Source Collection: First States and Empires
Document 1
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Author |
Unknown |
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Date and location |
3200–3000 BCE, Aswan, Egypt |
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Source type |
Primary source – image of archaeological artifact |
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Description |
This ancient Egyptian palette, which was used during ceremonies to mix the King’s eye makeup. A palette, in this context, is a work of art carved on a board of wood or stone—in this case siltstone. This palette is thought to belong to Narmer or Menes, two names ascribed to the ruler of the first Egyptian dynasty. This may seem like an ordinary object, but the artwork on the palette gives us a clue into ancient Egyptian history as the empire formed. On one side, Narmer is shown wearing the crown of lower Egypt and defeating someone. On the other side, we see a similar scene, where the king has defeated enemies. He is a large figure and controls two lionesses. He is also shown as a bull crushing a town of rebels. Shape-shifting imagery was common for rulers, who were seen as divine, a bit like today’s superheroes. |
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Citation |
Unknown, Namar Palette, 3200–3000 BCE, siltstone engraving, c. 64 cm × 42 cm, Egyptian Museum, Cairo, object no. CG 14716. © Amir Makar / AFP via Getty Images. |
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Glossary Palette: a flat stone object; often for mixing paints but also used for rituals |
Document 2
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Author |
Unknown |
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Date and location |
c. 2900–2350 BCE, Mesopotamia |
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Source type |
Primary source – image of archaeological artifact |
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Description |
From 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, the ancient Indus society flourished in modern-day Pakistan and India. Though scholars cannot read their script, we know they were connected to other societies through networks of exchange. Beads like the one pictured were first produced in the Indus Valley and became popular in places such as China and Mesopotamia. The orange stone used is called carnelian (a type of quartz) and the circles are etchings made by the artist. |
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Citation |
Indus Bead, c. 2900–2350 BCE, carnelian, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, object no. 59.41.42. Bead, Indus, ca. 2900 – 2350 BCE. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain. |
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Glossary Carnelian: an orange semiprecious stone |
Document 3
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Author |
Hammurabi (reigned 1792–1750 BCE) |
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Date and location |
c. 1755–1750 BCE, Babylon |
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Source type |
Primary source – legal code |
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Description |
Hammurabi was a Mesopotamian king who ruled over the Old Babylonian Empire from 1792 to 1750 BCE. Below are some laws from the Code of Hammurabi, one of the oldest documents of laws in the world. Scholars think these laws were created or compiled by Hammurabi, as they were composed during his reign, around 1755– 1750 BCE. |
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Citation |
“The Code of Hammurabi.” Translated by L.W. King. Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library, 2008. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/ancient/hamframe.asp |
When the [gods] sent me to rule over men, to give the protection of right to the land, I did right... and brought about the well-being of the oppressed....
5. If a judge try a case, reach[es] a decision, and present[s] his judgment in writing; if later error shall appear in his decision, and it [is] his... fault, then he shall pay twelve times the fine set by him... and he shall be publicly removed from the judge’s bench, and never again shall he sit there to render judgment.
6. If any one steal the property of a temple or of the court, he shall be put to death, and also the one who receives the stolen thing from him shall be put to death....
22. If any one is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death....
42. If any one take over a field to till it, and obtains no harvest therefrom, it must be proved that he did no work on the field, and he must deliver grain, just as his neighbor raised, to the owner of the field....
196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out....
Laws of justice which Hammurabi, the wise king, established. A righteous law, and pious statute did he teach the land....
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Glossary Statute: a written law or rule |
Document 4
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Author |
Ramesses II (c. 1303–1213 BCE) and Hattusili III (c. 1286–1265 BCE) |
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Date and location |
c. 1269 BCE, Hittite capital of Hattusa (present-day Turkey) |
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Source type |
Primary source – peace treaty |
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Description |
In 1269 BCE, the Battle of Kadesh—between the ancient Egyptian and Hattian (Hittite) states—ended with rulers from each side signing of the Treaty of Kadesh. It was inscribed in Egyptian and Akkadian and displayed in both states. |
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Citation |
Pritchard, James B. Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Princeton University Press, 1969. |
Under the majesty of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt... Son of Ramses Meri-Amon...
The regulations which the Great Prince of Hatti, Hattusilis, the powerful, the son of Mursilis... made up... for... the great ruler of Egypt... the good regulations of peace and of brotherhood, giving peace... forever....
... from this day, behold Hattusilis, the Great Prince of Hatti, is under a regulation for making permanent the situation which Re (Egyptian Sun-god) and Seth (the Hattian Sun-god and the Storm-god) made for the land of Egypt with the land of Hatti, in order not to permit hostility to occur between them forever.
Behold, Hattusilis, the Great Prince of Hatti, has set himself in a regulation with... the great ruler of Egypt, beginning from this day, to cause that good peace and brotherhood occur between us forever, while he is in brotherhood with me and he is at peace with me, and I am in brotherhood with him and I am at peace with him forever....
The Great Prince of Hatti shall not trespass against the land of Egypt forever, to take anything from it. And... the great ruler of Egypt, shall not trespass against the land of Hatti, to take from it forever.
