Equality in Early Societies

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Equality in Early Societies

• And the Historical Fall of Humankind

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Seating for class

• Front of Room
• Lawler
• S 8 (W 2)
• S 01(M 1) S 02 (M 10)
• S 06 (T 2)
• Kelly

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Mind/Spirit over Matter
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Ancient (Eastern) v. Modern (Western)

• Modern science and technology matter based,
  external instruments (mechanical causes)
• Causes of illness external, germs and viruses
• Cures through external interventions, chemicals
• Ancient science and technology spirit/mind based
  technologies of thought/feeling (Ayurveda,
  Acupuncture, Yoga etc. (human purposes,
  teleology)
• Illnesses are related to inner state thoughts,
  personality types
• How to control ones mind gt basis for healing the
  body
• Importance of the life force Prana (India),
  Chi (China)

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Outline

• A Basic concepts of Genesis
• In the beginning paradise
• The fall and its consequences
• B Historical parallels
• The earliest societies
• The rise of hierarchical states

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In the Beginning Harmony

• Creation of humans God-like spirit (breath)
  breathed into matter of earth
• And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the
  ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath
  of life and man became a living soul. (Genesis
  27)
• In the beginning human beings were one with God,
  nature, and each other.
• Harmony of matter and spirit, nature and
  humanity.
• The circle of life and death ancestors are
  still with the people

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Humans as God-like

• And God said, Let us make man in our image,
  after our likeness . . . Genesis 126
• And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the
  ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath
  of life and man became a living being. 27

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Breath of Life

• no radical separation between God and humans
• --in terms of spirit (Gods breath)
• Latin for air, breath, life mind, soul, spirit
  anima, animus
• gt animism All reality contains spirit

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Human dominion of the earth

• And God said, Let us make man in our image,
  after our likeness and let them have dominion
  over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of
  the air, and over the cattle, an over all the
  earth, and over every creeping thing that
  creepeth upon the earth. (Genesis 126)
• gt nature spontaneously exists for the purpose of
  (teleology) serving human beingswithout labor,
  struggle, conquest

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Equality of Male and Female

• First account of creation of human beings
  Equality of male and female
• So God created man in his own image, in the
  image of God created he him male and female
  created he them. (Genesis 127)
• --Second account Eve taken from Adams rib.
  Later version? (Genesis 220-24)

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The command

• Dont eat of the tree that brings knowledge of
  good and evil
• remain in a state of simple unity with all
  nature and God, a state of goodness w/o evil
• Evil is what comes from disunity
• between God and humanity,
• between humans and nature,
• between humans and each other
• All Gods creation is good
• We are the cause of evil

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How It Used To Be

• 1) And they heard the voice of the Lord God
  walking in the garden in the cool of the day.
• oneness, friendship, with God
• 2) and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the
  presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the
  garden.
• Humans separate themselves from God.

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The Fall

• Humans freely choose to separate themselves from
  this state of innocence and perfection.
• Eve initiates this. Why Eve, not Adam?
• Choice of separateness, individuality
• 1) Separation from God
• 2) Separation from each other
• 3) Separation from harmony with nature.

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Results of choice of separation

• Separation of man and woman
• For the man pain of physical labor
• Loss of dominion over the earth
• For the woman pain of childbirth, subordination
  to the man
• gtdeath
• gtmurder (fratricide) . . . war

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Why does Cain kill Abel?

• Hint What work do they do?

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Cain and Abel

• And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a
  tiller of the ground. (Genesis 42)

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Historical implications

• From whose point of view?
• Who, what are the Hebrews?

