The Evolution of Urban Society in Mesopotamia

The Evolution of Urban Society in Mesopotamia Where and when did the first urban societies appear? Were the earliest cities a prerequisite for the development of civilization or merely by-products of it? These are fundamental questions that are attempted to be answered in studies of the ‘urban revolution, which is defined as â€Å"emergence of urban life and the concomitant transformation of human settlements from simple agrarian-based systems to complex and hierarchical systems of manufacturing and trade.† (Gotham 2007) For decades now, many anthropologists, archaeologists and historians have accepted that the ‘cradle of civilization was situated in the Fertile Crescent, a vast stretch of land which extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. More specifically referred to is Mesopotamia, meaning â€Å"land between the rivers† in Greek, lying in the basin of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. Mesopotamia is indeed the oldest site that provides evidence of a complex and urban society, s uch as writing, grand architecture, and bureaucracy. It contains all the characteristics necessary to support the social, economic, and religious needs of a large and sedentary population. Although there is no exact definition for an urban society, scholars have established a myriad of different criteria to classify societies. One of the earliest, and most important, lists of characteristics used to evaluate whether a society can be described as urban was V. Gordon Childes ten-point model in his seminal article â€Å"The Urban Revolution†. His analysis of these different, yet related, factors is often summarized under the acronym â€Å"POET†: population, organization, environment and technology (Wyly 6:2008). For this essay, I will focus on these four criteria and how the ancient societies in Mesopotamia satisfied them. First of all, the growth and density of a population depends on the food supply available, which is restricted by the natural resources available to the inhabitants. Mesopotamia was blessed as a rich agricultural area between its two rivers. It had very favourable geographical characteristics as a flat and alluvial land. As a consequence of its consistent elevation, the Tigris and the Euphrates flowed relatively slowly. The lack of natural dykes or barriers to the rivers caused the yearly flooding. The waters consistently overflowed their banks and deposited a rich layer of silt onto the plains. Since the ground in southern Mesopotamia was extremely fecund, people were able to regularly grow an abundance of crops which could support a considerable population. According to Elvin Wyly (1998), â€Å"After a long period of struggles to improve cultivation techniques in the fertile river valleys, archaeologists believed, an ‘agricultural revolution allowed the production of a surpl us that eventually laid the basis for an ‘urban revolution about 5,500 years ago (3,500 before the current era, or BCE).† It was from the environment that social surpluses were made possible, meaning farmers were able to produce annually more food than what was necessary to sustain him and his family. However, the annual flooding of the plains was often a mixed blessing. Although the fertility of the soil was caused by centuries of silt deposits transferred from the river beds, the flooding could also be unpredictably catastrophic. In an instant, rivers could destroy crops and wipe out entire communities and their inhabitants. Once the hordes of neighbouring peoples settled in adjacent to the waterways, it became necessary for them to join together in a form of collective management to protect their settlements and livelihoods from flooding. This collective management of the flood waters and the social surplus associated with it formed the rudimentary conditions for the progression of Sumerian civilization. Childe (1950: 8) makes this point clear when he notes, â€Å"At the same time dependence on river water for the irrigation of the crops restricted the cultivable areas while the necessity of canalizing the waters and protecting habitations against annual floods encouraged the aggregation of population. Thus arose the first cities—units of settlement ten times as great as any known Neolithic village.† These novel agricultural innovations of controlled irrigation and canalization served as catalysts for the broader societal changes. By providing a consistent social surplus, the populations of the earliest cities in Mesopotamia were able to rapidly increase in absolute terms and also in the density of their settlement. The greater numbers of people provided the basis for specialization and hierarchical institutions. The largest Mesopotamian city Ur, which was built on a tributary of the Euphrates, had a maximum population of 34, 000 in the old walled city, and possibly more than 340,000 when its surrounding regions are included (Wyly 2008: 2). This is an astounding number for a settlement during this period. Among the rivers and streams, the Sumerian people built the first cities along with irrigation canals which were separated by vast stretch es of open desert or swamp where nomadic tribes roamed. Communication among the isolated cities was difficult and at times dangerous. Thus each Sumerian city became a city-state, independent of the others and protective of its independence. This demonstrates that the development of cities and states were inextricably linked, as one was necessary for the formation of the other. This irrigation cultivation and food surplus released certain members of the population from manual labour. The economic and political transformations that brought about early complex societies were largely due to the production of a social surplus by commoners, which enabled the formation of political differentiation and the complex division of labour. Thus began the process of social stratification and the formation of different social classes, perhaps the most significant change incurred by the Urban Revolution â€Å"As with other cities of Mesopotamia, Ur was socially heterogeneous, with a detailed specialization of labor, and substantial differences in wealth and power between an elite class and the remainder of the population.