Ancient Civilizations Forum

Culture is a major determinant of how people perceive each other and negotiate their differences. Opportunities for global contact and exchange are proliferating as never before, and because of those contacts, culture itself is changing. This presents governments and cultural organisations with a dual challenge: on the one hand they need to maintain established standards of scholarship, quality and continuity, and on the other, to enable the population to develop the vital skills of cultural literacy.

In the era of globalisation and rapid technological change which leads to a new communication paradigm, various ways must be found to bring younger generations closer to ancient civilisations and their legacies. Modern means of communication and expression must be used to study and feature aspects of the past, so that they can be properly elaborated and projected to the global society.

Dialogue between civilisations is one of the pillars of a global system in which democracy, elimination of social inequalities and poverty, tolerance, understanding of and mutual respect for the cultural differences and traditions of peoples will form the basis for a safe and peaceful humanity. This is the best way to expel any idea of conflict between civilisations, peoples or states, resulting in the elimination of stereotypes, which are the biggest obstacle to mutual understanding and respect.

In the era of digitization and networking new phenomena such as mass self-communication and many-to-many cultural exchanges are expanding very fast and are capable of profound effect. Cultural diplomacy becomes more complex and widespread, its importance is increasing and affects the more traditional forms of public diplomacy to a much greater extent than before.

Cultural heritage, tangible and intangible, testifies to human creativity and forms the bedrock underlying the identity of peoples. Creativity, knowledge, culture, and technology can be among the most important drivers of job creation, innovation, and social inclusion. Adequately nurtured, creativity fuels culture, infuses a human-centered development and constitutes the key ingredient for growth, innovation and trade while contributing to cultural diversity and economic, social and environmental sustainability.

In recent years cultural industries and the creative sector of the economy has been recognized and promoted as a Key pillar of development strategies at national and local level. Countries in which ancient civilisations thrived posses unique advantages that can be used to develop a functioning “creative nexus” able to attract investors, build creative entrepreneurial capacities, offer better access and infrastructure to modern technologies. A positive spillover effect can also be reflected in higher levels of growth, increased opportunities for strengthening innovation capabilities and a high quality of cultural and social life in those countries.