Urban-based early river civilizations became more and more common about 2000 B.C.E. These civilizations built up their cities and did commerce in a city center. In contrast, pastoral and nomadic societies tended to wander from place to place, settling briefly. Even in their longer stays, specifically in pastoral societies, whole cities never got constructed. Both of these common early society types had some similarities and many diversities when it came to gender relations, economic developments, and political organization.
To start off, gender relations varied between urban-based civilizations and pastoral or nomadic societies. Urban-based civilizations, with the development of social classes, also contracted gender inequities. Men often
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In urban-based civilizations, trade tended to usually be local. Although many accounts exist that demonstrate far distances traveled for civilizational trade, the majority stayed closer to home. The production of multiple types of goods and crops made it a little bit easier to stay closer to home. In nomadic societies, trade took them around the world and back. Their lives consisted of travel day in and day out. Trade with foreign civilizations became a must, and with their ever changing locations and climates for their own crops and herds led them to a greater need for less local trade. In terms of general economic growth, the urban civilizations most likely grew more in their funds base. With an already established ‘home’ and city centers, habits arose. This led to a net increase in the financial department. Nomadic societies didn’t have a fixed income or habitual economic patterns. This idea, however, changes from group to group, so nothing stands for certain since every nomadic/pastoral society ran a little …show more content…
Politics and governmental processes distributed and organized themselves in urban civilizations. A ruling hierarchy existed along with social classes. People managed funds, took charge of large projects, passed laws, ordered courts, and kept records. The government kept everybody in check and political organization stood firm. Nomadic pastoral societies had somewhat of a lack in this political structuralism. This partly falls on having no urban settlement with governmental buildings or villages with personal property. Leaders and other ‘government’ officials had jobs and took charge, but no official organization prevailed. This fluid form of political structure might have a part in the reasons for less social inequities. A huge variance between urban-based civilization and nomadic societies shows much about the two lifestyles.
In culmination, the nomadic and pastoral societies demonstrate definite contrasts with the urban-based civilizations. Looking at gender relations, economic growth, and political organization alone paints a vivid image of the striking differences between these two ancient society types, as well as the commonalities they share. Understanding these concepts remains crucial to our understanding of the ancient way of life and how it can affect us
Gates, Charles. Ancient Cities: The Archaeology of Urban Life in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece, and Rome. London: Routledge, 2003. Print.
The chief was greatly respected and his person was sought whenever someone wanted to leave the village. The chief presided over religious functions ad ceremonies in the community. The post of the chief was hereditary. In these cities, monogamy was treasured and heads of monogamous families formed a union from which they controlled the rest in the farming exercise.
Gender roles have been a predominant factor in our world since the early emergence of human societies whether they are positive or negative. They are based on expectations that societies have over the people in them. The Epic of Sunjata, shows us how men and women are treated almost equally in different forms. Women are praised for their ability to birth leaders, which is similar to the early Greek Society. In most societies, women are treated less equal than men. This was prevalent in the early Indian society. No matter the gender role, it has been shown that any society cannot survive without both men and women.
Most classical society’s political and social organization revolved around the idea of patriarchy, a male dominated social system. This system exacerbated the inherit difference between men and woman and assigned gender roles based on these observations. Men were generally regarded as superior to woman therefore given greater religious and political roles as well as more legal rights. As the natural inverse, women were subordinated and seen as week; their main roles reproductive and domestic. Information about patriarchy in the classical era, though abundant, was, for the most part, written by men, therefore history does not give us an accurate depiction of women’s viewpoints. Four societies of the classical era, India, China, Greece, and Rome, adopted a patriarchal system, however, due to many factors, each developed identifiable characteristics.
What was life like prior to civilization? Why did nomadic people not need laws but Mesopotamians did? Was the first code of laws and leaderships the most justifiable way to move a civilization towards a permeant settlement? Before erecting and forever placing society into what it is today, there was no known leaders or true since of morality. Why was the “creation” of a leader needed for a society? Hammurabi, The Pharaohs, and God were the essential leaders that were needed to create, maintain, and enforce their beliefs on their civilizations. By implementing their beliefs society was livable, but was there unprecedented repercussions with their ideology of leadership and civilization? Or was there reward in terms of advancement for a civilizations’ cultural enhancements?
