Module 2/3: Archeology & The Middle East Flashcards
Explain the relationship of proximity to complexity in human societies.
New resources let people live in closer proximities, but also call for complexities to grow, as people need to control their growing complex society.
Earliest writing in Mesopotamia
indentations made on soft clay and tablets which hardened
Earliest writing in Egypt
ink on papyrus sheets, made from a plant grown in Egypt
Earliest writing in China
inscriptions on bones and turtle shells
Import of the word “history”
From the Greek word “historia” and called by Herodotus in the fifth century BCE. Closely tied with writing, and thus describes the time period associated with written records
Citizen meaning
people from a town or a larger political unit, such as an empire
Assess the statement: “However they are established, states coerce people through violence or the threat of violence, and develop permanent armies for this purpose.”
The states coerce people to keep their resources safe from the other towns and builds armies, taxes, and more to keep those resources, as well as try to gain them from other towns.
Assess the statement: “However they are established, states coerce people through violence or the threat of violence, and develop permanent armies for this purpose.”
The states coerce people to keep their resources safe from the other towns and build armies, taxes, and more to keep those resources, as well as try to gain them from other towns.
“Written laws and traditions generally create more elaborate social hierarchies.” Why?
Written laws and traditions create division of people between elite groups with more favor under the written law, compared to the common people. These give power to certain groups and establish laws and norms to certain groups.
Distinguish the emphases in the two names ascribed to the process where in the fourth millennium BC, Neolithic villages expanded into cities: “the birth of civilization” or “the growth of the state”
- “the birth of civilization” refers to the birth of cities which depended on food produced by surrounding land, and people carrying other tasks in the city, creating a more complex civilization.
- “the growth of the state” refers to the development of the civilization with divisions of labor, law enforcements, hierarchies, and more.
What factors made urban life possible in Mesopotamia?
Agriculture, religion, irrigation system, gods, laws
Irrigation
supply of water to land or crops for growth
polytheism
belief in or worship of more than one god
cuneiform
Sumerian form of writing; the term describes the wedge-shaped marks made by a stylus.
pictograph
a symbol for a word or phrase, but could not describe abstract ideas
ideogram
signs that represented ideas
Name some of the steps that led to invention of writing
Use clay to keep as counters to record keeping. They developed them into scribes that could have meaning. Followed by pictographs and ideograms.
What is the significance of King Shulgi’s quote?
It signifies how anybody who knew how to write is superior.
Compare the elites, clients, and slaves.
The elites made alliances with other powers, and held extensive tracts of land. The clients worked on the lands and depended on the land, and the slaves were treated like a physical power.
What were Hammurabi’s goals? How did he achieve them?
To establish law and justice in the language of the land, thereby promoting the welfare of the people
What were two characteristics of Hammurabi’s code?
- they called for a variety of punishments for breaking the law
- it favored the elites and higher social classes
What were the primary concerns of Hammurabi’s code?
slander, slavery, planned marriages, theft
What does Enheduana praise about Inanna?
Enheduana praises Inanna’s divinity. The author of the pyramid ascribes the god-king Unas an indestructible spirit.
How did the social position shape their relationship to their gods? What differences do you see in their relationships to the gods in the two works?
Their social position lets them closer to god. Enheduana praises the gods while Unas ascribes them.