hey, talk ancient history here. Who was your favorite civilisation, what are some of your favorite events? Any problems you have with some of the more debatable matters?

been reading on the ottoman empire lately, not really ancient tho.

ive been more into mythology recently, read some of the eddas,iliad and odessy.

i have the aenid but cant really settle into it.

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Low Tech - who the fuck is Ultimate Warrior and where can I read more of his Hilarious posts?

Anyway favourite civilisation? hm......

Prolly the celtic druids?

The Illiad is cool, do you think Troy existed, or do you think Homer is pulling it out of his arse?
Norse mythology is one of my favorites, I just ordered a hardcopy of the Prose Edda for myself.
Speaking of Celts, their mythos is damn interesting also. I love the European Barbarians in general, especially the barbarian invasions in the late Roman empire.

He is a retired professional wrestler, formerly of the WWF. Wikipedia it.

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Deep Purple fans Oh damn they ain't civilised

I'd have to say probably ancient Rome, probably just for the orgies and Christian munching Lions amongst other things. I'd probably spend most of my time quoting Spartacus or Life of Brian
I'd also have to say Qin Shi Huang era China, probably just to see the terracotta army being built! That shit interests me.

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vote for the new 7 wonders of the world: http://www.new7wonders.com/

Tch, I'm with the ancient egyptians. Karl Sanders is with me too.

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i like the mythological stuff (especially homer)

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The archaeologists Schliemann, Korfmann and Blegen have already proved that Troy existed. Whether the Trojan war happened in the way it did, and exactly how much of a historical element there is in Homer's works is up for debate. I think all that Homer's works provide is a time-frame and accurate geography of the Trojan war, since the rest is pretty much mythical exaggeration.

Anyway, yes, ancient history is cool. Within the limits of civilisations that existed before middle Rome, I'd have to go for Greece. Tons of interesting stuff, and a lot of great source material to read, like Herodotus and Thucydides. Favourite events? Probably the Greco-Persian and Peloponnesian wars

Roman history is great too, though. I'm reading Tacitus now, and I'm loving his style.



So this isn't just a thread on ancient history? Or do you have a different definiton of ancient history than most do?

Since Norse mythology was mentioned, I'll go ahead and mention some more of my favourite time periods.

14th century Europe is fantastic. A lot of interesting stuff happening: 100 years war, wars between the Italian city-states, bubonic plague...definitely my favourite period of weapons and warfare study.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P39b7v1wzfg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68JsdHEfHXM

heres some ultimate warrior shoot interviews


on topic. the iliad, i believe, was a merging of many oral histories of troy. there are many sites that archeologist believe is troy, literally city stacked on top of city somewhere in western anatolia.


they dont really know which one was indeed the actual troy and from what time period.....or if it was even called troy. and most historians believe a series of wars in 1200 bc is where we have these legends

homer penned down his story 600 years after the fact and so, to him, it was already a legend.

the iliad is a national epic, not a religious document in the sense the bible is. it was a tool for teaching people to read moreso than anything.


the eddas is something i want to read more of, i read a bunch of mistranslated stuff by an author who wanted to conflate certain stories with some hi-brow philiosphy.

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Prehistorically speaking I'd like to know what my yard was like pre-glacial and a few thousand years after when there were people hunting here.

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my own country's history. we were the USA of 500 years ago.

That's not ancient history.

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You're telling me the US isn't part of... ancient history? *gulp*

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alot of you portagese descend from the pheonicians/carthaginians<who held ports in spain and portagul for centuries>, which explains the naval talents of your people throughout history up till the industrial revolution.

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Just play Age of Empires.

haven't played that in a whlie...good game! i've never played the newer ones though.

yeah it existed in some form



my favorite is nose mythology, the poems and tales of that time are shockingly easy to read (probably due to a less developed language? id have to study icelandic to understand why). ive read the odyessy and the aeneid, neither did it for me

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LOLOLOLO.

