Do You Know These Ancient Cultures?

“Tragedy” originally meant “goat song,” and the earliest tragedies began in religious rituals where a goat might have been a prize or sacrifice. Aeschylus, who lived circa 525 to 456 BCE, developed the art form into literature. He wrote around 90 plays, with about half of those winning Greek drama competitions. Today, his surviving plays are still performed.

From 268 to 232 BCE, King Ashoka reigned over the Mauryan Empire, which stretched from modern-day Iran to present-day India. After a career of conquest, Ashoka renounced war, adopted Buddhism, and dedicated himself to spreading the religion. He called it “conquest by dharma,” a word that means “principles of right life.”

Hammurabi was king of the Babylonian dynasty in Mesopotamia, ruling from 1792 to 1750 BCE. The Hammurabi Code is a collection of 282 laws that many people lived under for centuries. Hammurabi had the laws carved into a large stone monument and placed prominently in a temple to the god Marduk. They covered economic, family, criminal, and civil law, and influenced legal codes for centuries.

An ancient Greek vase dating to around 500 BCE depicts a boy playing with a yo-yo, proving that this toy has been around for a surprisingly long time — at least 1,500 years. Unlike today's plastic yo-yos, though, the Greek version of the toy was made from wood or metal, and sometimes terracotta.

The Nazca culture existed around 200 BCE to 600 CE in modern-day Peru. They were known for etching huge line drawings into the Earth's surface. Generally the drawings were of plants and animals, but sometimes they were geometric patterns. Though the designs were created long before aviation, they are seen most clearly from the air. The etchings’ true purpose is still debated.

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Two of these — the Temple of Artemis and the Mausoleum — were located in present-day Turkey.

Who on Earth would want to sleep on a stone pillow? Turns out, ancient Egyptians did. Stone pillows (which were more like headrests) were often used for the deceased as a way of showing the sacredness of the head. But some living Egyptians also used stone pillows to keep their heads elevated away from insects and vermin while they rested.

The tradition of Halloween comes from Samhain, an ancient festival held on October 31 by ancient Celtic people in northern Europe. The Celts believed that the dead would return on Samhain, so they would gather to pay their respects through bonfires and sacrifices. They wore animal skins in an attempt to scare off phantoms, which led to mumming, the practice of dressing up in return for food — an early version of trick-or-treating.

Thousands of years ago, early humans living in what is now Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula honored turkeys as messengers from the gods. Scholars say the Maya believed turkeys were endowed with special powers above and beyond what humans could conceive. During Maya ceremonies at the beginning of a new year, turkeys were honored as religious symbols.

The Ishtar Gate, the main thoroughfare into the ancient city of Babylon (located in modern Iraq), was ubiquitous in its day, later landing it among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The magnificent arched entryway was an important part of King Nebuchadnezzar II’s plan to make the capital of his empire a center for the arts, culture, and scholarly pursuits in the 6th century BCE.

In 751 BCE, around 800 years after the Egyptians stopped building their pyramids, the Nubians built their first pyramid out of granite and sandstone. The ancient culture — which was located in modern-day Sudan — went on to build twice as many pyramids as the Egyptians. Many years later, from the 12th century to the 16th century CE, the Aztecs of Central America built flat-topped pyramids as temples.

Hippocrates was a doctor who lived in the fifth century BCE, but few details are known about his life. He lived on through a collection of manuscripts called the “Hippocratic Collection.” These contained medical principles that were condensed into the Hippocratic oath that doctors take when they graduate medical school. Though it’s a myth that the oath includes the line “First, do no harm,” that maxim matches the spirit of the text.

Hannibal was from Carthage, a civilization on the north African coast that fought the Punic Wars against Rome from 264 to 146 BCE. In 218 BCE, Hannibal shocked Rome by marching his forces across the Alps, and attacking his enemy from the north. The army included at least 37 elephants, which were used like tanks in ancient warfare. Experts still debate how he managed the feat.

The Sumerian people of ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) developed writing as early as 3400 BCE, when they made marks in clay tablets using cuneiform script. The world’s oldest known written tale is the "Epic of Gilgamesh," dating back to around 2100 BCE. The mythical poem follows the Sumerian king Gilgamesh through his hero’s journey. It is considered a foundational work of world literature.

Ancient Egyptians are famous for their mummies of people, but they also preserved cats, who were revered for their sacred characteristics. Cat mummies were either left at a temple for the cat goddess Bastet or buried with their owners so they could be together in the afterlife. Some other deceased cats were buried in animal cemeteries.

Stonehenge is a large circle of stone slabs found in Salisbury, England. It was built in six stages from 3000 to 1520 BCE. Because it was built by a pre-literate society, Stonehenge’s exact purpose isn’t recorded, but historians know that at one point, it served as a site for cremation ceremonies. They believe it also was a site for religious rituals, expressed local leaders’ power, and tracked the winter and summer solstices.

China was seven warring kingdoms until it was unified in 221 BCE by Zheng of the Qin Kingdom. He later became Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi and ruled until his death in 210 BCE. It was only in 1974 that archaeologists discovered his tomb, which contained an entire clay army of soldiers, each with their own rank, facial expression, and weapon. The city-sized mausoleum was designed to accompany him to the afterlife.

Pompeii was an ancient Roman town of around 20,000 people in today’s Campania region. In 79 CE, Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried the city in ash. Its remains were preserved but hidden, and not discovered until the 1700s. Today, the ruins stun people with views of a city frozen in time, and have taught archaeologists a lot about life in ancient Rome.

A huge amphitheater that still attracts millions of yearly tourists in Rome, the Colosseum was built between 70 and 72 CE under Emperor Vaspasian. Also called the Flavian Amphitheatre, the venue could hold more than 50,000 spectators, who gathered to watch gladiators fight in hand-to-hand combat against wild animals. The Colosseum was also used for animal hunts and mock naval battles.

Zeus is a prominent deity in Greek myth. He was regarded by the ancient Greeks as both the king of the gods and the god of the sky, responsible for thunder, lightning, rain, and all other weather-based phenomena. According to mythology, Zeus was the offspring of the gods Cronus and Rhea (the first generation of the Titans), as well as the brother of the gods Hades and Poseidon.

The Minoan culture on the Greek island of Crete was the first advanced civilization in Europe, reaching its peak during the Bronze Age. Named after the legendary ruler Minos (son of the god Zeus), this Aegean trading civilization thrived from around 3000 B.C.E. to 1100 B.C.E. The Minoan people traded throughout the Mediterranean, and built many cities and palaces on Crete with their wealth.