The Trade-based State of Harappa and the Rise of Iron Age Civilization

Agriculture on Rain-Watered Lands in Mesopotamia

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Outline

• 1) Akhenaton’s failure• 2) Indus Valley civilization– Trade and equality

• 3) Mesopotamian evolution– New elements in history

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1 Meaning of monotheism

• Akhenaton’s religion of the Sun – the first monotheistic religion

• One God for all people in all parts of the Empire– Historical context: religion of empire

• But the Sun is still animistic, a part of the natural world, – “animistic monotheism” – and so reflects Egypt’s peculiar history

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Akhenaton’s failure

• Memory obliterated• Hostility of priests of old order triumphs• Reflects continued power at local level• Akhenaton’s isolation, pacifism “threatened the

stability of Egypt’s empire.” (Spodek, 78) • But the empire needed a new ideology• Local powers block this evolution• > Decline and final fall of Egypt (see map 135)• Who wins? Mesopotamia or Egypt?

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Opposition to change

• Major losers in Akhenaton’s revolution: priests of different gods, local powers

• But the people too are conservative. – Why change the old beliefs for some remote,

abstract purpose?– Because of the beauty of the poetry, the appeal of

the idea? • Akhenaton is ahead of his time – His concept will later be successful in

Mesopotamia itself5

2 Harappa: Free, Egalitarian Civilization?

• “While Egypt had a state but, perhaps, few cities, Indus valley had cities but no clearly delineated state.” (Spodek, 83)

• “Interpretations of Indus valley artifacts stress the apparent classlessness of the society, its equality, efficiency, and public conveniences.” (Spodek, 82)

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Division of surplus

• Peasant labor divided in two parts– Minimum necessary for survival of peasants: the

poor– Surplus – basis of “civilization”

• Surplus permits – specialization in craft work not directly related to

agriculture– People who do not work productively at all: the

rich• > Division of countryside and city

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Uniqueness of Harappan Society

• Has the technical and cultural features of civilization– Advanced crafts of the city

• Not the social-political features– No sharp class hierarchy, no impoverishment of

peasants– No armed state power: “Government,” not “State”

• Shows that a “state” is not necessary for organization of large populations

• How explain this?

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Herding people at first

• “Over the millennia, people moved down into the plains and river valley. At first, they may have moved into the forested river valley only in the colder months, herding their flocks of sheep and cattle, including the humped zebu, back to the hills for the summer. (cont.)

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They became farmers, and then traders

• “Over time they may have decided to farm the river-watered alluvial lands of the valley. They began to trade by boat along the Indus and even down the Indus into the Arabian Sea and, further, into the Persian Gulf and up the Tigris and Euphrates into Mesopotamia.” Spodek, 80.

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Trade-based Civilization

• 1) Free herding people • 2) become (free) farmers– Maintain mobility: no civilization trap– Mesopotamia: farmers versus herders

• 3) and traders (merchants)• 4) Wealth from – 1) river-valley plains as in Mesopotamia

• But agricultural surplus is kept by Indus valley peasants– 2) trade: surplus from peasants in other states

• 5) = freedom, equality for local peasantry11

Interpretations

• “Some interpreters view these qualities [classnessness, etc.] negatively, equating them with oppressively rigid governments and drab lives. While some scholars emphasize that the Harappans apparently survived and prospered for centuries, others argue that the cities changed little over long periods of time and lacked the dynamism of the cities in Mesopotamia and Egypt.” Spodek 83.

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Two ways of looking at it

• 1) “oppressively rigid governments and drab lives” – Note: “governments” not “states” – What kind of government?

• 2) or preservation of ancient liberty?– i.e., community remains in control– No seizure of surpluses by elites

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Alternative paths• Dominant path: hierarchical state– In Mesopotamia: constant war between city-states

leads to faceless bureaucratic State– In Egypt: breakdown, invasion > Empire

– But insufficiently imperial: no unifying belief system• Alternative: Indus Valley preserves ancient

equality• While incorporating the technical advances of

civilization• it avoids the social and political aspects of civilization• = the U theory of history, ahead of its time?• Or the \ (reverse slash) theory?

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Causes of “dynamism”

• = Two paths of historical development: – Forced unity through war– Free cooperation (thanks to wealth from trade)

• Advanced technology with greater social equality is possible• But not for long. • Indus Valley society dies out (or was it destroyed

by invaders?)

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3 New Elements in History

• 1) From bronze age to iron age: – New material technology

• 2) Growing trade between societies– New social elements: merchants

• 3) From hieroglyphics to the alphabet: – New mental technology

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Third Agricultural Revolution

• >Evolution of agriculture: – 1) simple hoe agriculture (slash and burn) – 2) irrigation state – 3) agriculture on rain-watered land (animal drawn

iron “scratch plow”)

• Two ways in which revolution takes place– 1) Within the old system > Persian empire – 2) Outside the old world: As an independent way

of life > Greece, Rome17

Dynamics of Mesopotamian Civilization

• Basic dynamics due to divisions of city-states– Connected to geographical conditions– Creation of centralized bureaucratic state– Progressive expansion through wars

• New technological development: shift from bronze to iron– How will this impact the established pattern?

