The First Cities, States, and Empires
Teacher Resources
Driving Question: How did the formation of cities, states, and empires change life for the people who lived in and around them?
The rise of cities, states, and empires marks a critical transition in the story of human history. For the first time, human communities were exceeding tens of thousands of people. Further complexity ensued when cities began to link up with other cities, setting the stage for the formation of states and intricate networks of human connections that continue to this day.
- Analyze the causes and consequences of urbanization and the creation of new metropolitan and interregional networks of exchange.
- Investigate the characteristics of the first states (kingdoms, sultanates, republics, city-states, and empires) and the qualities that united people living in these types of states.
- Use causal reasoning to evaluate demographic changes and how population increased and shifted as a result of farming.
- Consider differing perspectives on what constitutes a state, as well as why people form states.
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- The author begins with a piece from the Epic of Gilgamesh, which he compares to music from Jay-Z and Alicia Keyes. Why does he compare these two artistic works?
- Where did cities first appear, and where did they appear afterward in this period?
- The author argues that an essential part of urbanization was hierarchy. Does the evidence he presents support this argument?
- Cities allowed for job specialization, but people in cities were still dependent on rural farms and villages. Why was that true?
- The author suggests that cities created a kind of network that was an “urban archipelago.” An archipelago is a group of islands. What do you think he means by this metaphor?
- How were the networks that cities built not like an archipelago?
Evaluate
- We generally think of cities as having hierarchies, but the author suggests that there are some cities where we cannot see evidence of hierarchies. Do you think that means there were no hierarchies? What is another explanation?
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- What is a state?
- How do some anthropologists define a state?
- What is Yuval Harari’s argument about the state?
- What are some characteristics of most urban states?
- What are two theories about why people form states?
Evaluate
- Based on all the evidence you have so far, do you agree more with the “coercion” or “voluntary” theory of state formation?
- There are lots of different definitions of what makes a state. This article has at least four different definitions. Which do you find most convincing and why?
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- How does this author define empire?
- Does the author think ancient Egypt was an empire? Why or why not?
- What reasons does the author give for early states forming empires? What advantages did those early states have?
- How does the author explain the power dynamic of the core’s control over the periphery?
- What challenges did early empires face?
Evaluate
- Write down a list of the major characteristics that the author thinks are common to empires. Are any of these characteristics present in the political communities of which you are a part? Do you live in an empire?
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- Why was ancient Mesopotamia a hard place to live?
- Why did so many different empires conquer Mesopotamia?
- What was one innovation that allowed Sargon to conquer the world’s first empire?
- Give one example of a method that the Assyrian Empire used to establish control and authority over conquered peoples.
- What was life like for women in ancient Mesopotamia?
- What are some possible reasons the author gives for the fall of the Akkadian and Assyrian Empires?
Evaluate
- This article talks a little about how the Mesopotamian empires made trade networks over long distances possible. But empire-building also requires a lot of wars, which can make trade hard. Do you agree with the author’s reasoning? Do empires create trade networks or do trade networks create empires?
First States
People built states at various times in different places, but not every historian agrees about the details. In this video, two historians explain what states are, where they emerged, and the how they developed.
Key Ideas
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Guiding Questions
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Before you watch
Before you watch the video, it’s a good idea to open and skim the video transcript. And always read the questions below so you know what to look and listen for as you watch!
While you watch
- According to Merry Wiesner-Hanks, where and when did states first emerge?
- According to Urmi Willoughby and Merry Wiesner-Hanks, what are some features of a state?
- According to Wiesner-Hanks, what kind of states were the first states in Sumer?
- What evidence does Willoughby use to justify the argument that Cahokia and Moundville were states?
- Does Willoughby think states were forced on people, or does she think people worked together to build states?
- What do the two scholars think of the idea that states need collective imagination?
After you watch
- States are a focus of this unit, and the emergence of states was one of the most important changes that made human communities more complex. In one sentence, what is a state? How does your definition compare with the contributors in the video?
- You’ve read a lot about the first farming societies. Do you think farming created the state?
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- Why did Ashoka build and inscribe his pillars?
- How did ancient emperors use family as a method of control?
- What challenges does the author say women faced when they ruled empires?
- How did emperors use religion to increase their authority? Give one example.
- How are rebellions like burps?
Evaluate
- The author gives only three methods of how empires increased control and authority. Can you think of some other methods they might have used?
- This article argues that one result of empire formation was that women (empresses) became subordinate to men (emperors). How does this support or challenge patterns of gender equality or inequality in earlier periods or other types of states?