I was wondering why there are so few topics in the history section. It is a great place to have some nice conversations without having to deal with political statements or party politics.

So I decided to ask two questions, that are simple to answer, although I would like to see some good arguments :


1.) Which nation, people or period did contribute most to the Western world as we know it today?


2.) If you had a timemachine, which period would you like to visit and why?

To answer both questions myself:

1.) I believe the Greek civilization during the fifth century BC has contributed most
to the way we think and life today. The philosofies of great men like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle still have a great effect on the way we think today. Architecture and construction of those days are still remarkable today and have influenced people from different periods. Let us not forget that the Athenian democracy was the first in history. Everybody knows Pythagoras (A² + B² = C²). And wait... what about Herodotus and Thucydides: the first historians known to mankind. I could go on and on and on and on...

2.) I would like to visit Rome during the reign of the Julio-Claudio dynasty (Augustus, Tiberius, Gaius (Caligula), Claudius and Nero, the first century AD). See the spendour of their city (1.000.000 people living there in that time!!!), visit the Senate and the forum Romanum. These were the heighdays of the most powerful empire ever in Europe.

1.) Which nation, people or period did contribute most to the Western world as we know it today?

Obviously this is Denmark. We practically created Europe single handedly by pawning off our royals into every major European royal family thus creating all the states that we know today. We invented all the important inventions and discovered most of the important discoveries.




2.) If you had a timemachine, which period would you like to visit and why?

I presume we can only go backwards?

I would go back and visit Beethoven in his final days and thank him for composing the Nineth symphony. I'd have to do this in writing of course since he was deaf at the time and I don't speak German anyway. So I'd hand him a letter in German, conveying my thanks and adoration, and safe in the knowledge that he is soon to die, I would tell him that people will continue to listen to his music for hundreds of years to come and show him concerts on a lap top DVD to prove what I said.
Finally I would bow (for that is how one conveyed great respect in those days) and depart.

in my opinion, it has to be Renaissance Italy, specifically the citizens of Florence, that contributed the most to the western world that we now know. The incredibly wealthy and powerful Medici family sponsored and financed countless innovations and accomplishments, which went on to inspire the entire world. there were profound innovations that were widely copied, in art, music, medicine, politics, technology, architecture, etc. Gosh, just thinking about 15th and 16th century Florence, off the top of my head, there is:

Brunelleschi, who invented perspective in art. jeezus, it's huge!

Brunelleschi also revolutionized architecture with his dome on the Duomo, which was, and still is, an architectural masterpiece, admired throughout the world.

the Medici family commissioned works by DuFay, one of "early" music's great champions of polyphony and counterpoint.

the beginnings of modern banking arguably has its beginnings with the Medici family.

today's concept of capitalist economies more or less began in Renaissance Italy.

Machiavelli, the father of modern political thought.

Michelangelo. da Vinci. Dante. etc.

I am likely leaving out many many more.




if I had a time machine, and the time machine could be impervious to atmosphere and physical attack, or hover above the ground, and be equipped with telescopic viewing apparati ... I would want to visit the Cretaceous Period, and see a T-Rex, and all the other familiar dinosaurs, and check out the plant life and such.

1.) Which nation, people or period did contribute most to the Western world as we know it today?
I agree, it had to be classical Greece. These guys invented rationalism and logic. Aristotle's syllogism provides the foundation for all modern technology. Greek political ideas form the foundation for the American Constitution. Greek sculpture was the first to concentrate on the human condition rather than royalty-worship. And of course, they invented philosophy and gave us literature.


2.) If you had a timemachine, which period would you like to visit and why?

I'd go to Basle in early 1536 to visit my mentor, Erasmus, and tell him that his work really did bear the fruit that he had hoped for, it just took longer than he thought it would; that the dark times he was seeing were only temporary; that his writings had become so deeply embedded in Western thought that few moderns even knew his name, but invoked his work constantly. I'd like to ask him what he was up to in Italy during the "28 month gap" in his letters; about his wilder days in Paris; and what he thought of the Florentines.

The Romans. They created and massed the first paid army of the world and gave Western culture a model by which to base future war machines. They pioneered glass-making and built extensive aqueduct systems that effectively brought water to all her people. Provided the world with a basis for modern-day sports by building ampa theaters and organizing Gladiatorial games. Of course the Romans also gave us a very important substance known as concrete.

Of course they massive system of roads allowed spread of information... kind of like an off-shoot to the internet, eh?




The Celtics or the Druids... such rich history and religious ties. I'd love to see everyday life of such beautiful cultures.

1.) Which nation, people or period did contribute most to the Western world as we know it today?

Absolutely Ancient Greece and then Ancient Rome after that were the beginning causes of many part of Western Culture. Erasmussimo summed it up well. Philosophy, Government, Architecture, Literature, exc... All part of a civilized culture for the first time in history.

While Classical Times and the Renaissance were obviously huge moments in Western History...i think it would be foolish to disregard the Age of Information that we are currently experiencing. While it may be conceited to call the creation of the United States a huge achievement to Western Culture...i think it would be foolish to ignore the massive advances that have occurred in only the past 200 years or so. The currentratee of innovation is probably above and beyond any period in history. It's something we should all be proud to be a part of.

