Ways of the World chapter 5

Aspasia

A foreign woman resident in Athens (ca. 470-400 B.C.E.) and partner of the statesman Pericles who was famed for her learning and wit.

Ban Zhao

A Chinese woman writer and court official (45-116 C.E.) whose work provides valuable insight on the position of women in classical China.

Brahmins

The Indian social class of priests.

Caste

The system of social organization in India that has evolved over millennia; it is based on an original division of the populace into four inherited classes (varna), with the addition of thousands of social distinctions based on occupation (jatis), which became the main cell of social life in India.

Dharma

In Indian belief, performance of the duties appropriate to an individual's caste; good performance will lead to rebirth in a higher caste.

Helots

The dependent, semi-enslaved class of ancient Sparta whose social discontent prompted the militarization of Spartan society.

Jatis

In the Indian caste system, the thousands of social distinctions based on occupation .

Karma

In Indian belief, the force generated by one's behavior in a previous life that decides the level at which an individual will be reborn.

Ksatriya

The Indian social class of warriors and rulers.

Pericles

A prominent and influential statesman of ancient Athens (ca. 495-429 B.C.E.), he presided over Athens's Golden Age.

"Ritual purity"

In Indian social practice, the idea that members of higher castes must adhere to strict regulations limiting or forbidding their contact with objects and members of lower castes to preserve their own caste standing and their relationship with the gods.

Scholar-gentry class

A term used to describe members of China's landowning families, reflecting their wealth from the land and the privilege that they derived as government officials.

Spartacus

A Roman gladiator who led the most serious slave revolt in Roman history from 73 to 71 B.C.E.).

The "three obediences"

In Chinese Confucian thought, the notion that a woman is permanently subordinate to male control: first to her father, then to her husband, and finally to her son.

Untouchables

An Indian social class that emerged below the Sudras and whose members performed the most unclean and polluting work.

Varna

The four major social divisions in India's caste system: the Brahmin priest class, the Kshatriya warrior/administrator class, the Vaishya merchant/farmer class, and the Shudra laborer class.

Wang Mang

A Han court official who usurped the throne and ruled from 8 C.E. to 23 C.E.; noted for his reform movement that included the breakup of large estates.

Wu, Empress

The only female "emperor" in Chinese history (r. 690-705 C.E.), Empress Wu patronized scholarship, worked to elevate the position of women, and provoked a backlash of Confucian misogynist invective.

Wudi

The Chinese emperor (r. 141-87 B.C.E.) who started the Chinese civil service system with the establishment in 124 B.C.E. of an imperial academy for future officials.

Yellow Turban Rebellion

A massive Chinese peasant uprising inspired by Daoist teachings that began in 184 C.E. with the goal of establishing a new golden age of equality and harmony.

Like the First Civilizations, those of the classical era

were patriarchal in organization.

China was unique in the ancient world in the extent to which

its social organization was shaped by the actions of the state.

Chinese state officials

took examinations and were chosen for official positions on the basis of their performance during the Han dynasty

The Chinese state opposed the growth of a landlord class in control of large landed estates because

in some cases wealthy landlords could raise their own military forces that could challenge the authority of the emperor.

Which of the following statements concerning Chinese merchants is false?

State officials and landlords ostracized Chinese merchants, having no relationships with them despite the potential for profit.

Which of the following was NOT a shared feature of the social organizations of India and China in the classical era?

In both, priority was given to religious status and ritual purity.

In India, all EXCEPT which of the following factors play a role in defining the caste system?

Gender, with distinct male and female castes

The Brahmin, Kshatriya, and Vaisya varnas were distinct from the Sudra varna in that

only the Brahmin, Ksatriya, and Vaisya were believed to be "twice born."

Which of the following is a Hindu notion that supported the idea of inherent inequality in the caste system?

That birth into a particular caste reflected the karma that the individual had earned in a previous life. That hope of rebirth into a higher caste rested on dharma in this life. Rebirth was a road to salvation.

Once the system of jatis in India was established,

an individual jati could raise its standing in relation to other jatis in the local hierarchy by acquiring land or wealth.

Which of the following features of the First Civilizations may have contributed to the development of slavery?

Large-scale warfare in which prisoners were taken, Patriarchal relationships between men and women, Class inequalities based on great differences in privately owned property

Race was a major factor in the system of slavery in

the Americas after European colonization.

Which of the following is NOT true of slavery in classical China?

. A relatively large percentage, perhaps as much as one-third of the total population, were slaves.

Which of the following is true of slavery in classical India?

Slaves could own property and earn money in their spare time.

In classical Athens

he growth of democracy was accompanied by the simultaneous growth of slavery on a massive scale.

Which of the following was a feature of slavery in the Roman world?

Slaves made up a substantial portion of the population, including perhaps 33 to 40 percent of the population in the Italian heartland of the empire.

n classical civilizations

public life in general was a male domain, while women's roles took place mostly in domestic settings.

In the centuries following the fall of the Han dynasty, Chinese women

benefited from the growing influence of Buddhism, which provided some women with an alternative to family life in Buddhist monasteries.

Which of the following distinguished the experience of women in Sparta from that of women in Athens?

In Sparta women married men of about their own age.

In classical Greece

homoerotic relationships were culturally approved for both men and women in most Greek city states.

The caste system emerged only in _________________.

India

The Chinese emperor ______________ established an imperial academy where potential civil servants were formally trained.

Wu Di

The Han court official _______________ usurped the emperor's throne in 8 C.E. and immediately launched a series of aggressive reforms including the dividing up of large estates among the landless.

Wang Mang

Toward the end of the second century C.E., a massive peasant uprising, known as the ____________, broke out in the Yellow River Valley in China.

Yellow turban Rebellion

In the eyes of the Chinese cultural elite, the __________ were seen as unproductive, greedy, and materialistic.

merchants

______________ is the term for the four great classes into which humankind is divided in India

Varna

The _______ varna in Indian society was made up of warriors.

Ksatriya

In classical India, the ____________ are a class of people who undertook work considered unclean or polluting.

Untouchables

In India, ______________ became a primary focus of social life beyond the family and the household.

Jatis

In the Hindu tradition the selfless performance of one's present caste duties in this life is known as __________.

Karma

In _____________, slavery was central to the functioning of the economy during the classical period.

Rome and Greece

The slave gladiator named _________________ led a major slave revolt on the Italian peninsula in 73 BCE.

Spartacus

The Chinese woman writer and court official ______________ wrote that women should always "humble themselves before others."

Ban Zhou

Empress ____________________, the only woman ever to rule China in her own name, came to power through palace intrigue in 690 C.E.

Wu

While all classical civilizations practiced patriarchy, women lived under the least restrictions in _____________.

Sparta

Even though most women were excluded from public life in Athens, there were exceptions like ___________ who lived as the unofficial wife of Pericles and was known to be a learned and witty conversationalist in elite circles.

Aspasia

Aristotle wrote that a woman __________________.

"is as it were, an infertile malle"

In Sparta, ____________ were conquered neighboring peoples who were reduced to a status of permanent servitude, not far removed from slavery.

Helots

In an effort to strengthen their bodies for child bearing, women in ___________ participated publicly in sporting competitions.

Sparta

In China, the class with the highest social status was the ___________.

Scholar-gentry class