The Classical Era [600 BCE - 600 CE]

According to AMSCO!! Empires provided political & economic security thru trade routes on land (Silk Road) & water (Indian Ocean & Mediterranean Sea)

Buddhism

-Developed by Siddhartha Gautama, born in 530 BCE to a wealthy Hindu family & led a life of poverty to seek the cause of human suffering

-Became enlightened while meditating underneath a Bodhi Tree

-Four Noble Truths: follows Eightfold Path to reach nirvana & end reincarnation by refraining from earthly pleasures

-rejects Hinduism’s caste

Mauryan Empire

-Unity in South Asia under Buddhism 322 BCE - 187 BCE

-Ruler Ashoka (Hinduist to Buddhist) made efficient tax system, connected commercial centers, & spread legal knowledge thru scriptures on pillars

Gupta Empire

-320 CE - 550 CE Unity in South Asia after Hindu reform (addressed ordinary interests & healthy materialism) obscured Buddhism

-Based in Pataliputra (centralized & patriarchal city)

-advances in med tech (inoculations prevented disease) & modern numeric system (0-9, place value)

Indian Ocean Basin

-Maritime route made possible by monsoon winds:

• April-September: Winds from Africa & Arabian Sea brought severe rains to South & Southeast Asia

• November-February: Winds from Arid Tibet & Himalayas back to Africa brought severe drought

-Emergence of port-cities

• West: Arabian/African products like gold, copper, ivory, & coffee & South Asian products like cotton textiles, dye, & pepper

• SA-SEA: traded spices & scented woods

• SEA-EA: Chinese exported silk textiles, tea, sugar, & luxury goods for SEA

Zhou Dynasty

-stability in China 1076 BCE - 256 BCE

-Mandate of Heaven: Heaven justified empires & corrupt leaders = natural disasters

Confucianism

-Instability after Zhou Dynasty led to new philosophies (included Daoism = harmony w/ nature)

-Analects: harmony b/w ppl thru education, respect for rulers, patriarchy, filial piety, NOT deities

-Most influential philosophy in China

Qin Dynasty

-221 BCE - 207 BCE stability under Qin Shi Huangdi

-standardized Chinese script, est. Measurement systems, canals, roads

Han Dynasty

-206 BCE - 220 CE stability under Han Wadi & Confucianism

-pop growth, better tech, luxury trade

-Civil Service Exam: allowed social stability in gov

Mediterranean Region

-Alps & Pyrenees Mts. blocked Arctic winds & received Saharan & North African winds

-Europe’s great access to seas = dominance of powerful, wealthy maritime cities

Great European Plain

-Central-East Europe dominated by rich soil, swamps, rivers, & forests that were cleared for farming, usually led by Christian monasteries

• Wheat, barley, rye: staples in Middle Ages

Persian/Archaemenid Empire

-559 BCE - 330 BCE modern-day Iran under Cyrus the Great

-Satraps (district leaders) & long military roads for governing large empire

-efficient bureaucracy & trade

-religious & ethnic diversity

Greek Empire

-550 BCE - 336 BCE polytheistic, patriarchal, decentralized gov b/c of islands & mountains

-300s Alexander the Great spread greek culture to Hellenistic world

-Sparta: powerful military

-Athens: adv. in art, philosophy (late 400s BCE) & democracy

Roman Empire

-509 BCE - 476 CE

-Poly, slavery, adv. in gov (representative gov & 12 Tables), less patriarchal

-overextended, corrupt military = epidemics, econ & urban pop decline, invasions

Christianity

-Roman Empire est. the divinity of emperor = persecution & diaspora of Jewish ppl

-Devotion to Jesus = better afterlife, led to his execution by Romans

-Universalized throughout Roman Empire by 100 CE & made official religion by Constantine in 300 CE

Byzantine Empire

-330 CE - 1453 CE

-East Rome became more powerful & divided Roman Empire (395) into West (capital Rome) & East (capital Constantinople in 330 CE)

-Entrepôt in capital b/c Mediterranean & Black seas

-made Hagia Sophia (537 CE) & Justinian Code (used into 19th century

Teotihuacan

-Multicultural urban area in modern day Mexico-City & grid layout

-“City of the Gods,” one of the largest cities, abandoned by 650

The Mayans

-250 CE - 900 CE decentralized theocracy

-created accurate calendar & understood the importance of 0

-Popol Vuh: How gods made humans out of maize & water

Rise

Tech adv. fostered trade & wealth: horse stirrups, resting places along trade networks, better sail design, knowledge of monsoon winds, camel saddle

Fall: By 600, most Classical empires faced challenges in:

tax collections, trade, disease, support for leadership, & invasions

-Even as gov weakened, religion held societies together (Rome & Christianity, China & Confucianism, SA & Hinduism)