Civilization
The Ancient Origins of the Western Oecumene
Civilization
• “An advanced level of social development and organization”
• Oxford Dictionary on-line.
• Civilitas
• The business of being a citizen (civis)
• Civil:
•
•
•
•
Relationships between members of a community.
Civil Law
Civil War
Civil Society – the common interests and collective activity of a community.
Civilization
• Civilization is the structural and institutional representation of
the fact that human beings, homo sapiens, are more successful
when we act in common, rather than in self-interest.
• ‘We are civilized to the extend that our ideas are humane’
• Kurt Vonnegut Jr
https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com
Second Exodus
Ca. 50,000 PB
First exodus;
ca. 70 – 50,000
BP
Tigris R.
Euphrates R.
Migrations from the North East
The Fertile Crescent
Nile River
Edgar et al:
• “A special achievement of the late Paleolithic cultures around
the world was their art” (7).
• “Like ourselves, our Stone Age ancestors sought to account for
the origin of the universe and the meaning of existence” (8)
• What really separates homo sapiens from all other creatures are the abilities to think
in the abstract and to communicate those thoughts.
• “No community could exist or hold together unless rules
governing relations among its members were recognized as
binding upon all” (8)
• “As a general rule, government in these early societies was of a
democratic nature” (8)
The Fertile Crescent
The Neolithic Revolution
• 12,000 – 10,000 BC
• Agriculture
• Figs ca. 11,300 BC
• Cereals ca. 9,000
• Evidence for crops as early as 11,500
• Animals
• Dog
• Cow
14,000 BC or earlier
9,000
• Plow invented ca 4,000 BC
• Goat
• Horse
8,000
3500
Cereal Crops
• Of the 56 best cereal crops on the planet, 32 are
indigenous to the Near East.
• Jared Diamond, 1977. Guns, Germs and Steel
• But so what – other parts of the world had the
same conditions.
• Ferguson, Niall. 2011. Civilization; The West and
the Rest.
Food and Population
• Hunter Gatherers:
• Limited to what grows naturally
• Most of their energy goes to food collection
• Cannot remain in once place
• Agriculturists:
• Able to stay in one place (forced to)
• Much greater food production
• Discretionary energy
Diamond:
• Cereal Crops:
• Increase the consumable calories of one acre of land from .01% to 90% of the
biomass.
• Domestic Animals
• Improve the ratio of protein consumed vs. calories burned
• Produce consumable calories in milk
• Produce fertilizer in manure
Surplus
• In agrarian societies one person can feed a family and produce a
surplus of food without devoting all of his time to the effort.
• Result:
• Specialization of labour
• Development of priest and warrior classes
• Rapid development of arts
Birth Cycle
• Hunter/ Gatherer
• Female cannot produce another offspring until the current offspring
can walk long distances unassisted: 3 – 4 years.
• All members of the tribe participate in acquiring food.
• Agrarian
• Female can produce another offspring as soon as she is fertile.
• Females and children can be exempted from producing food.
McNeill
• McNiell, William H. 1991 (1963). The Rise of the West.
• Agrarianism ends matriarchy by returning primacy to brute
strength.
• Crops dependent upon seasons
• Development of lunar cult
• Communal effort in irrigation
• Theocracy:
• Priests dominate all aspects of culture
• All lands owned by the temple
Earliest Cities
• City:
Habitation
Walls
• Jericho
• Damascus
• Byblos
• Ubaid
• Uruk
• Sidon
9000
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
6800
1400
3100
Catal Huyuk
Biblos
Sidon
Damascus
Jericho
Uruk
Ubaid
Ubaid and Samarran
• ca. 6000 BC
• Lower Tigris Euphrates valleys
• Western slopes of Zagros
• Spread through Fertile Crescent
• Pictographic writing
• Sophisticated irrigation
• Semitic Languages
Ex Oriente Lux
• The cause of our viewpoint:
• “…the East is ours, we are its heirs and claim by right our share
in its inheritance”
• (Max Müller, ‘Inaugural Address’, Transactions of the Ninth
International Congress of Orientalists. 1893
The Occident:
• “…all of the cultures that succeeded to the heritage of ancient
Greece and Rome”
• (Berman, 1983).
Succession of Occidental Empires
England
Germany
France
Spain
Rome
Greece
Assyria
Persia
Law
• The only thing that distinguishes Western civilizations from
others is Property Law.
• Nial Ferguson. 2011. Civilization: The West and the Rest.