From a take on the contemporary world, I see at a glance that the ancient world -more specifically a millennia in the past - were
Barbaric in strictly observable majority.
Oppressed heavily/immorally by dictatorship (and sufferings likewise.)
Extremely innovative and extremely active.
Involved greatly in morally-illicit acts -brow-raiseworthy now - that included but may not be limited to foulplay that included daylight robbery and publicly getting away with murder, and shameful acts that included public-nudity, incest etc.
On the other hand, I've for very long imagined the lack of discipline or social structure, to have been prevalent way before the industrial revolution. But nothing could have been further from the truth. Man has always been a disciplined creature and societal behaviours and ethical and even non ethical patterns have always been a leading factor behind the currently established myrieteris old social structure.