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Oldest countries in the world

What are the oldest 7 countries in the world according to the post below?
https://www.loveholidays.com/blog/explore/rest-of-the-world/7-oldest-countries-in-the-world/
The hint is the time when it was first called so
Quiz by HansBetaald
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Last updated: January 13, 2021
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First submittedJanuary 12, 2021
Times taken1,112
Average score71.4%
Rating1.81
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Hint
Answer
3500 BC
Egypt
301 CE
San Marino
221 BCE
China
1000 CE
Hungary
Hint
Answer
3000 BC
Greece
660 BCE
Japan
843 CE
France
chelsea97
+9
Level 78
May 9, 2021
I think you mean civilisations rather than countries. Either way I found the source quite disagreeable.
Dewot423
+8
Level 64
May 9, 2021
Exactly, I have no idea why China, a country that has had a very intentional break with their past in the twentieth century (along with lots of periods of division/foreign rule like British imperialism, the Sixteen Kingdoms or arguably the Yuan Dynasty), or France, a country that's had five Republics and three (?) Empires since 1792, are counted as consistent when, say, Iran or Turkey or Ethiopia isn't.
svaerflaesk
+4
Level 67
May 9, 2021
Yeah, not to mention Greece, which for quite a long time was under foreign rule, the Ottomans and several Italian states.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
May 9, 2021
"Greek" as an ethnicity, the way that we conceptualize it, did not even exist until Greek nationalists invented it in 1800s. Before that... every Christian living in the Ottoman Empire was called "Greek" because most were members of the Greek Orthodox Church... which was not a Greek church as it was centered in Byzantium (Constantinople) in what is today Turkey. It was only called the Greek church to differentiate it from the Latin church in Rome... because the language used in the church was Greek. Because it was previously in the Greek-speaking Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. Which is why most Christians in the Ottoman Empire spoke Greek. But they did not think of themselves as all being the same people... that was something that came as a result of Nationalism, which means 18th-20th century.
kalbahamut
+2
Level 82
May 9, 2021
Then all of a sudden these many disparate disjointed people got the idea that they were all the same, and that they should be entitled to self-rule, and that this meant they were being oppressed by being ruled over by some foreigners, and that they ought to have a country somewhere centered around their imaginary homeland, which they decided was the peninsula of Greece... yadda yadda yadda independence movement, war, mass population displacements = new country. Same basic story behind most modern nation-states including North Macedonia, Israel, Italy, etc. Which is why Nationalism was really bad news for the multi-ethnic Ottoman Empire.
KateLanderer
+3
Level 40
May 9, 2021
This has to be one of the most ludicrous posts I've read around here. It seems like a contest to find the most absurd argument. I'm doubting between "The Church is not Greek because it's centered in Byzantium, and the city had been conquered by the Turkish", "they all spoke Greek but they had nothing in common", or "those Greek speaking people thought that their imaginary homeland was the peninsula of Greece" (how random!).
Quizbyquiz
+1
Level 43
Feb 16, 2023
Kalbahamut, Greeks have historically been present in that peninsula for centuries. It's not a random location or a imaginary homeland. Just like the Jews lived in Israel. Greeks have been living on that peninsula for centuries. Just look back all the way to Athens and Sparta. You can't say that Greeks had no ties to the area. Although they were under Ottoman rule for around 400 years, they were still Greeks. Just like the Jews lived in almost every country in Europe, they still were Jewish. Also, like KateLanderer said, you can't say they have nothing in common when they speak the same language, believe the same religion, and live in the same region.
kitsims
+6
Level 82
May 9, 2021
Yep, the source is poorly-written drivel.
Account
+2
Level 59
May 9, 2021
Also, the first time the name is mentioned isn't a correct indicator. In ancient time, Egypt was called 'Kemet' but now is known as "Misr" localy. The terms Iran (Eran), Syria, Arabia, Mauretania and many others are, on the other hand, first mentioned in the roman period or even earlier.
svaerflaesk
+2
Level 67
May 9, 2021
I was expecting Denmark to be on the list as it was established as a unified kingdom in the 9th or 10th century, CE, but perhaps it's left out due to the existence of the Kalmar Union or Dano-Norwegian Realm? Either way, Denmark (and a couple of other countries, Sweden fx) have existed as more-or-less independent countries (at least de jure, perhaps not de facto, but the latter should not be an issue if these other countries in the quiz can be included) from before 1000 CE.
JohnnyYeet
+2
Level 57
May 9, 2021
If you include China, which has broken hundreds of times and was conquered by foreign powers (Japan and the Manchu), Greece, which was under Ottoman rule for centuries, and Egypt, which was colonized and completely changed, you should accept India. The only one out of the three that actually makes sense is Egypt. China and Greece were only called China and Greece by westerners and modern historians. They were divided for most of their history.
kalbahamut
+2
Level 82
May 9, 2021
Egypt was and remains conquered by Arabs... and for a while it was also conquered by the British conquerors on top of the Turkish and Arab conquerors like a colonist turducken. It's also been overrun at various points by Syrians, Ottomans, Christian Crusaders, Persians, Romans, and Greeks. We have no clue what the original Egyptian people were really like - what they looked like, where they were from. and we know only bits and pieces about their culture, religion, language and so on. The people who live along the Nile today aren't them. Not even close. Some of them may potentially have some ancestors in common with them but that's probably true for virtually anyone alive in Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East today, and throughout much of the rest of the world, too.
kalbahamut
+2
Level 82
May 9, 2021
Usually whenever someone says that it makes sense for some ancient people or civilization to be thought of as the same as some contemporary people or nation-state, really all they're doing is confessing to their ignorance. Because in reality NO contemporary people have much at all in common with any people who were alive 1000 years ago. History and reality just don't work that way, as much as we try to force our understanding of these things to do that, because it makes us more comfortable with our small-minded tribal (and probably racist) way of looking at the world.

