Ancient Egypt Rocks

[Tarryk]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... _uncovered

Good stuff. I love ancient Egypt. The thought of dynasties rising and falling for literally 3 thousand years-plus and all the strange evolution that must have taken place, it's mind-boggling. Especially taking into consideration that modern society as we know it has only existed for what, 100 years at best?

The greatness of Abraham Lincoln, for example, is regarded to many americans as a history lesson, and his actions to truly liberate north america are not even 150 years old yet. The first gas-powered consumer vehicle was on the road only just over 100 years ago. Microsoft Windows was first released in 1985. Hello, that's only 20 years ago! And it's birth-parent MS-DOS started only 4 years before that! That's like a fraction of a second ago, on the grand scale of human history, and we're already used to these things as though they're a natural part of that history.

What I'm trying to say is: We're still in the post-birth spank-on-the-bottom phase of this modern era that we're so used to. We haven't even touched on it's surface yet, historically speaking.

Why I'm saying it: The course of the ancient egyptian dynasties lasted for THREE MILLENIA, and possibly even much longer. That's 3,000 years. Three freakin' thousand. It takes us 5 to 10 years to make a complete change in the average lower-middle-class lifestyle (see: Microwave oven, Television, Computers, etc).

They went through dynasties and cultures slow and (sometimes) steady, living through daily lives that we wouldn't just view as exotic, they would seem shockingly different. And I'm not just talking about roughin' it in the desert, here.

The above article mentions also that they're finishing up a CT scan on King Tut's mummy to be published next week.

A great guide to the history of Ancient Egypt: http://www.eyelid.co.uk/index.htm

[Cantara]

I just started reading up on ancient egyptian mythology again recently, it was something I used to be absolutely fascinated with. I ended up naming my alt in game after some old deity, and then earlier on I found a page with how to spell her name in hieroglyphics. (This link, and then click 'Anuket')

http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology ... icles.html

Absolutely amazing piece of history. What I find particularly interesting is the amount of skills and technologies that have just been lost since the end of their civilisation. Apparently, you cannot wedge a pen knife between the stones in the pyramids at Giza. This is masonary thats thousands of years old. People have tried to mimic the process but they can't achieve anything close to the precision and workmanship the egyptians did unless they use modern tools.

Thats just one field - the egyptians were into everything. Astronomy, irrigation, carpentry, metal working, commerce, even the first contraceptive, the list goes on.

Agreed and seconded, Tarryk. Ancient Egypt does indeed rock

Edit: As for Tutankhamun getting a CAT scan, I think its a bit late for them to do much for him tbh.

[Tarryk]

I'm a huge fan of egyptian hieroglyphics, especially because in all their time they never really developed a "short-hand" for it If the glyph was a picture of a bird, it had to be that picture of the bird from then on, and always was through the millenia. It's like they chose to make their written language the biggest pain in the ass for all those who would attempt to write it. --it's far and away the most eye-pleasing written language, though. Second up would be chinese in my opinion, which would be the winner if it didn't give me a headache.

As for young Mr. Tut, I'm wondering what exactly they're trying to find with the scan. Scientists already know all the processes of mummification, and I doubt they're recording his dental record or looking for loose change.

It is totally amazing though, how much the egyptians knew in their time. As you said, they had their fingers into everything. The lack of sufficient book-keeping and their relative isolation kept a lot of the knowledge they had from being spread out through the world, otherwise the history of science and knowledge on planet Earth would very likely be a LOT different (i.e. if humanity had begun the quest for knowledge right where the egyptians left off at the fall of the last ancient dynasty, we would probably have the moon and Mars both fully colonized by now).

[Boinky]

Well I got that news about Tut from the Daily Show (a reputable source, no? ) and I thought they said they were Cat-ing him to investigate the cause of his death (like did somebody kill him maybe)

And as far as ancient Egypt and the dynasties & 3000 year essential run of a civilization without major change, I don't think that can really happen anymore. As you point out things that happened just 20 or even 100 years ago can seem ancient to us now. We are in the technological age of wonder. There are probably more active scientists at work today than people in Egypt back then (ok far flung guess) so we see new advances all the time. It's quite different than a time when the technology you'd be looking to improve on was things like the lever, the wheel, and papyrus.

[Cantara]

Hey, I'd agree with that Boinky, but I think the most important difference (or the most important part of the technology) that you are talking about would have to be communication.

