The definite and zero article with the word "civilization"

Question

Tell me please why the is not used in the first following sentence and is used in the second one.

Ancient egyptian civilization existed for a long time.

The Inca civilization flourished for a long time.

Is the omitted because of the word ancient, or the use of the is optional in both sentences?

The reason seems to be that you have written the sentences this way. Are they quoted from somewhere? Can you provide some context? Can you think of a difference between "The Inca civilization" and "Egyptian civilizations" that can explain the choice of articles? — laugh salutes Monica C, Commented May 6, 2018 at 17:43
civilization is like wealth, happiness and poverty. No article required. If you write: "The Inca civilization", it can be because you are comparing it to "The Mayan one". — Lambie, Commented May 6, 2018 at 18:04
ancient is the specifier there. We also say ancient history is... not The ancient history is... — TimR, Commented May 6, 2018 at 18:59
Laugh: The first sentence is from Crash Course World History. The second one is given by the Cambridge Dictionary — Dmytro O'Hope, Commented May 6, 2018 at 20:14

TimR · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-07 00:05:22Z

When we say

Ancient Egyptian civilization flourished for centuries.

the specifier is "ancient" and "Egyptian" is a modifier. We're not talking about modern Egypt but ancient Egypt and its civilization.

We could do the same with Inca:

Inca civilization flourished for a long time.

Which civilization? Inca civilization.

If we use the definite article:

The Inca civilization flourished ...

we're referring to the aforementioned civilization of the Incas. Most likely the sentence was culled from a paragraph about Inca civilization.

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