† (Wyly 2008: 2). A strict hierarchy began. At the top were the land-owning elites, consisting of nobles, priests and the military, who controlled the distribution of the surplus. Next, there were specialists such as craftspeople, metallurgists, and scribes employed to track the surplus. At the bottom were the powerless peasants who supported the entire economy on their backs. Smith (2009: 10) notes that â€Å"Sir Leonard Woolley (1954) was directing excavations at Ur, where he uncovered evidence for many craft specialists in the residential neighborhoods.† The power of the elites was symbolized and consolidated by the construction of grand public monuments. â€Å"Every Sumerian city was from the first dominated by one or more stately temples, centrally situated on a brick platform raised above the surrounding dwellings and usually connected with an artificial mountain, the staged tower or ziggurat.† (Childe 1950: 14). Granaries and workshops were attached to these temples allowing the concentration of food and wealth to be held in the hands of a relative few. The ability to store and trade the surplus spurred scientific innovations in measurement and storage, while new political means emerged to supervise the allocation of the surplus and its benefits. According to Childe (1950: 16), new technologies and innovations emergence directly from the need to manage and organize the surplus. The priests and bureaucrats of Sumerian temple invented the first type of writing, in the form of Sumerian cuneiform, as a way of accounting and re cording the resources and revenues collected as tribute from the commons. The invention of writing led to the development of other â€Å"exact and predictive sciences—arithmetic, geometry and astronomy†. The use of writing and sciences for administrative purposes by the state is one of the hallmarks of a more complex, urban society. George Cowgill (2004: 535) claims that â€Å"If the first cities were deliberately created, it is likely that they were new kinds of settlements that arose abruptly, rather than old kinds of settlements that gradually grew so large that they became qualitatively as well as quantitatively different.† Works Cited Childe, V. Gordon 1950 The Urban Revolution. Town Planning Review 21:3-17. Cowgill, George L. 2004 Origins and Development of Urbanism: Archaeological Perspectives. Annual Review of Anthropology 33:525-544. Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica 2009 History of Mesopotamia. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/376828/Mesopotamia, accessed November 20, 2009. Smith, Michael E. 2009 V. Gordon Childe and the Urban Revolution: An Historical Perspective on a Revolution in Urban Studies. Town Planning Review 80:3-29. Wyly, Elvin 2008 Urban Origins and Historical Trajectories of Urban Change. Introduction to Urban Geography 1-10.

Expression of Renaissance Ideals throught the Art of the Period :: European Europe History

Expression of Renaissance Ideals throught the Art of the Period The humanist and secularist beliefs of religion, individuality, and antiquity were evident in the style and illustration of Italian paintings and sculptures in the High Renaissance era. A deep sense of piety, Greek and Roman philosophy, and secularism, can be found in nearly all Renaissance paintings and sculptures, and the school of thought in Renaissance society that regarded the artist as genius contributed to all of these items. Historically, religion is the defining factor of nearly all paintings in modern and medieval European history. The Last Supper by Leonardo, The School of Athens by Raphael, Michelangelo's huge sculpture of the ancient Hebrew king David, Giotto's paintings of the Virgin Mary and Saint Francis of Assisi, and Masaccio's The Holy Trinity serve as an infinitesimally small sample of the vast selection of religiously inspired paintings, frescos, sculptures, and architectural endeavors created by Renaissance artists. The School of Athens by Raphael is an artistic representation of the beliefs and interpretations of the Renaissance humanist philosophers such as Petrarch and Drusus. Great classical mathematicians such as Pythagoras stand under the statue of the Greek goddess of reason, Athena, while intellectuals such as Socrates teach on the right, under the statue of the Greek patron of poetry, Apollo. This fresco also illustrates the existence of an intellectual community of painters, sculptors, and leaders such as Michelangelo and Leonardo, who exist in the painting as Greek philosopher Heraclitus and Plato, respectively. This select group of individuals was in fact the majority of the thinking power of the Italian Renaissance. Leonardo da Vinci represents most strongly the secularist style in Renaissance art. His painting of The Last Supper shows the very strained emotions of Jesus' apostles when he informs them that he is to be betrayed. The lines of emotion and the expressions on the apostle's faces clearly depict the secularist real, the non-exaggerative, worldly style of secularism exhibited through the writings of Boccaccio and Lorenzo Valla. Michelangelo's dome for Saint Peter's Basilica and the roof of the Sistine Chapel display the secularist attitude the Roman Catholic Church adopted in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The fact that the Catholic Church, the wealthiest institution in the world, sponsored this art shows the elitist status that artists must have assumed in the Renaissance, and how the church supported the belief that the hand of God worked through the hands of the artists.