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Effects of the Iron Age

• Begins about 1000 BC in Egypt and Mesopotamia (83)– Hittite invention (territory of present-day Turkey)

(map 134)• High cost of producing bronze from copper and

tin—only possible for the rich• Iron ore is abundant, cheaper• > From power of aristocracy to power of

peasants• > Freedom from irrigation state control

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Explanations of Irrigation States

• 1) Technological assistance for irrigation• 2) Need for defense• 3) Religion• 4) Forced exploitation of peasant surpluses by

powerful elites

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1) Iron-age agriculture

• Can take water from the sky, free of charge– No need for State to organize irrigation

• Can leave “civilization trap” of Mesopotamia

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2) Self-defense and increasing violence by the state

• Peasants can defend themselves against herders with iron weapons

• Choice for State: – 1) let them go; – 2) use force to stop them

• >State becomes increasingly oppressive to its own people– Assyria pushes the Faceless Centralized

Bureaucratic State system to extreme

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3) Religion• Anthropomorphic polytheism: the people are

slaves of the gods• Displaces freedom of animistic religion

• Iron age agriculture on rain-watered lands offers freedom to peasants

• Do they stay slaves of the old order, and remain in place?

• Or do they seek independence, and become open to new beliefs that support desire for freedom?• Is religious revolution in the air?

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4) Response of the Assyrian State

• Intensified violence of Assyria (860-650)– Forced deportations of peoples– The lost 10 tribes of Israel (721 BCE)–= intensification of Faceless Bureaucratic

Centralized State• = > Carries warfare against local powers to

extreme

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People Fight Back

• Destruction of Ninevah (612 BCE)– By united front of Babylonians, Scythians, Medes

• Babylon continues Assyrian policies– Destruction of the Jewish temple (586 BCE)– “Babylonian captivity”

• > Welcome Persian conquest: see map 135– Note: Persians defeat Egypt

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Cyrus the Shepherd, the Great

• Cyrus the Shepherd (nomadic herder) creates new more decentralized, moderate regime– Allows local bureaucracies to continue– Toleration toward local religions

• Recall role of Enkidu in Gilgamesh• “Cyrus’ legend had grown so great that the

Babylonians welcomed their new foreign king without even giving battle.” – (Spodek, 3rd edition, 134-5; paragraph dropped

from 4th)26

New Religion of Empire: Zoroastrianism

• Cyrus, Darius adopt Monotheism of Zoroaster (630-553)– One God of Light/goodness (Ahurah Mazda)– fighting a separate power of Evil, darkness (Ahriman) – Recall Akhenaton’s Aton, the Sun, which sets at night– History is a conflict > Final victory of the Light, the Good

• See p. 273 re world religions today – Zoroastrians = Parsis of India

• Friedrich Nietzsche: Thus Spoke Zarathustra

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Influence on Judaism

• Restoration of the temple in the Bible:– “[The Lord] says of Cyrus, – ‘He is My shepherd, – and he shall perform all My pleasure,’ – saying to Jerusalem, ‘You shall be built,’ – and to the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be

laid.’” • Isaiah (44:28)

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Influence on Christianity?

• “God is Light and in Him is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5)

• Three wise men, “Magi”– = Priests of Zoroaster: the magha or maga, known

to the Greeks as the magi

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Monotheism as religion of empire

• 1) Animism (of Persian nomads)• 2) Anthropomorphic polytheism (of Mesopotamia) • 3) (Animistic) monotheism (of new Persian State)– Ethical religion of Light versus Darkness– Moral good versus evil

• Repeats Egyptian pattern of Akhenaten, but more successfully. Why?– Recall: Akhenaten was ahead of his time. – His revolution was based on poetic intuition, not

the urgency of practical life

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Advantages of New Religion• Advantages for Persians– Old animism is place related– Conquering Persian rulers leave old places– So open to new belief in a God of Light– Preserves animistic (naturalistic) character

• Advantages for Mesopotamians: – Old Mesopotamian gods are arbitrary, oppressive, – not ethical (recall explanation of the Flood)– Desire for freedom on rain-watered lands > openness to a

freer religion

• I.e., practical urgency for a new belief system31

Failure or Victory for Iron Age Mesopotamian Peasants?

• 1) Seek complete freedom on rain-watered lands

• 2) Provoke intensified violence of Assyrians• 3) Final result: moderate rule of Persia• > Great power of Persia dominates vast

territory (map, 135)• > Confronts new iron age city-states of Greece

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