Kenoyer- Mesopotamia

City States

A Flexible General Model: state system centered on a capital city or town; small integrated territory or hinterland; small overall population; political independence; relative economic self-sufficiency; perceived ethnic distinctiveness; occur in groups of fairly evenly space units or approximately equivalent size

Power vs Authority

Power – the ability to influence the behavior of others – depends on force or coercion – ideological,

economic, political or military

Authority – ability to influence others , without the use of force or the threat of force

The STATE does not always have AUTHORITY, but if it does not have POWER it cannot function

Four Major Preconditions for the development of the state level society and urbanism

1. Diversity of the Subsistence Base and Resource Variability, Which Have the Potential for Production of Surplus

2. The Development of Social and Economic Interaction Networks between Major Ecosystems and Resource Areas.

3. Technological Capability to Fill Specific Needs of Urban and State-Level Society

4. Differentiation in Status on the Basis of Access to Essential Resources and the Ability to Control Distribution of Essential Resources.

Types of power

Ideological, economic, political, military

Literacy and power

1) Restrictions on writing, access to texts and interpret them

2) text legitimize dead and spoken words

Eras of urbanism

1) Regionalization Era

2) Integration

3) Early dynastic period

Mesopotamia

Iraq and Kuwait, with links to Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel,

Iran

Urbanism

1) large and dense population (diverse ethnic component)

2) complexity and interdependence (economic, social and ritual)

3) formal and impersonal organization ( non kin related control mechanisms)

4) many non-agricultural related activities ( administration, trade, crafts, ritual)

5) diversity of central serviced for both the inhabitant and the surrounding hinterland (technological, ritual and administrative.)

Mesopotamia- Regionalization Era

Eridu, Uruk

At the end of Humid Phase→ increase of population

1) normal population growth, 2) migration of agriculturists from the north,

3) settling down of nomads and pastoralists from the desert fringes.

Algaze’s (2018) theories

Early cities would not have been viable over the long term and could

not have grown without a continual flow of immigrants

Mesopotamia-Integration Era

Sumerian Theocracy and early Kingship, early CITY

STATES, mud brick platforms called ziggurats with several temples on top, 4 tier settlement

system - reflects 4 tier administrative hierarchy = state level, socio-political organization

Mesopotamia-Early Dynastic Period

Sumerian Monarchies, at least 2 dozen major

City States, endemic warfare, writing.

Mesopotamia-Ideological Control

Temple – home of the god or goddess – Pantheon was shared throughout southern Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia-Political Control

Kingship (lugal) – single or multiple kings and queens, alliances with other cities to control and conquer territory, water access, trade, labor, etc.

Mesopotamia-Military Control

Warfare, weapons and fortifications, evidence from archaeological remains, architecture and depictions in art/propaganda

- captives used to dig canals and maintain agricultural land, build city walls etc.

Mesopotamia-Economic Control

– tithing and taxation

- trade of exotic goods used to reinforce status and power, and local crafts were stimulated to create substitute goods when imported goods were not available.

Mesopotamian Writing - Seals, Tokens, Tablets

Type, reason, Who, development

Proto-Cuneiform- 3500-2800 BCE influenced proto-Elamite in Iran and was the foundation of Cuneiform writing system in Mesopotamia – pictographic script with logographic meaning and numerical-metrological signs

The earliest Proto-cuneiform written tablets appear around 3500 to 3300 BCE

Cuneiform (cuneus = wedge) - term to define script that is used to write many different languages, Sumerian, Akkadian, Elamite, Old Babylonian, Assyrian, Ugaritic, Old Persian, etc.

Writing was first used for accounting, rationing and bureaucratic administration

Writing - done by male scribes or eunuchs - no indication of women scribes, (but women used cylinder seals and had economic and political power over texts)

By 2500 BCE writing had become standardized - cuneiform symbols were logographic, syllabic, phonetic or ideograms (symbols that express concepts of objects).

By 2350 BCE the script had been reduced from +2000 signs to around 600-700 signs

Gender Issues in Mesopotamia

Patriarchal society with Men - dominant, Women - less powerful

Other - eunuchs, transvestites, homosexuals, children, old people - least powerful

Temple hierarchy- women appointed to temples by men or family as naditu women (owned land and wealth)

Enheduanna - daughter of Sargon, high priestess of the moon god Nanna at Ur and possibly the sky god Anu at Uruk - allowed Sargon to control the southern cities

Akkadian Period: 2350 (2371) -2200 (2150) BCE

FIRST EMPIRE, Sargon of Akkad

(Agade), son of a priestess and pastoral-nomad, north central Mesopotamia, Semitic

speaking rulers, conquered sources of raw materials, traded with adjacent regions,

integrated trade system - Naram Sin - grandson of Sargon - took on the title of god-king,

offended the gods, eventually the Akkadian empire collapsed