I mean communication in the literal sense and the geographical sense. Back when Mr. Tut was healthy enough not to keep going for all these cat scans it took time for news and ideas to travel, and it took time for people to travel. Now we have a society where people can ping ideas to eachother in different continents in minutes. Where would our celebrities, and historical figures be if it weren't for the mentions of them in the media in our lifetimes? How much would any of us know about ancient egypt? (I can trace back my interest to a documentary about Carter on television when I was a kid)

This communication makes a real big difference on the way we are all educated too. It means that we are educated, as a whole literacy is much higher than it used to be.
Is it feasible that someone 100 years ago could pass (for arguments sake) a university degree based on todays criterea in the same amount of time that people do now? No. Not because people are smarter now, but because we have access to so many times more sources of information now.

It feels more like our civilisation is growing old at a much faster rate.

[Coltess]

Guys! Come on.... The got it all from the Goa'uld! You really need to watch more SciFi channel

[Tarryk]

Yeah, but Apophis is dead, y0. And Baal can bite me.

(I do love that show, but I want Jonas back, he was cool)

[epiphonic]

well, extroverted research and developement of the human race (yeah, space colinization) has been delayed yet ANOTHER 4 years, making it 8 more years of fighting for petroleum, which shows you that ONE thing hasnt changed TOO much in the last hundred years... oil!!! Even longer than that eh? Sure, its form and variety of refinements grew as did its consumption, but we're still stuck on earth with a carbon monoxide hangover and a selfish destruction of the environment merely to maintain our need for more space between houses and MORE FRIGGIN PAPER...

Im trying to keep a cool head.
Omg HOW DOES THIS have ANYTHING to do with egyptians??!?!

The human race has been on an exponential acceleration curve, but this is one hump that is taking too long. I feel like bush just stole 8 years of my life, just for his daddy's birthday present. (gee what would that be>? Hey dad!! I beat up Sadam!!)

Im not EVEN gonna get into social security...

I think im right in saying that the time involved with human developement gets cut in half each period, accelerating the process like a flying bus gets up to speed(plane) ...
but im wondering, why havent we caught air yet? Have we? Anyone checked to see if the wheels have left the ground?
Seriously, who's with me when I say "Damnit, do I have to get outside and PUSH?"

Its really weird, even though the egyptians lingered in limbo (somewhat) for 3000 years, I dont think it was from being short-sighted, for THEIR time at least.

[Tarryk]

No, the egyptians lingered for the same reason spoken of in this thread, which was a nail on the head I think: Communication. The only knowledge the egyptians had was the knowledge they provided for themselves (and from the goa'uld haha).

We have the internet. Huge difference in evolution when you bring something like that into play. We can go through an entire evolutionary era in 20 years for what would have taken the egyptians a thousand years to complete.

As far as oil, yes, it's holding us back. But even with that in consideration, I'd like to think we'll eventually get there. And if we had started where the egyptians had left off (instead of 3000 years later), we would definitely already be there.

[epiphonic]

yup.
and its too bad bush has to have other people browse the net FOR him, gawd.
that is one helluva disconnected motherf00ker

[Draynam]

I don't think we're going to last long enough to achieve cultural enlightenment.

What kind of musical instruments did the ancient Egyptians play? Were there lutes?

[Tacz]

But the Egyptians had many dynasties. If you consider every individual country with "modern society" a dynasty (not just the U.S.), and if you take into effect the rapid rate of scientific acceleration, we could very well reach "enlightenment."

[Highlander]

Egypt is very very very fascinating. all that time it has existed with all the changes and advancements is great.

Zahi Hawass (that archaeologist mentioned in article) has the greatest accent in the world (if uve ever watched a documentary with him in it about egypt, and he's been in a hell of alot) its freaken great! and he's a really smart guy too

[Boinky]

But the Egyptians had many dynasties. If you consider every individual country with "modern society" a dynasty (not just the U.S.), and if you take into effect the rapid rate of scientific acceleration, we could very well reach "enlightenment."

But you can't look at it that way. That implies every country is progressing through some kind of cultural evolution independent of the others, and after 10 years we get to add everything up and advance the human race. But instead we are all progressing through the same miasma of a culture. It's fairly fractured I'll give ya, but the earth is for the most part stuck with itself now. If we think the Dutch just don't have what it takes to help humanity advance we don't get to vote them off the island yet.