Key Components
- Large powerful states
- Agricultural surpluses allowed specialization
- Cities with complex bureaucracies, religion, armies, and religious and social hierarchy
- Long distance trade
- Growth had to be balanced against environmental constraints
- Accumulation of wealth spurred war and the development of new technologies
Assignment - Read The Idea of Civilization in World Historical Perspective and answer the following questions:
- Identify a society you consider civilized.
- What criteria did you use to determine that it was civilized?
- Can you apply those criteria to other societies?
- Can you think of societies that might not fit your criteria and yet be civilizations?
- Do the standards that you and others use reflect your own society's norms and achievements rather than neutral, more universal criteria?