Which historical period would you visit?

FTA69

If you had a time machine which period in history would you go back to and visit?

The main one for me would be Ancient Rome, I've seen a few ruined Roman towns and the level of sophistication they had considering the period in time was unreal. It's a funny feeling sitting in an old amphitheatre and wondering about the time it was alive and full of people.

I'd also be really interested in visiting Ireland in the Medieval period to witness the clan system they had there, at the time we were much more forested and it would be fascinating to see what the landscape and people were like.

Ubbquittious

Ireland in the 40's

Grayson

There's so many to choose though. Ancient egypt and I could see the pyramids being built. Ancient greece and talk to philosophers. Although for that I'd probably want to see the library of Alexandria too.

I think maybe just go back to the start of it all and see what the first cities, places like Ur were like.

Edit: just to add to what the OP said about ancient Ireland. I'd like that too. If only to see one of these feckers.

Ragnar Lothbrok

Stalin's USSR
Ghenghis Khan's Mongolia
Viking-era England

I'm assuming that time travellers can't be killed in the past

Mr. Incognito

Generally tomorrow when I am hungover

ThinkProgress

If all these ancient historical buildings and places are so important... why do so many of them get forgotten and buried throughout the passage of time??

Even incredible structures like the colosseum, eventually became unimportant to the people living around it during certain periods. It's only when historians and archaeologists started to take a big interest, this then awakens more interest in the general public...

I think previous generations didn't really dwell on the past as much as we do... so these things didn't really matter too much. They were far too focussed on the present and future, to concern themselves with the past.

Graces7

ThinkProgress wrote: »

If all these ancient historical buildings and places are so important... why do so many of them get forgotten and buried throughout the passage of time??

Even incredible structures like the colosseum, eventually became unimportant to the people living around it during certain periods. It's only when historians and archaeologists started to take a big interest, this then awakens more interest in the general public...

I think previous generations didn't really dwell on the past as much as we do... so these things didn't really matter too much. They were far too focussed on the present and future, to concern themselves with the past.

Most of the time they were focussed on merely surviving! Against the wars that caused the big buildings to fall into disrepair. Just as here in Ireland the old abbeys etc were destroyed by fire by the English

Not lack of interest etc.

These places mattered, just as the temple at Jerusalem and does .. we have life too easily to see this readily!

Graces7

Prefer living in the here and now to being long dead.... NB I grew up in the UK in the 40s and 50s

RobertKK

The Jurassic era.

Allinall

Italia ‘90

Last week..

Bob Harris

The period that gave the red sea it's name.

ThinkProgress

Graces7 wrote: »

Most of the time they were focussed on merely surviving! Against the wars that caused the big buildings to fall into disrepair. Just as here in Ireland the old abbeys etc were destroyed by fire by the English

Not lack of interest etc.

These places mattered, just as the temple at Jerusalem and does .. we have life too easily to see this readily!

But what you have described, kind of is a lack of interest if you think about it... because their present day activities/worries took total priority over the past... so the past got buried and essentially forgotten by most people!

Is it possible, that some of the things we consider historically significant and amazing, were actually not seen in the same way by our ancestors in certain periods?? Maybe they didn't even matter at all in certain periods of time!?

muckwarrior

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

Generally tomorrow when I am hungover

But if your present hungover self were to travel to tomorrow, you'd still be hungover!

freshpopcorn

Start of the Celtic Tiger/when we used win Eurovision!

silverharp

California 1960's

Wibbs

ThinkProgress wrote: »

I think previous generations didn't really dwell on the past as much as we do... so these things didn't really matter too much. They were far too focussed on the present and future, to concern themselves with the past.

There was an element of that to it alright. They tended to think on the now more. There were even fewer musings on the future. Even people and events they did consider they often framed them in a contemporary manner. Look at European religious paintings. Although they had some idea of how people may have dressed, they painted them in current fashions. EG Virgin and Child paintings she's nearly always dressed in contemporaneous clothing.

Going further back the Romans had the horn for Ancient Greece and they did do some research and thinking on it and incorporated a pastiche of their aesthetic on their own time, but that was rare enough. Later Europe did similar with the idea of Rome.

Going much further back into the Stone Age, it seems their concept of time was even more rooted in the now. The past were your grandparents, the future your grandkids. You see this with cave paintings. Where the very earliest look very similar to much later work(though the earliest is usually of higher quality funny enough). Similar iconography across tens of thousands of years. Equally Ancient Egypt's aesthetic remains extremely stable across many centuries.

I'd zip back to Palaeolithic Europe. I'd love to see both us and Neandertals living in the same areas and see how they interacted. To see a different not quite us human would be a prize enough.

I'd like to see Rome and Ancient Greece. One big problem would be language. That would start to be a problem even going to English speaking places of three hundred years ago. You'd have to get your ear in. For Greece and Rome I'd attempt to learn ancient Greek as it's useful for both. Palaeolithic times would require much pointing and grunting.

begbysback

Celtic tiger period - breakfast role every day, buying a house in templeogue on a bin man salary, threatening the boss to give a raise or leaving for one of the 8 other job offers received, and choosing between the Audi or the BMW to drive to work

Graces7

ThinkProgress wrote: »

But what you have described, kind of is a lack of interest if you think about it... because their present day activities/worries took total priority over the past... so the past got buried and essentially forgotten by most people!

