Epoch you would live in if you could

[shawnbm]

When I was younger, I used to think I was born ten years too late and did not get to enjoy the Sixties (Vatican Two, The Beatles, Elvis (still), The Band and Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, the birth of NASA, more Cold War fun, ban the bra and whatnot), then as I grew older, I thought maybe the Fifties would have been the best era to enjoy (pre-Vatican II, Elvis, the Everly Brothers, Jo Stafford (leftover from the Forties), Beatniks, serious Cold War issues, prosperity in post-WWII USA, birth of rock and roll and Brando, etc). Then, it occurred to me that the Roarin' Twenties (assuming I was "in" and could enter the speakeasies) might have been the epoch (Faulkner, Hemingway, Pound, Frost, dixieland jazz and Satchmo in his prime, and living with hope after the War to End All Wars). How about going back to the time of cavemen or ancient times in the Fertile Crescent--maybe meet the nomad Abram before he became the Patriarch of three monotheistic religions. Living during the Greek or Roman eras--or the time of Christ? Tough to call really.

Now, I just don't know. Go back to far and your life expectancy would have been less than I am now, maybe only 45 years. Even so, I think it is an interesting question. Does anybody have any strong feeling on which epoch in human history you would have loved to live in? Floor's wide open.

 

[tented]

What a great thread, Shawn.

The Twenties would have been great: T.S. Eliot, Joyce, Faulkner, Jazz, silent movies, Garbo. That would be my pick for any time within the last 100 years.

Before that, I think Victorian England would have been interesting. Or awful. Or both. But not to be missed! Especially if you throw in a few side journeys to the Continent to see guys like Van Gogh and Matisse.

But my No. 1 pick would be Ancient Egypt. Either fairly early to see the pyramids being built, or several centuries later to see what King Tut was really like, how he died, was it murder, etc.

Or, I can get really surreal, and pick 65+ millions years ago to see the dinosaurs. That would be a blast.

 

[Kieran]

Jerusalem when Our Lord was preaching. It would be the place I'd want to be.

Outsid ethat, Ancient Egypt is a great pick, and also ancient Greece, I'd love to have visited Sparta and see those incredible fighting machines, or Athens.

In the 20th century, there are plenty of eras to avoid, but I like the ones you chose, Shawn: Paris in the 20's when Hemingway and Picasso were there would be a treat.

Vienna in the days of Mozart and Beethoven.

Florence and Rome during the Renaissance...

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Brother, I honestly would have loved to be somewhere around year 3011. I have so many questions regarding a million things and some of them would have been solved by then I am sure. I would be like" So this is how you cured cancer...hmmm great idea for space travel, how come I never thought of that...You still think H2H matters more than the weeks at number one? Shame..." and things like that.

I am very curious as to where we are going.


As for the past, I would love to be hanging around with Leonardo Da Vinci in the 1400s in wherever he was at the time...probably Florence.

 

[shawnbm]

I agree with your first pick, Brother Kieran, to be perfectly honest. Yet, many here will not think along those lines, so I offered other picks. Vienna during the height of the Hapsburgs--now that is royalty and highfalutin stuff if there ever were.

 

[Kieran]

Rome too, in its most glorious period, maybe under Augustine, or else Constantinople during the time it was at its height. These empire cities would attract me, just out of curiosity. I read that Rome was a stinky place, and I can imagine it was given the way they took to hygiene back then. But yeah, places like these, the world was totally different and I'd love to meet and speak to people from that time.

I also like Murat's suggestion of going a 1000 years into the future: where would the great cities be then? Africa? Australia? It's impossible to know where power would reside, but to ask them simple questions like, "Is Rafa still the GOAT? Do you's not sell Guinness? What do you mean, where am I from?"

 

[tented]

*Bump*

This is a great thread, and deserves to be bumped.

 

[shawnbm]

*Bump*

This is a great thread, and deserves to be bumped.

thanks, tented. In looking back at some of these, the idea of going forward is certainly enticing, yet the call of the question is an epoch in the past. Many of the usual crowd have not yet posted, so maybe your effort to revive this old thread will work. I love reading the replies.

 

[Hoergren]

As for the past, I would love to be hanging around with Leonardo Da Vinci in the 1400s in wherever he was at the time...probably Florence.

That's funny you mention this and it brings me on in this thread a little earlier than i would but here is the story.

