Thafonic Patriarchy
Thafonic Patriarchy | |
|---|---|
| c. 1400 BCE–c. 540 BCE | |
| Status | Treaty-based confederation under a non-hereditary monarchy |
| Capital | Thafon |
| Common languages | Thafonic language |
| History | |
• Established | c. 1400 BCE |
• Disestablished | c. 540 BCE |
In Thafonology, the Thafonic Patriarchy refers to the period of Thafon's literary history, which also coincides with its most prosperous era as a city state and alliance of Thafonic-culture states and peoples. The Patriarchy was the first sustained period of civilisation present on the Vostau peninsula, and was a crucial part of the late Bronze Age in the Mediargic bronze trade. Once the Mediargic Bronze Age Collapse occurred, Thafon and its patriarchy suffered a slow and steady decline, until finally being overtaken by the Scylha.
Name
The name 'Thafonic Patriarchy' is a neologism coined by Thafonologist $NAME, which has stuck as the standard name for the Thafonic governance system. It derives from the trend that Thafonic records have of describing treaties and tributes in terms of (solely male) familial relations. In actuality, its use may create further confusion, as the Thafonic system of regal inheritance was generally not traditional patrilineality or any other form of father-to-son inheritance.
The native name for the city of Thafon, as recorded in various documents from the unearthed city's ruins, was recorded as ṯafonə, likely pronounced [t̪afonː] or [tʰafonə] when records were written. The term 'Thafon', due to the fame of the culture's greatest city, appears to have been used even during the time as a unifying cultural identity and term, though into the Late Patriarchy era, its use appeared to wane less as a cultural name and more as a name referring to any members of the Patriarchy. There is, however, no evidence that the Thafonic people ever used a single term to describe the patrimony of all Thafonic states in treaties with one another. The closest that has ever been found is the term ṯafozaḏaʔi, which appears to refer to the Thafonic culture, but only in the Early Patriarchy era are any attestations to this term ever found.
History
Rise of Thafon
The archaeological cultures preceding the Thafonici appear to have been skilled in all manner of early metalworking, especially as it relates to art, which they produced a great deal of, refining the artistic style of the later Thafonic cultures. As they emerged into the early Bronze Age, the Thafonici were disunited polities linked only by language. Some sparse trade beginning in c. 2450 BCE caused the city of Thafon to grow, alongside the other cities in the area. However, war in the Mediargic brought an increase in trade to the city of Thafon around 1400 BCE, causing the city to quickly outgrow its neighbours economically and, importantly, politically. Thafonologists refer to the period after 1400 BCE as the Early Patriarchy era.
Early Patriarchy
With the grand influx of trade came a great number of neighbouring tribes and cultures who found Thafon either a threat or a useful potential ally. Centred around Thafon, records of alliances, tributes and vassals, kept written in chiselled stone, begin to arise in c. 1350 BCE. Thafon appears to have been the first Thafonic state to record its allies, tributes and vassals in stone, but would set precedent for the future, with all Thafonic cultures recording their own alliances in stone by the High Patriarchy era. Thafon placed a great deal of importance on its treaties and the wording therein, and the changing of a treaty .
The Thafonici were known to have buried their dead, including their dead kings, in mausoleums far from the rivers. Most Thafonici cities were present on the sides of rivers, and Thafonici religion and custom appears to have dictated that death near to any source of fresh water, such as slaughtering meat or funerary rites, would taint the water itself. Mausoleum buildings tend to have residuous salt rings around their bases, indicating that salt, in either rocks or grains, was spread around them.