MMW 11 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Autocracy, Utnapishtim, Urban Sprawl

• School: UCSD
• Department: Making of the Modern World
• Course: MMW 11
• Professor: Edmond Chang

Document Summary

Tread lightly here, for you are walking on the very cradle of civilization . A british commander to his troops at the outset of the war in iraq in 2002 (show map) Unusual; remind us of historical fragility and tumultuous experiment. Key focus: conflict between humanity"s nomadic and sedentary impulses, between our pastoralist and agricultural roots, the desire for, along with the anxiety towards, the consolidation of power, the first civilization experiment sumerian culture, writing and civilization. Cuneiform emerged around 3400 b. c. e. a. i) to accommodate complex management of surplus and water rights a. ii) a. iii) evolved as means to celebrate myths and legends and to inscribe laws a. iv) crossing the threshold between pre-history and history . More reliable way of keeping records of transactions: tax collection, distribution of food rations. Most practical businessmen of the ancient world. Explanation of the origin of the earliest written history origin of writing (cuneiform) Mold with symbols that stand on clay tablets.