Can Civilization Be Considered An Ancient State?
There are many ways to tell if a civilization falls into the proper characterization to be considered an ancient state or not. It is possible for one to meet the minimum requirements, but not the other characteristics. Characteristic of a state include the following: government, cities, religion, writing, social classes, and job specialization. I decided to look closer at the Inca Empire to see if it exceeds the minimum requirements for a state. For instance, the start of the Inca Empire is founded in Peru in 1483 and dissolved in 1533. This civilization had an army that had to go through numerous physical tests to win an officer position. The Inca Empire protected the major cities: Cuzco, Choquequirao, and Machu Picchu. In 1438, Inca Pachacuti
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There is a government that affects most of the population and a hierarchy in administration. Although it meets the basic requirements, I did not find that it met all characteristics of a state; for example, the Inca’s had no written language. The Inca’s did use force for labor work called Mita and did an annual census to keep track of all births and deaths for tax purposes called quipu. They did not claim a monopoly; however, the Inca’s instead claimed a monarchy. Religion was quite important to the people of the Inca culture and revolved mainly around the sun. Their ruler’s name, Sapa Inca, translates to “Son of the Sun”. Incan people mummified and worshiped their dead similar to the Egyptians; however, the Inca’s mummified their dead sitting in an upright position and only worshipped those who previously heal high ranking. Incan people would also bring the mummified dead into the town for worship purposes, and then tuck them away until next time around. The Incan people were also very crafty in an architectural way. They created many buildings out of roughly fine shaped stones or adobe by using clay or mud to achieve a smoother finish. With these characteristics that the Incas do have, there are few they didn’t acquire. There is a substantial part of the population that involved food production, rather than the opposite that is a characteristic of early
There is a government that affects most of the population and a hierarchy in administration. Although it meets the basic requirements, I did not find that it met all characteristics of a state; for example, the Inca’s had no written language. The Inca’s did use force for labor work called Mita and did an annual census to keep track of all births and deaths for tax purposes called quipu. They did not claim a monopoly; however, the Inca’s instead claimed a monarchy. Religion was quite important to the people of the Inca culture and revolved mainly around the sun. Their ruler’s name, Sapa Inca, translates to “Son of the Sun”. Incan people mummified and worshiped their dead similar to the Egyptians; however, the Inca’s mummified their dead sitting in an upright position and only worshipped those who previously heal high ranking. Incan people would also bring the mummified dead into the town for worship purposes, and then tuck them away until next time around. The Incan people were also very crafty in an architectural way. They created many buildings out of roughly fine shaped stones or adobe by using clay or mud to achieve a smoother finish. With these characteristics that the Incas do have, there are few they didn’t acquire. There is a substantial part of the population that involved food production, rather than the opposite that is a characteristic of early