Stephen Shennan's concern with how non-state agrarian societies have been characterized by archaeological studies in the past is well founded. Characterizing (and categorizing) non-state societies as stepping-stones evolving into future states is an outdated approach to these studies. The approach he proposed would focus on our understanding the archaeological record as the remains of social practices, rather than generalized social institutions. He refers to Bourdieu's theory of practice, and stresses the need to ground social archaeology in the micro-scale of day-to-day activities in our analyses. The study of long-term change, patterns of inequality, domination and resistance can be investigated through statistical analysis of the distributions of outcomes.
The Nile and Indus River Valley civilizations were both unique civilizations in their own way in comparison. Yet despite being separated by thousands of miles there are similarities in these two ancient civilizations. It is seen that amongst ancient civilizations, rivers are fundamental for them to prosper and provide for a relatively stable society for which a people can grow and develop. There are general similarities with pinpoint differences as well as general differences with pinpoint similarities. Both civilizations have left their influence on human civilization and history, with their unique characteristics of their religion, way of life, social classes, cultures, technological advancements, government systems, rulers and notable
The First Civilizations of the world were the stepping-stone into modern society, and the original basis as to what our modern society has become. Reading through the assigned text in Ways of the World: A Brief Global History by Robert W. Strayer, in the chapter titled “First Civilizations: Cities, States, and Unequal Societies”, the reader is introduced into what evolved into the world in which we currently live in. (Please note that the writer will be referring to text from Strayer’s 2011 edition of the text, in comparison to the modern version.) The entire chapter discusses the way that the civilizations emerged, as well as how equality was eventually diminished from the society, Mesoamerica, and the six civilizations themselves: Olmec, Norte Chico, Nile Valley, Mesopotamia, Indus Valley, and China. The chapter begins with asking, the general questions: “Who? What? When? Where? Why?” Giving a brief history, the first civilizations began to rise in the time period of 3500 B.C.E. and 3000 B.C.E. in the three most geographically historic regions in the world: The Middle East, Sumer, and Egypt. These places consisted of cities, political systems, and were responsible for economic input and output.
Prior to the use of agriculture, life was extremely different for women. The information that historians have obtained is limited, but there are certain aspects of Paleolithic society that have been discovered and point towards a more liberal lifestyle for women. Generally, a woman’s job was to gather food and tend to her children while her male counterpart hunted. These simple divisions allowed both men and women to play significant roles in hunter-gatherer society, which further allowed women to be held in equal if not greater esteem then men. According to Elisabeth Gaynor Ellis and Anthony Elser, authors of World History: Connections to Today, women also held...
Kishlansky, Mark, Patrick Geary and Patricia O'Brien. Civilization in the West, Combind Volume, Seventh Edition. New York: Longman, 2008.
McKay, J/P/, Hill, B.D., Buckler, J., Ebrey, P.B., Beck, R.B., Crowston, C.H., & Wiesner-Hanks, M.E. (2008). A History of World Societies, Volume A: From Antiquity to 1500. New York, NY: Bedford/St. Martin's
Early civilizations have strikingly similar political and social structures. Also, one cannot help notice the similarity in their geographical locations as well as their religious beliefs. However, there are key differences between various early civilizations in terms of religion and their socio-political setups. Below is a description of some of the similarities and differences between the early Indus (Indian) civilization and the early Egyptian civilization based on their key geographical features and religious beliefs.
Early in Sumerian civilization, eighty to ninety percent of those who farmed did on land they considered theirs rather than communal property. The Sumerians indicated a trend that was common among others....
Question: Describe how ancient civilizations emerged in various parts of the world, developed into powerful and influential states, and then declined over time.
A government was required to lead the people and aid in organizing a city. City governments were far more powerful than the council of elders and local chiefs of farming villages. At first, Priest probably had the greatest. In time, warrior kings came to power as chief political leaders. They soon set themselves up as the chief hereditary ruler and passed their power from father to son. Governments soon became more complex as rulers issued laws, collected taxes, and organizes systems of defense. To enforce order, rulers relied on royal officials. Over time, government bureaucracies evolved. Almost always rulers claimed their power came from god or divine right. These rulers then gained religious power as well.