What Is “Civilization”?

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1. What Is “Civilization”?

Define civilization. Do we really need it in order to survive and prosper on this planet? The real question is whether we can live above subsistence without the technological innovations that cities generate. Moreover, the question is not as frivolous as it may seem at first glance. Many cultures throughout human history consciously decided not to take the route toward nucleated settlements and the resultant consequences. The Celts represent one example from the time line of our course of a people who preferred not to have cities. The Avars, a Turkic-speaking people from Central Asia, were pastoral nomads who acquired cities during the course of their conquests, yet they “used” cities in ways that would strike average city dwellers as most strange.

Section 2.1 of your textbook, World History: The Human Experience to 1500, presents nine characteristics commonly associated with civilizations. Choose one society from the Week One Civilization Tour, which includes Mesopotamian, Olmec, Egyptian, Harappan, and Ancient Chinese societies. Based on at least two of the characteristics listed in Section 2.1, explain why your chosen society can be considered a civilization. Provide specific examples drawn from this week’s learning materials to support your claims. Cite all sources according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center, using both in-text citations and providing full references at the bottom of your post.

Your initial post should be a minimum of 300 words
2.1
What Is a Civilization?

As discussed in Chapter 1, the transition from a hunting-and-gathering society to an agricultural one brought development and advances, ranging from the invention of the ard (a primitive plow) to the formation of political authority. This kind of growth of societal complexity results in civilization, a word that derives from the Latin civis, meaning “citizen.”
Scholars have debated exactly how to characterize a civilization in numerous historical journals over the past several decades. The term civilization is challenging because of its political connotations: most interpretations imply that dispersed, nomadic peoples were “uncivilized” and thus expendable. For the purpose of this book, we will describe a civilization as a densely settled, agricultural society that was based on innovation instead of tradition. These early civilizations typically shared the following interrelated characteristics:
1. Agriculture. Most ancient civilizations were founded on agriculture, which can be defined as the purposeful manipulation of a fixed piece of land so as to produce quantities of food. Farming helped to establish communities and made it possible for people to develop skills in areas not directly related to food production.
2. Social order. As food supplies increased, greater efficiency meant that fewer people were needed to produce adequate food for the group, allowing some individuals to pursue other skills. Small groups of people developed specialized skills for different professions. Over time, the professions separated into a social order, with farmers and laborers at the bottom, tradesmen (builders and craftsmen) in the middle, and leaders, priests, and landowners at the top.
3. Urbanization. Cities became the heart of most civilizations because they contained all types of activities: governmental, commercial, religious, educational, entertainment, and so on.
4. Metallurgy. The use of hard metals such as brass, tin, and bronze, especially for tools, revolutionized agricultural (agrarian) societies. Farmers and craftsmen used these very hard, sharp, and efficient tools to plow the land more expertly, build better irrigation systems, carve wood to form small boats, and construct effective weaponry.
5. Writing system. Imprinting symbols on a durable surface to represent trade goods, numbers, and eventually sounds and abstract ideas, served as a catalyst for commercial and cultural growth. People used writing to record governmental orders, treaties, contracts, religious information, taxation, business transactions, laws, and family data to pass to the next generation.
6. Religion. Civilizations did not invent the notion of belief in nonhuman spiritual forces, but they made religion increasingly complex and entwined with centralized political authority. Because the ethics and religious beliefs of a civilization make their way into mythology, religious doctrine, and formal laws, studying religion helps us understand the beliefs and customs of a civilization.
7. Government. Civilizations relied on centralized governments to enforce laws, maintain order, establish trade rules, and handle diplomatic matters. No society could have maintained its complexity without a central governing authority. In some societies, the governing authority claimed to be a living god on earth.
8. Trade. Technological advances in shipbuilding and the extensive use of domesticated animals allowed civilizations to extend commercial ties across vast distances. Indeed, globalization began in ancient times. Merchants and political leaders looked for new markets in which to sell their goods and traveled across oceans and continents to find raw materials.
9. Science. Advanced understanding in the fields of mathematics (arithmetic and geometry), astronomy, and engineering had far-reaching political and cultural implications. Ancient peoples recorded the movements of the sun, moon, and stars, as well as the change of seasons. Knowledge of basic engineering and mathematical principles enabled them to build enormous temples, chart the planets, create accurate calendars, and divide time into segments.
Of course, different groups embraced these elements in differing amounts. For example, Greek agriculture was less productive and diversified than the agriculture in the Fertile Crescent, but the Greeks did create a dynamic and unique civilization with an economy that depended on Mediterranean trade. As with modern states and economies, environmental factors often determined the relative strengths and weaknesses of ancient civilizations.

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