So do these ‘early states’ have any common features at all? Obviously, some basic generalizations can be made. All deployed spectacular violence at the pinnacle of the system; all ultimately depended on and to some degree mimicked the patriarchal organization of households. In every case, the apparatus of government stood on top of some kind of division of society into classes. But as we’ve seen in earlier chapters, these elements could just as well exist without or prior to the creation of central government – and even when such government was established, they could take very different
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