It is believed that the construction of The Great Wall first began in the state of Chu around 223 BCE. Shortly after this, the Qi, Yan, Wei, Zhao, and Qin states also contributed to the development of the wall in order to create a front line against invaders and an early warning system for invasion. The five-thousand five-hundred mile wall was built by all types of people, from slaves and criminals to the commoners of ancient China. The massive wall was built using three main ingredients: wood, compacted earth that filled the centre of the wall, and stone that surrounded the compacted soil. The purpose of the wall was simple, it acted as a lookout tower where soldiers would watch patiently for invaders. The soldiers …show more content…
The recent discovery of an ancient chess set in watch tower number one-hundred-fifty-nine of the wall, shows the generally apathetic attitude the soldiers had towards standing upon the wall for unreasonable periods of time. What is meant by this is that the soldiers likely did not agree with the constant supervision that the ancient emperors of China demanded. As a consequence of their disagreement, the soldiers likely spent a significant period of time playing games and ignoring their actual duties. In the end, the walls main purpose was to protect against invaders of all kinds, though the Chinese emperors had a distinct hatred for the Mongols, even going as far as to say that they were subhuman. In the end, the walls importance to ancient China was that it helped to advance the civilization faster due to the constant protection it provided. Because of this protection, invasions rarely happened, and when they did, they were much less severe. This meant that the progress of ancient China was never halted, it was only slowed. This put China at a great advantage when compared to other ancient civilizations who lacked a …show more content…
Gunpowder is very similar to the Byzantine invention Greek Fire in a sense that both are incendiary weapons that are designed to cause great amounts of damage using the power of fire. Though one is a powder and one is a liquid, both share the properties of being fast burning, and easy to ignite. Their uses on the battlefield are both different and similar, Greek Fire was used mainly at sea and only for the purposes of incendiary damage. Gunpowder on the other hand, could almost only be used on land due to the fact that moisture renders it useless. Unlike Greek Fire, gunpowder has more than just incendiary uses. It’s explosive power can be utilized to propel objects such as cannonballs and arrows into enemy territory. The invention of paper is similar to the Mesopotamian invention and or discovery of writing in a sense that the two go hand in hand. The two inventions are both extremely important and are still absolutely necessary to modern society. The inventions of paper and writing have made knowledge much more accessible due to the fact that a scholar's writings could one, be written down, and two be mass-produced. Paper and writing have also made the transmission of ideas across a wide area tremendously