3.3 Ancestor Cults

After the discovery of paternity put an end to the procreative function of the spirits, the role they played in the relationship between the living and the dead was reinvested with a new dimension, the cult of the forebears, sealing paternity into the social structure.

I. The Urban Society

1. From Pre-History to Proto-History

The end of the Neolithic in the Middle East brings the prehistoric period of this region to an end. All structures and ancestral values that had been passed through generations since immemorial times have…

Introduction

The third part of The Masculine Civilization covers the Chalcolithic era and the Urban Revolution, a period that spreads from 5,000 to approximately 2,500. The profound changes that take place at the end of the Neolithic oblige most communities to abandon their traditional lifestyle. Tribal…

1.2 Demographic Growth and Integration

Demographic growth played a crucial role in strengthening the chief’s authority, since chiefdoms allowed the integration of strangers into the social fabric, forming this way a population of several thousand, and even tens of thousands of individuals. A…

1.4 Creation Myths as Mirrors

The ancestral conception of the world in which everything that belongs to nature is eternally recycled implied that nature had no beginning, while its end was inconceivable. This cyclical and all-encompassing vision of the universe did not allow anything to exist outside the…

3. The Masculine Paradigm

While the period that stretches from the chiefdoms to the late empires of Antiquity establishes the hierarchical domination of the masculine in all facets of society, women still enjoy prestige and privileges, and take an active part in the economy. They possess lands and slaves…

3.2 Sexual Offenses and Gender Roles

The codes of laws distinguish three sorts of sexual infractions: rape, fornication, which includes prostitution, and incest.

Rape

Rape is punished differently depending on whether it occurs in the city or in the…

2.3 Expansion and Slavery

Conquests blended these populations as never before. The ethnic and linguistic homogeneity of the lineages and clans, and the secured position of every individual within the community made way for a multi-ethnical society that defined itself in geographical terms, using territorial…