Eddie loves Catherine Essay

The reason why Eddie loved Catherine so much is because she knew everything about him and had the qualities that Eddie liked. Eddie treated her like a child because he did not want he to realise that she was growing up. Eddie liked this because he could have control over her. At this point this is when the audience realises that Eddie has no hopes except from the hopes of having a woman he can never have. The audience may think that Eddie is selfish because he will not let Catherine lead her own life. By looking at the way eddies personality changes I think that he is having a mid-life crisis. There are different types of relationships in the play: The relationship with Eddie and Catherine is incestuous love. The relationship between Beatrice and Eddie is platonic love. The relationship between Rodolpho and Eddie is they are like rivals trying to get Catherine. The relationship between Marco and Eddie is hatred. The relationship between Alfieri and Eddie that Alfieri is eddies lawyer. I feel that Catherine is partly to blame because she knew everything about Eddie and so she should have realised his feeling to wards her. Also she should have not acted like a child all the time allowing Eddie to have control over her. I feel sorry for Marco because he is a good person trying to give his family a good future but Eddie destroys his plans. I also feel sorry for Rodolpho because he done what everyone does, falls in love. We can tell that he is a good person because he tries to make up with Eddie. I think Beatrice has no self-esteem because she does everything that Eddie tells her and does not stick up for herself. I think that Eddie is helpless. He is obsessed with work and I think that he has no future. I think that because he did not get his only hope that he did not mind dying. I do not feel sorry for Eddie dying because he is a back stabber and should not of done what he done. I think that he is very over protective and over reacted when he found out that Catherine was in love. The audiences’ reaction might be different to mine but I was shocked when Marco killed Eddie because I thought that it might have been Rodolpho that killed him because of all the things that Eddie done to him.

How to Form the Italian Gerund

The Italian gerundio—what looks like aspettando, leggendo, capendo—is a quasi counterpart of the English progressive tense, combined with uses of the English present participle -ing. While English has a gerund, it does not correspond in its uses to the Italian gerundio. In fact, what is expressed in English with the gerund (I love eating pasta, for example) is, in Italian, expressed with other tenses, most often the infinitive or the past infinitive: Amo mangiare la pasta. So, think of the Italian gerundio mostly as a progressive tense with -ing, but with uses that are peculiar to Italian: some similar to English, some not at all. Sto mangiando. I am eating.Mangiando, ho imparato molte cose sulla cucina. I have learned a lot about cooking from eating.Luomo camminava cantando. The man was walking while singing.Si possono conservare le salse congelandole. Sauces can be conserved by freezing them.Avendo visto i fiori nel campo, la ragazza scese dalla macchina per coglierli. Having seen the flowers in the field, the girl got out of the car to pick them. Forming the Gerundio Semplice There are two forms of gerundio: gerundio semplice (doing) and gerundio composto (having done, being done). They are also called gerundio presente and passato, but that can be confusing since the gerundio presente can be used in past actions. To form the simple gerundio of regular Italian verbs, add -ando to the stem of -are verbs and -endo to the stem of -ere and -ire verbs: guardare (to look): guardandovedere (to see): vedendodormire (to sleep): dormendo There are irregular gerundi (plural of gerundio). For example, with dire, fare, bere, porre, and tradurre, the gerundio is made through the root of their imperfetto tense, harkening to their Latin infinitives (dicere, facere, bevere, ponere, and traducere): Their gerundi are dicendo, facendo, bevendo, ponendo, and traducendo respectively. It is helpful to have a book on Italian verbs handy to check on irregularities. Remember, a verb can have an irregular