Name____________________________________________________________
Per.______
Robert W. Strayer
Ways of the World: A Brief Global History
Ways of the World: A Brief Global History with Sources
Chapter Three, First Civilizations: Cities, States, and Unequal Societies, 3500 B.C.E.-500 B.C.E.,
(pp. 94-98)
The Erosion of Equality:
 Most novel features of early urban life was the specialization of work
Hierarchies of Class:
 First civilizations inequalities lay in wealth, status, & power
 As ingenuity & technology created more-productive economies, the greater wealth now
available to societies
 Early signs of this erosion of equality were evidence in gathering & hunting societies
(Chumash)
 Transition represents a major turning point in the social history of humankind
 Upper classes enjoyed great wealth in land or salaries
o They were distinguished by their clothing, houses, & manner of the burial
o In Mesopotamia, the punishments prescribed in Hammurabi’s Code depended on social
status
 Free commoners represented the vast majority of the population

Slaves were at bottom of social hierarchies everywhere
o Slavery & civilization emerged together
o Female slaves were put to work in large-scale semi-industrial weaving enterprises
o Male slaves helped to maintain irrigation canals & construct ziggurats
o In all first civilizations, slaves were available for sale to work in the fields, mines,
homes, & shops of their owner or on occasion for sacrifice
o The practice of “people owning people” was an enduring feature of state-based societies

Practice of slavery in ancient times varied from place to place
o Egypt & the Indus Valley initially had far fewer slaves than Mesopotamia
o Greeks of Athens & Romans employed slaves far more than Chinese or Indians
o Most ancient slavery differed from type of slavery practice in the Americas
o In early civilizations, many children of slaves could become free people
Hierarchies of Gender:
 Accompanying the hierarchies of class were those of gender
 Most scholars agree that early horticultural societies, those using a hoe or digging stick
continued the relative gender equality
o In such societies, women were much involved in agricultural labor
o Women were also engaged in spinning, weaving, & pottery making
o Central economic function gave women considerable respect & status equal to men
 As First civilization took shape, Patriarchy- institutions & values of male dominance emerged

What was it about civilization that seemed to generate Patriarchy?
o 1 approach highlights the role of a new form of agriculture involve animal-drawn plows
o Plow-based agriculture meant heavier work, which men were better able to perform
o Growing population of civilizations meant that women were more often pregnant &
involved in child care
o Men took over most of the farming work & the status women declined correspondingly
o 2-Historian David Christian suggests that the declining position of women was
connected more generally to the growth of social complexity in civilizations as
economic, religion, & political “specialists” became more prominent
o Men were able to shape the values & practices of their societies in ways that
benefitted themselves
o 3-Women have been identified with nature (Natural process of reproduction)
o 4-Further aspect of civilization that may well have contributed to patriarchy was
warfare
o With military service largely restricted to men, it served to enhance the power &
prestige of male warrior class
Patriarchy in Practice:
 Historian Gerda Lerner documented patriarchy transition in ancient Mesopotamian
civilization
o Second millennium BCE, various written laws codified & sought to enforce a
patriarchal family life that offered women a measure of paternalistic protection while
insisting on their submission
o Central to these laws was regulation of female sexuality
o Divorce was far easier for the husband than for the wife
o Women in Mesopotamian civilization divided into 2 distinguishable categories
o 1) Respectable women-Required to be veiled when outside the home
o 2) Nonrespectable women (Slaves/Prostitutes) forbidden to wear veils
o Powerful goddesses of earlier times were replaced in the public arena by male deities

While Egypt was patriarchal, it afforded its women greater opportunities than most others
o Women were recognized as legal equals to men
o Able to own property & slaves, administer & sell land, to make their own will, to sign
their own marriage contracts, & to initiate divorce
o Women also exercised political power (Queen Hatshepsut wore a beard)
o Married women were not veiled in Egypt