13 Accomplishments By Ancient Empires That Really Had Their S#!t Together

Ah, the mysteries of the past. For centuries, we have been fascinated by the incredible accomplishments of ancient cultures, from the Library of Alexandria to the Colossus of Rhodes. We have looked on in awe as these ancient civilizations have achieved feats that we can only dream of today. But what is it that makes these ancient cultures so remarkable? Is it their ingenuity? Their ambition? Their resilience?

In this list, we explore thirteen incredible accomplishments of ancient cultures. From the building physics of the Yakhchal to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, we will discover the amazing feats that these cultures achieved. We will also learn about the punishments that Ancient Greek Olympians faced for cheating, the use of spider webs as bandages, and the Inca Empire’s domination of South America before the arrival of Europeans.

So, let us now take a journey through time and explore the incredible accomplishments of ancient cultures. Who knows what treasures we will uncover?

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13 Unionizing for death matches.

CRACKED Ancient accomplishments Gladiators unions Ancient Roman gladiators had their own unions, with elected leaders and a system designed to take care of the families of those who died in battle. — *David Gonzalez Rebollo/Shutterstock*
**History**

12 Ancient Iranian wisdom meets modern building physics.

CRACKED Ancient accomplishments Keeping things cold in the desert Ancient Iranians made and stored ice during winter in a vaguely pyramid- shaped structure called the Yakhchal. It was able to keep ice all year round. — *Ramillah/Shutterstock*
**Max Fordham**

11 Spider webs: Ancient Greece and Rome’s miracle cure.

CRACKED Ancient accomplishments Using spider webs as bandages Back in the days of Ancient Greece and Rome, doctors would use spider webs as bandages for their patients. Webs have natural antiseptic and antifungal properties, as well as a lot of vitamin K, which helps with clotting. — *Anna-Nas/Shutterstock*
**Opera News**

10 Pharaoh’s Elephant Express.

Ancient accomplishments A canal linking the Nile River Valley and the Red Sea Several peoples tried to connect both. The Egyptian canal was the most successful one, and was used to get African elephants to Egypt for the pharaoh's army. CRACKED — *Professor Douglas Hill/Shutterstock*
**San José State University**

9 A grand ambition, but ultimately unsuccessful.

Ancient accomplishments The Library of Alexandria The Library of Alexandria was meant to be a universal library, with the goal of acquiring every book in the world. CRACKED — *O. Von Corven/Wiki Commons*
**Britannica**

8 Ancient Egyptians: iron pioneers.

CRACKED Ancient accomplishments Using iron before the Iron Age The ancient Egyptians were making jewelry and decorations out of iron from meteorites as far back as 3300 ВСЕ, even before they could smelt iron ore. They were some of the first people to use iron in their artwork. — *Vladfotograf/Shutterstock*
**Smithsonian Magazine**

7 Cheat, pay the price.

CRACKED Ancient accomplishments Humiliating cheating Olympians The Ancient Olympic Council in Greece had the authority to punish athletes or cities who cheated by making them pay a fine. The money they collected was used to build monuments of cheating athletes and coaches to shame them. — *Marie-Lan Nguyen/Wiki Commons*
**Smithsonian Magazine**

6 Ancient Romans: Leading the way in engineering.

CRACKED Ancient accomplishments Understanding that lead was toxic People in ancient Rome knew that lead was dangerous, so they made clay pipes to move water around. — *micmacpics/Shutterstock*,
*Gilmanshin/Shutterstock*
**The University of Chicago**

5 Tall buildings.

CRACKED Ancient accomplishments High-rise apartment buildings The ancient Romans were able to construct high-rise apartment buildings, known as insulae, which provided housing for the majority of the urban population. These structures could reach nearly 60 feet. — *Tatsuo Nakamura/Shutterstock*
**Khan Academy**

4 King Nebuchadrezzar II: Making his wife happy, one garden at a time.

Ancient accomplishments The Hanging Gardens of Babylon The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the most amazing sights in the world. They were said to be near the palace of King Nebuchadnezzar II in Babylon. It's thought that he built it to make his wife, Amytis, happy. CRACKED — *AstralManSigmaDelta/Shutterstock*
**Britannica**

3 Ancient Egyptians: Pioneers of egg hatching.

Ancient accomplishments Hatching eggs without chickens The ancient Egyptians invented a way to hatch eggs without needing a hen. They made mud ovens that mimicked the conditions a hen would provide, and could hatch up to 4,500 eggs in just a few weeks. CRACKED — *Irina Kozorog/Shutterstock*,
*Francisco Javier Diaz/Shutterstock*
**Atlas Obscura**

2 A giant bronze sun god.

CRACKED Ancient accomplishments The Colossus of Rhodes The Colossus of Rhodes was one of the most impressive sights of the ancient world. It was a huge statue of the Greek sun god Helios in the city of Rhodes, an incredible 105 feet tall. It was made of bronze plates held together by an iron frame. — *garanga/Shutterstock*
**Britannica**

1 Round Earth: confirmed.

CRACKED Ancient accomplishments Realizing the Earth was round The old Greeks were the first to suggest that the Earth was round, based on what they saw of the line between the Moon's light and dark areas. This was later backed up by Anaxagoras, Aristotle, Aristarchus, and Eratosthenes. — *Dima Zel/Shutterstock*,
*thelefty/Shutterstock*
**NASA**

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