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hahhhaha

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Nose mythology's the best.

Since Troy can just be any city that existed around the appropriate time at the mouth of the Black Sea that was in some way involved in a war with the Greeks, which, being that it's in place to control vital sea traffic between the Caucasus and Greece, almost certainly would have happened, it's almost guaranteed that 'Troy' existed. It's somewhat less likely that the Achaeans united together to fight a war over a stolen wife, or that many or any of the various details are at all accurate. But there's a Tell where there should be, so good deal.

I'll take Thucydides over all comers. Only Tacitus and Herodotus come close, but Thucydides just rules beyond ruling.

THE MONGOLS

through the strength of few and without a base, they ravged all through pure wits and BRUTALITY. they were so sick. THEY would acutally sleep in the saddle! as some of their strategies, they would have three men to one horse, so they could scare the villagers into submission. They used fear, like terr'ists except no bombs and no religion, just conquest. They took over from china, all the way to russia, all the way to freakin hungary. they would have taken over the world, but the Great Khan is not invincible. He died at a stunning 87!! that is like being 130 yrs. old nowadays. They would have taken france and spain, but they felt without the Khan, there was no justification. There was only one Khan. They were his minions, constantly faithful. I promise, that would be a really good movie (with a non-hollywood director, and some unknown actors) I always get excited thinking about them. They ruled the civilized world of eurasia, and the western europeans were scared shitless of them and wouldn't have stood a chance

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Mayan Civilization.

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He's a retired pro wrestler and former WWE World Heavyweight Champion. He appears to be legimately batshit insane. In order to figure out his level of raw insanity, take another crazy, retired former WWE Champ in Randy "Macho Man" Savage and multiply him times Charles Manson. Take that sum and put it to the power of Tom Cruise and you're still not halfway there.

Google his name, he has a website up that will keep you laughing for weeks.

To get back on topic, the Sumerians kicked incomprehensible ass. You're all venereal warts for not knowing that.

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WWF World Champion bitch!

He is completely batshit insane. He legally changed his full name to "Warrior" so he would not run into legal trouble down the road like many wrestlers have had to endure with their "stage" names. Presently, he is a right wing political speaker at colleges/conventions.

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Haha, you Extension History GEEK Jono!

I think the Greeks were the brightest, with their mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy.

damn straight. im a descendent of that i think. The Mayans were the first to come up with the concept of the number zero i believe.

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I happen to dislike ancient greek civilizations... probably because im taking 2 university courses on them, and for the last month, all we've really learned is how much old men LOVED to assfuck/intercrural fuck little boys.

SOoooooooooooooooo, for my top ancient civilisation, the Visigoths, because they sacked rome numerous times, and thats badass. Plus, they have goth in their name, and thats so gr1m and kvlt.

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The vikings were fucking awesome. Hmm... does anybody know how to pronounce "Mjollnir" (Thor's hammer) That one really has me stumped

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Vikings are gay.

Something like Yol-neeer I am guessing.

Incidentally, I have my ancient history half-yearly examination tomorrow afternoon, Greco-Persian wars and Spartan society. Nice and easy start to my exams.

Lawl, I'm actually studying that now. I get tested on it in like a month.

Ahh they're all fascinating because there's so much we can only speculate on making these civilizations somewhat mysterious. I've been into the Mayans (especially the calendar) and the ancient Chinese lately.

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The Minnesota Vikings are incredibly gay.

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Heh, cool. After Greece, I have to do Pompeii/Herculaneum (personally dont find so interesting) and then Hannibal. The standard and difficulty of the work is so low, yet people were still writing what they saw on 300(the recent movie) in their essays.

No my friend, you're the homosexual one.. Your last three chromosomes read this...XYY.

rome was awesome

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Noone likes murderers, thieves, rapists or the navy. But roll them into one and call it a viking and everyone loves it.

Seems you know everything about Vikings.

