From Horticulture to Hammurabi: Foundations of Civilization

Transition from Horticulture ➜ Agriculture

• Ice Age ends → humans confront new climates & environments.

• Horticulture = small-scale gardening with simple hand tools (hoe, digging stick).

  • Core skill: domestication (control the reproduction of plants & animals).

  • Techniques:

  • "Save seeds from the best plants, re-sow next year."

  • Selective breeding of animals → only mate the “ideal” stock.

• Outcomes of horticulture

  • Self-sufficiency for household plots.

  • Population growth is slow but steady.

  • Example: Family of 4 can grow food for ≈5 people ⇒ net gain $+1\;\text{person / yr}$.

  • Settled villages form, but no large towns.

• Agriculture = intensified food production using animal power & plow.

  • Discovery: seeds germinate best in loosened soil.

  • Invention of the plow (1st major tech) + draft animals.

  • 1 farmer + 1 ox can prepare fields that once required many people.

  • Rule-of-thumb ratio: $1\;\text{farmer} \Rightarrow 100\;\text{eaters}$.

  • Explosion of surplus → food > immediate needs.

  • Positive feedback loop: surplus → bigger population → more labor → even more surplus.

From Surplus to Cities

• Three pillars enabling civilisation:

  1. Large, settled population.

  2. Agricultural surplus.

  3. Complex economy (division of labour & trade).

• Surplus dilemma

  • Food rots ⇒ value decays daily.

  • Need to move or trade surplus quickly.

• Birth of the economy

  • Private property emerges: “My cleared field = mine.”

  • Land = wealth → rise of landed aristocracy.

  • Non-farm specialists (toolmakers, potters, basket-weavers) trade with farmers.

  • Town marketplace becomes economic hub → evolves into the city.

  • Essential trait: city imports food; filled with buildings, not fields.

The Three Economic Levels (plus a glimpse of the 4th)

• Primary economy = agriculture (food production).

• Secondary economy = manufacturing (tools, crafts) that supports the primary.

• Tertiary economy = services (food prep, housing, clothing, restaurants) that support the secondary.

• Quaternary idea (education/science/religion) mentioned but not yet fully formed in early period.

Need for Security → Invention of Government

• Threat: neighbouring settlements with crop failures may raid surplus.

• Collective solution: fund a professional military.

• Three foundational components found in every government ever since:

  1. Military – provides protection.

  2. Taxation – gathers resources to pay for protection.

  3. Bureaucracy – administrators who collect taxes & pay military.

• Participation Question answer: Original purpose of government = provide security/protection to the city & its food supply.

Written Word: Accounting Before Literature

• Problem: without receipts, a farmer might be taxed twice.

• Bureaucrats invent marks on clay tablets as tax receipts.

• Writing begins as economics software for governments.

Civilisation Checklist (Chronological Triggers)

1. Intensified agriculture.

2. Surplus food.

3. Population boom ⇒ towns ⇒ cities (root civitas = city).

4. Multi-level economy.

5. Government (military, taxes, bureaucracy).

6. Writing to manage it all.

Mesopotamia: Geography & Tech

• Region = Fertile Crescent (modern Iraq/Syria). Natural abundance ⇒ early experimentation.

• By $5000\,\text{BCE}$ agriculture spreads beyond core; southern zone is drier.

• Innovation: irrigation canals connect rivers to far fields → sustains bigger populations.

First Known City: Uruk

• Dates: ca. $4000–3200\,\text{BCE}$; earliest urban centre yet discovered.

The Sumerian Civilisation

• Cluster of independent walled city-states in southern Mesopotamia.

• Shared culture → labelled Sumer (S U M E R).

Social Structure

• King (originally war-chief) at apex.

• Royal family → high offices.

• Priests (early scientists) – interpret world, advise king.

• Nobles / large landowners – pay bulk of taxes.

• Artisans & labourers – farm tenants & city craftsmen.

• Slaves – often temporary, debt-based; work until obligation repaid.

Economy Levels Extended

• 4th-Level emerges: priestly & scholarly class studying nature ⇒ polytheistic explanations (many gods for forces like sun, rain, night, fire).

Writing Evolution

• Started as pictographs (draw a sheaf for “wheat”).

  • Ambiguities: ☀ could mean sun, day, light.

• Scribes invent cuneiform (wedge-shaped strokes that convey syllables & concepts).

  • Requires 5–6 yr training → literacy = elite status.

Northern Challenge: The Akkadian Empire

• Sargon of Akkad (~$2300\,\text{BCE}$) conquers several Sumerian cities.

• Creates first recorded empire – loosely unified network of city-states.

Babylon & Hammurabi

• Babylon rises (location ≈ modern Iraq).

• King Hammurabi consolidates power.

• Governance innovation: Hammurabi’s Code (first comprehensive written law).

  • Tall black stone pillars display laws publicly.

  • Even if populace is illiterate, pillars symbolise omnipresent authority.

  • Laws act as “remote king,” guiding behaviour without direct oversight.

Ethics, Philosophy & Practical Implications

• Surplus ⇒ inequality (landowners vs. landless) ❯ early debates on fairness.

• Taxation & debt slavery raise moral issues that echo into modern discussions of economic justice.

• Written law signals shift from personal rule to rule of law – a foundational political philosophy.

Numbers & Ratios Mentioned

• Family self-sufficiency: $4 \; \text{people} \rightarrow \text{food for }5$.

• Plow efficiency: $1\;\text{farmer} + 1\;\text{animal} \approx 100\;\text{mouths fed}$.

• Time markers:

  • Irrigation spread outside Crescent by $5000\,\text{BCE}$.

  • Sargon’s conquests $\approx2300\,\text{BCE}$.

Reminders & Course Logistics

• Participation Question B ➜ answer = Government originally exists to protect agricultural surplus (city security).

• Assignment #1: Read “Hammurabi’s Code” primary source (Textbook > Global Themes & Sources > Ch 3).

  • Submit answers to 3 questions via Week 2 folder.

• Week 3 materials & first quiz open next Monday.