Unequal: Dynamics of Power and Social Hierarchy in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia

Graduate / Professional

When we talk about root causes for intolerance, study the terrors of slavery, or argue the nature of imperialism, we refer to the past. Our beliefs about this past are more than just interpretations of what came before. They actively shape society’s present—as ultimate origin is tied in the mind to current purpose. The past not only gives form to, but also serves to explain, present reality. Histories of our early past in particular are treated as our own origin myth. And like all origin myths, this narrative has enormous power. Variation on its theme can be found in various forms on the shelves of every airport bookshop. It informs the debates of contemporary policymakers. It permeates popular culture. Popular books lay out narratives of the past, each in their own way, to evoke images, argue ideologies, promote diets, or stir emotions in the present. Most of these myths share a common theme of “progress” and “freedom.” It is often told as follows: early humans formed roaming bands of egalitarian hunters and gatherers. As societies grew larger, more complex, wealthy, and “civilized,” they became progressively less equal. Settlement and farming required the management of labor, notions of value, rules of ownership. Early states demanded even steeper hierarchies, and with them, the full package of leaders, administrators, division of labor, social class. Equality and freedom were traded for growth and progress. This class challenges the myth that inequality is simply hardwired into society. It does so by going back to the rise of the first states 5000 years ago in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia and studying how those states were imagined and structured as well as how they changed over time. We look at early historical examples of alternative large-scale collectives and explore historical cases that allow us to study societal structure and change on an epochal scale to ask if inequality is truly an inescapable result of complexity. We venture to transcend mythmaking and identify basic patterns of inequality that resonate across time and into current society. Using examples drawn from early human history we think about key features of our present and explore roots of identity, possession, value, freedom, and power, and how their legacy structures contemporary life. TTh 11:35am-12:50pm