The ancient world was inhabited by a large number of peoples who influenced the formation of later civilizations. Many of them have disappeared, but the culture they created makes us remember them to this day.
Achaeans
The Achaeans were at the origins of the Ancient Greek civilization. In the Iliad, Homer calls all the Greeks of the Peloponnese Peninsula Achaeans. Historians disagree on how the Achaeans appeared in Greece. According to some, they originally lived on the banks of the Danube, while others say that they came from the Northern Black Sea coast.
Having settled in Crete, the Achaeans became the founders of the Mycenaean civilization.
The Mycenaean palaces discovered by archaeologists were fundamentally different from those that existed on the island earlier: they were real citadels.
Apparently, the Achaeans were a rather militant people - they not only carried out expansion into neighboring states, but also fought among themselves.
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In the XV-XIII centuries BC. e. the Achaean states reach their heyday. Having created a powerful fleet, the Achaeans begin active colonization of Asia Minor and southern Italy. The Achaeans-seafarers deployed an extensive trade network throughout the Mediterranean, which, however, did not prevent them from piracy.
Olmecs
If you believe the Aztec legends, the Olmecs are the first civilized people of Central America. From about 1500 BC e. The Olmecs settled on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and occupied the territory of the modern states of Veracruz and Tabasco.
In 1902, a Mexican peasant accidentally stumbled upon a jade figurine in a field depicting a masked priest with a duck beak.
Having studied the find, experts were very surprised: Mayan letters were found on it, however, the dating of the figurine turned out to be noticeably older, and the place of its discovery was much further than is typical for Mayan artifacts.
This issue was taken up by the American archaeologist George Wayan. He knew perfectly well the culture of the ancient peoples of Mexico - the Aztecs, Toltecs, Zapotecs, Maya, but none of these cultures could have been the author of graceful jade figurines. Then the scientist decided to check the ancient legends about the "inhabitants of the country of rubber", and indeed - all archaeological finds exactly corresponded to the habitat of the Olmecs. So, in 1932, the ghost people found their place in history.
Phoenicians
Tall and swarthy people - "Phoinikes" (purple), as the Greeks called the Phoenicians - lived on the territory of modern Lebanon and, according to Herodotus, came there from northwestern Arabia. Modern geneticists point to the relationship of the Phoenicians with the peoples of the Caucasus.
The Greeks described the richest, bustling Phoenician cities in enthusiastic tones. Everything that existed in the ancient world could be bought there: from exotic fruits to luxurious vases, from jewelry to works of art.
According to historical documents, the Phoenicians were the first to circumnavigate the African continent. With a powerful fleet, superior in quality and quantity to the ships of neighboring countries, the Phoenicians, in fact, became a trade monopoly of the Mediterranean region.
Moreover, Phenicia very quickly turned into a powerful colonial power, however, unlike European states, the Phoenicians did not wage wars of conquest, but settled exclusively in the coastal regions for convenient trading.
The Phoenicians are no less famous for abandoning the cumbersome Akkadian cuneiform and creating their own linear script. The alphabet that emerged from the linear writing became the basis for the writing of European and a significant part of the Eastern peoples.
Philistines
The Philistines are the most mysterious people in Biblical Canaan, who were fundamentally different from the Semitic population of this region. The Bible says that this people comes from the island of Caphtor - from modern Hebrew it is translated as Crete. Egyptian manuscripts also testify to the Cretan origins of the Philistines. However, some scholars identify the Philistines with the Pelasgians, who, according to one version, are an Indo-European people.
However, the Cretan-Mycenaean origin of the Philistines is confirmed by modern archaeological finds.
According to archaeologists, the layer of material culture of the Philistines is completely different from the Canaanite. Philistine pottery and weapons bear a much greater resemblance to Crete-Mycenaean artifacts.
From about 1080 BC e. begins the expansion of the Philistines inland, subjugating the Hebrew cities. Only 75 years later, the Philistine hegemony was terminated by King David. From that time on, the Philistines gradually assimilated with the Semitic tribes, and soon only the name remained from the powerful people.
Sumerians
For a long time, history was silent about the Sumerians. Neither the Greeks, nor the Romans, nor the more ancient civilizations report anything about them. Only in the middle of the 19th century, scientists proved that there was a state in Mesopotamia, whose age reaches 6 thousand years. It was from him that Babylon and Assyria inherited their culture.
The Sumerians were pioneers in many areas. They were the first to invent the writing system known as cuneiform writing and created the prototype for modern libraries. It is the Sumerians who are the authors of the earliest literary works that have come down to us.
Sumer owns the most ancient medical text: it can be said with confidence that this is the first pharmacopoeia in the history of mankind containing a description of drugs.
In the Sumerian medical reference books, one can find information not only about therapeutic methods of treatment, but also details of surgical intervention, such as amputation of limbs or removal of cataracts. The inhabitants of Ancient Sumer learned how to get bronze, and with the ratio of copper and tin, which are still used today. The Sumerians had a much broader understanding of petroleum products than subsequent civilizations. And the knowledge of the Sumerians in mathematics and astronomy amazes us to this day.
Etruscans
The ancient Etruscan people suddenly appeared in human history, but also suddenly disappeared into it. According to archaeologists, the Etruscans inhabited the northwestern part of the Apennine Peninsula and created a fairly developed civilization there.
The Etruscans greatly influenced the culture of Ancient Rome: arched vaults, gladiatorial battles, chariot races, funeral rites - this is an incomplete list of what Rome inherited from its predecessors.
Moreover, historians argue that Roman numerals should rightfully be called Etruscan. It was the Etruscans who founded the first cities in Italy. There are several hypotheses about the fate of the Etruscans. According to one of them, the Etruscans moved to the east and became the ancestors of the Slavic ethnos. Some scholars argue that the Etruscan language is very close in structure to Slavic.
The Italian philologist Sebastiano Chiampi suggested that for decoding the Etruscan language, rely not on Greek and Latin, but on the Slavic languages. In particular, using the Polish language, he was surprised to find that some Etruscan texts began to succumb to translation. However, a taboo was imposed on the Italian initiative by the official science.