HIST 110A Lecture 2: Egyptians
Document Summary
The rise of states, laws, and social hierarchies. States: people who live there, someone governs them. Power of states: can create laws/rules, control of an army, tax, social hierarchy/elite class, exercise power. Roles of the people: form an army, forms hierarchy. States can shape society"s culture through laws: ex: marriage, choice of language, holidays, etc. Soverignty: all power rests at the top of the pyramid (first tier, religious leaders, scribes, bureaucrats, the elite class (second tier, everyone else is divided by class or cast, captives and slaves were at the very bottom. The united states is not a pyramid shaped society, the power comes from the middle class. A king plays a role, otherwise the king will be toppled. Kings try to keep the family power by giving power to their next heir (typically the son) People who controlled the water had a lot of power. A state is needed to have people do the job of controlling water.
