. In 1792BC, Hammurabi ascended the throne, conquered the Sumerians and Akkadians, unified the Mesopotamian plains, and promulgated the "Code of Hammurabi", which was the first in the world It is a relatively complete written code, but it is not the earliest. The earliest one is called "Urnam Code". There are 282 articles in the Code of Hammurabi, which are engraved on a black basalt pillar 2.25 meters high.

In 689 BC, the Kingdom of Babylon was destroyed by Assyria. In 605BC, the Neo-Babylonian Kingdom destroyed Assyria. Later, the temple priest group came to power and was finally destroyed by Persia on the Iranian Plateau in 538 BC. The civilization of the ancient Mesopotamia came to an end as an independent whole.

The above introduces the ancient civilizations of the great river basins

The five ancient civilizations recognized in the world (arranged from largest to smallest)

Country/Starting Year of Civilization

Old Babylon: between 4000 BC and 2250 BC

Ancient Egypt: 3500 BC ~ 2000 BC

Ancient Greece: 3000 BC Between BC and 1100 BC

Ancient India: 2000 BC

China: The Shang Dynasty was established in 1600 BC. The West currently recognizes that China has a history of 3,500 years (there is no evidence of the Xia Dynasty) , including Xia, it was founded in 2070 BC)

The four ancient civilizations are generally used to refer to the four regions where human civilization was first born, including ancient Babylon, ancient Egypt, China, and ancient India. However, due to the lack of accurate documentary records of ancient civilization, there is still debate in the academic community about its specific birth time. Much of the knowledge in philosophy, science, literature, art, etc. that humans possess today can be traced back to the contributions of these ancient civilizations.

The four major civilizations were all built near rivers and plateaus where survival was easy. In the Mesopotamia, the Nile River, the Yellow River, the Yangtze River Basin, the Indus River and the Ganges River Basin in the northern hemisphere, the world's four major civilizations have emerged.

The ancient civilizations of ancient countries successively entered the Bronze Age from the Neolithic Age to the Iron Age between 7,000 and 4,000 years ago. Most social systems adopted slavery, and state power was born later. Nome in ancient Egypt is the earliest known civilization in the world.

The four ancient civilizations all have their own myths and legends. They used myths to strengthen their authoritarian rule. The pharaoh of ancient Egypt claimed to be the "son of the sun god", Hammurabi, the ruler of ancient Babylon, claimed to be "the descendant of the moon god", and the Chinese monarch claimed to be the emperor.

The four major ancient civilizations all have their own calendars. Each year is divided into 12 months and has leap months. Each civilization created its own writing.

Civilizations in the Indus, Yellow and Mesopotamia river basins all used pottery wheels to make pottery. Egypt and Mesopotamia both calculated pi. Babylon and China both discovered the Pythagorean theorem, and India invented Arabic numerals.