2.) If you had a timemachine, which period would you like to visit and why?

I love this question because there are so many fascinating cultures and periods i would have liked to experience. First, I would like to know if the City of Atlantic actually existed and if it was the paradise described in Homer's writings. That would be some site. Other than that, Ancient Greece would be a great time period to be a part of. Other than the constant wars between factions, it was the first glimpse of a civilized society.

Obviously the Renaissance and the Enlightenment are great periods of history. Times of exciting new ideas and increased knowledge of the world.

Colonial times here in the US would be VERY interesting. Seeing our founding fathers debate and argue for or against independence. Seeing the revolutionary fervor throughout the population. People willing to fight for their freedoms...very inspiring.

Two periods that are unique and have always had an interest in is...First, Native Americans before/during colonization of North America. My favorite tribe is the Iroquois of the Northeast. Their architecture and culture are a favorite of mine

And secondly, i think it would have been great to be a Frontiersman pushing West through uncharted territory. It was a young nation yearning to expand and reach the great Pacific Ocean.

As you can tell, history is something very dear to my heart. Its always amazing to learn how the more things change the more they stay the same.

1.) Which nation, people or period did contribute most to the Western world as we know it today?

I have to agree that classical Greece made the biggest contribution to the western world in areas of democracy and governance, medicine, scholarship, mathematics, philosophy, architecture and art. A close second would be the Italian Renaissance, who took art and architecture to the next level.

2.) If you had a timemachine, which period would you like to visit and why?

The Italian Renaissance. I would love to meet Michelangelo…and possibly grovel at his feet to be his assistant and see and learn from his genius. I’d also love to meet with all the other brilliant artists of the time; Botticelli, Giotto, Donatello, Brunelleschi, Da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, and of course, the patron of many of them, the Medicis.

My second choice would be France in the late 19th century, to meet the brilliant, tormented Vincent Van Gogh and all the other Impressionists. I’d love to meet and argue with the philosophers of the day, Moliere, Voltaire and the rest. I’d want to live in an unheated, sparsely furnished garret living on bread and wine and painting.

There are so many fascinating periods of history, I’d be hard pressed to only choose one.

1.) Which nation, people or period did contribute most to the Western world as we know it today?

The Roman Republic and the Roman empire.

Almost every modern society is modelled around the Roman concept. In fact, most modern societies are direct descendants of Roman provinces.

Rome brought civilization to the barbarians of Europe.

Roman architecture (which improved upon Greek architecture) is still very influential today.

Roman science (which again, built upon the Greek), especially sanitation, allowed for the large cities that we have today.

Finally, Roman government was a direct precursor of what we have today. The Roman Senate seems oddly familiar...

In short, Rome was the basis of all Western culture.

2.) If you had a timemachine, which period would you like to visit and why?

The American Revolution. It would be interesting to get first hand accounts of what really started the Revolution, what motivated the participants, and to meet all of the great minds that founded this country.

1. This is a very difficult question to answer. Others have already stressed the vast importance of the Classical world, and I certainly can't dispute that. I might go back a little further in time to point out the most important revolution in human history; the creation of agriculture. The shift from hunting and gathering to herding and farming was an immense change in human society, larger than any other, I think. It allowed for the creation of civilization itself.

2. Like moif, I really want to go forward, probably a century or so. (If I went much further, I might not be able to understand anything at all.) Maybe I'd find some kind of disaster in 2137, but I'm a long-term optimist, and I think I would find a world improved in some ways from our own.

If I have to go backwards, to only one time and place, and I were completely protected from the diseases and other dangers of the past, and I had a perfect translating device with me, I suppose I would like to go back to the city of Alexandria, when its great library was at its peak. I would like to walk its halls with Hypatia, the first great female mathematician known to history, before both of them were martyred by the forces of irrationality.

I think you're absolutely right.

I'm not sure what we think of as quintesentially "Western" culture but it seems to me it's major components were in place well before the Greeks or Romans.

My nod would go the the people of the Fertile Crescent, the Babylonians, Assyrians and the like.


Centrlized government, walled cities, public works, town squares, marketplaces, etc.

All filtered into Europe from the Middle East and Turkey.

Three cheers for Hammurabi!

But what about the "Industrial Revolution"????
I think the previous lines of thought don't even broach the idea of automation, the technological influx that the last 200 years has seen, and how life as people knew it 150 years ago really doesn't exist.

Consider the idea that nearly all "Western society" that we discuss prior to the industrial revolution, lived on farms and subsisted predominantly upon limited trading and the fruits of their labor. This was true with Europe, the UK, and of course the US until the Industrial revolution.

The IR caused urbanization, allowed for technological development on a rapid scale... and this mentality (of smaller, faster, and more efficient) even proves itself on the PC we all use to debate our points...

I agree this is very important to modern society... but as to Western society I'd have to say that societies were Western way before the Industrial Revolution.

