Inventions we owe to the ancients
We tend to think of the term “invention” as a relatively modern time word used for gadgets made out of plastic, wires, and moveable parts. What we fail to recognize at times is that the ancient civilizations really (and quite literally) paved the road for us today. Without their basic discoveries of materials and methods to manipulate them, we wouldn’t have any of the devices today, let alone this computer I’m currently typing this on. Even the word program is meant to emulate the traditional method of writing on paper, which brings us to our first invention.
Paper
Paper is something so common, that we tend to take it for granted. With the discovery of papyrus sheets being dried and flattened by the Egyptians nearly 4,000 years ago, we were able to finally store texts and records in a sensible manner. Before then, carving into stone tablets were the norm (Think Flintstones), where it was incredibly heavy, difficult to store and stack, and just took forever to carve! Paper streamlined writing and made scribes able to preserve documents. To this day, some are still legible!
Eye Makeup
Makeup isn’t just a billion dollar a year industry pushed by the influencers on Instagram. It’s beginnings are humble in trying to change or improve one’s natural looks, yet again in ancient Egypt. Apparently vanity is a human desire that long predates the Roman Empire. They would use Kohl, a charcoalish material to line the eyes. Today we call this eyeliner. They mostly came in shades of black or greyish, however, they were known to have some shades of green! Not just for looks, but they genuinely believed that this would ward evil eye spirits from entering them.
Democratic Government
We tend to think, again, that because we’re the most modern times up until this point, that we discovered everything within the past couple hundred years. Truth is that Democracy has been around since 507B.C., originating in ancient Athens, Greece. The ruler, Cleisthenes, set up three groups of the government. One who wrote the laws and dictated foreign policy, another for representatives for the many tribes, and the third for ruling the court system. Today, we live in American democracy which holds the same concept with our three branches of government. It became so popular that it’s influenced the way we have ruled over countries ever since.
The Marathon
Oh, the Greeks, philosophers, scholars, and marathon runners? As the story goes, a Greek soldier was sent from Marathon to Athens to deliver a message of the Athenian victory over the Persians, yelling “Nike!” then promptly falling dead. The run was completed in just over a day and consisted of 26 miles. During the first Olympic games, this 26 mile run has become known as the marathon run and is still popularized today.
Concrete
Romans invented concrete over 2,100 years ago. During the architectural frenzy during Augustus’ reign, they needed a material that was STRONG and would last. Mixing limestone with volcanic ash to form a mortar was placed into small bricks. These made buildings, roads, and aqueducts. Astonishingly long lasting, structures STILL STAND today. WOW.
This has been fascinating looking up just the VOLUME of materials that I never knew were invented so long ago. You start to wonder if you’d even make it if you had to repopulate the earth. Guess we’re leaning around a pitiful fire and huts for the next 100 years!