Russian Version of the Sociology of the Antiquity

Abstract

The author of the review analyzed the book of Russian sociologist S.A. Davydov writing in the genre of the sociology of history and contains three chapters. The first chapter about the genesis of a state, the second about the early history of ancient Egypt and its ‘mobilizing economy’, and the third about ancient Mesopotamian society, particularly about freedom and slavery in its economic activity. Davydov used of scholars works by second and third hands and factual lapses significantly reduce the quality of this work. A significant part of the book is a review of selected places from several famous books (for example, “The Stone Age Economics” by M. Sahlins), which reduces the independence of the work. The problem is not only in lack of material for the book, but the fact that Davydov is not sufficiently know the history of the development of scholarship about the ancient world, and therefore often considers as relevant the theories that have long been recognized as outdated. Davydov's basic ideas are not as fresh and brave as he thinks. For example, when the author disputes the despotic nature of ancient Eastern societies (Egypt and Mesopotamia), he struggles with the stereotypical perception of despotism, which has nothing to the knowledge about ancient societies and not connected with contemporary scholarly theories. The author’s reflections about “freedom – slavery” in the ancient world only come close to ideas that were represented by M. Finley and I. Gelb more than fifty years ago. Nevertheless, the attempt of a historical and sociological analysis of ancient history deserves attention and may be useful for the development of historical scholarship.

Keywords:

historical sociology, genesis of a state, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Mesopotamia