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> ancient civilizations from 3K-5K BC considered _their own civilizations_ to be degraded forms of much earlier civilizations That is fascinating. Which civili

> ancient civilizations from 3K-5K BC considered _their own civilizations_ to be degraded forms of much earlier civilizations That is fascinating. Which civilizations were these, and where can I read about them? Did they think that because there were civilizational collapses earlier in human history?

snapdangle 8y ago
There is an ancient stone list of Sumerian rulers that extends into 'antediluvian' rulers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_King_List#Antediluvian_rulers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_King_List#Antediluvia... Egypt recorded similar. Dan Carlin references A.T. Olmstead in describing how the ancient world believed had eras of its own antiquities. It begins by referencing an event in 500 BCE but then proceeds to move further back in time. It's in the first King of Kings episode, with context starting at around 32:00 and the quote starting somewhere after 33:30. (Here's a direct link to the mp3: http://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/b/6/4/b64b6fbb6092322d/dchha56_Kings_of_Kings.mp3 http://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/b/6/4/b64b6fbb6092322d/dchha56_Kin...) Now, this same list says that these individual rulers lived for thousands of years. Obviously that is something of a red flag in terms of applying this list literally. To me, though, it raises a lot of questions. In conversation, however, it usually goes nowhere.
snapdangle 8y ago
The 3K-5K is extrapolated based on the time spans of the claimed length of these civilizations but I should clarify that most of the writing about how the ancient world viewed itself comes from after 2K and especially after 1K. The "biblical" (bad word for it, considering how ubiquitous it is as a legend world wide) flood fixtures prominently as a moment of civilizational collapse. The tricky part is how to interpret the multi-thousand year "reigns" of the "gods" that supposedly came before that.

snapdangle 8y ago

There is an ancient stone list of Sumerian rulers that extends into 'antediluvian' rulers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_King_List#Antediluvian_rulers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_King_List#Antediluvia... Egypt recorded similar. Dan Carlin references A.T. Olmstead in describing how the ancient world believed had eras of its own antiquities. It begins by referencing an event in 500 BCE but then proceeds to move further back in time. It's in the first King of Kings episode, with context starting at around 32:00 and the quote starting somewhere after 33:30. (Here's a direct link to the mp3: http://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/b/6/4/b64b6fbb6092322d/dchha56_Kings_of_Kings.mp3 http://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/b/6/4/b64b6fbb6092322d/dchha56_Kin...) Now, this same list says that these individual rulers lived for thousands of years. Obviously that is something of a red flag in terms of applying this list literally. To me, though, it raises a lot of questions. In conversation, however, it usually goes nowhere.

snapdangle 8y ago

The 3K-5K is extrapolated based on the time spans of the claimed length of these civilizations but I should clarify that most of the writing about how the ancient world viewed itself comes from after 2K and especially after 1K. The "biblical" (bad word for it, considering how ubiquitous it is as a legend world wide) flood fixtures prominently as a moment of civilizational collapse. The tricky part is how to interpret the multi-thousand year "reigns" of the "gods" that supposedly came before that.