Anyway it makes no sense to consider India the same as any of the kingdoms pre-Gandhi, either. But it's no less weird than doing that for China or Egypt or anywhere else.

kalbahamut
+2
Level 82
May 9, 2021
This is absurd. The modern-day nation-state of Egypt did not exist in 3500 BC. Nor did Greece in 3000 BC. Or Japan in 660 BC. The only one of these that actually is as old as the quiz says is San Marino. (and maybe Hungary? I doubt it but, I'll be honest, I don't know) If Egypt gets credit for some fabricated and tenuous parallel drawn between the contemporary country and the ancient kingdom of Egypt, which have practically zero things in common apart from their geography, then almost any country on Earth could perform the same exercise and claim descent from some other civilization that existed in roughly the same area at some point in ancient history. Thailand or Cambodia could claim descent from Funan and its antecedants going back to around 2000 BC. Iran to the ancient civilization of Elam so 3200 BC.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
May 9, 2021
Israel could imagine that its history extends back at least to Saul so 1047 BC, or heck why not imaginary Abraham or Moses so into prehistory? Syria could claim the ancient Damascene civilization so that would give them a starting point perhaps as early as 9000 BC. The Lebanese could claim the Phoenicians. And so on and so forth...
Dewot423
+1
Level 64
May 9, 2021
Wasn't the Lucy skeleton from Ethiopia? I believe that gives them several hundred thousand years headstart on anyone else on this list.
XYU
+2
Level 62
May 9, 2021
Well, I liked it!
HansBetaald
+1
Level 69
May 10, 2021
Thank you!
woshiwaiguoren
+2
Level 70
May 9, 2021
Sorry but this unfortunately doesn't pass muster. I hate to pour cold water on a quiz that anybody put work into. But there's no clear justification at all. What would be interesting would be a quiz of the oldest continuously existing polities. For example, France would fail as the kingdom was overthrown, etc., but Thailand would go back hundreds of years as the kingdom remained in existence.
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