ABSTRACT
Did agriculture lead to settlements? Or did settling down lead to agriculture? Though it is not entirely clear which caused what, it is certain that population pressures went hand in hand with early, urbanized living. Confronted with the demands of social control resulting from demographic expansion, the gods had their human charges upgrade village altarlike structures and tombs to temples. More eye-catching and conspicuous, temples, as the source of divine directives, were believed to transmit commands over a larger area, thereby reaching larger populations. Towns, which from around 3500 BCE began to be dominated by holy palaces from where the gods could survey their mortal charges, can be regarded as corresponding with the area over which the gods were able to broadcast their messages. In this chapter, I trace urbanization and explain how it relates to classical bicameral civilization.
