Your favorite historic era is...

[kitty]

I know I opened the "what's your favorite artist" section already and now another "gimme info" thread but heck, I wanna know!

So the question shall be - what is your favorite historic era and why (and give pics, because without pics, nobody reads it fully and, uh.. it didn't happen!

I'll give mine soonish.

[Elliot Kane]

For WHAT, Kit? To study? Best time to live? Most colourful? Most interesting happenings, military or social?

[kitty]

^ Yes. To all, whatever takes you fancy - I'm not specific, whatever someone likes...though, I wasn't attending to make a political or socialanalyzing thread so no fights about which time was must hateful towards whoever or what war was the worst etc.

[Elliot Kane]

OK, with subdivisions ;D

Best time to be alive: probably the Renaissance, which tended to respect people for who they were more than at any other period rather than trying to throw them all into behavioural straitjackets. Respected and valued artists and philosophers. Possibly the only period in history when a decaying civilisation reversed itself deliberately and with purpose.

Best time to be English: the Elisabethan era. Not only our greatest Queen, but the time when England was truly on the rise as a great power. We were far from our height (That would be the Victorian age) but we also didn't have all the horrors that recent industrialisation/urbanisation inflicted on the poor. The world was your oyster if you were English in the Elisabethan age and had a bit of daring.

Most fascinating culture: Sengoku Jidai era Japan. The elegance and refinement of the culture contrasted absolutely with the fierce and uncompromising Samurai warrior ethic that in many battles amounted to 'no-one gets out alive!' Never have a people been so warlike and so civilised at the same time.

Most interesting military: Phillip, Alexander and their war on Persia. Starting from almost nothing, Macedon took on and toppled the greatest empire their world had ever known. AND united Greece, freed Egypt, spread Greek culture and did a ton of other stuff as a side effect. Truly remarkable.

Most fascinating ruler: Constantine The Great. Not just for the building of Constantinople (Which has always fascinated me) and the creation of Roman Catholicism but because he really knew his stuff.

Most interesting naval: the Age of Sail. Not just Cochrane & Nelson, but all the pirates, too.

That'll do for now, I think

[kitty]

^ Thank you I find such perspectives unusally interesting. I hadn't known the Sengoku era, so now I have something to read about ^^

[Elliot Kane]

IIRC, it translates as 'The age of the nation at war'. The fight for control of Japan by the many powerful noble families and their retainers... and often by MONKS, believe it or not! Ultimately, of course, it all ended with the first Shogunate. Quite fascinating...

[kitty]

Monks eh? Fascinating indeed, am reading the wiki article atm.

[Terrordar]

as the new Moderator of this section, I officially endorse this thread. Clearly Elliot has the IQ of a dead gerbal, and must now be put in his place as to what the greatest eras are.

Firstly, and most easily, the single greatest era historically, bar none, in terms of just about everything is quite simply put. Rome:





Elliot has a sexual interest in Alexander the Great (we all know this as he gives him so much credit for everything), where as I say bah to Alexander, and that Alexander was a flash in the pan, and wouldn't have lasted had he lived longer regardless. The true titan of history is none other than the Roman Empire, the Empire that took Hellenism and transformed it from its classical form, into its more purified state. The Empire that had a life expectancy of its average citizen to something closely resembling that of today. An empire that at its height, ruled 1/4 people on this planet and was feared by all who could oppose it.

This. Was Rome.

A brutal culture of strength, a government of action (until near its end sadly), and a far more interesting religion than Christendom (Until after the fall of western Rome anyway), this Empire only ceased to be officially in 1453, when the Turks took its last cultural bastion in Constantinople.

This was the prelude to all real European powers, and Rome's glory shall never fade from the histories until we humans part. Glory to Rome.

[Elliot Kane]

That would be 'gerbil' O great intellect... ;D

[kitty]

^ Terre you should record what you just wrote, it would an awesome Audio Book :>

[Glance A'Lot]

The Senate and the People of Rome - that's where the republic started.
Isn't it ironic that it reached its greatest extension, might and culture as a real empire with autocratic emperors?

But, you know what, probably the era from Augustus to Hadrian would not have been the worst historic era to live in.

Ultimately though, I'm going to twist the topic a little in stating that I like the historic era I live in - in my lifetime:

- I've seen the Cuba Crisis, the construction of the Berlin Wall and the '68 invasion of Czecheslavakia;
- I've sort of been part of the painful process of Europe growing closer together, the warming of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall;
- I've seen the internet from the start (worked for the US Military then, and my father was with IBM), was able to travel fast, far and widely and profited from a globalization unseen before;
- not the least, I have NOT had to experience a fighting war.

Time flies nowadays - my grandchildren will call our period 'historic'!

