#pre modern

[ivoryhearted]

I love monster girls guys

[helloneels17]

I PUT A SPRIG OF ROSEMARY INTO MY MASK AND OH MY GOD THOSE PLAUGE DOCTORS KNEW WHAT THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT THIS IS RELAXING AF

[indolenceinck]

Indolence IncK. #...

[evilelitest2]

This is both a vague metric and an incredibly broad period of time, but what do you think were the most "well run" pre-modern states? Say, before 1750. Not necessarily in terms of which ones were humanitarian by our standards, but ones that elicit a reaction in you of "wow, that was a tightly run ship"

Oh a history question with built in clarification of what you mean, i love it.  Though technically 1750 is Early modern, which starts either in 1453 or 1492 (I go with the latter).  early modern ends and modern begins with 1789.  So i’m going to give you different answers. for pre modern and early modern. 

So pre modern, I think I’m going to go with the Northern Song Dynasty, while they would eventually be destroyed by the Mongols (themselves a pretty tightly run ship) China in general is marked by great administration for pre modern times and the Northern Song managed to achieve actual industrialization

Early modern I would say the dutch republic, which i would never call moral by any means (invented capitalism and was a major colonial power) but they were great administrators, there is a reason why Peter the Great loved them

Great question.  

[tscfhamilton]

Firstly, it must be realized that in the pre-modern age (before the 18th century European Enlightenment), everything was explained, validated and formalized in terms of religious and supernatural ways of understanding. Cultures were necessarily loaded with spiritual significations. Everybody went about their daily routines (of waking up, bathing, preparing and eating food, beginning and ending work, setting off on a journey, etc.) and major life events (such as birth, coming of age, qualifying in a trade, betrothal and marriage, childbearing, death and burial) guided by beliefs and rituals that sought the blessings of good powers and protections against evil powers. Nothing was 'secular'. Everything was 'spiritual'. So, if someone discovered a medicine, it was introduced as a revelation from a god or ancestral spirit. If rulers wanted to enforce a social structure on a population, they commanded it as the will of the gods from creation. If someone developed a dance form or exercise routine, it was dedicated to a god and ritualized as an act of worship. Astronomy was part of astrology and chemistry was part of alchemy. There was no other way to give anything importance and pass it on from generation to generation if it was not somehow connected to religion.

https://www.academia.edu/5180952/Are_Sri_Lankan_Christians_Afraid_of_Culture

[stachesmusic]

Leshan's Giant Buddha

[tvbstarsedits]

Crystal Li & Lin Xia Wei's dance.