If you could time travel...

[Corki]

Taking a different slant on our travel theme, as well as asking a question I like to ponder every now and then with my interest in history, I am going to pose the following question to everyone.

 

If you could time travel, where would you go and why?

 

And I'm going to be greedy, as there would be quite a few periods I'd like to go to!

 

1. Travel back to the Assyrian Empire

Since studying Ancient Mesopotamian history, the Assyrians would be the people I'd travel back to. The fact they were able to keep power within the same family for over 1000 years was a great feat! I'd also low to see how their deportation movement actually worked once they conquered states. They moved people about to make them feel 'Assyrian' and stop the likelihood of rebellion from certain areas. It was a fantastic innovation, and made the job of future dynasties after them easier.

 

2. Middle Ages - Europe

The Crusades, the Knights, the Ladies, ecclesiastical Latin - there is just so much to interest me! I think I would love to have been based in and around the Vatican City just to see what actually went into the Vatican Archives! Plus I would discover more about the Crusade against the Cathars in and around Carcassonne, where I'd like to be if I wasn't in the Vatican. This has been a period of history that has always fascinated me, and I would love to experience it first hand.

 

Those would be the two periods I would love to go and travel back to and experience life in. I haven't mentioned either the Roman or Greek periods, which is at the heart of my studies. This is because I love the languages, but don't find the history so interesting. If I did travel back to one period, it would be to see Hannibal marching around Italy and make the fatal mistake of not attacking a weakened Rome and defeating the Roman Empire.

 

So, where would you travel back to and why?

[Jeannaisais]

You know this reminds me of a book I read recently called Time's Eye by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter.  Several different time periods were thrown together in a world that was different than Earth.  It ended up that there was big face-off between Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great, which was pretty fascinating.  That book actually got me interested in those time periods....and considering I've never had a very good history class, thats about the whole time period I could think of going back to...

[Samuraiflip05]

Hmmm, excellent question.

 

First, I would say Japan during the Muromachi Period(1336 to 1573).

 

Second, I would travel to the Cherokee settlement Keetoowah prior to the arrival of the Europeans.

 

Less for historical value, and more for personal heritage purposes.  ;)

[Taymist]

Hmm this is a toughie as there are so many periods I'm interested in. I'll think on this and come back to it.

[Tharengore]

Oh heck I will take this one on...for places to travel too..come poeple use imagination...

 

1 - Area of Troy...to actually see that battle would be..amazing to say the least and to meet the hero's who died in that battle

 

2 - Greece during time of homor and such, to talk and learn from them.

 

3 - Last during the time of Christ, to actually hear what he said first hand, and see what he truly did and such, thats something not to pass up.

[Feral]

Some whens I'd like to visit:

 

Queen Boudica's time

Joan of Ark's time

Middle Ages in general

Ancient Greece in general.

 

There's probably a lot more I can't think of right now.

[goldeneys]

I do so love history! If had the choice, well, I would go back to somewhere around the 300-500s, the fall of the Roman Empire. I've been studying a lot about Barbarians lately, I would love to see how it all really happened when the Romans paid off some barbarians to fight others and then ended up getting shorted. All the intrigue within that also assured their defeat. To ride with the Lombards and the Goths, to see all of the sack's of Rome, that would be something to see...

[Taymist]

Right here we go. Had a long think about this.

 

1. The time of the Jacobite Risings. Bonnie Prince Charlie just needed a little direction and everything would have worked out fine.  :P

 

2. Regency London. Bow Street Runners, high fashion, Beau Brummel, Waterloo... so many things to see and experience. Fascinating time.

 

3. Ancient Egypt. I want to see how they built the sphinx and the pyramids and find out what they truly were for.

 

4. The Crusades. The Knights Templar have always been a pet interest of mine. I'd love to see this first hand.

[Odette]

I don't really understand why so many people are obsessed with violence.  Why would you really want to visit a time when people's lives were worth so little. I mean really, it seems so silly to want to see that.

