I don't know about that. I think Europeans benefit from most of our civilization continuing into modern times in one form or another. We know "Fertile Crescent" region contained several civilizations, but a ton has been lost.
The Assyrian Civilization's story is fascinating because basically all that we had about it was from Xenophon who happened to stumble onto their cities ruins on his retreat from a Persian army, and it's what sent him into becoming a historian in the first place. The build who lived directly next to the ruins didn't know what the place was. What we now know is that those people were the decedents of the people who lived in the Assyrian city, and the entire language, culture, and history had basically been lost in the span of 200-300 years. The Assyrians wrote tons of stuff down, but it doesn't mean anything if you can't read it. Once people forgot the language (and once rival civilizations destroyed their ruins), the knowledge was utterly lost.
Europeans had the same problem after the fall of the Roman Empire. Early Medieval art work actually depicts Roman battles as if they had taken place in their time, like with knights in armor and shit. They had no idea what a Roman legion looked like, and yet Charlemagne called himself a Roman Emperor. Ruined roman bathhouses still existed, and everyone was still walking on Roman roads.
As a post-enlightenment civilization, we decided not only to keep all of our previous history, but to also try and discover the old stuff to. That is what seems to be specifically European. With the onset of Islam, basically everything in the Arab world was annihilated as evidence and renamed. The Ancient Egyptians who built those pyramids in Giza didn't even know anything about them. They'd been using them as construction material for centuries, until the Europeans promised to pay them to look at it.
I don't know about that. I think Europeans benefit from most of our civilization continuing into modern times in one form or another. We know "Fertile Crescent" region contained several civilizations, but a ton has been lost.
The Assyrian Civilization's story is fascinating because basically all that we had about it was from Xenophon who happened to stumble onto their cities ruins on his retreat from a Persian army, and it's what sent him into becoming a historian in the first place. The build who lived directly next to the ruins didn't know what the place was. What we now know is that those people were the decedents of the people who lived in the Assyrian city, and the entire language, culture, and history had basically been lost in the span of 200-300 years. The Assyrians wrote tons of stuff down, but it doesn't mean anything if you can't read it. Once people forgot the language (and once rival civilizations destroyed their ruins), the knowledge was utterly lost.
Europeans had the same problem after the fall of the Roman Empire. Early Medieval art work actually depicts Roman battles as if they had taken place in their time, like with knights in armor and shit. They had no idea what a Roman legion looked like, and yet Charlemagne called himself a Roman Emperor. Ruined roman bathhouses still existed, and everyone was still walking on Roman roads.
As a post-enlightenment civilization, we decided not only to keep all of our previous history, but to also try and discover the old stuff to. That is what seems to be specifically European. With the onset of Islam, basically everything in the Arab world was annihilated as evidence and renamed. The Ancient Egyptians who built those pyramids in Giza didn't even know anything about them. They'd been using them as construction material for centuries, until the Europeans promised to pay them to look at it.