First CivilizationsCities, States, and Unequal Societies

Stonehenge 2500 BCE

What can you assume about this society??

“To produce works like these, a civilization needed…”

Pyramids at Giza Harappa

When and where did the first civilizations emerge? What accounts for initial breakthrough to civilization? What was the role of cities in the early civilizations? In what ways was social inequality expressed in early

civilizations? What are some explanations for the origins of

patriarchy? What were the sources of state authority in the first

civilizations?

A. Emergence of Civilization

1. Civilization was a global phenomenon2. Earliest civilizations

1. 3500-3000 BCE-Sumer, Mesopotamia 2. Nile River Valley, Egypt3. 3000-2000 BCE-Indus Valley, present day Pakistan4. 2200 BCE- First Chinese Dynasty

3. Relied on highly productive agriculture4. Population density created competition less land

available, losers absorbed as lower class5. Urban revolution

1. Cities at the heart of the first civilizations (political, economic, and cultural centers)

2. Greater specialization led to inequality

B. Erosion of Equality1. Hierarchies of class

1. Vast inequalities in wealth, status, and power2. Major turning point in history

1. Upper class: greater wealth, avoided physical labor, finest goods, top political, military, and religious positions, distinguished by clothing, burials, treatment under the law

2. Free commoners: majority of population: artisans, lower-level officials, soldiers and police, servants, and farmers

3. Slaves: POWs, criminals, debtors, work in fields, mines, shops, sometimes sacrificed, varied from place to place, differed from American slavery (children of slaves were free, not primarily agricultural force,, not defined by race or color of skin)

Sumerian Classes

Standard of Ur

War Peace

2. Hierarchies of Gendera) Undermined earlier, more equal relationshipsb) Patriarchy gradually emerged in first civilizationsc) More intensive agriculture plows and large herdsd) Product of growing social complexity

Men less important to household=available to assume power

Used authority to shape values and practices=benefits males at expense of females

Increased warfare Association of women with nature due to reproduction Private property and commerce--> female slaves,

concubines, and wives part of exchange

C. The Rise of States1. States central to stability of civilizations2. Coercion and consent

1. Coordinated and organized: public works, defense2. Served upper class: protection of privileges, requirements of

farmers to give up portion of products, demanding labor3. Force when needed but no always needed ordained by

GODS known as DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS3. Writing and accounting

1. Accurate records, calendars, prestigious job for elite, standardize weights, propaganda

2. Functions beyond state: literature, philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, and history

4. Grandeur of kings1. Source of authority, temples, dress, elaborate burials