World History Blog #3: The Beginning of Ancient Civilizations

Blog # 3: Chapter 2
This chapter discussed how civilizations emerged, how inequalities emerged, the functions of states in the ancient world, and the similarities and differences between Mesopotamia and Egypt.
I understood the hierarchies for the most part. Inequality due to accumulation of resources makes sense to me. What I didn’t understand was the gender inequality back then. Although there were many reasons provided for why many societies developed patriarchal, I still don’t completely understand why it happened. Why would they not give equal value to women? It is true that men had biological advantages at this time because strength was needed for plow-based agriculture and for war, but women provide babies...they provide life and support so I don’t see why that wasn’t held up to equal standard. Everyone had an equal role in my opinion. The book says that some scholars suggest men “assumed responsibility for the higher order of culture” (Streyer 74). But to maintain a culture for a long time (have a legacy) you need to produce more people… so women should have been equally important, right?

Something that interested me particularly was the role of religion in governing the people who lived in these civilizations. It is crazy to think that rulers in the past gained their power through this. They were able to justify social classes and even slavery with this. What god would favor oppression of certain people? That wouldn’t be a very fair god. Did the pharaohs really believe they could control the Nile? I wonder if figures of power really believed in their own divinity and supernatural powers or if they only pretended purely for control. Although I’m criticizing the religion back then, it is important to note that without religion, it may have been nearly impossible to impose control on large numbers of people in the old days unless they used terror. The hierarchies back then may have been a bit unfair, but they helped propel us into the contemporary world where it would be very difficult to live without stable governments. Of course, many governments are now separate from religion, but we could not have seen the benefits of government without the starting point, which was created through the help of religion. With over 7 billion people in the world right now, I can’t imagine how distressing it would be to live without that safeguard.

I also wanted to comment on something briefly mentioned in the chapter: how stories of flooding in Sumerian culture greatly resembles those mentioned in the Bible. This was mentioned in my Frosh Sem class the other week so it really stood out for me. It really shows the intermingling of cultures at the time. It illustrates that beliefs were also exchanged, not just materials for building bigger cities. Like the book says, civilizations did not stand alone. Obviously, it is more efficient to have allies and trading partners than to gather every resource yourself, but the exchange of ideas and culture rather than materials is what really excites me. The influences of this mixing can still be seen today.

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day! :)

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