*shrugs*  I just don't get it.

 

 

Anyway. 

I'd like to go back to about 580 BC and meet Siddhattha Gotama. 

 

Aside from that, I'd like to go forward in time.  I'd just keep skimming through until I found a nice Utopian society that I could settle down in and feel welcomed and loved for who I am regardless of race, religion, gender, etc.

 

[Taymist]

Interesting point.

 

Maybe it's because we're all members of the Band which by its very nature is violent? Maybe because those periods of violence were pivotal to how the world developed that we live in today? Maybe because many of us believe in the use of force to defend our homes, countries and families? Maybe because those time periods gave us some of the greatest military, political and strategic thinkers/leaders the world has ever seen?

 

I'd imagine we all have our reasons  :) and I don't think it's silly at all nor an obsession. If we ignore the violence, we're burying our heads in the sand and will never learn from the lessons of history.  :) It could just be as simple as the fact that a lot of us aren't violent in our every day lives, but it's often tempting to be so lol... through history we get to live vicariously... it's as escapist as reading a fantasy book in some ways.

[el Nynaeve]

I'd like to go back to Europe in the time of the Druids. I've always been fascinated by them and their beliefs. They seemed to appreciate nature and treat it with respect much more than we do today. It would be fun to rise through their ranks and see how they viewed the world. :)

[Odette]

--snip--

If we ignore the violence, we're burying our heads in the sand and will never learn from the lessons of history. 

True, but you don't need to see people dying to learn from history. 

 

--snip--

through history we get to live vicariously... it's as escapist as reading a fantasy book in some ways.

 

Ok..  That's a very valid point I had not considered at all.  I suppose when I read Corki's original post I had taken a more literal interpretation (yes I know we don't have time machines).

 

Oh, and apologies if anybody thought I was singling them out.  I re-read my post and noticed how it could be very easily interpreted as insulting and instigating.  Basically, I was expressing my inability to understand outside my personal view.

 

 

[Taymist]

lol *pokes Odds* well I didn't think you were singling anyone out and nor was your post insulting. I just thought you raised a good point and it set me off thinking so I had a ramble.  ;D

[Corki]

Interesting point Odds. Maybe it is because periods of violence appeal to us more than periods of peace? Maybe they are more exciting? I don't know the answer, but just offering some ideas why.

[heinrich]

1 word

 

DINOSAURS !  :D

 

[Corki]

I will admit this, but I was waiting for someone to say that!  ;D

[DeathDealer]

I've often thought of this, wondering what it would be like to go back in time and see what happened and when.  Find out what happened to the Grail, the Ark of the Covenent.  See the ancient wonders of the world.  That's what I'd do, a sight seeing trip. 

 

other thoughts would be to go back and give myself winning lotto numbers, or find out where some of the treasures of the past were buried/sunken/hidden.  But the more I think about that, the more I have to wonder what would be different for me right now if I'd won/found millions 3, 5 or even 10 years ago?  Would I be married to my wife?  Would I have my three kids?  I can't imagine life without them.  I may sight see, but I'd worry way too much what would happen if I altered the smallest thing, and set the world on a completely different path.

 

Yeah, I know this wasn't the idea of the question, but I couldn't help but think of things like this after watching things like "Butterfly Effect", "Journey Man", "Time Cop", and of course the Back to the Future trillogy. 

 

Now, going to the future and screwing that up... well, I'm all for that!!  ;)

[snin83]

This is a good one.....

 

I would have to say that I would like to go back to Roman, Greek, and Egyptian times when they were building just about anything that they had.  They had some genius engineers back then and I still cant fathom how they built most of what they did.  Im sure there are some more to go see too, but these are the civilizations that were definitely on the leading edge of all of that. 

 

And Im with heinrich, dinosaurs would be sweet.  I also think it would be sweet to see exactly how the universe was created, Earth back when there was no land (if there ever really was a time when that was), and some of the first land dwelling animals.