AP World History

Period 2
Chapter 4
Empire - Eurasian empires of the classical era included Persia, Greece under Alexander the
Great, Rome, Qin and Han China, India during the Mauryan and Gupta empires. Used for
larger, more aggressive states that have a variety of peoples in cultures within a single
political system.

Empires and Civilizations in Collision:

Classical era in Eurasia included the flowering of second wave civilizations; They did not
directly encounter one another, as each had its own political system, cultural values, and
organizing society.

The Persian Empire

500 BCE - Persian empire, Indo European people who lived on the Iranian plateau north of
the Persian Gulf. From earlier Mesopotamian civilizations. Imperial system under Cyrus
from 557-530 BCE and Darius 522-486 BCE. Conquests from Egypt to India; Centered on an
elaborate cult of kingship, with a monarch only reached by a magnificent ritual. King died,
sacred fire across the land, people shaved heads, horse manes cut short. Ahura Mazda
(Zoroastrianism God) had justified their rule. Administration system with governors called
satraps in the 23 provinces. Imperial spy system, eyes and ears of the king. Policy of
respect and tolerance for non Persians. Cyrus won Jewish gratitude in 539 BCE after
allowed the exiled to go back to homeland and built Jerusalem tempe. Tax collectors, record
keepers, translators, etc. System of standardized coinage, predictable taxes, newly dug canal
in the Nile and Red Sea. Royal Road fleet of horses in which caravans of merchants could
traverse; neither rain nor snow not darkness of night US Postal Service. Imperial centers
such as Susa and Persepolis, Palaces, audience halls.

The Greeks
Classical Greece emerged around 750 BCE, relatively short period that included Athens,
Sparta, Plato, Aristotle, Zeus, and Apollo. Hellenes, distinctive identity in the Greece and
Aegean basin. Small peninsula with steep mountains and valleys. Hundreds of city states
on small settlements, which were modest in size. Fiercely independent city states, with
Olympic Games every four years. Popular city states of Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and Corinth.
Expansive people, settled in distant places rather than conquest. Traders in search of iron
and land had emigration between 700 and 500 BCE, around the Mediterranean basin and
Black Sea. Popular participation in political life with city states. Citizenship of free people
running the affairs of the state, of equality for all male citizens on public affairs. Early in
history only wealthy landowners had full citizenship, holding public office and fighting in
the army. Growing number of men able to afford armor and weapons. Tyrants, benevolent
rulers emerging for a time, particularly with the support of poorer classes. Hoplites, or
infantrymen very popular in Sparta, with helots, or conquered people who lived in
slavelike conditions. Council of Elders for twenty eight men over the age of sixty,
influential parts of society in Sparta. Athens had an intense class conflict, almost leading to
civil war. Solon, 594, pushed Athenian politics in a more democratic direction, breaking the
small aristocratic families. Debt slavery abolished, access to public office for more men, and
all citizens allowed as part of the Assembly. Cleisthenes and Pericles extended the rights of
citizens. By 450 BCE, all holders of public office were chosen by lot and paid, so lower class
people could join. Athenian democracy was direct rather than representative,

The Greco Persian Wars

Between the Greeks and the Persians, due to Greek settlements on the Anatolian coast,
known to the Greeks and Ionia. Came under Persian control later on. 499 BCE, Ionian Greek
cities revolted against Persian domination and found support from Athens on the Greek
mainland, Twice in ten years, 490 and 480, launched attacks against Greece. Greece won,
with profound impact as enormous pride for Athens. Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE, the
product of Greek freedoms. Persia represented Asia and despotism, whereas Greece
signified Europe and freedom, causing the East West divide. Radicalized Athenian
democracy as poorer classes rowed their ships to victory, insisting on full citizenship. Fifty
years after Greco Persian Wars seen as the Golden Age of Greek culture. Parthenon for
Athena was built, Socrates began his career. Athens had thirty city states on the basis of
naval power, later spawning into an imperialism of its own. Intense resentments lead to
large civil war, Sparta taking the lead as the independent Greek city state. Peloponnesian
War in which Athens was defeated, yet an eventual takeover by Macedonia later occurred.

Alex and the Hellenistic Era

After Macedonian takeover of Greece, Philip II accomplished in 338 BCE, with the political
unification of Greece for the first time. Philips son, Alexander the Great lead for a massive
Greek expedition against the Persian Empire for revenge. Ten year expedition while Alex
was in his twentie, with a Grecian empire from Egypt and Anatolia in the west to Anatolia
and Afghanistan and India in the east. Seen as a liberator from Persian domination,
anointed as a pharaoh, and declared as a son of the Gods. Greek culture during the
Hellenistic Era 323-30 BCE, generated among the Mediterranean peninsula. Alexandria in
Egypt, largest of the cities, was an enormous cosmopolitan center. Large harbor and Greeks,
Jews, Babylonians, Syrians, and Persians rubbed elbow in the library for trade and
knowledge. Greek culture spread, simplified version of the Greek alphabet spoken from the
Med to India. Young Jews attracted to Greek culture, conservative Jewish sect feared for the
survival of Judaism. Alex published decrees in Greek. Died in 323 BCE, as his empire was
divided into three kingdoms by Macedonian generals. Ptolemaic empire in Egypt and the
Seleucid empire in Persia known as imperial states, preserved order, raised taxes, and
maintain the authority of the monarchy. Different legal systems for both the Greeks and
the Persian members of society. Separation between the Greeks and the native populations
were by no means complete, blending occurred. Egypt and Mesopotamia, Greek rulers
patronized the building of temples to local gods. In India, Greeks were assimilated into
society through the warrior or Kshatriya caste, while in Bactria a substantial number of
Greeks converted to Buddhism, including Menander. A school of Buddhist art emerged, as
in the Common Era depicted Buddha in the Greek form, resembling Apollo. This Greek
cultural influence faded as the Hellenistic kingdoms that promoted it vanished. Greek rule
was replaced by that of the Romans.