Wasn't Austrilia a modern colony of murderers, thieves, rapists, and Royal Navy rejects? Didn't your past people work to become better?

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Well, two words:

Roma Victor

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Your point being? What does my nation with a past of rapists, killers, etc. have to do with me thinking vikings are fucking boring and gay?

Let me guess, once again you don't have one and are going to call me a cunt to make up for your lacking of comprehension skills?

I've been reading a lot of stuff from Zecharia Sitchin. Essentially it's all about Assyrian, Babylonian/Mesopotamian mythology. Supposed to be the earliest highly advanced civilization, predating Egyptians and the Greeks, and from which many many cultures like Judeo-christian and Islam have borrowed heavily from, not just in their studies in mathematics and advanced form of writing that evolved into our current alphabet, but also in mythology. Ie: The story of Noa's ark is thought to have derived from a babylonian story that explained the giant deluge that occurred thousands of years ago, as well as the Bible's explanation of how and in what order did plants come into being is also detailed EXACTLY like it appears in Sumerian texts. A lot of the mystery behind the Sumerian(formerly known as Akkadian) civilization is that in a lot of their texts such as deeds, marriages, and land sale/trade, etc. they always make reference or homage to the 12 gods, which are never expressly indicated if they were actually present and human-like or if it was just a figurative manner of speech(also the number 12 is of HUGE importance in all indoeuropean culture, eg: our calendar, 12 greek supreme gods, astronomy, etc.). Some of their texts imply that human life on earth was imported from elsewhere, which is interesting because the Sumerians were a HUGE leap, with rich culture, complex buildings, advanced science and medicine, which was a HUGE and unpredicted social evolutionary leap from all the previous human activity predating the Sumerians. There was never any gradual ascent into the level of civilization they had, they just emerged out of nowhere.

Sounds like a big mess? If you find it interesting I suggest you pick up Zecharia Sitchin's "The 12th Planet", followed by some of his other works, but the 12th planet will keep you entertained for a long time, I'm rereading it for like the 4th time now, so much info to digest.

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Far from it my Metaltab buddy!

How can you label a nearly unknown people as murderers, thieves, and rapists? Your heritage has more to do with murderers, thieves, and rapists than any others culture on Earth.

Is your past so boring? I'm sure it is full of lonely man love.

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Wow, that's a near replica of your last post which failed to pin anything to me or be relevant to my preference once more. You really are fucken stupid, and I think it's cute you think otherwise.

are you arguing that they're boring and gay or that they were murderers rapists and thieves?

Stop avoiding the issue. I will never understand why you don't use you fucking brain to defend yourself before you shit your mouth with insults. Maybe you're just to dumb to understand anything or your retarded.

What the fuck are you proving?

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Your stupidity.

[edit] - I'd just like to point out that in every single argument we have ever had, you have failed to raise a single valid point, and because you run your mouth without thinking things through, each argument always ends up with you raving on about how victorious in life you are and your totally awesome high paying job which I don't give a fuck about, while telling me how much of a punk I am. Beg to differ? So to cut to the chase [because I know once again you have no valid points and are an unskilled debater] I don't care about your job, I don't care about your wife, I know you know you a streetpunk when you see one, I don't care about your boring life with wife and kids, I'm 17 years old and I'm having fun [unlike you obviously considering you have a wife, a dog and two[?] kids yet spend hours on an internet forum. Go back to your family and job before you get owned on the internet again.

I also really don't care if you could kick my arse in real life either, which seems to be something else you pride yourself on, a marine kicking the arse of a 17 year old kid. That's brave.

Now shut the fuck up.

You posted,



and then



I just wanted some logical input from you about Vikings being gay. Seeing as Australia is the prison man love capital of the world that shared many of your stated qualities of what a Viking constitutes; you were the source of viking knowledge. Perhaps my opinion of Australia is wrong, just as your opinion of the US is wrong. I think if you had a brain that wasn't driven by your balls or self assumed righteous Aussie nature to just fucking argue you might be able to give a clear statement. Instead you just have to bring up old shit between us and avoid the issue. I dropped the old pricking at you so be a man leave the pass dead between us. Face the now, Infinity.

