ABSTRACT
The growth of civilisation in the ancient world was an important turning point in human cultural progress. Naturally, this theme has attracted the attention of many scholars. Terms like ‘Civilisation’, ‘Urbanisation’, and concepts such as ‘Urban Revolution’ have been widely debated among historians and social scientists. The proposed book will try to integrate all possible historiographical debates related to these themes. Since at least four major ancient world Civilisations (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Shang, and Minoan) as representative models have to be described, so for the sake of convenience of the readers these would be divided into two chapters, each containing a description of the civilisational features of two civilisations. The chapter will begin with an analysis of the modern definitions of civilisation and their limitations and proceed to adhere to the cultural and organisational attributes as the basis of defining the term. Following this approach, a description of civilisational features will include – city-based society, presence of a complex and inegalitarian social structure, social inhabitation in a large territory, symbiotic economies based on centralised (state) accumulation of capital through tribute and taxation that supports a large non-producing class, craft specialisation, long-distance trade, a written script, monumental buildings, and some form of state-regulated religion. The presence of these features will form the basis of analysing the aforementioned civilisations, which displayed most of the above attributes.
As the growth of ancient civilisations was a gradual process, a description of Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilisations will incorporate the description of the transitional cultures in both North and South Mesopotamia and Lower and Upper Egypt. Since ecology has been considered an important determinant in the growth of both these civilisations, a separate section would be devoted to the geography of these regions alongside the pivotal role played by the two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia, and the Nile in Egypt. The description of Sumerian civilisation in Mesopotamia will include the growth of cities and city-states during 3000–2000 BCE, the state apparatus, accumulation of taxes, bronze metallurgy, social differentiation, religion at both the popular and state levels, growth of monumental architecture, a symbiotic economy consisting of agriculture and long-distance trade, written script to record transactions, and growth of science and mathematics. The Egyptian civilisation would be described in the background of the debate between the diffusionists and Egyptologists arising due to the rapid growth of civilisational features here considering recent archaeological excavations. The political developments in Egypt would cover the period 3100–2180 BCE, with a special emphasis on the role of Pharaohs in the political, social, and religious life of the people of Egypt. The other civilisational features in Egypt like cities, complex society, use of bronze metal, agriculture, trade, religion, writing, science, and mathematics will be analysed in the context of state initiatives.