Comparing Empires: Roman and Chinese

Rome: City State to Empire
Romans took shape initially on the margins of the civilized world, impoverished city state
on the Western side of central Italy. So weak, Roman men were reduced to kidnapping
neighbouring women in order to reproduce. Originally ruled by a king, aristocrats around
509 BCE established a republic. Wealthy class, or patricians, dominated in an executive
authority of two consuls, a patrician assembly, and the Senate. Poor classes, or plebeians,
led to important changes in Roman political life. Written code of law offered plebeians
some protection from abuse. Ew office of tribune, represented the plebeians, allowing them
to block unfavorable legislation. Took great pride in political system, enjoying greater
freedom. The law, rights of citizens, the absence of pretension, and upright moral behavior.
Roman building enterprise, 490s BCE with Roman control over Latin neighbours in central
Italy. 264 and 146 BCE, victory in the Punic Wars with Carthage, a powerful empire with
its capital in Northern Africa. Extended Roman naval power and control over the Wested
Med. No overall design or blueprint decided the Roman Empire, yet were something
wholly new. The army was well trained, as Carthage was utterly destroyed after the Punic
Wars, burned to the ground, and its inhabitants either killed or sold into slavery. Roman
authorities were generous to former enemies, as they were granted citizenship or treated
as allies. The wealth of the empire enriched few, enabling them to acquire large estates and
slaves, along with growing numbers of free farmers. Small group of military leaders,
Marius, sulla, Pompey, and Caesar, recruited their troops from the ranks of the poor.
Traditionalists lamented the apparent decline of republican values, simplicity, service, free
farmers as the backbone of the army. Rome clearly was changing, for authority was now
vested primarily in an emperor, Octavian. Augustus later had a divine status for the ruler,
as an empir with an uneasy conscience. Those felt that Rome had abandoned and betrayed
its republican origins, referring to himself as the first man rather than the king. Pax
Romana, or Roman peace, was a era of imperial Romes greatest extent and authority.

China: From Warring State to Empire

First Civilizations included in 2200 BCE, under the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties that
grew progressively larger. By 500 BCE, the Chinese state was in shambles, featuring endless
rivalries of seven competing kingdoms, or the Warring States Period. Qin Shihuangdi from
the state of the Qin had succeeded in unifying China again, developing an effective
bureaucracy with a rapidly growing population. Legalism was a harsh political
philosophy, with clear rules and harsh punishments to enforce the states authority. Shi
Huangdi had established a military campaign to reunify China, as Shihuangdi means first
emperor from 221 to 210 BCE. He showed little ambivalence about the empire, and
extended Chinas boundaries into the northern part of Vietnam, northeast into Korea, and
to the northwest, pushing back the nomadic people of the steppes. Scholars who opposed
Shihuangdis policies were executed and their books were burned. Laborers were recruited
in order to construct the Great Wall of China, to keep out northern barbarians. The Han
Dynasty followed from 206 BCE to 220 CE, warding off legalism and all of Qins intentions.

Consolidating the Roman and Chinese Empires

Roman and Chinese authorities invoked supernatural sanctions in order to support their
rule, as Romans regarded their emperors as gods and established a religious cult to bolster
that authority. The refusal of early Christians also took place. In China, the Mandate of
Heaven was a supreme moral force that regulated the universe. Emperors were called the
Son of Heaven, as one of their chief duties was to maintain the relationship between the
heavens and earth. If not, the dynastic cycle would occur, and a new Son of Heaven would
assume power. Formal religious traditions were also unfolding in both communities. In
Rome, Christianity was born as a small sect of a small province in a remote corner of the
empire. Women were prominent in the early Church, as by 4th century CE, Christianity
gained state support from emperors. In China, Buddhism came from India, and was
introduced to China by Central Asian traders. Spread only modestly until the civilization
collapsed after the Han Dynasty. Not until Wendi with the Sui dynasty did buddhism gain
state support. Complex Chinese mix of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucian values. Rome
began as a small city state, whereas the Chinese Empire grew out of a much larger cultural
heartland. Actively assimilated the non-Chinese or barbarian people, mixing through
intermarriage, physical appearance, and culture. Citizenship allowed the right to hold
office, wear a toga, serve in military units known as legions, and relayed a legal status.
Roman public buildings, rituals, language, and style of city life were generally attractive in
West Europe. Cult of Persian god Mithra or compassionate Egyptian goddess Isis, spread
throughout the empire. Nothing similar occurred in Han china. Language also gave to
distinctive ways, as Latin gave rise to numerous languages. Chinese characters were not
easily translated, but Chinese could be understood by all literate people. Han emperor
Wudi established an imperial academy for training officials and a curriculum based on the
writings of Confucius.

The Collapse of Empires

In China, the Han Dynasty Empire came to an end in 220 CE; the traditional date for the
end of the Roman Empire was 476 CE. In the Roman case, only the western half of the
empire collapsed, while the eastern part, or Byzantine Empire, maintained the tradition of
imperial Rome for another thousand years. Common factors are associated with these
endings. They became too big, too overextended, and too expensive to be sustained by
available resources. The growth of large landowning families with huge estates enabled
them to avoid paying taxes. Free peasants were turned into impoverished tenant farmers,
and diminished the authority of the central government. In China, the Yellow Turban
Rebellion in 184 CE. Persistent tension between castrated court officials (eunuchs) loyal to
the emperor and Confucian based educated scholar bureaucrats weakened the state. Some
twenty six individuals claimed the title of the Roman Emperor, including an epidemic
disease ravaged the population. Growing threat from nomadic semi agricultural peoples
that occupied the frontier regions of both empires. Chinese had developed various ways of
dealing with the Xiongnu and other northern nomads, building the great wall, marriage
alignments, and even buying them off with lavish gifts. As the Han dynasty weakened,
people more easily breached the frontier defenses with a succession of :barbarian states in
north China. A weakening Roman empire likewise faced problems by Germanic speaking
peoples in the northern frontier. Mercenaries in Roman armies and refugees fleeing the
invasions of the Huns came to Rome. Once inside the declining empire, Germanic groups
establish their own kingdoms, controlling Roman empires and then displacing them
altogether by 476 AD. Germanic peoples developed their own specific identity, among the
Visigoths, Franks, Anglo Saxons, and others, drawing on Roman law and Christianity..
Collapse of an empire meant more than the disappearance of centralized government.
Decline of urban life, contracting population, less area under civilizations.

