Strayer 3, Foundational Civilizations

23/5/2015

Alyssa Cooper

23/8/2015 05:23:16

Here is my take on Margin question: What were the sources of state authority in the First Civilizations?

The sources, or the things that caused state authority in the first civilizations were the need for these populous areas to have some regulation to keep the civilizations from resulting in total chaos.They needed a leader, someone to organize irrigation channels, solve conflicts between people, and to direct efforts to defend their territory from outside forces. All these people living in this territory had widely shared problems and the need for someone to have the authority to solve these problems, and this was the source of state authority in the first civilizations.

Bingham

23/8/2015 09:36:19

Hi Alyssa! Good answer. I think you'll notice if you read your response again that the real "meat" is in your second sentence. All the rest is, well, dreassing.. This is all we want in a non-English class.
So you have irrigation systems, resolving conflicts, and protecting territory. That's your answer. See what I mean?
Can you think of anything else?

Cathleen

23/8/2015 06:18:42

This question, I felt like needed maybe some clarification, because at first I thought it was asking what was the reason for state authority so the answer would be exactly what Alyssa said. But since the margin questions want us to cover the whole section of the Rise of State, I think the question extends that paragraph. (I could be way off here, so if I'm making no sense, it's because I'm not.)
Sources of the state's authority were present in the way they
-reserved the rights of the elite
-required farmers to give up portions of their produvts to support the city
-demand work on public projects
-force for compliance (if necessary)
-religion to help others comply and justify
-writing as a status holder, propagandaa, accounting
<writing was also a double edged sword, though. am i right, @creative writers
-lavish lifestyles of kings

Bingham

23/8/2015 09:40:12

Bam! There you go Cathleen!

Writing was the means of retaining knowledge, and as I'm sure you've heard before, knowledge is power. Power is what states do!

We'll see this theme of the control of literacy as a means of maintaining power over and over in this course.

Alyssa

23/8/2015 06:26:07

Thanks so much Cathleen! Just for clarification, I was correct but I also need to add the information that you wrote in order to completely answer the question?

cathleen freedman

23/8/2015 06:49:26

Yes! I think (again, I could be off) the full answer for that question would be your response + mine
look at me, showing off math ability!

Kendal LeFlore

23/8/2015 06:42:45

I am also confused what the question is asking. At first glance, it appears that the question asks what caused state authority (here, "source" means where the need for authority arose from), which is what Alyssa's comment answers. But as I look at the question, I wonder if it asks who people look to as a figure or a source of authority and where the authority itself comes from. My answer to this version of the question would be kings and pharaohs, whose power comes from the fact that their subjects view them as godly figures that dwell in lavish, almost fantastical settings.

Bingham

23/8/2015 09:48:17

Oh my, another school year, and students are taking the path of failure that they always do. This forum has been here since May, and now people are falling into that middle school pattern of doing the work/thinking the night before. Don't get me wrong, it was courageous of you guys to post, just think of what the other 77 people in the class are doing/not doing!

Look, here's how I would answer that question. I hope this helps.

Citizens recognized that the complexity of life in cities or densely populated territories required some the authority to coordinate and regulate the community enterprises, such as defense and irrigation.

State authorities frequently used force to compel obedience.

Authority in early civilizations was often associated with divine sanction. (Super important idea.)

Writing and accounting augmented state authority by defining elite status, conveying prestige on the literate, providing a means to disseminate propaganda, strengthening the state by making accurate record keeping possible, and giving added weight to orders, regulations, and laws.

Grandeur in the form of lavish lifestyles of elites, impressive rituals, and the building of imposing structures added to the perception of state authority and power.

As you can see Kendal, it's both, which makes you very perceptive.

Diego Salazar

24/8/2015 12:29:28

Well, I might be a little late, but the first civilizations didn't exactly appear The day after the cereal grains flourished.

In on of the margin questions, Strayer asks, "in what ways have historians tried to explain the origins of patriarchy?"