As you probably know I was a schoolteacher for many years and retired lately. When I was working back in the 80ties we had staff meetings which were more or less done on beforehand = all decisions were made so when we attended those meetings many teachers were doing preparations like correcting essays and maths. I normally followed the speaks but after a while I was thinking funny thoughts and one of them I used a couple of meetings on was what can I have in common with Leonardo a person from the past I was very fascinated by in those days - and still is. Painting - nah - I can never be as good. Inventing another nah. Writing -hm- yeah that's it. Leonardo wrote many of his papers mirrorwise - so I started with single letters - left handed of course - first small letters and then big - not the modern types but really caligraphed types. In about 1 year after starting I could write lefthanded mirrorwise - without thinking. It was a great thing to do when you came into a new class - write Leif mirrorwise on the blackboard. The first lesson was quickly gone and every time I came back to such a class they could remember me writing all the pupils names on the blackboard mirrorwise and me telling about Leonardo Da Vinci. SO thank you for reminding me about this.

Made today so I haven't forgotten it

 

[brokenshoelace]

Renaissance Italy is definitely up there. There are other periods that fascinate me, like the Roman Empire at the height of its powers, but I don't know if I would want to "live" during that period. If I had a time machine to travel back for a week or so, absolutely, but a lifetime? I'm not sure.

 

[britbox]

I'd like to think the age of enlightenment, the renaissance or various other historical periods... but being honest, it would probably be the 1950s in the UK.

This is a great thread by the way, I can't believe I missed it first time around.

Why the 1950s? In a nutshell - almost full employment with a big manufacturing base. A humbled pragmatic populace who had lived through the horrors of consecutive world wars, minimal government interference in the daily lives of people, strong communities, less focus on money, people talking to each other rather than texting each other across a restaurant table.

I actually saw studies that claimed the 50s was the decade where people were actually the happiest... at least in the west.

Of course, this was all before my time and it's probably looking at things through rose tinted glasses.

I'm a nostalgia freak like shawn though... I even get a buzz out of seeing people smoking indoors in "not so old" films!

 

[tented]

I want to amend my post:

Any epoch which precedes the Fedal Wars.

 

[DarthFed]

Renaissance Italy is definitely up there. There are other periods that fascinate me, like the Roman Empire at the height of its powers, but I don't know if I would want to "live" during that period. If I had a time machine to travel back for a week or so, absolutely, but a lifetime? I'm not sure.

That is exactly how I see it too. I don't think I'd want to live in ancient times but it'd be first on my list of places to time travel. Right around the time of Caesar and Pompey fighting for power all the way through Augustus defeating Antony, it'd be fascinating just to see the chaos of it all. After that we can fastforward about 100 years to the Colosseum being built and check out some of the Games. Now we just need Doc Brown to pull up in the DeLorean!

As far as a different time period to live in...tough to say, maybe the 60's in the US here. Just a crazy time, the height of social change, the height of music, the politics, etc. It'd have been one hell of a time to live through.

 

[Billie]

So those who would like to live in the Roman times, would you live there as a gladiator, a slave or a Caesar? Because that makes a lot of difference.

 

[Kieran]

I'd like to see it, Billie. Rome is an incredibly beautiful city, and I'd love to see it in its pomp. I read a bit about it, and it was a filthy, dangerous place. But even still, it's a place that exerts a pull. Athens too, back in the time of Socrates.

And Sparta around the same time, when they were the bully fighting force in the Peloponese, just because it was basically a community that experimented in genetics, and I'd like to see them at first hand. The worlds greatest engineered soldiers. That's the opposite to what I am, so maybe that's why I'm so curious...

 

[nehmeth]

So those who would like to live in the Roman times, would you live there as a gladiator, a slave or a Caesar? Because that makes a lot of difference.

That's an excellent point Billie, it's a huge difference.

I think I'd like to live in Oxford England between the years of 1901 and 1910. I'd be a student from a good family. During that time I would finish my undergraduate studies, marry my girlfriend, go on to get my doctorate and teach there. We'd find a nice home outside of town and start our family.

 

[Billie]

I watched Pompei last night so it reminded me of the rules of the ancient Rome. I think I prefer nowadays Rome.

Gosh, that is very specific nehmeth, but sounds good!

I would like to go back to the most peaceful time of all, any suggestions?