Thread by @SeshatDatabank

Seshat History of the Axial Age is out!

Fairness and equity, universal rights, freedoms, representative, democratic governance, the notion that no one is above the law—these are ideas many of us cherish in the modern world. But where did they come from?

amazon.com/dp/0996139567

Co-editors Daniel Hoyer and Jenny Reddish paired some of the world’s leading historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists with members of the #Seshat team. The chapters survey developments in regions previously neglected in Axial Age discussions.

Huge thanks to the historians, archaeologists and anthropologists who
contributed to Seshat History of the Axial Age: Franco De Angelis, @OrenLitwin, Julye Bidmead, Vesna Wallace, Barend ter Haar, @jgmanning, Miriam T. Stark, Sharon R. Steadman, Gregory McMahon...

...R. Alan Covey, @peter_peregrine (authors); Ian Morris (foreword); Gina Barnes, @GeneAnderson2, Susan McIntosh (reviewers).

Thanks also to current and former Seshat team members @hoyerdan, @JennyReddish, @jilldluo, @enricioni, @a_dupeyron, Thomas Cressy, Dennis Spencer, @EvaKBrandl, Harvey Whitehouse, @pieterwfrancois, @Peter_Turchin

When did societies become modern?

https://twitter.com/NatureNews/status/1204193560393846785

https://twitter.com/SeshatDatabank/status/1204457434401501184

Seshat History of the Axial Age is the result of an ‘unparalleled exercise in data
collection’ (Ian Morris, Foreword). We used the #Seshat Databank to track
egalitarian ethics, social complexity and constraints on rulers in a global sample of historical societies. #AxialAge

With over a dozen analytic narratives exploring regional historical trajectories in Eurasia and beyond, Seshat History of the Axial Age is a “treasure trove of data” (Ian Morris, Foreword). #AxialAge #worldhistory #Seshat

Co-editor Daniel Hoyer @hoyerdan : “The data show that ‘axial’ traits emerged repeatedly [...] in many parts of the world and at their own pace, some much earlier than 800 and others much later than 200 BCE. We see increasing social complexity as the driving force.” #Seshat

Introduction by @hoyerdan and @JennyReddish asks: what exactly was the Axial Age and does it still have relevance today? We survey different definitions and chronologies and explain how we used the Seshat Databank to put Axial Age theories to the test. #Seshat

Karl Jaspers

In his chapter, @enricioni (with contributions from Harvey Whitehouse) introduces key traditions portrayed as “axial” in the literature, such as Zoroastrianism, Buddhism and Confucianism, and explores their systems of ethics and their views on human (in)equality. #Seshat

Chapter on Greco-Roman world by @JennyReddish and Franco De Angelis: Egalitarian and democratic ideologies flourished in Classical Athens, but were counterbalanced by alternative schools of thought hostile to rule by ‘the masses’, and were unevenly expressed in practice. #Seshat

Chapter on the Levant by @JennyReddish and @OrenLitwin: Mid-1st mil BCE Hebrew prophets like Amos attack the rich and powerful for oppressing the weak, but other features of Judaic ethics (e.g. the ‘Golden Rule’) are not fully expressed until later, in
Hellenistic period. #Seshat

Chapter on Iran (@JennyReddish and Julye Bidmead) highlights disagreements over when Zarathustra lived, undermining claims for simultaneous emergence of “axial” religions. Many scholars place him sometime between 1500 and 1000 BCE, earlier than #AxialAge as traditionally defined.

Chapter also points to the lasting influence of the overlooked #Elamite civilization. #AxialAge #Seshat

Chapter on South Asia (@enricioni and Vesna Wallace) surveys historical development from the Indus Valley Civilization to the Mughal Empire and asks whether the idea of an “axial breakthrough” 2500 years ago has any foundation.

Chapter on South Asia (@enricioni and Vesna Wallace) argues that Buddhist, Jain and “Hindu” traditions were/are strongly moralizing and had universalizing aspects, but none whole-heartedly endorsed equality in the mid-1st mil BCE (especially not gender equality) #AxialAge #Seshat

The North China chapter (@jilldluo and Barend ter Haar) disagrees with Jaspers’ categorization of China as an early “axial” region. #AxialAge

A bronze vessel "yi". Western Zhou dynasty (1027-770 BCE) #Seshat

Axial ideals of institutional/formal limits on ruler authority, promotion of charity and other forms of prosociality were almost entirely absent until the heyday of state-sponsored Buddhism in the 8th to 9th centuries CE. Chapter on North China (@jilldluo and Barend ter Haar).

