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Let’s be real: 2020 has been an incredibly tough year. The only thing that seems capable of pushing the devastating pandemic off the front pages are the waves of protests, riots, and looting sparked by outrage over police brutality.
We could all use a dose of optimism right now – a reminder of the numerous achievements of Western Civilization to help balance out the difficult times we're facing.
From engineering to science, literature to commerce – we've made remarkable strides. Take a moment to stand proud and appreciate the accomplishments of history's finest minds. Here’s to the brilliant individuals who shaped the greatest civilization the world has ever seen.
10. Sanitation Systems
… may seem like an odd way to begin this list. Odd, but undeniably crucial. You can’t build cities without access to water, and you certainly can’t create livable cities without clean water and a way to dispose of waste.
The first advanced underground piping system was introduced around the 18th Century B.C. by the Minoan civilization, located in what is now Crete. The city of Knossos featured a dual-purpose plumbing system that not only provided water but also included stormwater sewage channels to prevent flooding and prevent unpleasant backups during heavy rains.
Impressively, for its time, the Minoans also created the first known flush toilets – ground-level latrines with water containers positioned above them. Some of their palaces even boasted early inverted siphon systems, complete with glass-covered clay pipes that remained operational nearly 3,000 years later. Now that's craftsmanship at its finest!
Other cultures in the West also made significant strides in plumbing. The Ancient Greeks in Athens installed an indoor piping system that allowed, among other conveniences, pressurized showers. Later, in the First Century A.D., the Greek inventor Heron adapted pressurized piping for firefighting in the city of Alexandria.
9. Coins as a Standard Form of Currency
A major breakthrough in global commerce occurred when it became unnecessary to barter or negotiate over informal forms of currency that only a small group of people accepted as valid.
While the idea of a universal currency was undoubtedly appealing to many civilizations, turning it into reality was no easy task. The key requirement was stability: for something to be widely accepted as currency, it had to be issued by an official governing authority, distinguishing it from various other tokens or barter systems that had been used for centuries.
Equally important was the medium used, and here, metal coins fit the bill perfectly. They were not only hard to counterfeit, but they also carried value in two ways: symbolically (i.e. by being backed by an official authority) and physically (i.e. by containing precious metals like gold or silver). Additionally, coins were portable and durable.
Although the concept of using coins as currency was likely recognized for centuries, the first to meet all the criteria was the Lydian Stater. Introduced in the late 7th Century B.C., it was made from a remarkably consistent blend of 55% gold, 45% silver, and a small amount of copper for added strength.
This innovation was partly born out of necessity: Ancient Lydia, located in what is now western Turkey, was a major hub of trade, home to the well-preserved port city of Ephesus. Conquered by Alexander the Great, Lydia was eventually absorbed into the Seleucid Empire in the 4th Century B.C., with its historical contributions remaining intact despite the military conquest. It was later incorporated into the Roman Empire in 133 B.C.
8. The Rise of Democracy
The concept of citizens actively participating in the decisions of their own governance can be traced back to ancient Greece. In fact, the term “democracy” is derived from the Greek words for people (demos) and rule (kratos).
While earlier civilizations may have allowed citizens some influence over their rulers, a more structured and sophisticated form of self-rule emerged in Greece around the late 6th or early 5th Century B.C. Ancient Greek democracy included bodies like the Ekklesia, responsible for creating laws and determining foreign policy; the Boule, representatives from Athens' ten tribes; and the Dikasteria, public courts where citizens presented arguments before randomly selected jurors.
The Boule was particularly notable for its random nature: Every year, 500 names were drawn from the citizenry of Athens to serve for one year, during which time they would propose new laws and oversee various political matters. Unlike today’s representative democracies, Ancient Greece practiced “direct democracy,” where citizens themselves voted on proposed laws by attending assemblies and casting their votes using pieces of pottery called ostraka.
Though Ancient Greek democracy was logistically different from modern representative governments, the underlying goals were quite similar: giving citizens a say in the laws they were bound to follow created a sense of stability and gave the society legitimacy backed by the people. Regular elections provided satisfaction for those whose ideas prevailed, and hope for those whose ideas did not. The system also kept any single individual from holding too much power and promoted the peaceful transfer of authority.
7. The Legacy of Ancient Classical Literature
Explaining the full scope of contributions from ancient classical literature would require 250 lists, not just 250 words. Instead, let’s briefly explore what it means for us today, in the 21st Century.
In addition to deeply influencing modern literary and cinematic themes – such as dramas, hero’s journeys, and comedies – ancient Greek and Roman works reveal that many of today’s concerns were just as relevant more than two millennia ago. If you ever feel uniquely troubled, try reading a Greek tragedy.
