The Birth of “Civilization”

In early civilizations, as now, people invented new technologies to deal with new problems. Before the twentieth century political elites used religion as their main means of social control. From the birth of civilization to the twentieth century they used priests to manipulate the beliefs and feelings of the common people. A city needed a strong tax base to survive, so the larger the population the better. Just before the birth of civilization the climate in Mesopotamia turned warm and wet, favoring good harvests. During the beginnings of civilization in Mesopotamia, the people apparently came to see the universe as governed by an assembly of gods, not one god. During the period of climatic cooling and population decline, traders and raiders in Eurasia broke up the order of civilized life. Civilized people responded by developing new military technologies: the horse and chariot, bronze and iron weapons.