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First Civilizations: Cities, States, and Unequal Societies

First Civilizations: Cities, States, and Unequal Societies. AP World History Mr. Colden Fall 2013. Question of Origins. Developed from earlier competing chiefdoms Why some Chiefdoms? Argument 1: Argument 2: Argument 3: All first civilizations relied on highly productive agriculture.

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First Civilizations: Cities, States, and Unequal Societies

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  1. First Civilizations:Cities, States, and Unequal Societies AP World History Mr. Colden Fall 2013

  2. Question of Origins • Developed from earlier competing chiefdoms • Why some Chiefdoms? • Argument 1: • Argument 2: • Argument 3: • All first civilizations relied on highly productive agriculture

  3. The Erosion of Equality • Hierarchies of Class • First civilizations had vast inequalities in wealth, status, and power • New levels of inequality represent one of the major turning points in the social history of human kind • Upper Classes: • Free population = vast majority of population • Slaves at the bottom level

  4. The Erosion of Equality • Hierarchies of Gender • Civilizations everywhere undermined earlier more equal relationships between men and women • Emergence of Patriarchy • AGR based on plow and large dairy herd favored men • Declining position of women was a product of growing social complexity • David Christian • Association of women with nature at a time when mankind was conquering nature • Warfare contributed to Patriarchy • Assure inheritance by Father’s offspring

  5. The Erosion of Equality • Patriarchy in Practice • Gerda Lerner: emergence of Patriarchy in Mesopotamia • Women divided into 2 categories • Written law codes codified Patriarchal family life • Powerful goddess of Mesopotamia gradually replaced by male deities • Egyptian Patriarchy • Greater opportunities than in most 1st Civilizations • Royal women occasionally held political power • Egyptian statues and love poetry suggest affection between sexes

  6. Rise of the State • Coercion and Consent • The state fulfilled a variety of roles in coordinating and regulating 1st civilizations • State served the needs of the upper classes by: • State frequently used force to secure its will • BUT force wasn’t always necessary because it claimed its authority was normal, natural, and ordained by gods • Remember Why We Study History? by Stearns

  7. Rise of the State • Writing and Accounting • Writing sustained 1st cultures • Writing also served functions beyond state • Grandeur of Kings

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