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0 pointsbadrabbit3y ago0 comments

> perhaps even from civilizations far larger, have simply disappeared, like the Egyptian materials for over a thousand years.

What you're missing is a history of conquest. Greece and Rome had a very intertwined cultural exchange. It wasn't just alexander that conquered land all over (all the way to india) and I am sure you know of how rome invaded it's way to the point they needed two emperors.

Civilizationd in america invaded each other but not the rest if the world. Same with Africa (outside of Egypt and few minor regionally invading countries). Even in asia, chinese never invaded india. Now Genghis obviously did more invading than alexander so I'd be interested in how much culture and history he spread but I think Rome is what made a difference in the western part of the old world. They built roads and encouraged people from different parts of the empire to travel and trade. Genghis had a habit of killing everyone that resisted but the romans kept them alive as slaves.

American culture and literature for example, I am sure will last many centtiries in other cultures.

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DiscourseFan3y ago

>American culture and literature for example, I am sure will last many centuries in other cultures.

Who can say?

You're right that Greece and Rome had very intertwined cultural exchange, but that was only after Greece had been conquered; again, that doesn't explain why Platonic philosophy was so influential outside of Greece and Rome.

And yes, the American civilizations didn't invade people from other parts of the world, but to them they did, because their immediate area was the world, and I'm sure if the Mayan civilization never collapsed they would be a colonizing force not unlike the Europeans. Appropriating land and labor for use in capital exploitation is not a distinctly European phenomenon.

badrabbitOP3y ago

> I'm sure if the Mayan civilization never collapsed they would be a colonizing force not unlike the Europeans. Appropriating land and labor for use in capital exploitation is not a distinctly European phenomenon.

I fully agree with that and even commented as much recently. My point was not "invading bad" but the types of invasions that happened in Europe historically and subsequent developments and technology sharing laid the ground work for an efficient cultural exchange. There was a well functioning regional economy in mediterrenean rim countries for many centuries. It would be even more shocking if greek and roman authors were unknown to the rest of the regions they traded with.

A good comparison is east asia. Chinese cultural influence and literature from antiquity and before can still be seen in korea, japan, vietnam,etc... before the 20th century the works of pluto or aristotle I'm sure were mostly unknown in asia (even in colonies)and africa. Even in the americas, it is either colonizers who brought that cultural literature or natives that had to be exposed to the material against their will.

The prevalnce of cultural artifacts like literature is caused by military victory and conquest.

In modern timed for example, certain tv shows or movies from the US are universally (almost) known.

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