MESOPOTAMIA
In the beginning of civilizations priests ruled city-states. Later on, monarchy (kings) begin to reign over civilizations. The kings and nobles made laws where it tells the people on how to honor the gods. Depending which city you were in, you would have a different king/ruler. The Mesopotamian government eventually developed political focal points and city-state kingdoms. Soon as time passes, Mesopotamia develops/invents bureaucracy. In modern day, we credit Mesopotamia for inventing government, law, and bureaucracy. One of the most famous rulers during this time was King Hammurabi. Reason is that King Hammurabi made these set of laws (that are very well-known) named the Hammurabi’s Code, where it states that people had to live in a patriarchal society. |
EGYPT
The ancient Egyptians government was a monarchy with their King or Queen being a Pharaoh. Pharaohs had unlimited control over Egypt and was in charge of creating laws, taxing citizens, and controlling their army. They were believed to be representatives of gods, sometimes gods themselves. Many government officials in ancient Egypt were important priest and religious leaders. The government and the Egyptian religion were intertwined so that many of their laws reflected their beliefs. There was also no specific method or pattern to choosing the next Pharaoh. Sometimes a the position of a Pharaoh was inherited, other times it was a trusted priest. When the former reign of a Pharaoh ended, a completely new line of Pharaohs could take its place. |
CHINA
The first known dynasty was Xia Dynasty, but there is not much information about it, and believed that the Shang Dynasty was the first true civilizations of China. The leader of the Shang Dynasty overthrew the Xia leader. As the civilizations spread, the leader have to divide it by territories and the leader were the aristocracy and the militaries. The Shang was actually the most centralized civilizations making the Anyang their capital city. They have a bureaucracy making hard decisions for the civilizations. The leader was basing their ruling through land ownership and rank. |
INDUS RIVER
The government in the Indus Valley was a monarchy. But the priest had more power than the king. In important cities the government was under the control of a class of priests or priest-kings. This is the reason why for the Indus river valley civilization government religion was involved and very important. |