Poll: Which is your favorite ancient civilization?

I had to go with Egypt - because it was the first ancient civ that ever really interested me. If I'd tried to pick a current fav, I never would've been able to.

shouldn't it be Egyptian and Chinese?

And this just reminds me of Sid Meier's Civilization.

yeah, Sumer! go Ur go!

whohoo, I"m a boy of the Sumer.

Did anyone else take rooting interests in ancient civs? To me the Sumerians and their heirs in Mesopotamia were the good guys. Any conflict with Egypt I knew whose side I was on.

The Minoans would have been my second choice.

religious and scientific. research, culture and happiness all at half price, and no anarchy.

(but egypt is a close second. industrious workers are rather helpful for production)

Yeah, I've done well with most religious civs but Babylon has been a fave since Play the World...So glad someone else in on my wave length...Now I must go build the Great Library...

... of course.

Though Maya (Mayan really isn't quite cromulent) and Minoan are pretty damned close.

of course, they are supposed to have come out of mesopotamia. but we're more ancient than romans :P

second, i'd say chinese. they're just plain cool, & have been for millenia.

although, without assyria, there'd be no catch-22 :D

so many choices!! I was obsessed with Egypt when I was younger because of the movie Stargate. However Mesopotamia and Persia and Indus river also rock.

I picked the Minoans though! Yay nonviolence. :)

I've had the best luck with the Koreans and the Egyptians, personally...

I've always done well with the Mongols, but they're not truly ancient.

How dare you make me choose? Oh god, how I love ancient civilizations...

How come there's no love for the mysterious Phoenicians?

Also, I'll put my knowledge of ancient Egypt up against pretty much anybody, barring PhD holders in the area. Not having friends as a child means that you amass large quantities of information.

Yeah but I lived in ancient egypt for a while.

yeah, but you lived in a hollowed-out rock and kept trying to send imhotep fan mail. or was it fan papyrii?

He gave every fan a personalized response. I lived in Thebes and I know he was partial to us, When I saw him live he said, "Thebes audiences are the best!"

I'm givin' my love to the Nabateans. Ever been to Petra? It kicks ancient butt.

dude, is that a cat on your icon thing?

Meow.

ok..mabey i just watch too much Inu Yasha...but i really got a thing for ancient Japan....

I've got a thing for recent japan. :P but not inu yasha. now, ranma 1/2 or anpanman, i'm there.

I couldn't make up my mind, so I had Jeremy pick a number from 1-10, and he picked 9, so I went with the Mayans. I believe they are the only american early civ listed.

Yeah, I like the Maya and the Aztecs. And the Anasazi, although again they're not truly "ancient".

For more ancient, give me the Celts and the Minoans.

why no Atlantis option?

and Lemuria?

hummph. so blindly prejudiced in favor of actual archaeological evidence ...

:D

Yeah! Hello, what about Waka Waka? Good grief.

There is always an appeal to people and places that didn't have to go through the wear and tear of actually existing.

That's why I'm the king of the halfrumpozeron.

>> That's why I'm the king of the halfrumpozeron.

ummm, I haven't met you in person, but I always thought you were a girl

yeah, and so?

The King of the Amazons was a woman, too.

:)

but "king" is defined as: a male sovereign.

She isn't, therefore, she isn't.

well, maybe in English it is, but clearly to the amazons it wasn't. and perhaps it's not to the halfrumpozeron either. i don't know enough about their culture to be certain, but I'm sure as their King Leah would know. :D

Also, perhaps as an honorific form of address for a person of high rank it's much like "Sir" in Starfleet and other (real) military applications.

What is your source for calling the Amazon Monarch a King? I have always heard Queen Hypolita.

huh. my source is novelist Mary Renault, who was known for doing a copious amount of research into her ancient subjects. In The Bull From The Sea, an account of the Theseus myth, she specifies that not only Hippolyta but her predecessors (and successor, who destroyed Hippolyta for a traitor because she left the Amazons for Theseus) were known as Kings.

There are also assorted google references, although in order to check them you'll have to wade through a lot of nonsense that is sci-fi/fantasy (or male-fantasy) or RPG-based and has little to do with the "real" Amazons. (Lots of them cite female warrior tribes with a male king as the "Amazons", which is just idiotic.) Others talk about the river and Inka kings, or a tribe in Dahomey that supposedly had a female King, and one references Midsummer Night's Dream. But this interview with David Carradine also invokes the Theseus story with Hippolyta as King.

and then there's the Xenaverse. :)