Intermittent Empire: The Case of India

Indus River Valley, largest of the First Civilizations, along the Ganges River on Indias
northern plain. Aryans, a pastoral Indo European people that invaded and destroyed the
Indus Valley civilization. Emerged as a fragmented collection of towns and cities, some
small republics. Hinduisms unique social structure, the caste system. Northwestern India
was briefly ruled by Alex the Great, Short experiments with a political system, the
Mauryan Empire, 326-184 BCE, which encompassed all except the southern tip of the
continent. Mauryan Empire was an impressive political structure, not as long lasting. Large
military force, including elephants and a civilian bureaucracy. Famous treatise the
Arthashastra (The Science of Worldly Wealth) showed how the world worked. Ashoka,
reigned 268-232 BCE, with a series of edicts on stones and rock pillars throughout the
kingdom. Converted to Buddhism as an enlightened ruler of India. Empire broke apart after
Ashokas rule. Neither imperial nor regional states commanded the kind of loyalty or
exercised the degree of influence that they did in other classical civilizations. Frequently
vibrant economy, lively internal commerce that made India the focal point of an extensive
network of trade in the Indian Ocean basin. Absence of consistent imperial unity did not
prevent the evolution of an enduring civilization.

Chapter Five : Eurasian Cultural Traditions

China and the Search for Order
China had a tradition of state building from 2000 BCE. Zhou Dynasty took power in 1122
BCE, notion of Mandate of Heaven; 8th century BCE authority of the Zhou dynasty royal
court had substantially weakened.. 500 BCE a period of unity that China earlier enjoyed
was gone/age of warring states.

The Legalist Answer

Legalism, Chinas problems lay in rules of laws, clearly spelled out and strictly enforced
through a system of rewards and punishments. Huan Fei, on of the most prominent
Legalist philosophers, the punishments are heavy. Generally entertained a pessimistic view
of human nature, as people were stupid and shortsighted Only the state and its rules
could act in their long term interests. Promoting farmers and soldiers, only two groups
who performed essential functions, suppressing artisans, merchants, aristocrats, scholars,
and others were regarded as useless. China unified under Shi Huangdi and the Qin
dynasty 221-206 BCE, yet quickly discredited.

The Confucian Answer

Kong Fuzi, aristocratic family, Lu in northern China, learned and ambitious,, with the key
of solving Chinas problem of disorder. During adult life, political position in which he
might put ideas into action.. Profound imprint on Chinese history and culture, along with
East Asian Korea and Japan. Students collected his works in a short book called the
Analects, later into Confucianism. Confucian answer was very different, now laws and
punishments, but the moral example of superiors to a restored social harmony. Society
consisted primarily of the unequal relationships; the father was superior to the son, the
husband to the wife. Behaved with sincerity, benevolence, and genuine concern for others,
the inferior party would be motivated to respond with deference and obedience. Ren, or
human heartedness, benevolence, goodness, nobility of heart, the essential ingredient of a
tranquil society. Confucius emphasized education as the key to moral betterment. Liberal
arts education, literature, history, philosophy, and ethics, including ritual ceremonies.
Varying circumstances of life, in Confucian terms, the process of improvement involved
serious personal reflection and a willingness to strive continuously. Han dynasty and
after, Confucianism became the central element of the educational system, applying its
principles. Ban Zhao called for greater attention to education for young girls, better
prepared to serve her husband. Usually only young men from wealthy families could
afford the education necessary for passing examinations, but villagers could sponsor one
of their bright songs. Social mobility in an otherwise hierarchal society, Certain
expectations for government, low taxes, administer justice, and provide material needs for
people. Secular, or non religious character, with morals that human should align
themselves.

The Daoist Answer

Taoism by Laozi, became a 6th century archivist. Short poetic volume, the Daodejing (The
Way and Its Power), before vanishing on a water buffalo in the wilderness. Ridiculed such
confucian ideas as artificial and useless., and instead urged withdrawal into the world of
nature and behavior that was spontaneous and natural. Spotlight on the realm of nature
and its mysterious unfolding patterns. The way or daio, moves around and around, but
does not on this account suffer; all life comes from it. Daoism invited people to withdraw
from the world of political and social activism and disengage from the public life.
Abandonment of education in small, sufficient communities. Widely regarded by elite
Chinese as complementing rather than contradicting Confucian values; Chinese concept of
yin and yang, belief in the unity of opposites. Government by goodness during the day,
taoist principles during the night, Provided ideology for peasant uprisings, such as the
Yellow Turban Rebellion 184-204 AD.

Cultural Traditions of Classical India

Indian civilizations with Hinduism, as it was never a single tradition at all, derived from
outsiders, British, Greeks, and Muslims. Reduced the infinitive variety of Indian cultural
patterns into a recognizable system.

