Old article, totally new to me, and interesting: The Water Temple of Inca-Caranqui

[wnylib]

2. And some of the worst, most massive levels

of violence are committed by civilizations.

We think of "barbaric" people as being violent. We use the words "uncivilized" or "barbaric" for people who are brutal, cruel, or lacking in "civilized" manners, but civilizations can magnify brutality in the zeal for growth, conquest, and dominance. Often in the name of peace, too, e.g. the Pax Romana.

The building of a civilization involves stratification of a society, coercion, conquest wars, and enforcement of a way of life.

We praise the greatness of Rome, but Romans enslaved numerous people from conquered lands to row the ships, build roads, serve in homes, etc. The rights of citizenship were enjoyed by a limited class of people, even in Rome's days as a republic. As an empire, they devolved into burning people alive as human torches, enjoying fights to the death as entertainment, and used crucifixion as punishment and intimidating control of the people.

In Greece, praised as the root of democracy in Europe, only free men had full rights. They had large numbers of slaves, and women had very few rights.

Ancient Egypt had slaves and conquered people to serve the masters. Same with almost every civilization.

Civilizations do not do away with the worst in human behavior. They channel the behavior into systemized structures.