Day 3: short History of Nearly Everything
Big History: The Universe, Thresholds, Change
How can we account for change in the universe? where did things begin? is there some law or explanation for how things work?
Human Emergence
“Life” fundamentally changed the order of the universe, like at every major turning point (or threshold stage), life created new forms of complexity and organization. DNA organizes matter into a reactive system that interacts and responds to environmental shifts in a dynamic process. This processes, however, acts on the scale of generations via the mechanism of natural selection
Human consciousness and capabilities form another fundamental shift in The history of the Universe. By creating objects, symbols, memories, stories, and culture we introduce a new element into how things evolve and change- our conscious adaptability, problem solving and decision making abilities enable us to create organization and complexity in the universe at a much high rate and profound level than ever before. These innovations can be called "collective learning". (as David Christian points out in the aforementioned TED talk)
Early Humans live in small bands (10-50 persons) and tribes called Hunters and Gathers. the only evidence of these societies we have is purely archaeological, as they possessed no written records. We know via such investigations that they traveled where food and weather was favorable, worked for about three to four hours a day, lived relatively long lived and practiced a sort of mystic religion highly integrated with animism and nature. Evidence suggests that these tribes were run by leaders based on merit, not on heredity- and that societies exhibited a high degree of egalitarianism. This was an enormously long-lived phase of humanity accounting for 90% of the history of our species, lasting up until about 12,000 years ago.
The longevity and stability of the hunters and gatherers then had to be upheaved by a particularly potent force: climate change. By cross analyzing climatology and archeology, we know today that the advancement of these nomadic societies was sparked by periods of rapid change in the climate. Changing weather conditions, in particular the last great Ice age (approx 10,000 years ago) forced humans to either migrate to more suitable localities or change.
Humans began to be more innovative with developing methods of growing and raising their own food. At this time we see the first permanent settlements beginning to arise. Theories disagree on whether permanent settlement lead to a fully agricultural-based society, or vise versa. The latter stipulates that something must have caused humans to settle permanently for another reason- many argue this was the emergence of more complex religion. Permanent religious sites would be necessary for important rituals and ceremonies, examples include Stonehenge and Gotab Gleak. These semi-permanent sites predate advanced agrarian technologies. but what then would cause religion to evolve after millennium of stability?
Evidence in France and the middle east suggest a series of massive sacrifices at or around the same time as a phase of rapid climate change. these sacrifices might have been seen as a way to seek understanding, atonement or relief from early societies seemingly wrathful nature gods. Regardless of what came first, agriculture or permanent settlement, Human society was never the same.
Society, Technology and Civilization
The creation of specialized skills allowed for an explosion in human creation and advancement. especially the creation of a written form of language. By using writing, societies could now extend knowledge beyond the limits of human memory and lifespan. Written language allows us to read and explore the cultures of civilizations thousands of years lost, in such epics as Gilgamesh, the bodvigat gita and The Odyssey. It also allows for societies to create laws, take accurate notes and tabulation, acrew taxes, codify religion, and keep track of family lineages. This stratification of people based on ability and training also lead to a more dichotomous view of gender, and allowed for a more hierarchical social order.
Specialization, those with particular skills, formed different classes based on their value. Scribes, priests, leaders, craftsmen and farmers could save time by separating their tasks, leading to a net increase in economic output. However, the neolithic revolution or agricultural revolution lead to a paradoxical decrease in average human lifespan. this can be understood in terms of the intense strain required by low-tech agriculture and livestock work, and the relatively smaller spectrum of nutrition allotted by its output. skeletal remains from this time are reveal that the early farmers were shorter by almost 6 inches than earlier hunters and gatherers, had many more broken limbs and scars, bent backs, much worse dental hygiene and high percentages of disease and illness. However, the increase of production in readily available foods (albeit less nutritious ones) lead to a boom in population. It was during these first thousand years of agriculture that we see for the first time the emergence of urban environments, or cities.