South Asian Religion: From Ritual Sacrifice to Philosophical Speculation

Fragmentation and variety of Indian cultural and religious patterns. Earliest of the texts, or
Vedas, were collections of poems, hymns, prayers, and rituals. Priests called brahmin, The
Veda caught fleeting glimpses into classical Indian civilization, small competing chiefdoms
or kingdoms, sacred sounds and fires, numerous gods, rising and falling in importance over
the centuries. Rituals soon became mechanical and formal with enormous power and
wealth, sometimes requiring heavy fees to perform them. Upanishads, sacred bodies of text,
composed by anonymous thinkers of mystical and highly philosophical works with
introspective thinking. Brahman, the World Soul, the final and ultimate reality. The
fundamental assertion of philosophical Hinduism was that the individual human soul, or
atman, was in fact a part of Brahman, Quest for pleasure, wealth, power, and social position,
there was also a union with Brahman, Moksha, or liberation. Samsara, or
rebirth/reincarnation cycle, became a central feature of Hindu thinking. Human souls
migrated from the body over many lifetime, the law of karma, with pure actions gaining a
higher social position or caste after rebirth. Good karma to achieve moksha.

The Buddhist Challenge

Historical founder, Siddhartha Gautama, prince who had enjoyed a sheltered and delightful
youth, shocked to his core upon encountering old age, sickness, and death. Reached
enlightenment at the age of 35. Buddha, or Enlightened One. Individual fulfillment, with
mediation and modest self care, and able to achieve nirvana, or enlightenment in which
individual identity would be extinguished along with greed. Overwhelming serenity,
reflected the Hindu traditions from which it sprang. Ordinary life is an illusion, the
concepts of karma and rebirth the goal of overcoming the incessant demands of the ego,
and the practice of meditation. Buddhist teaching sharply challenged the prevailing Hindu
thinking, rejecting the religious authority of the Brahmins, ridiculing their rituals and
sacrifices as irrelevant to the hard work of dealing with suffering. Individuals had to take
responsibility for their own spiritual development, and challenged the inequalities of the
Hindu caste system. Formal organization of the Buddhas most devoted followers. Buddhas
foster mother, Prajapati Gotami, sought to enter the newly created order of monks but was
repeatedly refused admission by the Buddha himself. Male monks could officially
admonish the nuns. Buddhist teachings eventually found an audience in India, to lower
caste groups and women. Local languages of Pali, rather than the classical language of
Sanskrit. Stupas containing the relics of Buddha on the site of neighbourhood shrines.
Early version of Buddhism known as Theravada, portrayed Buddha as a wise teacher and
model, but not divine. Psychological rather than religious. Mahayana, or Great Vehicle,
taken in parts of India, with bodhisattvas, people who postponed their own entry into the
nirvana in order to assist those who were still suffering. Popular religion of salvation.

Hinduism as a Religion of Duty and Devotion

Buddhism ultimately died out in the land of its birth, reincorporated into a broader Hindu
tradition. Mahayana form, other parts of Asia, declined in wealth in India because of the
mounting wealth of monasteries. Competition from Islam after 1000 CE. New kind of
popular Hinduism, found more accessible than the elaborate sacrifices of the Brahmins or
philosophical speculations of intellectuals. Epic poems of the Mahabharata and the
Ramayana provided a path to liberation. Hindu text known as the Bhagavad Gita, warrior
hero in anguish over the necessity of kinsmen. Incarnation of the God Vishnu. Brahmins
could also make spiritual progress by selflessly performing the ordinary duties of their
lives. Bhakti (worship) movement included adoration of a particular deity. Vishnu, the
protector and preserver of creation, associated with mercy and goodness. Shiva,
representing the divine in its destructive aspect. Proliferation of gods and goddesses, and of
the bhakti cults. Buddha was the ninth incarnation of Vishnu.

Moving toward Monotheism: The Search for God in the Middle East
Persian Zoroastrianism and Judaism became the basis for Christianity and Islam. The idea
of a single supreme deity, the sole source of all creation and goodness, was a radical
cultural innovation.

Zoroastrianism
Persian prophets, Zarathustra (Zoroaster to the Greeks) ideas took hold in Persia, received a
degree of state support during the Achaemenid dynasty. Traditional Persian polytheism
into a single and unique god. Ahura Mazda, ruled the world and was the source of all
goodness and light. Cosmic struggle against the forces of evil, Angra Mainyu, decided in the
favor of Ahura Mazda and the arrival of a final savior. Widespread support within the
Persian heartland, in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Anatolia. Greek ruled Seleucid dynasty was
disastrous, temples plundered, priests slaughtered, and writing burned. Parthian and
Sassanid dynasties, vanished from its place of origin, but did not spread beyond Persia in a
recognizable form.

Judaism
Israel was conquered by Assyria in 722 BCE, and many of its inhabitants were deported to
distant regions. In 586 BCE, the kingdom of Judah, under Babylonian control, and its elites
were shipped off into exile.

The Cultural Tradition of Classical Greece: The Search for a Rational Order
Greek thinkers of the Classical era generated no long lasting religious tradition of world
historical importance. Similarity to the secularism of Confucianism thought in China.
Incoherence of Greek religious mythology presented its intellectuals with a challenge to
bring some order to their understanding of the world. Egypt and Persia provided
intellectual stimulation

The Greek Way of Knowing

Foundation of this Greek rationalism between 600 and 300 BCE., flourishing of Greek city
states. Life;s great issues, for the Greeks seldom agreed with one another, but rather in its
way of asking questions. Socrates, Athenian philosopher in the city engaging in
conversation of the good life, wrote nothing, and constantly questioned everything
Accused of corrupting the youth of Athens and sentenced to death. The earliest of classical
Greek thinkers, Ionian coast of Anatolia,. Thales, on Babylonian astronomy, argued that
about the eclipse of the sun and that the moon simply reflected the suns light. Democritus
suggested atoms were uncuttable particles. Hippocrates, four fluids, or humors, causing
heredity. Herodotus wrote about the Greco Persian Wars discovering the real reason why
they fought each other. Plato with the Republic, a design for a good society, led by a
philosopher king and could penetrate the many illusions of the material world. Aristotle,
student of Plato and teacher of Alex, wrote about logic, astronomy, the weather, and a
mixed system, combining the principles of marchy, aristocracy, and democracy.

