Response Paper to Uruk: The First City (Intro, Ch1, Ch2) - Ritik Malhotra

Ritik Malhotra

Near Eastern Studies R1B Lecture 4

Response Paper: Uruk (Intro, Ch1, Ch2)

In the historical book, Uruk: The First City, author Mario Liverani depicts the story of Uruk’s uprising as the “first complex society in the ancient near east” (Liverani 1), detailing its highly fascinating emergence, spanning different sectors of socio-economic growth. Out of the various topics described, what fascinated me most was the topic of the urban revolution that Uruk underwent. Having read the descriptive framework of urban revolution set up by Vere Gordon Childe, I contend that Uruk’s uprising was (surprisingly) successful due to socialistic ideals and policies that churned a system of revolutionary socialism into the society, unfolding the modern city of Uruk.

The entire premise of this argument is centered on Childe’s framework and his bases off the fundamental idea that “primitive accumulation of capital” (6) is needed to garner a successful revolution. In his framework, Childe suggests that “artisans, labourers, and transport workers,” who were responsible for the “construction of infrastructures and for the support of specialists and administrators” were merely “volunteers inspired by religious enthusiasm” and were only “nourished while at work” (6). These premises that Childe uses in the framework all point to generosity, unselfishness, and a tendency for people to work simply to advance society, similar to how socialism operates, even in modern-day systems. Even farmers, who produced “a surplus above their domestic needs” (6), used their excess crops to feed the volunteers with no direct, tangible economic benefit to themselves.

What I find really interesting and peculiar is that the concept of revolutionary socialism worked for Uruk as Uruk seemed to lack a strong form of central power or government to fully control and enforce its inhabitants other than the “specialists and administrators” (6) that had an idea of making the revolution happen. Surprisingly, even without a coordinating government on board, the people of Uruk were willing to work simply to set the modern society up, which, sociologically, is antithetical to the norm.