Uruk
Sumerian city, circa 3500 BCE, population 20,000-50,000.
Uruk is the first known site of writing, a cuneiform script. And the first epic: Gilgamesh.
Uruk was democratically run until 3000 BCE
Uruk's Houses of the Gods were large public buildings modeled on homes. And the Great Court featured rows of benches and shade trees, similar in design to the Agora and Pnyx of Classical Athens, suggesting the space was used for public political participation.
From 5000-3000 BCE, none of the Sumerian cities show evidence of royalty. This lack of evidence is in contrast to the neighboring Semitic ruins. And the lack of evidence is persuasive evidence because Mesopotamia has been deeply studied by European archeologists looking for the kings of the Bible.
Temple Workshops and Community Councils
Uruk's Temples were the centers of economic life. Temple bureaucrats invented commodity production. Temples produced standardized and purified commodities, including wool, beer, wine, bread, and preserved fish.
The temple bureaucrats were meticulous writers. Their records are the first evidence of quantifying labor. And the source of our base-60 time-keeping system.
More: Mesopotamian temple workshops invented money to prevent inequality and Sumerian temple-workshops invented wage slavery by doing charity
In contrast to the top-down economics, Uruk's politics were governed by autonomous neighborhood councils and city-wide assemblies. The temples had careful, written economic records. Political decisions were mostly unwritten.
Note: This seems related to Lewis Hyde's suggestion that the move to written precedent might have been a bad move for the common law court system.
Heroic Revolution by former colonies
Around 3000 BCE, open public spaces were replaced by gated courts and ziggurats, suggesting a new hierarchy. It's only after 3000 BCE that aristocratic burials, fortification walls, and other signs of violence emerge.
Uruk was like captured by its former colonies, which had become warlike heroic societies.
Uruk had established many colonies along trade routes. These colonies began with a temple like Uruk's, with no fortifications or weapons.
For example, Arslantepe, in eastern Turkey, was established around 3300 BCE. Within a few generations, the temple was destroyed and replaced with the earliest known palace. The palace was filled with copper weapons and featured elaborate tombs. This suggests that a warrior aristocracy had emerged at Arslantepe, in opposition to the peaceful egalitarianism of Uruk.
This is another example of cultures defining themselves in opposition to each other.
Note: the Code of Hammurabi dates from after this heroic revolution, and comes from Susa.
Next: Cucuteni-Tripolye