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.