[Galadriel]

I think I would need a time machine, cuz there were soo many interesting periods to be part of, at least for a short time, not constantly, I would start from the era of men, prehistorical times, the Franks, the Normen, Roman Empire, the Kelts, Egypt, Greece, the Middle Ages, the Chinese Dynasty's, The Japanese Samouraï, the 100th Years War between France and England, the crusades, the Civil War in between North and South in the US...History was always one of my favorite classes, so don't make me choose, make me be part of it

[kitty]

Well just to steal Glance's idea to reflect on lifetime history...

~ I was alive when the wall was up and I was on the imprisoned side
~ I have relatives that lived through WWII and some carry some guilt
~ I saw the wall falling
~ I was there when we reached a new millenium ^^
~ I saw 3 different american presidents
~ I was there when the first woman was elected as head of my homecountry
~ I was there when Australia got his first new prime minister after 30 years of former reign of the old one
~ I wittnesed the historic apology to the australian natives
~ I'm currently, like you all, in the second great financial crisis

Not bad for being only 23 I'd say. We should all make a list of general big things happening in our lifetime ^^

I personally would have loved to be born about 460 before time counting in ancient Kos, preferably in a house next to the one of Hippocrates.

I have a deep love for 'old' medicine, meaning everything before 1950 (so from starting of time to the 50s that is) and Hippocrates had so much influence for such a long time that it must have been smashing to see him in action, figuring out all the things he did, creating his famous oath, hearing about the different humors in ones body, seeing someone suffering in his hippocratic bench...

I also would like to meet Galen, 130 after time counting. Another very influencial medical professional. Galen performed eye operations that nobody tried again until our times!

I would have also liked to visit the 14th century to see the Red Book of Hergest been written and formerly researched. It's a book about herbal healing and it just amazes me how they could find out so much that is now prooven to be correct.

Out of a girly point of view, I would have loved france around 1500+, the gowns were so much more fun than, let's say, their english and german counterparts, open sleeves, rounded caps, fascinating. ^^ (I should make a fashion history pre-1800 sometimes)

I would have liked to meet Hatshepsut and asked her if she really was a pharao and if she did wear mens clothing to gain respect and acceptance.

I'll think of more soon.

[The Sonar Chicken]

Kitty, how was life like on the imprisoned side? I just wonder how those people managed to transition from East Germany to life in the West.

[Glance A'Lot]

Kitty is 23, so would have been 3 when the wall fell - that'd be as much second hand information as from me, who, as a western born, lived and worked on the eastern side from '92 - '99.
Safe that her (older) family is closer to the topic.

That said, there are differences - but it is hard to explain to those who do not actually know either side.
There are more people in the west, who still have no concrete ideas of the east, than vice versa - that is a sad truth.

[LaFille]

Apr 2, 2009 15:01:42 GMT Glance A'Lot said:

Ultimately though, I'm going to twist the topic a little in stating that I like the historic era I live in - in my lifetime:

- I've seen the Cuba Crisis, the construction of the Berlin Wall and the '68 invasion of Czecheslavakia;
- I've sort of been part of the painful process of Europe growing closer together, the warming of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall;
- I've seen the internet from the start (worked for the US Military then, and my father was with IBM), was able to travel fast, far and widely and profited from a globalization unseen before;
- not the least, I have NOT had to experience a fighting war.

Agreed with that. Though I would add the early 1900s up to now and what is to come up next are my fav from an intellectual POV. There has probably never been so big human screw-ups as in this period (nuclear disasters, WWII, pollution and destruction of our environment), but also never been so many interesting discoveries, questions and possibilities for us...

[kitty]

Actually I was 4 and a bit (born '85) and I can remember some stuff - no political stuff of course. I remember worldmaps where there were no western countries on them but the communist ones where we were allowed to travel to (cuba, eastern europe, china) we marked red.

I remember getting told off when I askedwhy we can't listen to all radiochannels.

I remember asking what the wall was and getting told "protection".

And, surprisingly, I do remember the day the wall fell. My mum was baking a cake and I helped her when dad screamed we all may come to the TV. We did and everybody else did cause the TV's everywhere were loud with screaming and laughing voices. I remember that one man climbing up the wall and hammering on it from the top, and I do remember my parents reactions... they looked at each other and wondered what happens to their money now.

I still have a lot of DDR Mark (old currency), it makes perfect Monopoly money ^_^

I can tell you, Sonar, from my parents, that they see nothing seriously wrong with the DDR. They grew up with it and had a hard time adjusting to the fact that work wasn't given to anyone anymore, that whatever they learned was useless now, that any formal education wasn't as important anymore. It was no happy fun time for a lot of people.

But less wrapped up in family and daily life people were thrilled. our direct neighbours moved to the west in under a week and started to travel everywhere soon after.

It depended highly on the lifesituation of the people if they appriciated or hated the change.

Not much common people really cared about the Stasi ("state protection" - spy center), because the common person was so used to it that they didn't step over the line anyway - so for that, the system worked.

If I would have been an adult in the DDR, I would have probably been shut while trying to get over...