--- #TODO - **Authoritarian echoes in earliest states:**  Once writing sacralized kings (divine decrees), the model of a **supreme patriarch** ruling clan and state became explicit.  The transcript’s authoritarian families—Koreans, Japanese, early Germans—mirror pharaonic and Mesopotamian courts: absolute rule by eldest‐son lineages, harsh punishments, and rigid social discipline. - The intensification of warfare during this period led to the transition from "cruel bondage states of the bronze age" to "more humane ones of the iron age." Areas with less military competition (like Southeast Asia) maintained more oppressive slave-based systems longer. (Reference: _War in Human Civilization_ by Azar Gat) - Axial Age religious developments gradually changed sexual attitudes, moving away from the more open perspectives of earlier civilizations. This represents an important shift in cultural and spiritual paradigms. (Reference: _The Invention of Yesterday_ by Tamim Ansary) in sumur, first dynastic period due to rivalry over scarce resources led to generals / military / charismatic leadership taking over during wartime, then hereditary. Gilgamesh? (show early relics dedicated in his honour) (ruler of Uruk) - **Ra in Ancient Egypt (circa 2400–2300 BCE):** The Pyramid Texts, among the oldest religious writings, mention Ra, the sun god, indicating his significant role in Egyptian cosmology. - **Teshub in Hurrian Culture (circa 2100 BCE):** Teshub, the Hurrian storm god, appears in inscriptions from the Ur III period. His worship indicates the reverence of storm deities in ancient Near Eastern religions.  - **Baal in Canaanite Religion (circa 1500–1300 BCE):** The Baal Cycle, a collection of Ugaritic texts, details the exploits of Baal, the storm and fertility god. These texts provide insight into the religious practices of the ancient Levant. **The Harsh Realities of Early Civilizations** (Refuting the misconception: "Early Civilizations were Good Places") - **Misconception Addressed:** School education provides a "pleasant view" of ancient Egypt and Sumer, implying they were good places to live. - **Speaker's Counter-Argument:** These early civilizations were "absolutely terrible places to live," best described as "frontier servitude societies." - **Supporting Claims and Reasoning:** - **Coercive Formation:** Civilization in the greater Middle East was not formed willingly. - A drying climate and high population density necessitated cooperation over irrigation. - Control over irrigation canals meant leaders could cut off water to dissenters, making "freedom a joke." - **Brutal Labor and Control:** Regimes maintained control to ensure work on irrigation canals, which was "brutal work." - Egypt was a caste society. - Sumer was a slave society (slaves ~20% of the population by the end of the Babylonian Empire, many wars fought to gain slaves). - Many regional walls existed to "keep the population in rather than barbarians out." - India's caste system formed in this era for similar reasons. - **Inherent Weakness:** - Mesopotamia was "more often than not ruled by some foreign barbarian dynasty." - Middle Kingdom Egypt was defeated by barbarians using bronze weapons and the bow and arrow. - Barbarians often had "better lives and were better fighters." - **Overstated Inventiveness:** - These civilizations had 4,000 years to invent things. - Many inventions attributed to them (e.g., bronze and iron working in the Caucasus, the wheel in modern-day Ukraine) originated elsewhere.