POLITICAL THEORIES OF

THE ANCIENT EAST

First week
Prof. Luis Jiménez Borra
► Politics has existed in every human group.
► Clans, Tribes, etc. Any form of relationship
between beings who command and beings who
obey.
► One cannot speak of a political right because
although there were rules that governed the
conduct of the subjects, they did not govern that
of the rulers.
► The unity was based on religion, common
natural objects (plants, birds) were worshiped. To
whom they attributed magical powers.
First political forms

► There was an exaggerated “animism”. They

attributed a spirit to every inexplicable
phenomenon in primitive times.
► The law was negative, it consisted of
prohibitions, superstitious and naive so as not to
disturb the spirits that surrounded man.
► Pastoral life transformed the human group.
matriarchy gave way to patriarchy. The prosperity
coming from the pastoral economy increased the
population, which led to the intensification of
warfare between clans and tribes.
First political forms

► With the war slavery appeared.

Anthropophagy had disappeared due to
economic progress.
► The leaders also appeared, war heroes who
led the group. The cult of the past gradually
reduced animism. The law ceased to be a set
of prohibitions and became respect for
custom. He stopped being negative and
became positive.

► With the sedentary lifestyle, the chief's

First political forms
personal authority became territorial.
► To his previous executive (especially military)
and judicial (enforcing religion and customs)
functions, the leader added legislative ones.
► The union of tribes and clans (Europe and
India), as well as the conquest of some over
others (Near East), gave shape to the first
great States.
 Eastern States (Nearby
East)
► The great Eastern States were not favorable
fields for the emergence of political philosophy.
The religious component was very strong. It was
the priestly castes that predominated.
►sacred
Political institutions had “divine origin” and were
and therefore indisputable and intangible.
Any idea of progress was sacrilegious.
► According to Gettel, there was a real confusion
between religion, politics, morals, philosophy and
economic doctrines. However, in this confusion,
religion was predominant.
Eastern States
► They were theocratic, absolutist and
autocratic States. Respect for the human
person was absent.
► There was no justice or natural law, although
it could occur in the teaching of religious
leaders or philosophers, it never had real
application.

► THEOCRATIC: The a God

authority was of the
(Egypt) or a representative
(Mesopotamia and Persian

POLITICAL THEORIES OF THE ANCIENT EAST 1

Eastern States
Eastern States (Nearby East) 7
Egypt 13
Mesopotamia 14
For the next class 23

►
East is the idea of EMPIRE. This consisted in
a great State coming from the fusion of several
smaller communities. This could be voluntary, in
search of protection or by force as a result of a
conquest. Those subjected kept their religion and
political institutions, this made the unity of the
empire difficult.

► None of the eastern empires had a good

administration, as for example the Roman
Empire did. With the exception of Egypt, the
Eastern States
life of these States was not very durable.
► Among the great states of antiquity are the
empires of the Near East (Egypt, Mesopotamia
and Asia Minor) and the empires of the Far
East (China and India).

► Empires existing in the territory between

the Nile River Valley (Egypt) and Mesopotamia
(Between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers).
► According to Jacques Ellul they have three
distinctive characteristics:
◦ 1.Continental civilizations
◦ 2.Organized in the form of an Empire
Eastern States
◦ 3.Essentially Urban

► Continental because they were built on fertile

lands near large rivers and generally far from the
sea. Its trade and maritime expansion was non-
existent or of little importance. Although in the
case of Egypt they reached the shores of the
Mediterranean.
► They were Empires, and the most exemplary case
is that of Egypt, which lasted from the fourth
millennium BC to the 6th century BC. The power
of the monarch was linked to religion and the
common man was subject to his power.
Eastern States

► Urban, since the center of political and

economic life were the cities. Although the
economy was based on agriculture, the
authorities resided in the urban centers.
► Throughout its history, political
institutions remained stable. Different periods
can be identified within this, both in Egypt
and Mesopotamia.
Egypt
► 1. Old Kingdom . From the founding of the
first dynasty by Menes (3315 BC) to the social
upheavals (2160 BC)
►until2.the
Middle Theban Empire . From 2160 BC
invasion of the Hyksos 1680 BC
► 3. New Theban Empire. From the expulsion
of the Hyksos 1580 BC to the invasion of the
sea peoples 1193 BC that was rejected but
generated anarchy
►century
4. Under Empire. From the end of the 10th
to the end of the 6th century BC with
the Persian invasion.
Mesopotamia
►various
1. Sumerians. 3000 to 2300 BC inhabitants of
city-states Ur, Erech, Kish, Eridu,
Lagasch. Enemies of each other, they were not
empires
► 2. Invasion
of the Semites (2300 2200 BC) e
Iranians (2200 2100 BC)
►after3.Ancient Babylon . Flourishing empire that
Hammurabi was attacked by Cassites and
Hittites, until in 12 BC they were dominated by
the Assyrians, who reached their peak under the
reign of Sargon 722 BC.
►BC reached
4. New Babylon . Chaldean conquest 612
its peak under Nebuchadnezzar II
 (605 562 BC), until they were destroyed by
the Persians in 539 BC

