Social structure is an important part of any civilization. It helps bring order, and structure to the population according to their skillset. Some social structures weren’t really fair, and may have cause discrimination between people. Still, social structures help people get organised, and bring the best out of the population.
The Social structure of ANCIENT civilizations
The Social structure of ancient Egypt
The social structure of Egypt was one that sorted people out, but caused discrimination in the lower part of the social structure. Basically, the pharaoh was in charge of the whole civilization, and then the slaves and farmers and slaves were at the bottom of the structure. So the hardest of workers are the least respected.
This is what the the social structure of Egypt looked like:
The social structure of the MESOPOTAMIAN civilization
The social structure of the Mesopotamian Civilization was really similar to the Egyptian Social Structure. Also, like the Indus Valley civilization, the priests who were believed to be able to communicate with the gods, giving them a high status. Here is how it looked:
The social structure of the indus valley civilization
The social structure in the Indus Valley civilization was based on a caste system. Caste was basically a way to group people according to their skills. Sometimes, people do think it was unfair but, it did bring out the best of the population. This is how it looked like:
At the bottom of the social structure, the Dalits were outcasts, and are still around in India.
The social Structure of the Roman CIVILIZATION
In the Roman civilization, there was a more fair environment in the social structure. Even Though there were slaves in Rome, they were treated more fairly and were bought gifts, and sometimes set free. Most of the gladiators then were the slaves, but if they were able to win, they got rich and sometimes set free. Back then, the landowners were the most powerful, as they owned the land. some of them became senators, who could make laws in the civilization. Here is how the social structure looked like:
the social structure of the Inca civilization
In the Inca Civilization, the supreme leader was the Sapa Inca. Then came the Supreme Council. They were four people called “Apos” and each of them ruled one quarter of the empire. Then came the Provincial Governors, who were similar to modern day Indian Chief Ministers. The total government was called the Tawantinsuyu. Here’s how looked:
the social structure of the aztec civilization
The social structure of the Aztec Civilization had the emperor in rule. Then was the Tecuhtli, who were next after the emperor, and ruled the capital Tenochtitlan. They also ruled other city states. Then came the Pipiltin, who were the nobles. They were rich people who could wear things like feathers and gold. The king was chosen from them. Next was the Pochteca, who were the merchants. They were highly respected as they brought back luxury things from different countries, and because they took long journeys. The Macehualtin people were the common people such as warriors, farmers, and craftsmen. Then came the slaves. Here’s how it looked:
The social structure of the mayan civilization
In the Mayan Civilization, warriors, and priests were classified as nobles right below the king. Like the Aztec Civilization, the Mayans treated merchants with great respect. Next came peasants, and finally slaves. Here’s how it looked like:
The social structure of the chinese civilization
In the Chinese Civilization, The supreme ruler was the Emperor. Then came the Government Officials and Warriors. Next was the Farmers and Peasants. Unlike the other civilizations, the Chinese Civilization gave a higher position to the farmers and peasants. Then were the crafts people. At the bottom was the Merchants and traders, as China was a very isolated civilization. Here’s how it looked:
The social structure of The greek civilization
In the Greek Civilization, The warriors were in the same class as the King: The Upper class. Then came the farmers and artisans, who were also the men who ran the families. Then, in the 3rd class, came the women and children. At the bottom were the slaves and prisoners captured from different places. This is how it looked:
COMPARING THE SOCIAL STRUCTURES OF DIFFERENT CIVILIZATIONS
After studying the different social structures of different civilizations, now I will compare them with using the different characteristics of a social structure.
Similarities
Almost all the social structures have the same basic idea: A way to organize the people. Let’s look at some of the other similarities between the social structures.
One thing that I found really similar about the social structures of different civilizations is how the top of the structure (i.e. the government) has the smallest amount of people, and the bottom of the structure has the most people. Same with the way things were arranged in the social structure. The slaves and peasants (in some civilizations even the farmers) were at the bottom. The only exception for this is the Chinese Civilization, were the peasants and farmers were 3rd in the social structure.
One of the other things that are common between all the social structures is how they have a structure based on the work of the people. They don’t sort out people by the people by their religion. They sort them out by their jobs.
Differences
Each social structure was different in its ways. Now, let’s discuss the major differences between them.
One thing that made each and every social structure unique was the different variety of the statuses in the structure. For example, after the supreme ruler (Like in the Egyptian Civilization, and the Mesopotamian Civilization), in some civilizations, it was the Government Officials (in the Egyptian Civilization), but in others, it was the farmers and artisans (in the Chinese Civilization), or the landowners (in the Roman Civilization).
Also, the importance given to the variety of statuses was very different. There were numerous reasons such as the need of that status, and more. One of the greatest examples of this is the how in the Chinese Civilization, merchants had a low place on the structure, while in the Aztec Civilization and the Mayan Civilization, they were treated with great respect, and had a high place on the social structure. This was because in the Mayan and Aztec Civilization, merchants were treated with respect because they brought back luxurious goods form different places, while the Chinese Civilization was a very isolated civilization.
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