The Greek Legacy

Greek legacy had also entered Islamic culture. Systematic translations of Greek works of
science and philosophy into Arabic, along with fields of medicine, astronomy, mathematics,
geography, and chemistry.

Comparing Jesus and the Buddha

Both were wisdom teachers, challenging the conventional values of their time, urging the
renunciation of wealth, and compassion in the moral life. Metta with Buddha, or loving
kindness.

Establishing New Religions

The earliest converts were usually lower stratum people, artisans, traders, and women for
christianity. Third century CE, Rome supported 154 priests and destitute people. PErsecution
of Christians for the first three centuries of the Common Era. Emperor Constantines
conversion in the early fourth century, giving people newfound security and
opportunities. Theodosius enforced a ban on all polytheistic ritual sacrifices and ordered
their temples closed, allowing approval for their doctrines, and prestige from imperial
recognition.

Chapter 6 - Eurasian Social Hierarchies

Class and Caste in India
Caste as Varna
Socialent peoples of the South Asian peninsula with economic and social differences;
inequalities of civilization spread into the Ganges River Valley; started around 500 BCE
into four ranked classes, or varna; deeply embedded in Indian thinking; everyone was
born into the castes for life; Top priests or brahmin, rituals and sacrifices alone could
ensure the proper functioning of the world; Kshatriya class, warriors, rulers with
government and protection in society; Vaisya Class commoners who cultivated the land.
These three classes were known as twice born, not only a physical birth but also a formal
initiation into varnas; all regarded as pure Aryans. Sudras, native peoples incorporated
into the margins in subordinate positions, regarded as servants; not allowed to take part in
reading or hearing the Vedas/ its rituals. Four classes were made in the body of the God
Purusha, therefore eternal and changeless; only slowly did the Brahmins become on top of
the social hierarchy; Sudra soon became the domination of peasant farmers, as the
untouchables did the work most unclean and polluting, such as cremating corpses and
dealing with the skin of dead animals
Caste as Jati
Social distinctions also arose, leading to specific occupations; organized in guilds known as
jati, the primary cell of Indias social life, beyond the family or household and associated
with the classes. Marriage and eating together was only permitted inside ones jati, with a
certain set of rules, duties, and obligations for each group. Brahmins forbidden to eat meat,
khatriyas permitted to do so; Lower class women forbidden to cover their chests; notion of
ritual purity and pollution that applied to caste groups; untouchables were forbidden to
the same wells because of the dirty jobs they undertook; had to wear a wooden clapper to
warn oth organization with broad features in China; birth determined social status, great
inequalities with social life, religious and cultural traditions shown as natural and
ordained by the gods. Distinctive compared to all other social organizations of the classical
era; Caste comes from the Portugese word casta, meaning race or purity of the blood;
origins were hazy; racially defined system between lighter skinned Aryan invaders and
the darker skinned native peoples; interaction of many culturally differers of their
presence; Emerging hindu ideologies of karma, dharma, and rebirth; Karma was the good
or bad deeds one would do that would reflect on ones next and current status; Dharma is
ones present duties to serve in their caste; subduing the relentless demands of the ego;
Each jati had the authority to expel members, impossible to raise your own caste during
your lifetime; looked for previous higher class ancestors, tried to attain land;
The Functions of Caste
Jati was a local phenom, rooted in particular regions of villages, focused the loyalties of
most people on quite restricted territory; weakened the appeal and authority of all larger
Indian states; distinct and socially recognized place for almost everyone; exploitation of
the poor by the wealthy and powerful; separate groups divided the impoverished and
oppressed a majority of the population; class consciousness and organized resistance;

