Satuf

I'm interested to know the public opinion in a western online forum. Most here consider Greece or Rome to be the greatest ever ever ever. That is not the case in, let's say, Arabic online forums! Members there believe it was Egypt.

NO WEST VS. EAST DISCUSSION ALLOWED HERE!

So, is Egypt overrated or not? Has it left great legacies?

tjadams

Any country or empire that ruled for as long as it did, leaving behind what it did
and accomplishing what it did, assuredly deserves to stand in the long line
of great histories. Not overrated.

Satuf

^ Well said!

Even as part of great empires, Egypt remained of great status.

okamido

I think that is most probably underrated. We will never truly know the grandeur of that civilization, a civilization that outlasted all of its competitors. Ancient Egypt was obviously so potent, that nobody could change it, they could only be changed by it.

Qymaen

I am a firm believer in Egypt's greatness before, during, and after Rome's occupation. Some of the greatest monuments and architectural masterpieces are/were in Egypt. I believe it is underated due to how many times it was occupied by foreign powers. I believe that someone said that, after Baghdad was destroyed, "Cairo was the center of the Islamic World". I'm unsure who, though.

Lastel

If I may present you with the words of Theophile Obenga:

Not having known slavery or racism or the prison system or social discrimination because of sex, ideology or social status, and not have practiced colonization, or conquest or inquisition or experienced religious wars, or exclusion of foreigners, pharaonic Egypt experimented during 35 centuries of history cultural completeness in the most profound and rich manner, thereby realizing an almost perfect social happiness. The obelisks, the temples and the pyramids must not be seen as the only achievements of these ancient Africans. Art, myth, religion, rites, science, philosophy converged into one powerful cultural paradigm in the Pharaonic Egypt for the celebration of what is human and divine, and what is divine in human....

Take that how you wish, embellished perhaps - I don't know. Westerners generally don't admire (or know) Obenga. Either way, Ancient Egypt, Kemet, whatever you want to call it was, perhaps, the greatest civilization the world has ever seen. The civilization accomplished so much well before the 4th century BC, and the 7th century AD.

Anna James

1. Of course, it's only logical one to feels more connected to what they feel as theirs, their history, culture etc.
2. Great legacies where, from what point of view? Since no East-West are allowed here, I have to say - no. I don't see any great legacies from where I stand, from the point of view of what I consider important in the modern civilization. But I have no doubt that from a POV of a random Arabic person it will be the other way around - Egypt will be seen as leaving great legacies, and the Greek/Roman as zilch, that's normal human subjectivity and personal cultural connections. It would be weird if it was the other way around. As long I don't smell Afrocentrism, I'm fine with such POV dichotomy.

Egypt makes the westerners dream - this is its draw, it's mystique; and no one can take away the pyramids, or Egypts' place in ancient history - but this is a dream for we will never know. I don't see the legacy of Ancient Egypt living today, in my life, as I feel the legacy of Ancient Greece in my life; so, I suppose with an Arabic person will be exactly the opposite.

Kairo was a great center for the Arab civilization, no doubt, a cosmopolitan Arabic center, I can believe that it was more important that Baghdad; but I don't see anything form Ancient Egypt in medieval Kairo. The population of the city was so out of touch with it's history that attributed the pyramids to be work of jinns - so, how can one say that the legacy of Ancient Egypt survived? It's like to claim that the modern American civilization carries the legacy of the Native Americans, and of Cahokia.

Louise C

I don't think it is either overrated or underrated, but there was no third option to choose. I think it is quite highly rated - judging by the number of books, TV shows etc on the subject, and so it should be. It was a rich and fascinating civilization that endured for thousands of years, and left us with fabulous art and architecture. The Egyptian rooms are usually the busiest part of the British Museum, and it is not surprising, they produced so many gorgeous things.

Ancient Egypt is one of the standard subjects taught in primary schools here, and all my sons in turn have enjoyed learning about it. Even the gift shop at our small local museum has Egyptian things in it - even though there's nothing Egyptian at all in the museum itself.

halomanuk

It doesnt have much going for it now but it's history speaks for itself - underrated.

The Alani Dragon Rising

When the impact of a civilisation is considered, the west feels very little for those things which they didn't come into contact with.