Which of the Ancient Cultures were the most Brilliant?
Someone asked a group I was with, just in general discussions, which of the ancient cultures may have contributed the most, to advancements in science, medicine and technology in general? Or as many would agree I am sure it was a 'team effort' since every culture, race etc has brilliant minds at work advancing all of the sciences.
Which then, would stand out the most, the Mayans, the Chinese, Persians? So many others to examine the list would be too long.
What say those here in USMB?
The Hellenic Culture. Once Greek Hellenic civilization was conquered by Rome, that civilization became an amalgam; a Greek/Roman civilization. Rome outdid all earlier art in public architecture in both originality and profundity with their invention of concrete including hydraulic concrete cured under water for building their harbors. They scattered their architectural art including aquaducts, indoor plumbing, baths, and highways across more than three thousand miles of empire; from the Persian Gulf to Scotland in the British Isles. In the process they adapted and spread Greek science.
They also spread their ideas of government, the federal system through out their empire, with each city self governed with minimum interference, and relatively low taxation. In the process they gave the Mediterranean world including Briton their ideals of representative Roman republican government with its “rule of law” and amendable constitution. Their laws included the Law of Contracts, the Law of Persons, the Law of Property, the law of Procedure, and the Law of Nations.
To manage the contracting of public contracts and projects, the Roman government demanded the creation of “corporations,” made up of associations of citizens, so as to have a survivable system of control and responsibility; something an individual could not provide alone. If you thought of "letters of credit" as a form of checks, the Romans had banking and checking services for wealthy citizens, including freedmen.
Not being great scientific innovators, the Romans scattered Hellenic science throughout the Roman Empire, sent their children to Greece for an education and eventually became those they conquered, the “Greeks.” Roman civilization equaled Hellenic civilization equaled Greek civilization.
For an example of the work of Greek Astronomers, although they might better be called mathematicians and philosophers, the Greeks measured the diameter and circumference of the earth, and the distance between the Earth and the moon within an acceptable margin of error: 23,300 miles compared to 24,900 miles for Earth’s circumference, and about 240,000 miles for the Earth/moon distance which varies from about 225,000 to 250,000. The distance between the Earth and the sun was determined to be about half the correct value 92 million miles. But doing the calculations led
Aristarchus to realize the size of the sun, leading him to suggest that the sun rather than the earth, must be at the center of the universe.