Slavery in the Classical Era: The Case of the Roman Empire

Inequalities of class and caste; slavery, deep roots in human history, domestication of
animals provided the model for enslaving people; compared their slaves to tamed animals;
ox is the poor mans slave, war, patriarchy, and the notion of private property contributed
to the growth of slavery; large scale warfare generated prisoners; women captives were
the first slaves; male captives killed; patriarchal societies owned women; privately owned
property
Slavery and Civilization
Precise origins, ownership by a master, possibility of being sold, working without pay,
status of an outsider,, bottom of the social hierarchy; lacked any rights or independent
personal identity; Hammurabis law code, Mesopotamian slavery around 1750BC; long
established tradition in the region; subsequent civilizations Americas, Africa, Eurasia,
practiced some form of slavery; Fair number of slaves might be emancipated in their own
lifetimes; religious convictions of their owners, avoid caring for them in old age; chase
freedom with their own funds; children of slaves inherited the status of their parents;
Aztec empire, considered free people; varied considerably in the labor; working for the
states in high positions; domestic duties in their owners household, toiling in fields or
mines; Classical civilizations of Eurasia differed considerably in prominence and extent of
slavery; China was a minor element, 1 percent of the total population; convicted criminals
and their families; sold to wealthy private individuals; earliest slaves in Han dynasty
China; indebted peasants may sell their children into slavery; teenage boys of poor
families sold them to the wealthy; used as status symbols, never very widespread. India,
people fell into slavery as criminals, debtors, or prisoners of war; largely domestic settings;
secular law offered some protection for slaves; adequately provide for their slaves;
forbidden to abandon them in old age; in India could inherit and own property, earn
money in their spare time; owners encouraged to free their slaves
The Making of a Slave Society: The Case of Rome
Slavery played an immense role in Med or Western world; Greco-Roman slave society;
one third of the total population, as Athens was home to 60,000 slaves; ironically about
democracy and status as a free person were defined and accompanied by growth of
slavery on a mass scale; slaves by nature, enslaved for their own good and that for the
larger society; attitude toward slavery was simple; terible to be a slave, great to own one;
poor household had one to two female slaves; substantial numbers of Greek slaves were
granted freedom by their owners; usually did not become citizens or gain political rightsl
couldnt own land or marry citizens, had to pay a special tax; halways between slavery
and freedom; defining moment in Roman society; One woman in 5th
century freed her
8000 slaves when converting to a Christian monastic lifestyle; modest means = owning
two or three slaves; slaves and former slaves may be land owners; many were prisoners
of war, North African city of Carthage, 55k people were enslaved; people funneled into the
major slave owning regions of Italy and Sicily; pirated furnished slaves on the island of
Delos; networks of long distance commerce extending to the Black Sea, Eastern African
coast, and northwestern Europe; children of slave mothers regarded as slaves themselves;
homeborn slaves had a certain prestige; abandoned or exposed children became the slaves
of anyone whob rescued them; not identified with a particular ethnic group; regarded as
barbarians, lazy, unreliable, immoral, prone to theiving; no criticism of slavery in principle;
Christianity in the Roman Empire did little to undermine slavery; St Paul recognized it as
the relationship of believers to God; St Augustine described slavery as Gods punishment;
entrenched into the Roman economy; No job off limits to slaves except military service, no
distinction between slaves jobs and free people jobs; rural areas, much of the slave force
was on huge estates, or latifundia, produced grain, olive oil, and wine for export; skilled
artisans, teachers, doctors, actors were slaves; Slaves in service of the emperor provided
manpower for the state bureaucracy, maintaining temples and shrines; kept Romes water
supply system functioning; trained in special schools, served as gladiators; owners were
supposed to provide the necessary of life to their slaves; more secure life than
impoverishhed free people; could not legally marry; if a slave murdered his master,
Roman law demanded the lives of all victims slaves; Manumission of slaves, or setting
them free by buying the freedom, was accompanied by a citizenship.
Resistance and Rebellion
Roman pows chose to commit mass suicide rather than face slavery; weapons of the weak;
theft, sabotage, pretending illness, placing curses on their masters; notices in public places
about runaways; 73 BCR Spartacus the gladiator led others from a school for gladiators in
a desperate bid for freedom; for two years, they set Italy ablaze; crucified some slave
owners, fighting one another like gladiators; superior in the numbers of the Roman
legions; 6000 rebel slaves were nailed to crosses along the Appian Way from Rome to
Capua, where the rebelion begun
Comparing Patriarchies of the Classical Era
No division on human society had greater difference than females and males; men
regarded as superior to women, boys preferred over daughers; public life was a largely
male domain, while women were for productive and reproductive roles only; feared as
politically disruptive, while restrictions on women in classical civilizations were far
sharper than those of pastoral or agricultural communities; Upper class women largely
limited to the home and management of servants, whereas lower class women had a free
yet burdernsome life; work in the fields, shop in the streets, or servce in the homes of
social superiors;
A Changing Patriarchy: The Case of China
Emerging Confucian ideology; long established patterns of thinking in terms of pair of
opposites; gendered and unequal terms; yang was masculine and related to heaven, rulers,
strength, rationality, and light; yin was represented by females, earth, subjects, weakness,
emotion, and darkness; Spelled out repeatedly in Confucian texts; men go out, women stay
in; contrast to the domestic and private domain of women; three obediences subordination
to her father, husband, and son. Ban Zhao, Lessons for Women practiced three customs
when a baby girl was born: placed below the bed to show that she was lowly and weak,
piece of broken pottery to play with, primary duty was to be industrious, birth was
announced to ancestors with an offering to show that she was responsible for the
continuation of ancestor worship in the home; Few women were able to excersze political
authority; Ant female hostility on the part of male officials, who blamed the collapse of a
dynasty on the influence of women. Supposed to be subordinate to the husband and
father, considerable in producing the next generation of male heir to carry on their
fathers lineage; upper classes had mother in law authority, dowries to show that she had
some leverage within her marriage; production of textiles in order to pay taxes or sell
commercial; Only the wife could bear sons, not the concubines; Confucianism was
discredited following the Han dynasty collapse, Buddhism and Daoism attracted a number
of pastoral and nomadic people invaded northen china and a small number of small states;
women were far less restricted; adoption of nomadic styles of dress, makeup, and music;
Tang Dynasty, writers and artists depicted elite women as capable of handling legal and
business affairs, riding horses and playing polo, wearing mens clothing legal codes
allowed a married daughters right to inherit property from her family of birth; caused