The way I answered it was by stating the transitions from horticulture, in which women played roles equal to men, to plow based, intensive irrigation agriculture, in which makes were favored over women for strength. This allowed populations to grow exponentially as women had been bound to the roles breeders and became the dominant forces of the home, which meant that men were able to take prestigious, authoritarian roles in their civilizations ( which meant that they had the power to shape society in a way In which makes could benefit at the expense of women.) and since women had been always associated with nature because of their roles in reproduction, they had been given an inferior aspect of life (nature) while men were associated with the mastering of nature and the higher order of culture. Also, only makes could form part of warrior classes, giving them a higher influence over civilizations, the control of the sexuality of a woman could ensure that the biological offspring of the father could inherit property, and commerce had established its preference of males over females by facilitating the exchange of wives, concubines, and female slaves among men.

It might not be a complete answer, but I'm really curious about how could I improve it

Bingham

25/8/2015 10:48:43

Hey Diego, there are some problems with you syntax here, but this an extremely impressive answer. Guys, you should look at what Diego is trying to express, especially with regard to the association of women with nature at a time when societies were making enormous break throughs in finally taking control of nature (agriculture, irrigation, monumental architecture, etc.)

Micah Zimmerman

25/8/2015 15:03:05

Now, I know I am really late about this too but I need any advice or improvements on a margin question,"What accounts for the initial breakthrough to civilization?"

Because of the Agricultural revolution, there has been a surplus of food and created larger societies. Because of this, there has been less land for crops for growing populations and started many rivalries against others societies for land. A stronger and highly organized state was a decided advantage in such competition. For the people who did not win, it wasn't so easy for them to go to other lands so they would be absorbed into the winner's society and be the lower class. The Sucessfull leaders would be the elite class with a large land, a class of lower workers, and a powerful state,thus creating a civilization.

Did I leave anything out or need to change things?

Bingham

26/8/2015 02:14:08

Here's my answer:
Civilizations had their roots in the Agricultural Revolution, which allowed communities to produce sufficient food surpluses to support large populations and the specialized or elite minorities who did not themselves produce food.
Scholars have suggested many theories as to why some agricultural societies formed into civilizations and other did not, including a need to organize for large-scale irrigation projects; the efforts of favored groups to protect their privileges; the needs of warfare; and the influence of trade.
Robert Carneiro combines several of these factors to argue that:
1. The growing density of population, producing more congested and competitive societies, was a fundamental motor of change, especially where rich agricultural land was limited either by geography or by powerful competing societies.
2. Such settings provided incentives for innovations, such as irrigation or plows that could produce more food, because opportunities for territorial expansion were not readily available.
3. These same environments generated intense competition among rival groups that led to repeated warfare. A strong and highly organized state was a decided advantage in such competition.
4. Since losers could not easily flee to new lands, they were absorbed into the winner’s society as a lower class.
5. Successful leaders of the winning side emerged as an elite with an enlarged base of land, a class of subordinated workers, and a powerful state at their disposal.

Micah

25/8/2015 15:35:14

I have one more question I want someone to look at. " In what ways was social inequalities expressed in early civilizations?"

Elite class had the best of everything and people were forced to repect them and we're faced with harsh punishments if they ignored them.
The lower classes are required to pay taxes and payments that supported the upper class.
Female slaves, captured during war, we're put to work and also sold and owned by other people.

Anything I need to improve or change?

Bingham

26/8/2015 02:22:36

"the best of everything" is vague, you aren't really saying anything. I think you mean it was expressed as wealth, in clothing, in their houses.

Then you switch to talking about lower classes, but they aren't going to "express" their unequal status.

You should mention that the upper classes were exempt from manual labor, that they had different burial rituals, and they got special treatment in the legal codes.

Elle

26/8/2015 13:14:38

Hi, I have a question about one of the Big Picture Questions. I'm just wondering if I'm leaving stuff out or not, or if I even answered the question correctly.
""Civilizations were held together largely by force." Do you agree with this assessment, or were there other mechanisms of integration as well?"

-I agree with this statement to some extend, but I also believe that there were other mechanisms of integration. One huge basis of power for leaders was the recognition that an overarching authority was needed to keep the expansive territory under control. Added to this power was the belief that leaders and kings were divine. The fact that most leaders could write and lead impressive/lavish lifestyles was added to their elite status.

I feel as though the meat of my answer is in the fact that an overarching authority was needed to make the societies work. But I also feel like I'm missing something.

Bingham

27/8/2015 13:04:33

Dig for more specific evidence. Concrete details.

Strayer 3, Foundational Civilizations

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Bingham

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