EDIT: Btw, I'm a US Sailor, not a US Marine, and I wouldn't ever beat you up unless protecting myself, yourself, or others. I'm sorry I ever implied I would just to hurt you. I was angry with you at the time.

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@ this fag-fest.

I don't like murderers. I don't like thieves. I don't like rapists. I don't like vikings. I don't like my ancestors. I don't like you. I like myself.

Can I make it any clearer for you? You speak Engly?

That is perfectly clear. I also like just myself. Can we agree to not like each other with respect? All ancestry and metal discussions included?

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That would require you not picking fights with me in threads like these, and me not razzing on you for pretending to be a guitar forum mod. Deal?

Deal, but I will participate and fairly disagree and agree with you in threads. I will flame and expect flame in classic MT fashion when said flamage is due and not consider such flaming personal. Does this work for you?

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OMG DIS IZ LIEK ACHILLEZ VSZUS LEONIDAZ. STOP ITZ.
Dont mess up my history thread.

No, because that's what I'm doing right now and it's not working. Why dont we block each other.

Why don't you put your cocks in each other and admit that you really love yourselves?

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You can block me if you like. I don't believe in blocking. I will remain conscientious to you in the future though. I realize how fast things can get out of control between us. If you don't block me than try not to take me to personal. I joke most of the time. I never meant any harm in the beginning you know. I'm just not sure how you read me sometimes.

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Mine might reach over there, but I'm really using the moment to return my MT experience back to normal. I can't have people taking my random insults serious.

Edit: Ironically the thread is called ancient history. I hope the random Nazi mod will see humor in this.

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You guys are going to get banned, and my thread locked. I am the Delphic oracle, I know these things.

Brainsforbreakfast, what exactly is that Roma Victor thing?

You are also a history geek who got pwned in Geography but blamed it on others.

What the fuck...you guys kissed and made up on MT without the help of us? What a bunch of pussies.


My dad's new wife is Scandinavian and I couldn't care any less. I'm more into music of the Antiquity when it comes to ancient history.

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Roma Victor is a video game.

Everything we know about Vikings tells us that they attacked unsuspecting and undefended villages, laid them to waste, killed the men, raped the women, and left with everything they could carry. Sounds like murderers, rapists, and thieves to me. Throw in the fact that they went around on boats and you've got the navy as well. And they're not exactly an undocumented people; we know quite a bit about them. What a gay argument.

However, Infinity, you could have kept this a lot shorter and less gay by actually backing up your claim when Soul disagreed with you instead of taking it as a personal assault and then making it a personal argument.

Soz.

When writing it as Mjolnir/Mjollnir:
Myolneer
Yolneer
Myolnir
Yolnir

When writing it as Mjølnir/Mjøllnir/Mjölnir/Mjöllnir:
Myuhlneer (the uh like in turd)
Yuhlneer
Myuhlnir
Yuhlnir

It differs from country to country in Scandinavia if and what accent is used on the o.
Vikings are the greatest civilisation in my opinion.

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Yeah exactly, we have Neanderthal Man for hundreds of thousands of years, and overnight, an incredibly advanced and sophisticated civilisation was born in Ancient Sumeria circa 3600 B.C (thereabouts anyways). How did this happen? The theory that modern homosapiens were genetically engineered by beings of another planet is fucking wild, but intriguing.

My uncle introduced Sitchins work to me and my Dad, he's pretty fanatic about it. I'm really digging it. So is my old man. He even bought the next book in the series.

Ancient Sumerian Civilisation gets my vote.

Yes, please shush.

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Yeah when god made chicks from dudes ribs... I mean shit... what a legacy!

:tantrum

Im a huge fan of the odyssey but My favorite civ. was the ancient Egyptians.

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