We only know about when humans mastered fire or started using metal. But we know the exact date when the first powered flight took place. What are some really early “first ____” we know the date of for sure?
We only know about when humans mastered fire or started using metal. But we know the exact date when the first powered flight took place. What are some really early “first ____” we know the date of for sure?
My first thought was the code of Hammurabi, as the first ever set of laws. But it turns out we know of several sets of laws from before then.
Then I was thinking maybe the Pope, given that it should be well chronicled. But it turns out Peter was the first Pope (who knew?), so we’re relying on Biblical timings which aren’t exact.
So now I’m going to say “something Chinese”. China’s recorded history goes back a lot further than Europe’s, but I don’t really know much about it to say anything more useful than that. But did you know that writing predates the iron age in China, unlike most places? (Usually, the invention of writing changes it from the iron age “prehistory” into the written “history”)
Egypt has the longest unbroken record of it’s history. It may or may not have been the first civilization to begin keeping a written record of it’s major events. The other 2 contenders are Mesopotamia and Sumer but most records from those are lost. Egypt’s records were also lost but large portions have been rediscovered in burial tombs. Egypt began it’s chronology (~3500BCE) at least a thousand years before China(~2500BCE).
What I think is also interesting is that the Chinese written language is still pretty much the same now as it was when it was created. So people today can read ancient texts and not need a layer of interpretation other than the context of the time.
Unlike the Bible. No modern human is a native speaker of Aramaic.