► Unlike the previous ones, they did not have a

very strong central power nor did the priestly
castes have much influence. For this reason,
political philosophers who can be considered
the first of humanity could emerge in both
China and India.
• Its main political thinkers emerge from the Chou
dynasty. Among them Lao Tsé (604 to 531 BC),
philosopher in charge of the court archive in
Loyang; Confucius (551 to 479 BC) minister in Lu
during his youth; Moh Ti (500 to 420 BC) religious
thinker and Mencius (372 289 BC) disseminator of
Confucius.

► All these thinkers lived in a China

isolated from the world, with a weak central
authority that respected freedom of thought and
local autonomy.
► The social
organization was based on family. The
Filial obedience was highly rooted, which was established in
the State in obedience to the constituted authorities.
► The government was exercised by the
educated classes. The
Political thinkers conceived of man as depraved and cruel by
nature and conceived of laws as a brake
►concern
The most important was Confucius. He had a constant
for the good of the people and for the limitation of
the ruler's powers. It is therefore considered a precursor of
the doctrine of natural law and resistance to oppression.
►State
Mencius summarizes it: “The most important element of a
is the people… by satisfying popular aspirations we
fulfill the will of heaven”
► It was inhabited by the Dravidians,
who were invaded for years and
Indo-Europeans,
Warriors nomads with organization
patriarchal and tribal. These invaders
organized themselves into a society divided
into castes. Each one of them came from a
supreme God 'Brahma' So
arose he
Brahmanism, the Hindustani religion.
► There were various brahmanical castes.
► 1. Brahmans. In charge of worship and
knowledge, who exercised guardianship over
others and whose behavior was regulated.
►government.
2.Chatrias. In charge of war, justice and

►commerce.
3.Vaisias . In charge of agriculture and

► 4.Sudras. Destined to serve others

► The children of
people from different caste no
They belonged to none and they
carried a life
miserable on the margins of society were the
PARIAS.
► The caste regime characterized the social
organization of its people. Through rigorous
stratification and an almost complete lack of social
mobility.
►contained
The principles of this organization were
in the famous CODE or LAWS OF MANU.
This stated that each individual must marry
someone from his caste and remain in

► Through successive
reincarnations I was going
ascending caste. You could reach the
Brahmins if all the precepts had been fulfilled.
India
► The Brahmanical regime was not strictly
theocratic. Yeah goodthe caste superior was
priestly, the
effective exercise of government was in the hands
of the chatrias. It could be said that there was
distinction between religious and state functions.

► Although Brahmanic philosophy pointed out that

man was a depraved and selfish being, which
justified the existence of authority, it did not
attribute absolute power to those who exercised it.
A Hindu thought points out “an opinion held by
many is stronger than the king himself. "The rope
woven with many fibers is enough to drag a lion."
► In the history of
political thought in India,
Buddha, whose real name
was Gautama Siddhartha,
India
is of special importance. He belonged to a
royal family but at the age of 29 he discovered
Nirvana (living thinking only of God). Buddha
maintained that salvation was within the reach
of man, regardless of caste. These ideas that
implied a democratic principle reached great
diffusion not only in India but in other eastern
towns.

• Although both Brahmanism and Buddhism deeply

penetrated the Hindu people, the country was subject
to successive invasions and in this way other ideas and
religions also gained currency.

► From the 7th to the 11th century, there were

invasions by Muslim Arabs. During the 13th and 14th
India
centuries, the Mongol invasions occurred. Between the
15th and 19th centuries there was colonization by the
Portuguese, English, Dutch and French. In the 20th
century, the decolonization process took place, turning
India into two
Independent States. Brahmanical India and Muslim
Pakistan.
For the next class
► Write a page about the influence of
Confucius on Western culture.
► No “copy and paste”, precise ideas, short
sentences.
► At the end, in the last paragraph,
elaborate a personal opinion about the
author.