great distress to advocates of Confucian orthodoxy, unusual reign of Empress Wu 690-705
AD; a former concubine in the imperial court; only woman to rule with the title of
emperor; Daoism provided new images of feminine and new roles for women; texts
referred to the dao as mother, urged traditionally feminine virtues of yielding and passive
acceptance; sects also featured women as priests, nuns, or reclusive mediators; receive
cosmic truth and use it for the benefit of others; female deities from Daoist or buddhist
traditions found a place in Chinese village religion
Contrasting Patriarchies in Athens and Sparta
Patriarchies of the classical era fluctuated over time; considerably varied from place to
place; Athens and Sparta, leading city states of classical Greek civilization within the small
area of Classical Greece, Athens was celebrated a major source of Western democracy and
rationalism. Women were far more negative and restrictive; militaristic and much less
democratic than Sparta; women in Athens had no role whatsoever in the assembly,
councils, or juries of Athens, focus for free men; Legal matters, women had to be
represented by a guardian, womens exclusion from public life and general subordination
to men; Aristotles account of inadequacy to provide children in the same for that men do,
which contained the form of soul of a human being; proper Greek women were expected
to remain inside of the house, poorer women left their homes to earn money; Athenian
women were married in their mid teens to men fifteen years older than themselves;
production of sons and management of domestic affairs; Sons were to be literate,
daughters knew about weaving and the production of household tasks; Aspasia 470
400 BCE, born to a wealthy family that wanted to educate its daughters; foreign born in
the Greek city of Miletus, attracted the attention of Pericles, Athenss leading political
figure; more political authority and lived with Pericles until his death in 429 BCE. Hetaera,
a professional, educated, high class entertainer to Pericles; similar to a geisha known
positively and negatively; Evolution of Sparta, many was from that of Athens; Sparta soled
the problem of feeding a growing population, created overseas colonies similar to Greek
city states, by conquering their immediate neighbors and reducing them to a status of
permanent servitude; helots, dependents far outnumbered the free citizens of Sparta and
represented a permanent threat of rebellion; shaped Spartan society decisively, militaristic
regime, ready for war to keep the helots in their place; all boys were removed from their
families at the age of seven, trained by the state in military camps; remained until the age
of thirty, skilled in battle and could endure hardships; implications for women; task of
women was reproduction for soldiers in battle; encouraged to take part in sporting events,
greater freedoms and fewer restrictions; education was prescribed by the state; newly
married women should cut their hair short, unlike Greek women; not secluded or
segregated, as Athenian women; Spartan women married men of their own age; began
with a trial period, men were often at war, therefore divorce and had much more
authority in the household; death in childbirth equivalent to death in battle; joint efforts
of men and women seemed necessary;
The African Northeast
Numerous separate societies; vast differences among them, environmental variations
including the Med climate in the north and south extremes, large deserts including the
deserts of the Sahara and Kalahari, and savanna grasslands, tropical rainforests, highlands
and mountains in eastern Africa, continents enormous size, variation and difference
among Africas many peoples; the most tropical of the worlds three supercontinents;
bisected by the equator, persistent warm temps caused rapid decomposition of vegetable
matter called humus, poorer and less fertile soils and agriculture than Eurasia; numerous
disease carrying insects and parasites, serious health problems in many parts of the
continent; proximity to Eurasia, parts of Africa to interact with Eurasian civilizations.
North Africa incorporated into the Roman Empire and used to produce wheat and olives
on large estates with slave labor; Christianity spread widely; Saint Augustine spread the
Christian faith to what is now known as Ethiopia; Arabia, larger world for African peoples,
domesticated camel from some of the west saharan berbers; made trans saharan trade
possible, linked interior west Africa to the world of Med civilization ; east African coast
was a port of call for Egyptian, Roman, and Arab merchants
Meroe: Continuing a Nile Valley Civilization
Nubian civilization south of Egypt; traded and fought with big bro Egypt, being conquered
and gaining independence constantly; distinct and separate civilization with an all
powerful monarch; occasionally conferred on by women; traditions, rulers, buried along
with human sacrificial victims; economic specialties (merchants, weavers, potters);
smelting of iron and manufacture of iron tools as prominent industries; surrounding
Meroe were populated by people who combined herding, farming, and paid periodic
tribute to rulers; rainfall based agriculture in Meroe; farmers less dependent on irrigation;
rural population did not need to be concentrated heavily on the Nile River, less directly
controlled from the capital than in Egypt; state authorites in Egypt supervised an
irrigation system; long distance trading, wealth, and military power were constant; north
via nile, east and west via camels; access to iron, gold, ivory, tortoise shells, ostrich feathers,
and a reputation for the great riches of the classical world of northeastern Africa; Meroe
statue of Augustus, shows connections between Med world and northern Africa local lion
god, Apedemek, more prominent than Egyptian deities; use of Egyptian style writing
declined; Meroe declined due to deforestation, need for wood to make charcoal to smelt
iron; ended in 340s AD when neighboring state of Axum had shown conquest; three
separate Nubian states emerged, Coptic (Egyptian) Christianity penetrated the region, using
Greek as a liturgical language..
Axum: The Making of a Christian Kingdom
Emergence of a new African civilization; Horne of Africa, now Eritrea and northern
Ethiopia, highly productive agriculture that used a plow based farming system, unlike the
rest of Africa; relied on the hoe or digging stick; substantial numbers of wheat, barley,
millet, and teff; emerged by participation in the Read Sea and Indian Ocean Commerce;
Adulis, largest port on the East African coast, merchants sought the products of the African
interior animal hides, rhino horns, ivory, obsidian; taxes on trade provided a major
source of revenue for Axumite state; capital city, Axum, monumental building projects;
royal patronage for the arts, stone obelisks, marked royal graves; language used was Geez,
a written script derived from South Arabia; control over the Agaw speaking people
through a loose administrative system , focused on collection of tribute payments; third
major empire to the Romans, Christianity took root in 4th
century AD, distinctive Christian
church called the Coptic well established in Egypt; King Ezana adopted the religion during
the time of Constantine; 4th
6th
centuries CE, campaign of imperial expansion forces into
the kingdom of Meroe, across the Red Sea into Yemen in South Arabia; 571, Axumite army
reached the gates of Mecca, yet it was a fairly short imperial venture; decline of the state
because of environment damage, intensive farming, soil erosion,; afterwards centered
farther south on the Ethiopian plateau;
Along the Niger River: Cities without states
Middle stretched of Niger River in West Africa, remarkable urbanization; dry period
brought growing numbers of people frrom southern Sahara to the fertile floodplain of the
middle Niger; search of reliable access to water; domesticated cattle, sheep, and goats;
