Are states, as we understand them in the modern sense, a fundamentally

>>2537178
Minoans didn't borrow the concept of state from the East

>>2537223
Were the Minoans the basis of later Greek poleis?

>>2537229
For the Mycenean state, yes.

>>2537178
States in the modern sense are a fundamentally European invention dumbass.

>>2537241
I mean the difference between, say, the Greeks and the Illyrians and Thracians
>>2537240
but not the later poleis?

>>2537241
this, for states in the modern sense
Rome was more of a "city-state" with dependent provinces that a state before it became an empire

>>2537254
No, later poleis developed on their own, so did Etruscan city states

I think you have to think about the influence of the state on daily life. In the Roman Empire the influence was so much bigger than for instance in a Germanic tribe.

>>2537223
Crete is an island, so there were no political boundaries that the Minoans had to draw up, unlike in Mesopotamia and Egypt.

>>2537178
The Chinese and Peru (gay) figured it out without the help of the Mesopotamians. Plenty of places figured out that government is the best way to centralize power and create a better society.

The idea of society coming from the Middle East is what Europeans have generally since the Bronze Age the unstable Middle East meme is fairly new. The Middle East was for the most part considered the civilized world until the Eternal Anglo killed the T*rk and ruined everything for the next century+.

>>2537365

They didn't have political boundaries in those places either, actually. Like, a king might rule a given list of settlements that were all near each other, but it wasn't like there were "borders" out in the wilderness somewhere.

>>2537406
>They didn't have political boundaries in those places either, actually
I beg to differ. Sumer was comprised of various areas that could be considered city-states. There's evidence of political differences between Lagash, Eridu, Umma, Ur and Uruk etc. These places all seemed to have their own governance, pantheons and militaries. Lagash and Umma, for example, engaged in battle with each other. Over what, we don't know, but the fact that it happened indicates that they were separate political entities.

Granted, none of this is 100% concrete until we get to Akkad, which most definitely was its own state. But I don't know if that came before or after the Minoans.