I started over again with early prehistory, because there is a story, or set of stories, that are clamoring for me to write them, and involve beginning at the beginning. At present, I have reached the 30th century BC, and there are three strands to be woven together: Egyptian peoples, North African peoples, and Greek peoples. There are of course more than these, such as Mesopotamian, Anatolian, and Levantine peoples, but I haven’t worked them back to this period. I have identified Egyptian cities and Greek cities as centers of development, although this is probably not balanced, and agrarian society. There are connections to pagan religion, various international governments, government activity, and structure, and economic systems. Although most of these don’t quite have enough detail to be woven together to make a story, there is progress.
Monthly Archives: February 2021
Crossing Over
At the 6th century BC, which I take as the last century of Antiquity, I am pausing to consider what will be developed for the Classical and Medieval period. First, I will begin taking Western Civilization as primary. It became more significant with the rise of Greek civilization and culture, and later on with Roman civilization and culture. In Asia, from this period on, Persian and Anatolian civilization and culture prevailed over Egyptian and Babylonian which prevailed through most of antiquity. I will also be looking more into India and China, and the peoples of Africa. The areas of social mechanics aren’t quite developed enough to pursue in depth, although they are getting closer. I had a vague notion that examination of religion would need to switch emphasis from pagan (particularly Asian pagan religion) to Asian religion: I now have a better idea of when and why to shift the emphasis. Local government and government activities and structure, economic systems and activity, and educational organization will also get more attention. Recreation and entertainment, and philosophy will also get more development in classical and medieval times.
Balance
In the examination of history, I find it important to maintain an appropriate balance among peoples of the world. During antiquity, the peoples of Asia were generally more developed than others, and in particular, those of the Middle East were most significant. At the period I am working on right now, the 11th century BC, Egypt and Mesopotamian peoples were the best developed, but Persian and Anatolian peoples were starting to become more significant. The peoples of India, China, and Central Asia and Southeast Asia were not as well developed, or not as well connected to other peoples of the world. European peoples were not as well developed, although Greek peoples were starting to appear.
Later on, in classical and medieval times, European peoples began to become more significant, and in modern times, European peoples have had an outsized influence on the rest of the world. Tracing how and why this came about is part of the story of humanity. This is not to say that other peoples were insignificant, but trying find an appropriate balance and discover the patterns of social development is not a trivial task. In earlier developments of my knowledge base, I was focused too heavily on the modern size of nations, which is certainly not a good guide when working in the more distant past.
From Antiquity
Most of my notes on antiquity are centered around Egypt, although in the current pass, I have managed to link to Mesopotamian peoples, (Babylon and Assyria). I am also working with Balkan peoples, specifically Greek peoples of Greece and Cyprus. Egyptian cities are being connected. I am also gradually expanding my links to areas of social mechanics. I have made some progress on religion and have linked pagan religions (in general) and Asiatic religion. Getting Abrahamic religion linked to antiquity is also a goal, national government and law.
I have also been working in modern history, and here, progress is more advanced. I am working on getting the industrial revolution linked, particularly the first or early industrial revolution, and on the next pass, will be doing more with the second (or middle) industrial revolution, which began in about the 1870s, and the computer (or late industrial ) revolution, which began in about the 1940s. I am linking Catholicism and have the popes identified to the mid 19th century, and am working on the history and major divisions of Protestantism. For government, I am linking colonial empires and about to start traditional empires and links to warfare. I am also making progress on elements of culture, and should soon start more links to mathematics. These are areas that I have been wanting to get to for sometimes, and it’s good to see that I am starting to make progress.