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Historical Parallels

• Historical parallel
• Agriculturalists v. herders
• Fall as reflection of division of humanity
• 1) From nature
• 2) From each other
• 3) From God
• 1) Hunter/Gatherers (animals/plants)
• 2) Herders (from hunters) v. Agriculturalists
  (from gatherers)

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Historical Timeline

• 1) Early hunter-gatherers paleolithic age
• 120,000 years of homo sapiens (sapiens)
• 2 million years of homo habilis (stone tools)
• 2) Revolution 10,000-8000 BCE begins neolithic
  age
• Herders and simple agriculturalists
• Transitional stage
• 3) Revolution 3,500 BCE
• rise of hierarchical state societies
• Time of the Fall

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1) Separation from Nature

• 1) Mode of life of hunter/gatherers
• Appropriation of nature
• Dependence on independent nature
• Unity with nature
• 2) Mode of life of herders, simple
  agriculturalists
• Human transformation of nature
• 3) Hierarchical states control nature irrigation

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Evolution of material creativity

• 1) Change nature into tools (for hunting,
  gathering)
• 2) Transform nature with tools (for herding,
  simple agriculture)
• 3) Intensified domination of nature (the animal
  drawn plow)Civilization
• NB Non-biological changes, outside the human
  organism

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2) Separation from Each Other

• 1) Equality of hunter-gatherer societies
• Kinship-based society natural relations
• Leaders democratically chosen, elders
• Exogamous marriage unites the small bands into
  larger tribes
• Gender differences but equality of status no
  power of men over women
• 2) Herders, simple agriculturalists
• Male dominance among herders, but no state
  Hebrew God is male
• Goddess religions among early agriculturalists
  (male and female gods)

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Rise of Inequality

• 3) Hierarchical Middle-Eastern state society
• Sharp class divisions slavery (separation from
  tools!)
• Hereditary rulers over the people
• Subordination of women to men

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Oppressiveness of early civilization

• In modern times, many scholars have called
  attention to the shortcomings of Sumer. (See box,
  p. 60.) They caution us to learn from the past so
  as not to repeat what they see as the mistakes of
  Sumer in our own cities Not to make warfare into
  a religious obligation not to isolate the city
  from the countryside not to establish oppressive
  class distinctions not to institutionalize the
  patriarchal oppression of women.

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Contrast with the previous world

• Underlying these warnings, however, is another
  myth, the myth of the pre-urban agricultural
  village as an egalitarian, peaceful settlement
  well integrated into its natural surroundings.

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How do we know this?

• We do not know if this was so. Pre-urban
  villagers produced no written records, and their
  artfactual remains are thin, inconclusive, and
  subject to widely divergent interpretation.
  Scholars draw many of their conclusions
  concerning pre-urban life from observing isolated
  groups in todays world, such as the !Kung people
  of the African Kalahari desert of a generation
  ago. (62)

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Genesis as Critique of History

• What did the early people themselves think?
• Genesis as a basis of knowing what some early
  peoples thought of civilization
• Inequality of men and women is unnatural
• Labor over/against nature is unnatural
• War is unnatural
• Explanation the results of sin (i.e., separation
  from God, nature, and each other)

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The subordination of women

• Finally, the transformation of society from a
  rural, egalitarian, kin base to an urban,
  hierarchical, territorial, and class base may
  have provided the entering wedge for the
  subordination of women. Some women in Sumer had
  great power . Spodek, 60.
• What did the people themselves think of this?

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The People v. Gilgamesh

• Gilgamesh does not leave a girl to her mother(?)
• The daughter of the warrior, the bride of the
  young man,
• the gods kept hearing their complaints, so
• the gods of the heavens implored the Lord of Uruk
  Anu

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• "You have indeed brought into being a mighty wild
  bull, head raised!
• "There is no rival who can raise a weapon
  against him.
• "His fellows stand (at the alert),
  attentive to his (orders!)

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• and (the gods) called out to Aruru
• "it was you, Aruru, who created mankind(?),
• now create a zikru opponent to it/him.
• Let him be equal to his (Gilgamesh's)
  stormy heart,
• let them be a match for each other so that
  Uruk may find peace!"

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Historical Context of Gilgamesh

• What stage of history does this reflect?
• Whose point of view? What kind of people are
  telling/hearing this story?