It's true that Europe was made up mostly of poor sustenance farmers before the IR but they were still different from there counterparts in China or the Americas.

I think that difference originated in the Fertile Crescent with wheat based agriculture and Western religion.

If you'll forgive some quibbling, I'll distinguish between civilization, which the Mesopotamians created, and Western civilization, which the Greeks created. There really is a huge difference between Greek civilization and Mesopotamian civilization.

Excuse? I Love quibbling!

I may not know as much about the situation as I'd like to so I could use some clarification.

First what quintessentially Western aspects of society did the Greeks invent?

Second, although the Mesopotamians where the first to come up with civilization they weren't the only culture to do so independently.

The Chinese, the quintessential "Eastern" nation did so as did Mesoamericans.

It seems to me that is is at these locations where different continental societies began to diverge.

For the west that means the Mesopotamians.

I can see the importance of classical civilizations in history, but why can't we think a little more modern like the first space flight?

For your first question the Greeks in especially form the fifth till the fourth century BC were quinessential for western Europe. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle (who also happened to be the teacher of Alexander the Great!) layed a firm foundation for Western philosophy for example. Athens was by far the first democracy ever! The first known historian is Herodotes, a Greek living in Hallicarnassus)
Even the Romans, after they conquered Greece in the second century BC, acknowledge the fact that the Greeks were cultural far superior to them. (this view is known as "Rome's debt to Greece". And as we know, the Romans laid the bricks for European societies.

As for your second statement you are of course correct in so far that there are some age old societies that started in different parts of the world and developped seperately. Although the Mesopotmians were a wonderful culture, the Greeks, as I stated above as being the essential in the development of western cultures, learned more from the Egyptians than from the Mesopotamians. A quick reading of the second book of Herodotes, covering Egypt, will learn that.

1.) Which nation, people or period did contribute most to the Western world as we know it today?

While a good case can be made for Classical Greece and Renaissance Italy, in terms of the West as we know it today, I'd have to go with Eighteenth Century Europe, particularly through the work people like Locke, Voltaire, Rousseau, Hume, Franklin, Kant, Adam Smith, Newton, Jefferson and Goethe. In short, the Age of Enlightenment and its drive toward humanism, empiricism, and idealism - the movement that lead the world toward progress and away from irrationality, superstition, and tyranny, that gave birth to the American and French Revolutions, and gave rise to both capitalism and socialism. The Greeks and Italians - as well as figures like Francis Bacon, Erasmus, Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza, and Liebniz - may have paved the way, but without the Enlightenment, there would be no "Western world as we know it today".

2.) If you had a time machine, which period would you like to visit and why?

Probably the Fifth Century, BCE. If I stuck around long enough - and traveled widely enough - I could meet Darius, Xerxes, Mahavira, Siddhartha Gautama, Ajatashatru, Confucius, Lao Tzu, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Democritus, Herodotus, and Pericles. Why? When else could one meet as many great philosophers, religious figures, political and military leaders, dramatists, and historians at roughly the same time?

This topic brings so many great memories up for me from conversations I had as a teen in the evenings after dinner and before bed time- we used to do this huge "what if" thing very similar to this conversation. I would come up with something like "oh for sure Greek classical" and he would say" oh yeah, what do you know about the enlightenemt, or what do you know about eastern civilization, you know, Marco Polo made it over there, and it influenced western civilization as well, just like Alexander the great influenced eastern culture" and back and forth



1.) Which nation, people or period did contribute most to the Western world as we know it today?

Well, I still have to go with Greek classics here- after all, college freshman course don't start the class "history of western civilization" off with the greeks for no good reason LOL And though Wertz makes a point of "western civilization as we know it today" about the age of enlightenment- those greats are grounded in ancient greek civilization as well- the enlightenment was dependent on the greek ancients, whereas the greeks started many schools of thought quite on thier own.

All of those times are so incredibly fascinating , and if I had a time machine I WOULD VISIT THEM ALL LOL-

If I could go back into any time- I would go and prevent Saul's, (later Paul) mother from breeding. I believe he is the single most destructive person in human history, and left his stamp of evil for all time. So if I had to go back in time, it would not be to make chit chat- but to change history, hopefully, for the better! LOL

In the end, like all science fiction shows portray, this would probably not be good to alter history, so I would go to our own revolution, or the enlightenment, or fifth century BCE, when all thoughts were open, when all minds were learning and striving for greatness. The current age we live in, with it's small minded conservative thinking, this hearkening for some golden age in the past instead of striving for something better in the future, is just so depressing sometimes. I personally think we are in the modern dark ages of western civilization.

1.) Which nation, people or period did contribute most to the Western world as we know it today?

I agree with Wertz.

2.) If you had a timemachine, which period would you like to visit and why?

First, the period when our founding fathers were discussing what kind of government we should (and should not) have, and ask them which of the Age of Enlightenment writers most influenced their thoughts. Then, to the AofE and ask THEM which writers most influenced their thoughts. And back again, tracing backward the steps of political and philosophical thought that led us to where we are.