Take Medea, for example (not the Tyler Perry version, the ancient Greek one). The story leaves it up to the reader to decide whether the title character was a cold-blooded murderer who poisoned a king and slaughtered her own children... or a betrayed fiancée who saw no other option. Ultimately, it’s a tale of female oppression with deadly consequences.
Disagreeing with the government? So did Sophocles’ Antigone, who defied the king’s orders and buried her brother, Polynices, whom the king had labeled a traitor. When arrested, Antigone argues that divine law is superior to human law. Her punishment? A sentence to be entombed alive.
Without justice, there can be no peace – for anyone. The king realizes his mistake too late, as Antigone takes her own life before the sentence can be executed. The king’s son, who had fallen in love with her, follows suit and also ends his life, as does his mother upon hearing of her son’s tragic fate. Antigone’s actions bring down the house, symbolizing bravery and noble civil disobedience.
The list continues. Reading the classics serves as a comforting, humbling reminder that the struggles we face today were also prevalent in past eras. Themes like oppression, love, betrayal, and misogyny are all present, waiting to be explored in these timeless works.
6. Scholasticism & The Scientific Method
While no one can claim to have invented reasoning, what Western Civilization brought to the table was its formalization – the creation of guidelines for scientific progress, challenging long-held but unproven beliefs, and building upon previous discoveries.
Scholasticism essentially structured the process of reasoning, stressing the importance of logic when tackling questions in both philosophy and theology. In the 13th Century, a notable scholar of this movement, Saint Albertus Magnus (Saint Albert the Great), advocated for the distinction between revealed truth (knowledge granted through divine power) and empirical science. While scholasticism was tightly intertwined with Church doctrine, it helped establish a necessary separation between reason and religion, playing a crucial role in paving the way for the Renaissance.
Alongside his student, St. Thomas Aquinas, Magnus made important scientific contributions in areas such as astronomy, chemistry, geography, and physiology. Another influential figure from the 13th Century, Roger Bacon, challenged the unquestioning acceptance of widely-held beliefs, even those passed down from the great ancient philosophers like Aristotle.
Three centuries later, in 1621, Francis Bacon, a distant relative of Roger Bacon, published his work Novum Organum. In this text, he championed the use of inductive reasoning as the essential foundation for scientific thought. Bacon’s method involved three main stages: first, a straightforward description of the facts being examined. Next, these facts were categorized into three groups – those that demonstrate the presence (or correctness), the absence (or incorrectness), and the varying degrees of presence (or circumstantial correctness).
From these categories, an informed conclusion could be drawn, such as in determining cause and effect. Bacon’s framework laid the groundwork for the modern scientific method, a process used to formulate and test hypotheses to assess their validity.
5. The Printing Press and the Rise of Mass Literacy
In terms of expanding human knowledge, the year 1440 could be seen as the most pivotal moment in history. That’s when Johannes Gutenberg of Germany invented the printing press capable of mass-producing books. While presses existed earlier, dating back to the 3rd Century A.D., Gutenberg’s press was the first specifically designed for book production.
Prior to the Gutenberg Press, copying books was an incredibly labor-intensive, manual task. This made books scarce and costly, and as a result, by the mid-15th Century, only 30% of adults in Europe were able to read. In some areas, literacy was even lower—just 10% of Italians could read Dante’s Divine Comedy when it was published in 1321. How valuable are the great works of literature if only a small fraction of the population can access them?
The advent of the Gutenberg Press revolutionized both the cost and accessibility of books, saturating the market. As a result, literacy rates soared, and the European Renaissance, which had begun a century earlier, gained unprecedented momentum.
“What had initially been a project to educate only the wealthiest elite in society could now become a movement to place a library in every medium-sized town,” historian Ada Palmer explains.
Equally significant, the printing press sped up the advancement of education, enabling knowledge to be shared more broadly than any individual teacher could have managed. It also transformed the way instruction was delivered, especially in technical fields. Complex engineering diagrams, mathematical charts, and architectural plans could now be reproduced with far greater precision and efficiency.
4. Circumnavigation
Naval exploration has a history that stretches back tens of thousands of years. Many archaeologists consider the first large-scale seafarers to be the original inhabitants of Australia, who set sail some 60,000 years ago. Later explorers included the Polynesians, who settled across the Pacific Islands, Roman Empire maritime routes, and eventually the discovery of the New World, first by Nordic explorers and later by Columbus.
Yet, despite these earlier voyages, no one had achieved a key milestone in understanding world geography: sailing completely around the Earth.
This began to change exactly 501 years ago, when Ferdinand Magellan departed from Spain with five ships, seeking a quicker route to the East Indies for trade.