Cities fundamentally change the landscape of the planet, and arguably, human psychology. By physically imposing onto the earth: irrigation, streets, mammoth structures and walls, we change the way we perceive the world- it becomes something to manipulate and extract from. Urban centers emerged at sites of great natural richness, especially at river deltas, in temperate climates and near the coast. Cities became networked via trade routes, as trade and ideas began to spread, armies and conquest became a part of civilization. Conscription, enslavement and military strategy and it’s associative technologies all seem to have emerged from the developments of civilization. Religion too changed, as it began to become more complex, incorporating scripts and specialist priests into their mix. The ideologies of these early civilizations are often associated with weather and agriculture, and also often present themes of immortality and death. cults of leadership and gods emerged (such as the Pharaoh in Egypt) entrenching the status quo- or enabling a sort of social hegemony. We have the creation of rich luxury artifacts at this time, especially jewelry and ornamentation for the wealthy and royal, tomb and temple architecture as well as the countless more perishable items lost to time.
Sargon of Akkad founded the first empire across the middle east which would leave foundations for the next next millennium. War ensued in a never ending battle for control between city-states and power-holders. Egypt remained one of the more stable sites due to it’s geographic isolation and relative union. The Hammurabi is made famous for his “code”, or set of laws laid down and made public: a means of governing society based on written rule. These were claimed to be a gift from the Sun god, claiming a higher authority than man.
It wasn’t until about 700 BCE that we see the next major advance in western civilization. It was at modern site of Greece and the middle Mediterranean that we see a new set of powers, ideas and tastes emerge that would form the basis of a civilization that would remain the cultural foundations of the west for the next two millennium.
Antiquity and Classicism
While the emergence of the first cities was located around rich, relatively flat river deltas it was to a different region that would allow human civilization to develop democracy and rational philosophy. The Minoan civilization, which dominated the Mediterranean via sea their mastery of sea trading, became centralized on the island of Crete. These peoples exchanged goods all over the sea, gathering and exchanging ideas, culture and language as they went. After amassing wealth and experience, they built large palaces and commissioned elaborate frescoes and other artwork to be admired by visitors and traders alike. This civilization suffered a series of volcanoes, tsunamis and other natural disasters wiping them out. Their legacy was left to the mainland occupants of the Peloponnese: The Mycenaeans.
The Mycenae's were a seafaring warrior culture, famous for building large citadels or forts and waging war with the city state of Troy. Centuries later, in The Illiad , the Greeks re-count this great historic event by augmenting it with the intervention of gods and morale teachings.
Because of the geography of the Greek peninsula, relative autonomy was allotted to those city-states occupying the region. There were enough cliffs, mountains and passes, and a lack of developed road network to enable more security than other cities and states in the middle east. Yet because of the sea-faring skill of the Greeks, they were able to trade and travel extensively. Great city-states emerged amassing wealth and influence. The first Olympic games were held in 776 BCE to test each of the cities greatest athletes. This spirit of cooperation kept the Greeks united though still separate.
Athens and Sparta are the two most often used examples of Greek city-states having developed varying government style. Sparta becoming very militarists, employed a type of pseudo-slave underclass forced to farm the land. The government was ruled by a combination of two councils and two kings. Athens, on the other hand, eventually developed a form of democracy, allowing land-holding white males to vote and propose laws. Pericles became the most famous statesmen, and his rule (5th century BCE) Athens reached it’s height in cultural output and glory.
Theater productions and competitions were central to civic life and espoused political and philosophical questions to the voting-public. Architecture was erected to honor their gods and ideals, and thus themselves: Greek mythology exhibited a new sense of humanity, one placing humans on par with the divine, excluding Animistic and monstrous manifestations for entities of chaos, not order. Idealism emerged through a love of beauty and symmetry, often via exploration in mathematics and science. Philosophy, rhetoric and writing was also explored, most notably by Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
Yet for all this, the Greeks still suffered in-fighting and ultimately became their own internal demise. After a series of climactic conflicts with the Persian empire, lasting over a century, neither side was able to claim a solid victory. The city-states banded together for one final push, and succeeded once again to remain free from Persian invasion. The finances of these operations were left to Athens, and once their mission was complete- Athens remained in power via their consignment of the league’s treasury. The other city-states became outraged at Athen’s assumed arrogance and went through a series of bloody civil wars: the Peloponnese wars.
