Some Remarks on Whitehouse et al. (2019), “Complex Societies Precede Moralizing Gods throughout World History”
A Qualitative Review of Ancient World Data (Ancient Egypt, Roman Empire) from Seshat: The Global History Databank
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jch.39578Keywords:
Seshat, Digital Humanities, Big Data of the Ancient World, Digital History, EgyptologyAbstract
This contribution reviews the methods behind historical data-gathering and data-coding in the Seshat Databank and the results illustrated in Whitehouse et al.’s (2019) “Complex Societies Precede Moralizing Gods throughout World History.” Particular emphasis is placed on data from Ancient Egypt and Roman periods. Critical reflections on the moralizing gods debate are also presented. The conclusions call for more integration between already existing projects within the Digital Humanities and warn researchers of the pitfalls of inattentive historical and qualitative analysis in Big Data scholarship.
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