The Birth of the State Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and China Petr Charvát Reviewed by: Prof. PhDr. Jan Bouzek, DrSc. Prof. PhDr. Jaroslav Malina, DrSc. From the Czech original Zrození státu, published by Karolinum Press in 2011, translated by Daniel Morgan Edited by Martin Janeček Graphic design by Zdeněk Ziegler Illustrations by Dagmar Hamsíková and Kateřina Řezáčová Typeset by DTP Karolinum Press First English edition © Charles University in Prague, 2013 © Petr Charvát, 2013 Translation © Daniel Morgan, 2013 ISBN 978-80-246-2214-9 ISBN 978-80-246-2328-3 (pdf) Charles University in Prague Karolinum Press 2013 http://www.cupress.cuni.cz CONTENTS Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 ANCIENT EGYPT The Natural Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 The Roots and Origin of All Things: The Productive Economy In Egypt (Neolithic Age, ca . 5500–4500 BC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 The Chalcolithic Age or Building Inequality: The Badari Culture (4500–3800 BC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Embryonic Signs of the State: Naqada I, II and III (4th millenium BC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 The embryos of cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Social differentiation: the elite and the others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Egyptian society of the pre-state period in burial rituals . . . . . . . 38 Lower Egypt: Between the Pharaoh and the Red Sea . . . . . . 41 Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Settlements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Burials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Beyond everyday borders: contact with Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Confronting the Enemy: Nubia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 The Burial of the Famous and Powerful in the Northern Part of Upper Egypt: Abydos . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Burial Grounds Of The Southern Kingdom of Upper Egypt: An Elite Burial Site In Hieraconpolis . . . . . 53 “Simple” Egyptians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 The Dawn Of The Egyptian Writing System . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 The Birth of the Egyptian State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Stabilization of the Early Egyptian State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Characteristics of the Early Egyptian State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA The Natural Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 The Dawn of a More Advanced Social Structure (the Halaf culture, 6000–5000 BC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Early Historiography: Susa at the Close of the 5th Millenium BC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Mausoleum of Susa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Painted pottery of Susa: the people and their communities . . . . . . 87 Painted pottery of Susa: the people and their work . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Painted pottery of Susa: deities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Painted pottery of Susa: Why? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Susa at the Dawn of the Uruk Period:First Reports from the Creation of the State (early 4th millenium BC) . . . . . 97 The sacral face of the age: activating fertility powers . . . . . . . . 100 The secular face of the age: building, protection, tradition . . . .102 Sumer, the Southern Part of Mesopotamia: While This Was Happening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Activating the potential of fertility powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Writing! Writing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107 The enchantment of cylinder seals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109 “You will not be like gods” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Behold, Civilization: the Greater Community of the Late Periodof Uruk Culture (3500–3200 Bc) – En, Nin, Nameshda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112 Economy: redistribution prevails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116 Spiritual and political leaders: EN, NIN, NAMESHDA . . . . . .118 Innovations at the dawn of the 3rd millenium BC: LUGAL, NIN, NAMESHDA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122 The wise Owl of Minerva flies at dusk: the crisis of the 27th century BC and what came of it – LUGAL, ENSI, EN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125 2 “The End of the Beginning”: The Sumerian State at the Close Of The Early Dynastic Period (ca . 2500–2334 BC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130 The king and his court . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130 The powerful and revered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Careful and resourceful . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138 “He who shackles slaves…” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143 ANCIENT INDIA The Natural Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Prehistoric Beginnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 The Preparatory Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160 The Proto-Indian Culture (2500–1900 BC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163 Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 City life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .167 Mohenjo-daro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169 Harappa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175 Towns and cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .178 Rural life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 A state organism? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .181 The spiritual culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186 The Demise of Proto-Indian Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .198 ANCIENT CHINA The Natural Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Prehistoric Beginnings: “Mesolithic-Neolithic” – Hunters,Gatherers And Farmers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 The Neolithic Period in southern China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 The Chalcolithic Period (We Are No Longer All Equal) . . .217 China’s Northern Regions during the Chalcolithic Period . . . . 224 The Beginnings of the State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227 The Traditional Interpretation of Chinese History . . . . . . . . . . 227 The Erlitou Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 In the cities and peripheral areas of the first state . . . . . . . . . . .230 Zhengzhou . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233 Anyang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .234 Western Zhou . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .237 The Economy of the First Chinese State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 Characteristics of the Oldest Chinese State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .244 A state arises from kinship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .247 What followed? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 What the elite took with them on their journey to the next world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 The spiritual world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .253 HOW THEN IS A STATE BORN? First, a Brief Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .267 Subsistence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .270 Craft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .274 Trading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .276 Settlements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .278 Burials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 Organizational centers of the Chalcolithic societies and their facilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .290 Courtiers of the first rulers: clever, resolute and foresighted . . .291 Courtiers of the first rulers: those who speak with the gods . . . 295 Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .295 Sumer and Akkad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .296 What was the deification of the Mesopotamian rulers like? . . . . . . 297 India and China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .300 Three social estates and the birth of the state . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301 Metaphysics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .305 The human world, space, time and their nature . . . . . . . . . . . . .305 The non-human world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .308 Is the world around us composed of the elements? . . . . . . . . . .310 Powers of the overworld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .311 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .315 Appendix: the State in Trouble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317 Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317 Mesopotamia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322 India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .327 China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .347