3 ms·
The fact that documents from the building of the pyramids can still be dug out of the ground is MINDBLOWING. The vast, vast majority of ancient texts only survi
by dr_dshiv 5y ago
The fact that documents from the building of the pyramids can still be dug out of the ground is MINDBLOWING. The vast, vast majority of ancient texts only survive because people copied them for thousands of years.
It makes me think about how many texts might still remain but are lost when someone builds a road or apartment building. In India, for instance, where there are thousands of palm leaf manuscripts rotting in temple basements because there is essentially no funding or support for preservation.
- irrational 5y agoEgypt is special because of the incredibly dry desert conditions. How many other places are there like Egypt where a tremendous empire existed for thousands of years surrounded by an environment so dry that it could preserve papyrus for 4000+ years?
- xenadu02 5y agoThis also greatly contributed to the preservation of the Pyramids themselves. The great North African deserts come and go in extremely long cycles however. At some point a wet period will return and much of the preserved artifacts will be severely degraded or erased.
- dr_dshiv 5y ago3 tremendous empires, depending how you count. Egypt, Greece, Rome...
- irrational 5y agoGreece and Rome hardly count. They aren't surrounded by incredibly dry deserts where paper or papyrus would last for 4000 years. Would it even last a year in Italy or Greece? Doubtful.
- dr_dshiv 5y agoI mean both Greece and Rome operated Egypt as a major part of their overall empire. So Egypt was, for hundreds of years, not an Egyptian Empire