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Glossary Hostility: conflict or fighting |
Document 5
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Author |
Shang Yang (390–338 BCE) |
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Date and location |
Third century BCE, China |
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Source type |
Primary source – philosophical/legal treatise |
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Description |
Shang Yang was a Qin Dynasty reformer. Below are selections from The Book of Lord Shang in which he describes certain legalist ideas. |
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Citation |
Yang, Shang. The Book of Lord Shang: Apologetics of State Power in Early China. Translated by Yuri Pines. Columbia University Press, 2017. |
To benefit the state, one need not imitate antiquity....
Wherever reputation and benefit meet, the people will go in this direction.... Farming is what the people consider bitter; war is what the people consider dangerous. Yet they brave what they consider bitter and perform what they consider dangerous because of the calculation [of reputation and benefit]....
When the affairs of the world change, one should implement a different Way... Therefore, it is said: “When the people are ignorant, one can become monarch through knowledge; when the generation is knowledgeable, one can become monarch through force.” ...
Human beings have likes and dislikes; hence, the people can be ruled. The ruler must investigate likes and dislikes. Likes and dislikes are the root of rewards and penalties. The disposition of the people is to like ranks and emoluments and to dislike punishments and penalties. The ruler sets up the two in order to guide the people’s will and to establish whatever he desires....
To prevent wrongdoing and stop transgressions, nothing is better than making punishments heavy. When punishments are heavy and [criminals] are inevitably captured, then the people dare not try [to break the law].
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Glossary Emoluments: rewards or payments given by rulers to motivate behavior |
Document 6
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Author |
Chanakya (375–283 BCE) |
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Date and location |
c. 250 BCE, India |
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Source type |
Primary source – political treatise |
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Description |
The Arthashastra is an ancient Sanskrit treatise on correct government. It is believed to have been written by Chanakya, a royal advisor to Mauryan emperors. Scholars debate whether this work describes Mauryan court life or if it is a philosophical work. |
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Citation |
Kauṭalya, and R. Shama Sastri. Kauṭilya’s Arthaśástra. Printed at the Government Press, 1915. |
If a king is energetic, his subjects will be... If he is reckless, they will not only be reckless... but also eat into his works... a reckless king will easily fall into the hands of his enemies. Hence the king shall ever be wakeful....
... in his court he shall never cause his petitioners to wait... for when a king makes himself inaccessible to his people and entrusts his work to his immediate officers, he may be sure to engender confusion... and... public disaffection, and himself a prey to his enemies. He shall... personally attend to the business of gods... heretics... Brahmans learned in the Vedas... cattle... sacred places... minors... the aged... the afflicted... the helpless... and women; all this in order... or according to the urgency or pressure of those works....
Sacred Law, evidence, history, and edicts of kings are the four legs of Law... Sacred Law [Dharma] is [the] eternal truth holding its sway over the world; evidence is in witnesses; history is to be found in the tradition of the people; and the order of kings... consists in protecting his subjects with justice, its observance leads him to heaven. He who does not protect his people or upsets the social order wields his royal scepter in vain... power... exercised by the king with impartiality and in proportion to guilt... maintains both this world and the next....
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Glossary Disaffection: discontent with government |
Document 7
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Author |
Ban Gu (32–92 CE) and Ban Zhao (c. 45/49–c. 117/120 CE) |
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Date and location |
c. 100 CE, China |
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Source type |
Primary source – historical work |
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Description |
This passage is from the Han Shu, or The Book of Han, which was the official history of the Han Dynasty. A court official named Ban Gu and his sister Ban Zhao were the historians who composed this work in the first century CE. In this excerpt, the Han leaders are trying to figure out their tricky relationship with the Xiongnu, a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who lived in the Eurasian steppe north of Han territories. |
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Citation |
Wylie, A. and Tseen-Han-Shoo. “History of the Heung-Noo in Their Relations with China.” The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 5 (1876): 41–80. |
1. The ferocities and cruelty of the [Xiongnu] have been notorious [since the Zhou and the Qin], which were harassed by their marauding border... and at the accession of the Han their [attacks] became still more audacious.... In the reign of the Emperor Wu, troops were raised to chastise the barbarians, who expelled them and took possession of that country. The [Xiongnu] were then driven north... Stockades were erected to mark the boundary, the roads were skirted with look-out towers, cities were built [outside the borders], and military colonies were established... After this there were intervals of peace... The desert country on the north is level... so that when the [Xiongnu] came marauding, there was scarcely anything to conceal them. From the stockades southward the roads lie deep... and the passage is [difficult]. Men of age and experience on the borders remark that since the [Xiongnu] lost the Yin mountains, their trespasses have invariably been unsuccessful. If now we abandon the frontier and stockade guard, we shall give [up] a great advantage...
5. Recently the [Eastern Tibetans] who were protecting the stockades established an intercourse with the Chinese; and in their rapacity the border guard invaded the people, robbed them of their cattle, and carried off their wives and children. A fierce animosity has thus been generated, the people have risen against their oppressors, and a state of things has come about.... Now, should the native guard of the stockades be suspended, any slight misunderstanding may be easily aggravated....
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Glossary Stockade: a defensive barrier for protection |