[Bulaba Khan Jones]

I don't understand this thread.

A racially insecure reaction to something equally stupid: "We wuz kangs!"

[Oxymandias]

@Bulaba Jones

Why does everyone and their mother want to be related to ancient Egyptians?

[Zagadka]

Some version of appeal to authority? Though it is weird, since Egypt only stands out in a few ways. Far more impressive empires elsewhere.

[Prosthetic Conscience]

Some version of appeal to authority? Though it is weird, since Egypt only stands out in a few ways. Far more impressive empires elsewhere.

Pyramids. Over 4000 years old, still standing, and huge. Rather than having to piece together archaeological evidence to work out how an empire functioned, what its reach was, and so on, you just look at those and say "wow. Fucking impressive".

[Zagadka]

Pyramids.

That is just about the one thing they have left, and while certainly impressive, there are other impressive feats elsewhere. Maybe pick one of the civilizations that engineered canals and terraces to increase farming capacity instead of the creation of tombs for the elite. Hell, anything in the Americas is more impressive because they had no pack animals. There are plenty of sites if SE Asia, or the Amazon... places that are equally now dead.

[JohnRawls]

That is just about the one thing they have left, and while certainly impressive, there are other impressive feats elsewhere. Maybe pick one of the civilizations that engineered canals and terraces to increase farming capacity instead of the creation of tombs for the elite. Hell, anything in the Americas is more impressive because they had no pack animals. There are plenty of sites if SE Asia, or the Amazon... places that are equally now dead.

Well, The Romans were the best builders of the ancient world by a mile. They didn't necessarily build impressive stuff(They did some) but mostly things that were necessary items like canals and aqueducts and bridges and roads and grain depots. Rome was built of the back of Mariuses mules.

They also did it to impress the local elites that they conquered and to make sure they stayed loyal to Rome. Is that a bad thing?

[Prosthetic Conscience]

Yeah, the Egyptians developed irrigation too. Roman engineering is impressive, but it's half the age of the pyramids. Mesopotamia is the only civilisation that can rival Egypt for age, and its history is more divided, and the archaeology more hidden.

[Suntzu]

Yeah, the Egyptians developed irrigation too. Roman engineering is impressive, but it's half the age of the pyramids. Mesopotamia is the only civilisation that can rival Egypt for age, and its history is more divided, and the archaeology more hidden.

Until the building of the Eiffel Tower, Kufu's pyramid was the tallest man made structure . . . for about 4,500 years.