Anatolia chapter (@JennyReddish, Sharon R. Steadman and Gregory McMahon) highlights “proto-axial” features in #Hittite Empire and shows how closely West Asian and Eastern Mediterranean societies were intertwined in Bronze and Iron Ages. #AxialAge #Seshat

#Egypt chapter (@JennyReddish and @jgmanning): Pharaonic Egyptian lit. shows concern with protecting the weak from oppression and praises social mobility, millennia before Axial Age as traditionally defined. #Seshat

Egypt chapter (@JennyReddish and @jgmanning): New Kingdom religion (late 2nd millennium BCE) has prominent universalizing strands. #AxialAge #Seshat

The Lower Mekong Basin of modern-day Cambodia and Vietnam has a fascinating and complex religious and political history, with influences from Buddhism, Hinduism, and indigenous belief systems. #Seshat

Our Seshat History of the Axial Age chapter on the Lower Mekong Basin (@jilldluo and Miriam T. Stark) describes how its history neither unambiguously supports nor refutes traditional models of axial transitions. #AxialAge #Seshat

Japan has generally been excluded from Axial Age discussions. Tom Cressy’s chapter (with contributions by Gina Barnes and @GeneAnderson2) paints a complex picture. #AxialAge #Seshat

Chapter on Japan (Tom Cressy with contributions by Gina Barnes and @GeneAnderson2) shows how “axial” traditions from South Asia and China (Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism) were adopted and adapted by emerging elites in 1st-mil CE Japan to bolster their power. #AxialAge #Seshat

Chapter on the Inland Niger Delta of modern-day Mali (@JennyReddish, contributions by Susan McIntosh) highlights research arguing that some societies here were organized heterarchically, without any real ‘leaders’, unlike the strictly hierarchical ancient societies across Eurasia

Chapter on the Inland Niger Delta of modern-day Mali (@JennyReddish, contributions by Susan McIntosh): The power of economic, religious,
and political groups counterbalanced each other, so that no one became
dominant. #Seshat

The Cahokia chapter (@jilldluo and @peter_peregrine) provides an alternative narrative of the rise and fall of social complexity. #Seshat

The settlements in the Mississippi Valley did not follow the traditional path of axial transition: those both before and after the regional dominance of the city of Cahokia were likely relatively egalitarian with no absolute rule. Cahokia chapter (@jilldluo and @peter_peregrine).

In Hawaii complex stratified societies developed independently of Eurasian states (until Capt. Cook’s arrival in 18th C). Dennis Spencer and Timothy Earle’s chapter shows that historical trajectories predicted by Axial Age theories “do not map convincingly onto Hawaiian history”.

Eva Brandl's @EvaKBrandl Late Complexity Survey chapter reveals diverse range of mechanisms for maintaining equitable resource distribution and limiting power of leaders in small-scale societies across the globe. #Seshat

The chapter challenges sweeping generalizations about “tribal” society and religion in accounts of the Axial Age.‘Egalitarian ideologies and limits on the power of leaders were not suddenly discovered by certain “advanced” civilizations”; found in “a wide range of social systems”

Our concluding chapter (Harvey Whitehouse, @pieterwfrancois, @enricioni, @jilldluo, @hoyerdan, @JennyReddish, @Peter_Turchin) argues that the idea of a single Axial Age is “misleading, but...

...also that some traditional notions of ‘axiality,’ specifically the shift from coercive to more ethical modes of governance, is indeed a discernible phenomenon in global history.” #AxialAge #Seshat

The term “Axial Age” (Achsenzeit) comes from philosopher Karl Jaspers, writing in mid-20th C, but the concept of parallel developments ...

...in several Eurasian societies between 800 and 200 BCE has a longer history. For example, 19th-C Scottish historian John S. Stuart-Glennie argued for a “moral revolution” in the same period. #AxialAge #Seshat