this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2025
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History Memes

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[–] BremboTheFourth@piefed.ca 82 points 4 days ago (3 children)

i think it has more to do with what color skin people think they had and not how advanced they actually were...

[–] TribblesBestFriend@startrek.website 54 points 4 days ago (1 children)

When your civilisation is white enough that documentaries don’t credit alien

[–] BremboTheFourth@piefed.ca 34 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Even then I'd say "whitewashed" more than actually being white. Many Romans would have had skin dark enough that they wouldn't be considered white by today's standards

[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 20 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

In support of that thought, the North African born Emperor Septimius Severus (and his Syrian-born wife) say hi

[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 8 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Their other child doesn't it seems

[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

One brother (Caracalla) eventually killed the other (Geta) and then erased as many references to the dead one as possible, even portraits. Family squabbles!

[–] RickyRigatoni@retrolemmy.com 5 points 4 days ago

All our families been there.

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 6 points 4 days ago

Also the slavery.

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 3 points 4 days ago

lol up until very recently in the US, Italians weren’t considered white.

[–] marcos@lemmy.world 16 points 4 days ago (2 children)

The fact that the OP is talking about a road (some stuff we build every day) instead of a huge pyramid also helps.

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 11 points 4 days ago (1 children)

We build massive mounds of dirt and rock all the time. We also have a widespread history of building massive stone structures all over the world for thousands of years. The pyramids are impressive, but other than the location and structure they are just another big pile of stones that humans like to make.

[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago (2 children)

The pyramids are impressive, but other than the location and structure they are just another big pile of stones that humans like to make.

Just compare the vast array of indispensable structures carrying so much water with the idle pyramids [of the Egyptians], or the famous but useless monuments of the Greeks!

  • Frontinus, 1st century AD Roman official and engineer showing some of that distinctive Roman practicality (and arrogance)
[–] Wutchilli@feddit.org 8 points 4 days ago

Sounds like a normal engineer to me.

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Good to know Frontinus also thought humans built the pyramids, not aliens!

[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

In contrast to Frontinus's negative view, the Pyramids were tourist attractions even at the time, and considered by most Romans to be legitimately very impressive works of architecture showing the cleverness of Egyptian builders, rather than derided. Frontinus was just a filthy ancient equivalent of a STEM major XD

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 days ago

They liked the pyramids so much they stole the gold off the tops.

[–] cjoll4@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago

Yeah but the Colosseum tho. That's some extremely advanced architecture and it's HUGE. The fact that most of it is still standing after centuries of earthquakes (and being used as a quarry for other construction!) really says something.

[–] cjoll4@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago

I was about to comment something about "alien" Stonehenge and how people assume the Brythonic Celts were fair-skinned, but then I looked it up and was surprised to learn that Stonehenge predates the arrival of the Celts by roughly 2,000 years