In time, the steady accumulation of wealth, military power, and religious authority by communities that were located in strategic and well-defended locations led to the development of a small number of powerful, fortified urban centers. These settlements, considerably larger than any that had ever previously existed, came to exercise commercial, military, and religious authority over extensive rural populations, and the “city-state” was born. These were the first human societies in which people could be complete strangers to each other and yet could live and work side by side without hostility
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