Is it possible, that some of the things we consider historically significant and amazing, were actually not seen in the same way by our ancestors in certain periods?? Maybe they didn't even matter at all in certain periods of time!?

No; you are nor understanding the reality and nature of being physically conquered and oppressed and starved

Here in Ireland the country has so many ruined abbeys that were treasured etc.. along came the British and slaughtered and burned and made it a crime punishable by death to say mass or in any way practice the catholic faith. so they went literally underground. They were physically unable to value and cherish and even rfrequent the precious places

And see the explosion of new abbeys and new churches and he valuing of the old, with huge attention and interest and valuing of what were lft as ruins by the oppressors.

The love and interest and valuing were constant, same as Jersulalem etc
The first thing any invader or conqueror does is destroy the sacred and holy and great places. They are a focus of power

McMurphy

California (San Fran mostly) during the swinging 60s.

Free love, great music and weed.

chrissb8

1960's London for pure pleasure and fun

Renaissance Italy (automatically able to understand Italian or else what's the bloody point)

17th Century America. Wild, unexplored and full of people literally looking to build cities and towns.

Your Face

Castlebar yesterday

sunbeam

Ireland 100 years in the future to see what has changed.

wakka12

New York in the roaring twenties, Victorian London

Ragnar Lothbrok

I'd love to meet my dad and his buddies when they were in thier early 20s in the 1950s. They seemed like a good laugh from all the stories he's told me over the years.

Sleepy

1998 - visit myself just after my leaving cert for a few hours. Then pop back to the present day to my mansion and fleet of nice cars

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

The mid 19th century when science became science and not just natural philosophy. When inductive science finally prevailed over deductive methods.

kneemos

Donegal.

facehugger99

Wall Street, 1980's.

Outlaw Pete

Can we interact with people? Would whatever we did last into the future or is this a 24 hour deal?

Can we bring something from now into the past? Like a helicopter during jurassic times?

Or vice versa, can we bring something back from the past into the future?

What are the rules here like?

Ipso

Johnny Dogs wrote: »

California (San Fran mostly) during the swinging 60s.

Free love, great music and weed.

Too many hippies.

jk23

November 5 1955!

Captain Obvious

Late 90's. Is this like a quantum leap situation where I can do it all over again?

Oasis1974

Rave scene early 1990's.Sir Henry's again

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Outlaw Pete wrote: »

Can we interact with people? Would whatever we did last into the future or is this a 24 hour deal?

Can we bring something from now into the past? Like a helicopter during jurassic times?

Or vice versa, can we bring something back from the past into the future?

What are the rules here like?

Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Rules? What rules?

Ted Plain

For me it'd be Dublin between about 1910 up to 1922.


Then I'd be off to West Berlin in the 1980s.

TheValeyard

Palestine, time of Jesus, see what really went down.

Kamakura Shogunate Japan. Fascinating period.

China, Tang Dynasty.

(Assuming historic dates are correct) 336 BC, Macedonia. Meet Alexander "the great".

LA, 1966. Yeah, I know, not very far back... but to see The Doors when they started to kick off.

1920s Ireland. Would liked to have met Michael Collins.

Ipso

November 22, 1963
The Beatles released their second album, it would be fun to see what that was like. I don't think anything else happened on that day.

Id love to visit 60,000 years ago and every millenium forward until about 20,000 years ago, see how the story unfolded and see the world our distant, but still human, ancestors lived in, long before most of the stuff in our world was even possible to imagine. Yeah I chose a period of 40,000 years, what of it.

Ulysses Gaze

The Roaring Twenties in New York

Mtx

Gaulic France
Famine time Ireland
Bronze age Britain

Defunkd

The very beginning. I'd like to see the collision that made the moon.
Also, just before, during and just after the last Ice Age.

Dr_serious2

Would love to be born in 1900 in Ireland. The huge changes which eventually led to revolution - we probably have romanticised the violence of the time but would be amazing to see.

Sad to see what the country has become. Still, better to have made mistakes in governance than to have someone else make them for you.

Mackerel and Avocado Sandwich

Ancient Rome but I’d also like to have seen Ireland while we still had some wilderness

dizzymiss

Ancient Rome. Royal Court of England early 1500s, US in the 1800s, Ireland in 20s/30s/40s

I'd presume the timetraveller couldnt die (I've been known for having a mouth on me and can't risk that craic!!!) and I'd like to have pockets full of currency for each era. Can't be doing these things on the cheap. Also I'd like to bring some stuff from now, medicine, toothpaste/brush, condoms, makeup etc. Mightnt be the best idea, likely be hung for being a witch/enchantress!!!

dizzymiss

Oh and Renaissance Italy. Oh oh there's so much to see.

EPAndlee

I'd go back to last Saturday and do the lotto

monkeysnapper

Defunkd wrote: »

Also, just before, during and just after the last Ice Age.

I hope your time machine isn't like the ones in the terminator films because your really going to need a jacket badly my friend. ...just a heads up in case....

Ipso

Deedsie wrote: »

I'd go back to ancient Ireland to see wolves and bears roaming through our native forests.

Maybe around the time newgrange was built to see the celebrations on the first solstice that the tunnel illuminated. Must have been a wild celebrations.

What if it rained? Although it would be interesting to see how close it looked to today's Newgrange.

Say my name

I'd go back 4000 years ago just to find out why communities of farming people in Ireland, Britain and nw France built stone circles and why they chose certain types of rock for their construction.