Encyclopedia of Society and Culture in the Ancient World

ral catastrophe, such as a fl ood, prolonged draught, fi re, or earthquake, could drive the people to abandon the country- side ...

birthrates declined, and communities were wracked by offi - cial and unoffi cial persecutions of the Christians, a new but growi ...

rulers, while considering themselves Roman, were more likely to be Gothic or Germanic in ethnicity and culture. For ordi- nary p ...

17th century. Another factor implicated in the Hopewell de- cline is increased warfare. War does seem to have become more common ...

▶ social organization introduction Th e topic of social organization speaks in many ways of why people study ancient history. It ...

matic conditions that aff ected animal and plant resources as well as social, political, and livelihood characteristics. Common ...

Lineages have oft en been the basis by which individuals have access to resources and groups. In traditional hunter- gathering b ...

CENTRALLY ORGANIZED HIERARCHICAL SOCIETIES Th e ancient civilization of Nubia in present-day Sudan and part of southern Egypt (a ...

in number than a band (hundreds of individuals) that is composed of subgroups united by associations or social con- structs, suc ...

talent and ambition to be recognized. A prime example of social mobility is illustrated in the career of Senenmut, an offi cial ...

had the possibility of moving up in the administrative ranks to offi ces of responsibility. Th is was one of the avenues of up- ...

as a social contract, not a legal one. It is also not clear how matches were arranged or how partners were chosen. Some marriage ...

good indication of disposable capital. Even the diff ering sizes of private tombs imply diff erences in rank and status. Th is e ...

ment may indicate that the builders of the wall and tower worshipped their ancestors and that the skulls represented dead leader ...

cities of Sumer these projects included streets, irrigation ca- nals, and walls to guard against invading armies, but Eridu and ...

public places, and they could vote during assembly meetings. In most places women were now excluded from these rights. Th e ward ...

King Solomon of Israel was probably viewed as some- thing of an upstart at that time. Israel had been a backwater dominated by t ...

quest, trade was essential to life of the empire, with numerous trade routes extending as far as China and Africa. Th is activ- ...

carefully, no one had the right to depose them. In actual prac- tice, however, kings were oft en deposed, sometimes by their own ...

Peasants made up the vast majority of Shang society. Th ey lived primarily in the region of the Yellow River, and the food they ...