The Urban Revolution

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…

1.1 From Chiefdoms to the Urban Revolution

It is in the very nature of things human that every act that has once made its appearance and has been recorded in the history of mankind stays with mankind as a potentiality long after its actuality has become a thing of the past. [Arendt, 1963]

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…

1.3 The New Procreative Credo

The Chalcolithic sees a complete reversal of the economic and social position of men and women: the primordial function and status that women possessed have passed in the hands of men who now dominate the new society, defining its norms and structures.

2. The Urban Revolution

In the course of a few millennia, the Urban Revolution leads us from the abandoned villages at the end of the Neolithic, characterized by architecture and urbanism in their infancy and by an almost total absence of institutions, to the establishment of the first cities, kingdoms and…

2.1 Urbanization and Power

The term of “Urban Revolution” by no means exaggerates the size and importance of the transformations that take place, first of all, with the introduction of a new concept, the one of monumental architecture. In the Neolithic, the construction of important buildings intended for…

2.2 Kingdoms and Empires

With the spatial organization of urban populations, a social structure arises that, for the first time, introduces the notion of State. The privatization of property and the formation of castes of specialists combined with exogenous demographic growth lead to new areas of…

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…

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…