What were the most influential ancient civilizations throughout history?

[chound]

What were the best civilisations/country/empire/kingdom in:
1)before 1000B.C.
2)1000BC-500BC
3)500BC-250BC
4)250BC-0
5)0-500AD
6)500-1000AD
7)1000AD-1500AD
8)1500AD-1875AD
9)Now

 

[gravenewworld]

I think it is safe to say the Roman Empire was the greatest civilization ever. It lasted well over 2 thousand years from 752 BC to 1476AD

 

[selfAdjoint]

Well, by 1476 the Eastern Roman Empire was a Greek speaking oriental empire. By that standard there was just one (occasionally two) Chinese empire from Shang times to Sun Yat Sen, or around three thousand years.

 

[Gonzolo]

Could elaborate on what you mean by "best"?

 

[chound]

best- not in size but in the
1)quality of life of people
2)technological andvances
3)advancement in medicine
4)planning of cities
5)sustainable development
6)good practices and moral health of people

 

[Nereid]

Your #1 and #6 will need some elaboration ... life was good in ancient Greece - except if you were a slave (in which case it was pretty horrible); life is pretty good in modern Saudi Arabia - except if you are a woman. So, how would you like to balance a wonderful quality of life for a few against a miserable quality of life for many?

On #5, I think it's accurate to say that there have been no 'civilizations' that were/are close to having 'sustainable development' - since the development of agriculture, it's been pretty much 'drawing down the capital account' for everyone.

Interesting exercise though, how would you expand each of these criteria into quasi-objective measures?

 

[Gonzolo]

This is becoming interesting, but the question is not easily answered objectively, and I don't think a short answer can do justice to everyone. There are so many variables.

For 1) The U.N. comes out with a list each year ranking the quality of life in each country. Maybe that would qualify for 1 in the present, although even their system is probably very debatable.