distinctive city based civilization; urban clusters around middle Niger; city of Jenne jeno,
housed 40k people; absence of a corresponding state structure, middle Niger urban centers
encompassed as cities without citadels, or stateless societies; operated without a coercive
authority of a state; few signs of despotic power or deep social inequalities; emerged as
clusters of economically specialized settlements surrounding a larger central town; most
prestigious and earliest occupation of iron smithing; smiths of Niger Valley were feared
and revered; Villages of cotton weavers, potters, leather workers, and griots (praise singers
who preserved and recited oral traditions of their societies) children could only marry
within their own group; occupational skills and jobs of these groups passed on to their
future generations; farmers tilled soil and crops; African alternative to an extremely
oppressive state; increasinglyy complex urban economy and society; specialized economic
groups shared authority and voluntarily used services of one another; growing network
of indegenous West African commerce; Niger floodplain supported rich agriculutre and
clay for pottery, lacked stone, iron ore, salt, and fuel. Scarce resources lead to long distance
trading, operated by boat along the Nile River; Mauritania and Mali to Burkina faso
conducted trade with Niger Valley civilization; second milenium CE, new historical
patterns in West Africa including large scale states of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay; flourished
with camel borne transportation, Islam had penetrated the region, including a major but
gradual cultural transformation; eliminating the decentralized early life of the Niger River
Valley
South of the Equator: The World of Bantu Africa
Now in southeastern Nigeria and Cameroon, peoples occupied the forest regions of
equatorial African not a conquest or invasion
Cultural Encounters
Movement of peoples caused cross cultural encounters, Bantu speaking newcomers
interacting with already established societies; agricultural Bantu and hunter gatherers
south of the equator; farmers largely replaced foragers; various advantages including a
more productive economy, numbers to live in a smaller area, disease, malaria to which
foraging peoples had no immunity; he regionenium CE, resources lead to ate structure,
middle Nigduring the classical era, these people were either displaced, absorbed, or
eliminated; Kalahari region of southwestern Africa, gathering and hunting peoples such as
the San survived into modern times; Bantu languages retain with their distinctive clicks;
Central Africa, the Batwa (Pygmy) people became forest specialists, producing honey, bark,
and plants; adopted Bantu languages, nonagricultural lifestyle and a separate identity;
closest to the ancestral and territorial spirits that determined the fertility of the land and
its people; original civilizers of the Earth; Bantu cultures in East Africa had yam based
agriculture, unable to support growing numbers, adopted grains and domesticated sheep;
variety of food crops from Southeast Asia
Society and Religion
Kenya, organized themselves without any formal political speacialists at all; made
decisions, based conflicts by using kinship structures or lineage principles; supplemented
by age grades, acquired personal wealth and were considered as heads, supplemented by
age set system, people assorted by ages and travel through life together; Lake Victoria or
present day Zimbabwe, larger and more substantial kingdoms evolved; chiefs with a
modest political authority; East African coast, rival city states linked the African interior
with the commerce of the Indian Ocean, host of local factors including population density,
trading opportunities, and interaction among culturally different peoples; Bantu religion
based more on the power of local dead ancestors instead of a high or creator God; nature
spirits residing in charms or rituals; belief in witches was widespread; dreams,
supernatural, and the taboo all explored
Civilizations of Meso America
Distince region, boung togethger by elements of a common culture; shared an intensive
agricultural technology devoted to raising maize, beans, chilli peppers, etc.; based their
economies on market exchange, praacticed religions similar to a pantheon of deities, belief
in cosmic religions, creation, destruction, human sacrifice, monumental cermonial centers;
ritual calendar of 260 days and hieroglyphic writing; first millenium BC, various small
statees and chiefdoms of the region, such as the Olmec, exchanged a small number of
luxury goods used to display social status, jade serpentine, ceramic pottery, ornaments,
stingray spines; had traditions such as human sacrifice, calendar system, temple pyramids,
and artistic styles
The Maya: Writing and Warfare
Yucatan Peninsula region of Mexico; intellectuals, priests, developed a math system thhat
consisted of the cooncept of the number 0, place notation, and plotted the cycle of the
planets in order to create an effective calendar system; sun, moon, and the solar years
recorded; elaborate writing system, used pictographs and phonetic, or syllable elements
carved on stone, written in deerskin or bark books; murals and endless carving on stones,
temples, and pyramids; engineered landscape by draining swamps, terracing hills,
flattening ridgetops, and constructing an elaborate water management system;
underpinned a flourishing agriculture;; rapidly growing and dense population; substantial
elite number of nobles, priests, merchants, and architects; fragmented political system of
city states, local lords, and regional kingdoms with no central authority and frequent
warfare; larger political units had urban and ceremonial centers; divine rulers or state
shamans that were able to meditate between humankind and the supernatural; Tikal, 50k
people, none creating a unified Mayan empire; centers of Mayan civilization rose and fell,
with fluctuating alliances; ruling families intermarried, e lite sought luxury goods from
far away, imposing civilization, completeness less than a century, population of the low
lying southern heartland of the Maya dropped by 85 percent because of famine, epidemic,
and fratricidal warfare reaped a horrific toll; catastrophe with no recovery, survived in
scattered settlements, great cities deserted; Maya passed from history;
Teotihuacan: The Americas Greatest City
Same time as the Maya flourished; Mesoamerica, the giant city of Teotihuacan, north of the
Valley of Mexico, thriving around 150 BCE and apparently built to a plan rather than
evolving haphazardly, occupy about eight square miles, population 200k and the largest
urban complex in the Americas; largest in the world, much is unknown, such as its
original name, language of the of the people, and the kind of governments precise
functions. City was enormously impressive, replete with broad avenues, spacious plazas,
huge marketplaces, temples, palaces, apartment complexes, slums, water ways, reservoirs,
and murals; many boulevard was the Street of the Dead; grand homes of the elite,
headquarters of state authorities, and two giant pyramids; Pyramid of the Sun constructed
over an ancient tunnel leading to a cave; site of creation itself of the sun and moon;
Temple of the Feathered Serpent, remains of some 200 people; hands and arms tied as
sacrificial victims; main avenues in a gridlike pattern of streets; residential apartment
compounds; groups of related families or lineages, farmers; Thousands of Maya specialists,
masons, leather workers, potters, construction laborers, merchants, civil servants; skilled
makers of obsidian blades; generating products throughout Mesoamerica; small sections of
the city saved exclusively for foreigners; buildings both public and private decorated with
mural paintings; art had few revealed images of self glorifying rulers or individuals; city