<story><title>Archaeologists uncover ancient street food shop in Pompeii</title><url>https://www.reuters.com/article/italy-pompeii-idUSKBN2900D3</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>KhoomeiK</author><text>The way the art has been preserved makes you sorta realize that &amp;quot;ancient times&amp;quot; weren&amp;#x27;t &lt;i&gt;that&lt;/i&gt; long ago.&lt;p&gt;2000 &amp;#x2F; 25 = ~80 generations&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s not some uncountable number with a million zeros. Assuming everyone knew one of their grandparents, it&amp;#x27;s more like 40 interpersonal &amp;quot;links&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;I honestly feel like if Europe didn&amp;#x27;t have the Early Middle Ages (~500-1000AD), we would feel pretty connected to all the history that happened before in the same way that we feel pretty connected to Copernicus developing Heliocentrism or Columbus arriving in the New World.&lt;p&gt;I wonder whether civilizations with seemingly more continuous histories like China feel more connection to the rest of their history. India&amp;#x27;s history was sort of interrupted by Islamic invasions starting from the 1200s. The Middle East, despite its tremendously long history, experienced a significant shift in culture with the rise of Christianity and then Islam.&lt;p&gt;If Chinese people don&amp;#x27;t feel that historical connection, on the other hand, it might mean that our disconnect with ancient history might more just be a product of Modernity and the rapid change of the last couple centuries.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mulmen</author><text>A few years ago I was lucky enough to visit the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan.  The Jade Cabbage was the headline attraction at the time.  The thing that stood out the most to me was a tea cup.  The date was ~1800.  I was impressed by a 215 year old tea cup.  Then I realized the date was 1800 &lt;i&gt;bc&lt;/i&gt;.  A 3800 year old &lt;i&gt;cup&lt;/i&gt;!&lt;p&gt;I had a similar experience in Japan last year when I learned the same family has ruled for something like 1500 years and trace their history back 2600 years.</text></comment>
<story><title>Archaeologists uncover ancient street food shop in Pompeii</title><url>https://www.reuters.com/article/italy-pompeii-idUSKBN2900D3</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>KhoomeiK</author><text>The way the art has been preserved makes you sorta realize that &amp;quot;ancient times&amp;quot; weren&amp;#x27;t &lt;i&gt;that&lt;/i&gt; long ago.&lt;p&gt;2000 &amp;#x2F; 25 = ~80 generations&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s not some uncountable number with a million zeros. Assuming everyone knew one of their grandparents, it&amp;#x27;s more like 40 interpersonal &amp;quot;links&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;I honestly feel like if Europe didn&amp;#x27;t have the Early Middle Ages (~500-1000AD), we would feel pretty connected to all the history that happened before in the same way that we feel pretty connected to Copernicus developing Heliocentrism or Columbus arriving in the New World.&lt;p&gt;I wonder whether civilizations with seemingly more continuous histories like China feel more connection to the rest of their history. India&amp;#x27;s history was sort of interrupted by Islamic invasions starting from the 1200s. The Middle East, despite its tremendously long history, experienced a significant shift in culture with the rise of Christianity and then Islam.&lt;p&gt;If Chinese people don&amp;#x27;t feel that historical connection, on the other hand, it might mean that our disconnect with ancient history might more just be a product of Modernity and the rapid change of the last couple centuries.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ImaCake</author><text>&amp;gt;I wonder whether civilizations with seemingly more continuous histories like China feel more connection to the rest of their history.&lt;p&gt;This is a really good point actually. I have talked recently to Persian coworkers about their nation&amp;#x27;s history. They identify with the full length of recorded Persian history. That is, all ~5000 years of it. I have read elsewhere that this is possibly a modern trend, that is, they didn&amp;#x27;t teach Persian history as the history of &lt;i&gt;their&lt;/i&gt; current country at some points in the past.&lt;p&gt;I suspect their emotional attachment to events 2000 years ago feels a bit different to mine then. They might feel a whole lot closer to the Sassasinds than I do to Boudicca. But maybe that has not always been the case.</text></comment>