Ancient Civilizations of the World

Lecture 1

Definitions and Theories

Civilization

• Word is derived from Latin civilis, related to civis, meaning citizen.

• Civitas: community or city state.

Webster’s Dictionary: “A relatively high level of cultural and technological development spec. : The level of cultural development at which writing and the keeping of written records is attained.”

Vere Gordon Childe’s Man Makes Himself (1936)

Childe was an Australian archaeologist influenced by Charles Darwin and Karl Marx.

Man Makes Himself was an examination of social evolution largely restricted to Mesopotamia and Egypt.

Childe’s study tended to equate civilization with the appearance of cities, and technological and intellectual developments such as metallurgy, canal irrigation, animal and tree husbandry, ships, writing, mathematics, medicine.

In Childe’s view, the appearance of cities reflected the reorganization of the economy and social order into states, not visa versa.

Childe stressed the role of trade and metallurgy in promoting labor specialization. This, and conquest by invaders, forced farmers to produce a surplus of food.

• Today we acknowledge that quite a number of states have appeared which were non-urban, and which lacked metal and writing systems. Canal irrigation is also not axiomatically associated with state control.

Cities

• A dense agglomeration of people, with populations in the thousands, up to a million.

• There has been a debate in the past as to whether some sites should be considered to have been ceremonial centers (or “regal-ritual” cities - Richard G. Fox) rather than cities. These would be ritual centers lacking a resident population apart from elites and ritual specialists. Fox contrasts these with “administrative cities” - cities with a resident population which exists because of the presence of a monarch or high administrator.

States: physical

• A state is a political system that is recognized by its scale. It possesses an administrative hierarchy of at least three tiers and a settlement hierarchy of at least four tiers:

Administration: Example Carolingian Empire

King/Emperor – Count – Vicar (vicarius)

Settlement: City, Town, Village and Hamlet.

State religion

• A state may be recognized by the presence of uniform religious iconography and architecture, a reflection of ecclesiastical cult institutions (Anthony F.C. Wallace 1966).

Ho-hum. If you’ve seen one Aztec temple, you’ve seen them all.

• States also often mass produce stylistically uniform goods, like pottery, textiles, or weaponry.

• Finally, states often erect morphologically similar buildings within the territories under their control.

Social Institutions of States

• KingshipThe king is leader of a primitive or archaic state.

He is also the head of the royal family, the topmost caste within the social structure of the state.

Castes are ranked, often endogamous social groups that occupy a specialized economic role.

Kings are also the head of the state’s religion, or of a religious cult surrounding kingship.

They are head of the military and are also the head judicial authority.

They have the authority to deprive subjects of their property, and their lives.

Physical Attributes of Kingship

• Royal insignia and regalia.

• Physically isolated royal palaces.

• Royal tombs.

• Stelae.

• Religious centers and monuments built under their patronage.

• Coinage.

• Ritual Homicide (Eli Sagan At the Birth of Tyranny): evidence of human sacrifice in connection with state rituals.

• Attached craft specialists: Patronage of the production of a special , restricted class of goods, or prestige goods. Often these goods are made of exotic materials obtained through long distance trade or conquest.

Other Social Institutions of States

• Taxation – taxes are often paid in staples, as money is absent or dedicated to special purposes, most commonly financing of military.

• Professional warriors and war leaders.

• A system of laws and courts.

Primary and Secondary States

• Primary or “pristine” states are those that arose in the absence of stimulus from other states.

• Secondary states are those that appeared after prolonged contact with other states.

• Scholars in the past have shown greater

interest in the former over the latter.