Ultimately it was left to a kingdom just to the North of Greece, Macedon, to carry the spread of Hellenism to it’s crowning height. Alexander the Great, at the young age of twenty, lead his well practiced and equipped army to victory over Greece, uniting them finally under his banner. They succeeded in conquering Persia, Egypt and much of the middle East in a bold and daring series of military campaigns. Alexander marched across the mountains to India, before finally returning to Persia and dying of an illness at thirty three. He didn't have time to set up a system of law or governance for this new vast territory, although the spread of Greek ideas and culture became widespread and entrenched throughout the civilized world. The kingdom was hacked into three regions, each governed by a general of Alexander’s. They remained autonomous until annexed by Rome centuries later.
Art during the “Hellenistic age”, or that age after the “classical or Hellenic” age, became much more individualized and expressive. The characters figures and portraits that were produced during this time period demonstrated an increased interest in the inwardness of the individual and self. From the deeply emotional “old market women”, the defeated “seated boxer” or the doomed “dying Gaul”, all of these works are studies in identification and sympathy- a sort of horizontal extension of everyday humanity to the viewer.
This is in stark contrast to the more idealized expressions of the high golden age of Greece (5th century Athens), where figures were presented as pinnacles and paragons of humanity, role-models to pursue and peruse, which might offer a more didactic moral compass, a sort of developmental trajectory for citizens partaking in Greek society and art. Their obsession with symmetry, ratio and proportion lead to a perfection of reproduction in human anatomy and form, but the exploration of the expressive and emotive was left for the Hellenistic age to encourage.
By the time Rome comes about, expands from republic to empire- they had largely assimilated the cultural expressions of the numerous and prospering colonies and cultures of the Hellenistic age. Romans held Greek theater, philosophy and poetry in high-esteem- writing it into their curriculum. Their achievements were in perfecting civil engineering, logistics and law. In this sense, Rome set about creating a more utilitarian application of the arts, sciences and technology. This “democratization of the arts” makes sense given their powerful voting middle and upper-classes, senators and dictators alike had to keep the people happy with grand public works projects, such as the Colosseum , aqueducts and bath houses. These achievements were made possible by advancements in design and materials: concrete, arches, cranes and others.
Roman sculpture was largely copies of earlier styles applied to new subjects, often for the glorification of individuals. In particular, Rome developed a uniquely realistic style when commissioning portrait busts of patrons. This too made sense in the light of publicly elected officials needing to establish public images and reputation. Latin law was developed to such a meticulous extent that it would form the basis of international court proceedings for a millennium to come, re-surging in the Renaissance. Much of the existing copies of Greek and other materials were made by the Roman literati circles, which were large and wide spread. Orators like Cicero made careers out of writing and speaking, advocating a stoic application of passions and talents to virtue and betterment. These were echoed in the writings of the great emperor Marcus Aurelius in his unforgettable Meditations.
Ultimately, however, Rome slowly began to crumble and disassemble itself starting in the 3rd century AD. Due to internal turmoil, economic depression, widespread famine and ravaging barbarians- Rome ultimately split in two, forming the Western Roman Empire (Rome itself) and the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium). Rome was finally sacked and occupied by the Visigoths in 410 ad.
The ensuing centuries became a phase of decentralization and instability. Old trade routes become disused, libraries and universities were sacked, generals and estates became private entities. What was left to come is the often termed “The Dark Ages”, a period of supposed intellectual decline. But for all this, there was one great power on the rise, one destined to shape the next fifteen hundred years of political, economic, and social life: Christianity.
