From Village to City

In the period immediately preceding the emergence of the first cities, three major society-shaping changes also took place. First, major advances in agricultural technology allowed those with other skills to trade of food instead of sustenance farming. Second, community decision-making was taken out of the hands of the village elders and given to a single leader, the chieftain. Lastly, organized religion came into being, replacing more personal forms of worship. Without any of these shifts, the city, as we know it, could not have come to be. According to Mumford, "To interpret what happened in the city, one must deal equally with the technics, politics, and religion, above all with the religious side of the transformation," (1961, p. 33).

In prehistoric times it was necessary for everyone to spend the majority of their time collecting food. Hunting and food gathering at that time sustained less than ten people per square mile (Mumford, 1961, p. 10), and the technology to store food had not yet been developed. Simply surviving was a full-time occupation.

As technology progressed, it was possible to harvest more with less work. Orchards and fields of grain were planted. Animals were domesticated and used for farming and food. Irrigation ditches were built and manure began to be used as fertilizer. Eventually, containers were created to store surplus harvests. One person was now capable of providing food for many more.

These advances in agricultural technology left ever-growing proportions of the population free from contributing to the food supply. Those with other skills and abilities could survive by trading their labor or goods for food. Food, in effect, served as the first currency, as is still common in many non-industrial countries.

The hunter, no longer needing to stalk animals for food, took on the task of protecting the village (Mumford, 1961). In exchange for keeping villagers and their crops safe, the displaced hunter was voluntarily given payment in the form of food. Eventually though, these payments became compulsory, an early form of taxation.

As his power grew, the hunter-protector became the chieftain, replacing the village elders as ruling body (Mumford, 1961). According to Mumford this transition of power came about in part through intimidation and coercion, but also through a general shift away from established, conservative ways (1961).

With control of the village's stored food, the chieftain gained considerable power. "He who controlled the annual agricultural surplus exercised the powers of life and death over his neighbors," Mumford writes (1961, p. 36). The stored food could be distributed as the chieftain saw fit, surely often being used to commission small-scale public works projects such as irrigation ditches and strongholds for protecting surplus food.

As advances in agricultural technology plateaued, one of the primary ways for the chieftain to continue to expand his power must have been to increase the scale of farming operations. Food could be traded for other goods and services, and with a greater supply more people could be supported and used in whatever way the king saw fit.

In neolithic villages, each family had their own household god and shrine (Mumford, 1961). The head of the household, rather than a priest or other religious figure, was responsible for leading prayer and performing rites (Mumford, 1961). As such, power was diffused equally; no one stood between one and one's gods.

Mumford writes, "At some moment, it would seem, the local familiar gods...were overpowered and partly replaced, certainly outranked, by the distant sky gods or earth gods..." (1961, p. 30). What caused this religious shift cannot be precisely known, but Mumford continues by saying, "The local chieftain turned into the towering king, and became likewise the chief priestly guardian of the shrine, now endowed with divine or almost divine attributes," (1961, p. 30) and goes on to say, "Even ancient village habits and customs might be altered in obedience to divine command," (1961, p. 30).

It would be conjecture to say that organized religion was started for the purpose of turning autonomous villagers into loyal subjects, but even today it is commonly used by political leaders in an attempt to gain popular