Myths of the archaic state : evolution of the earliest cities, states and civilizations / Norman Yoffee.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Yoffee, Norman, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

State, The.

Cities and towns, Ancient.

Civilization, Ancient.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 277 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In this ground-breaking work, Norman Yoffee shatters the prevailing myths underpinning our understanding of the evolution of early civilisations. He counters the emphasis in traditional scholarship on the rule of 'godly' and despotic male leaders and challenges the conventional view that early states were uniformly constituted bureaucratic and regional entities. Instead, by illuminating the role of slaves and soldiers, priests and priestesses, peasants and prostitutes, merchants and craftsmen, Yoffee depicts an evolutionary process centred on the concerns of everyday life. Drawing on evidence from ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, China and Mesoamerica, the author explores the variety of trajectories followed by ancient states, from birth to collapse, and explores the social processes that shape any account of the human past. This book offers a bold new interpretation of social evolutionary theory, and as such it is essential reading for any student or scholar with an interest in the emergence of complex society.

Contents:

Evolution of a factoid:

Dimensions of power in the earliest states

The meaning of cities in the earliest states and civilizations

When complexity was simplified

Identity and agency in early states : case studies

The collapse of ancient states and civilizations

Social evolutionary trajectories

New rules of the game

Altered states : the evolution of history.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-107-13546-X

1-280-43460-0

0-511-17107-2

0-511-19670-9

0-511-08109-X

0-511-29822-6

0-511-48966-8

0-511-08033-6

OCLC:

252514212