While he failed to find such a route, Magellan did discover a narrow passage at the southern tip of South America that linked two oceans. Emerging from what we now call the Strait of Magellan, he noted the remarkably calm waters, which led to the naming of the Pacific Ocean – from the Latin word ‘pacificus,’ meaning peaceful.
Magellan never completed the journey back to Spain; in April 1521, he was killed in a conflict with natives in the Philippines. In fact, only one of the original five ships, the Victoria, made it back to Spain the following year.
While Magellan's crew did not find the desired trade route, they did solve a crucial puzzle that had long troubled cartographers: just how vast is the Earth? Magellan's journey marked another turning point in human understanding, providing a new foundation for informed decisions regarding travel and transportation thereafter.
3. Christianity
Christendom is a term steeped in history, encompassing much of the western world and even reaching beyond its borders. It holds the top spot on this list for a very good reason: despite some dark chapters attributed to Christianity, on the whole, the Western world as we know it today owes much of its existence to the work of medieval monks, scholars, and the Christian people of goodwill. The so-called Dark Ages saw monks working away in isolated, chilly monasteries, dedicated to preserving the wisdom of ancient civilizations through illuminated manuscripts.
Moreover, thanks to convents and the women within, the voices of women were preserved for future generations. In the 16th century, the popes stood as some of the only defenders of women, notably opposing King Henry's attempts to simply dismiss any wife he wished. Without the significant contributions of figures such as the humble St. Claire of Assisi, polymath St. Hildegard von Bingen, and the Doctor of the Church, St. Teresa of Ávila, the world we know today would be vastly different. St. Hildegard's influence on European society in her time was immense and deserves wider recognition—her music is even featured in the video clip above.
Art, music, literature, social justice, manners, and countless other aspects of modern society owe much to Christianity's impact on Western governance. In times of global upheaval, it's fitting to conclude this list with a passage from the Bible that remains crucial for us to reflect on today: “All things therefore whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you also to them.” (St Matthew 7:12)
2. The Factory Production Line
In December 1913, Henry Ford introduced the groundbreaking concept of the moving assembly line. The key principle behind this innovation was that a worker could perform the same task over and over much more efficiently than performing different tasks in sequence.
This shift resulted in one of the most remarkable improvements in labor efficiency ever: the time it took to assemble a Ford Model T was cut down from more than 12 hours to just two and a half hours, reducing production time by nearly five times.
Ford's assembly line revolutionized car production and made cars more accessible to the middle class. What had once been a symbol of wealth was now an essential mode of transportation. By reducing the time, cost, and manpower involved in building the Model T, Ford was able to drop its price from $850 to under $300. In doing so, mass production led to mass consumption, turning millions into drivers and making Ford a billionaire.
A decade later, the assembly line led to another breakthrough: the five-day, 40-hour workweek. The efficiency created by the production line made it so that longer hours and six-day workweeks were no longer required to meet demand or turn a profit. This was true even as Ford had doubled workers' pay to a remarkable $5 per day in 1914. The production line thus marked the beginning of a new era of work-life balance, which remains a cornerstone of healthy middle-class living today.
1. Aeronautics: To the Moon and Beyond
In 1784, during their time in Paris to sign the treaty that ended the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin and the skeptical John Adams witnessed a momentous event. Two Frenchmen, Marquis d’Arlandes and Pilatre de Rozier, became the first humans to ascend from Earth’s surface using a hot-air balloon.
This fragile 70-foot balloon, made from linen and varnished paper, was inflated with hot air generated by burning straw (talk about a fire hazard). It reached an altitude of 3,000 feet before safely landing five miles away. The two pioneers, dubbed “Aeronauts,” were instantly celebrated, with balloon-inspired designs appearing in everything from fashion to furniture: dresses, fans, powder boxes, chandeliers, and even needlepoint chairs.
Though it would take more than a century, the next monumental step in aeronautics came in 1903, when Wilbur and Orville Wright successfully built the first airplane. Though primitive at the time, the pace of innovation in Western engineering skyrocketed, fast enough for both sides to utilize airplanes for bombing and strafing during the Great War just over a decade later.
Then, half a century later, the unimaginable occurred: a man walked on the moon. To grasp the significance, remember that just 66 years after the Wright brothers’ first flight, humans were landing on the moon, stepping out, bouncing around, and safely returning home. The event was so monumental that “Men Walk on Moon” was printed in the largest font (96 pt.) ever used on the front page of the typically understated New York Times. This font has only been used three times since then, with:
NIXON RESIGNS U.S. ATTACKED, and OBAMA
