HST 140 Spring 2008

Study Guide for Reilly, Week 3

Selection 4 - Gerda Lerner, "The Urban Revolution: Origins of Patriarchy"

One of the problems that historians face when they organize the past into "stages of development" is that they often group everything together - and assume that everything is changing at the same pace.  They often discover that changes in society and in culture don't always take place in "lockstep."  In this selection, Lerner presents her theory that cultural ideas about women as goddesses and about women's increasing spiritual power both occurred at the same time that women's power in society was decreasing.  Thus, Ishtar is worshiped (for her own powers, unlike the case of the Virgin Mary much later) long into the urban "revolution."  Eventually, however, the creator and earth mother goddesses were demoted to the level of their consorts and then replaced by male creator gods.  When reading this selection, be sure that you know the meaning of the term "patriarchy."

Selection 5 - Kevin Reilly, "Cities and Civilization"

Here, Reilly (the editor of this book) raises the question about "stages of development", particularly about the "stage of urban development."  We will talk about this in class on Thursday.  Exceptions to "normal" or "typical" patterns of early urban development include:  1) as of yet, no excavations in the Indus River Valley urban sites show any evidence of war or soldiers; 2) Native-American societies had no wheeled vehicles - except for childrens' toys; 3) Peruvian "Inca" society had no writing except for colored, knotted string; and 4) Mesoamerican writing was very highly pictorial.  As you think also about Egyptian civilization, just how important were cities at all?

Selection 6 - from "The Epic of Gilgamesh"

In the book by Reilly, this is the first one that historians call a "primary" source.   Be sure to read what Reilly says in his intro to this section about what is meant by "primary" and then "secondary."  These are very important distinctions.  You might think about this question as you consider the two forms of sources:  Which type is more "reliable"?

Of the various urban innovations that we talked about in class, which ones do you see evidenced in these selections from Gilgamesh? What about the goddesses discussed in earlier selections in Reilly?  Are they more or less powerful than the gods in Uruk? 

These stories in the epic were most likely originally "told" orally by story tellers in Mesopotamian society.  Clearly they were popular enough to warrant being written down at some point.  Why do you think they might have been popular?  Why would the Mesopotamians have told each other these stories?  Were there "lessons" or "morals" contained in the stories?  Were they just interesting adventures?  Some historians believe that such stories (and most societies had story tellers) gave listeners some options for making sense of the important tensions in their society - in this case, possibly between men and women, between kings and ordinary people, between people living in a city and those in the countryside, between the "wild" and the "civilized."  Is there anything in the stories that would help explain class privilege and patriarchy?

Then, consider the "flood story" in Gilgamesh.  How does it compare with the story in Genesis?  We do know that the Bible was written down several thousands of years later.  Does this mean that the Biblical story derived from that in Gilgamesh?  Is there a common source for this story?  Do they refer to the same great flood - or is it possible that floods were common for societies living in great river valleys?  Of course, all rivers have floods, but not all have floods which covered the whole world!

Selection #7 - from "Hammurabi's Code"

You should consider the same question asked of Selection #6, above - can you find in this "code" evidence of urban development and/or innovation?  What in this code would help one understand the relationships between public and private property? between wealthy and powerful on the one hand and ordinary people on the other? between men and women?  Look closely at laws 155 and 156 - what do these marriage laws provide to women?  Look also closely at law 8 - what does this one tell you about class privilege, responsibility and wealth?

Selection #8 - "Advice to the Young Egyptian: 'Be a Scribe'"

Here you can see some of the occupations available to people living in ancient Egypt.  This one does emphasize the importance of knowing how to read and write - skills possessed by only a tiny fraction of people living in any of these ancient societies.  Are you able to discover evidence of class differences, of social mobility, even of "meritocracy?"

Selection #9 - "Images of Ancient Egypt"

In this small section, you will discover some more of the "forensic" evidence that I discussed in the guide for Week 1.  The other "primary" sources presented for this week - the epic, the code, the advice - all come to us in written form.  In this selection, you "see" some non-written "primary" sources.  What information do they provide you about ancient Egypt that the written source did not?  Do you need to know how to "read" this sort of evidence?