participio passato—for example, mettere (to put, to put on), with its participio passato messo—and have a regular gerundio (mettendo). The Gerundio Composto The gerundio composto, a compound tense, is formed with the gerundio form of the auxiliary avere or essere (avendo and essendo) and the past participle of the verb you are conjugating. You use avere for transitive verbs and any verb that uses avere as the auxiliary; you use essere for intransitive verbs that take essere, verbs in reflexive mode, verbs in reciprocal mode, some (but not all) pronominal verbs, and the passive voice. Remember your ground rules for using the right auxiliary. Gerundio Semplice Gerundio Composto guardare guardando looking avendo guardato/essendosi guardato/a/i/e having looked/having looked at oneself vedere vedendo seeing avendo visto/essendosi visto/a/i/e having seen/having seen oneself dormire dormendo sleeping avendo dormito having slept dire dicendo saying avendo detto/essendosi detto/a/i/e having said fare facendo doing avendo fatto having done bere bevendo drinking avendo bevuto having drunk porre ponendo putting avendo posto/essendosi posto/a/i/e having put/having posed tradurre traducendo translating avendo tradotto having translated mettere mettendo putting avendo messo/essendosi messo/a/i/e having put/having put on Progression and Contemporaneity By itself or in combination with the verb stare in various tenses, the gerundio can create a magical layering of progression and contemporaneity, in addition to providing subtleties of cause or manner. In the Present with Stare In the present as the main verb, the gerundio semplice expresses the progression of an action as its happening. The stare functions as auxiliary. Che fai? Sto lavorando. What are you doing? I am working.Cha fa Luca? Luca sta mangiando. What is Luca doing? He is eating.Che fate? Stiamo guardando un film. What are you all doing? We are watching a movie. It is not much different from saying, with the Italian presente, lavoro, or Luca mangia, or guardiamo un film, but it puts more emphasis on the unfolding of the action. It is about the process of the action. Same Subject, Contemporaneous Action The gerundio semplice is also used to express contemporaneity with another verb having the same subject in a variety to tenses, from the present to the remote past and the past perfect. Camminando, penso molto. Walking, I think a lot.Spesso cucinando penso a mia nonna. Often while cooking I think of my grandmother.Spesso cucinando pensavo a mia nonna. I used to think of my grandmother often while cooking.Scendendo dallaereo scivolai e mi ruppi una gamba. Getting off the plane I fell and broke my leg.Pensando alla nonna, avevo deciso di telefonarle ma mi sono dimenticata. Thinking about Grandma, I had decided to call her, but then I forgot. Contemporaneous Action, Different Subjects The gerundio semplice can be used with stare to express a progressive action contemporaneous or coordinated with another action having a different subject in a variety of tenses and modes. Io stavo scendendo e tu stavi salendo. I was going down and you were going up.Stavo facendo la spesa quando Marco ha telefonato. I was shopping when Marco called.Quando hai chiamato stavo lavorando. I was working when you called.Quando tornerai starà ² sicuramente lavorando. When you return I will surely be working.Quando tu starai dormendo io starà ² viaggiando. When you will be sleeping, I will be traveling.La mamma pensa che stia lavorando. Mom thinks that I am working.Pensavo che Luca stesse lavorando. I thought that Luca was working. With Andare The gerundio can be used also with the verb andare. With andare the action is incremental; with stare it is more truly progressive: Il rumore andava crescendo mentre scendevo nei sottopiani della metro. The noise grew while I descended into the lower floors of the subway.Mentre ero allestero la nostra amicizia andava scemando, ma non mi rendevo conto. While I was abroad our friendship went diminishing, though I did not realize it. Adverbial Functions Layered into the framework of time and contemporaneity, the Italian gerundio in subordinate clauses serves prepositional, adverbial purposes. In other words, it gives us modifying information. Adverb of Manner The gerundio can be used in Italian to tell us in what condition the main verb occurs: screaming, crying, running. Arrivarono urlando. They arrived screaming.Scesero dal treno piangendo. They got off the train crying.Correndo, finalmente arrivarono. They finally arrived, running. Adverb of Means or Way The gerundio can be used to tell us by what means or method the main action occurs: Setacciandola, togliete le impurità   dalla farina. Remove the impurities from the flour by sifting it.Parlando, la calmerete. By talking, you will calm her.Leggendo diventerete saggi. You will become wise by reading. Adverb of Time The gerundio can frame the time or period of the main action: Parlando non si guardarono mai. While they were speaking, they never looked at each other.Tornando allalba lo vidi. While I was returning at dawn I saw him.Camminando si toccarono con la mano. While they were walking, they touched each other with their hand. Adverb of Condition The gerundio can be used to set a condition to the main verb: Volendo, potresti partire. If you wanted to, you could leave.Dovendo tornare, sono partita. Having to return, I left. Causal Adverb The gerundio can be used to give an explanation for the main verb: Non sapendo a chi chiedere aiuto, Luisa scappà ². Not knowing who to turn to for help, Luisa ran away.Sentendo le urla, mi preoccupai. Hearing the screams, I became worried.Avendo visto tanta morte, il generale indietreggià ². Having seen so much death, the general retreated. This last sentence brings us to the gerundio composto. Uses of the Gerundio Composto The gerundio composto necessitates a subordinate clause, setting the background for something else, with different or same subject. It is used by well-spoken Italians and in a lot of written Italian, but there are also simpler ways of saying the same thing, with a bit of loss of elegance, perhaps. Avendo fatto la spesa, sono tornata a casa. Having shopped, I went home. Alternatively, you could say, Dopo aver fatto la spesa sono tornata a casa. Avendo visto i fiori, decisi di fermarmi a guardarli. Having seen the flowers, I decided to stop to look at them. Alternatively, you could say, Quando ho visto i fiori mi sono fermata a guardarli. Essendomi guardata allo specchio, ho deciso di cambiarmi. Having looked at myself in the mirror, I decided to change. Alternatively, you could say, Dopo che mi sono vista allo specchio, ho deciso di cambiarmi. In the last sentence the gerundio is causal and used in the passive voice, with essere. Indeed, in the passive voice the gerundio is used with essere. Essendo la cena stata servita, mangiammo. Having dinner been served, we ate.Essendo il bambino affidato al nonno, la mamma non lo vide pià ¹. Having the child been entrusted to the grandfather, his mother no longer saw him. Pronouns With the Gerundio When there is use of pronouns, for example, with gerundi of reflexive verbs or pronominal verbs, or if there are direct object or indirect object pronouns, you attach the pronouns to the end of the gerundio if the gerundio is alone and semplice. Lavandomi i capelli nel lavandino mi sono bagnata. Washing my hair in the sink I got wet.Ho rotto le uova portandole a casa. I broke the eggs carrying them home. Portandogli la lettera sono caduta. While taking him the letter I fell.Standole vicina ho visto la sua forza. By staying close to her I saw her strength. If the gerundio is composto, the pronouns get attached to the auxiliary; if stare is used as auxiliary to the gerund, the pronoun moves to before the verbs. Essendomi lavata i capelli nel lavandino, mi sono bagnata. Having washed my hair in the sink, I got wet.Avendole detto quello che volevo dire, ho lasciato Luisa al treno. Having told Luisa what I wanted to tell her, I left her at the train.Avendogliela portata (la lettera), sono tornata a casa. Having taken it to him (the letter), I went back home. With stare as auxiliary: Mi sto lavando i capelli. I am washing my hair.Gli stavo portando la lettera quando sono caduta.I was taking him the letter when I fell. Nouns From the Gerundio The Latin gerund, from which the uses of the contemporary Italian gerundio have mostly distanced themselves, did, however, leave to the Italian a good number of nouns: among them are faccenda, leggenda, and bevanda. Buono studio!