The Development of States and Empires 

A number of key states and empires brought political, economic, and social unity to many territories

-Many of these became classical civilization

- Overreach: states and empires overextended themselves, leading to decline and downfall

• Key States   * The Persian Empires (Southwest Asia)     * The Persians of present-day Iran came to dominate the Middle East     * Lydians invented metal coinage     * Darius The Great made the biggest state in that time       * Persia’s empire extended from North Africa to India       * Created two capitals, Susa for administration, and Persepolis       * Ruled with an advanced postal system, roads, a single currency, and a provincial administration         * provincial administration: divided the empire into 20 or so regions and delegated legal authority over them to officials called satraps       * Patriarchal society       * Caste system       * Embraced Zoroastrianism but was tolerant towards other faiths       * Fell to the conqueror, Alexander The Great in 331 B.C.E       * The Parthians liberated Persia around 247 B.C.E-224 B.C.E         * Smallpox arose         * Grew wealthy from the trade along the Silk Road and commerce generated by Arab traders         * Swept away in the 600 B.C.E by the military expansion of Islam   * The Qin and Han Empires (East Asia)     * Qin dynasty: founder Shi Huangdi       * Favored the ideology of Legalism: advocated for harsh laws as a way to keep wicked people in order       * Ruled with a large and effective bureaucracy       * Built the Great Wall Of China     * Han dynasty: built on the Han dynasty       * Created a centralized, efficient empire       * Ruled most of China, parts of Vietnam, Korea, Manchuria, and Mongolia       * Established a tributary system: extracting payment from neighboring states       * Military advantages: crossbow, cavalry warfare. Used to repel steppe nomads       * Revived the Mandate of Heaven       * Turned to Confucianism       * Strong economy, improved agricultural techniques, and increased silk production       * Horse Collar: allowed heavier loads to be pulled       * Smallpox epidemic in the late 100 C.E’s   * The Mauryan. and Gupta Empires (South Asia)     * The Mauryan Empire was founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 324- 184 B.C.E     * Ruled from the capital Patilputra     * Established a central bureaucracy that collected a 25% tax on all agricultural production and enforced strict obedience     * Key exports: salt, iron, and cotton cloth     * Ashoka: best known of the Mauryan emperors       * Converted to Buddhism and advocated peace and tolerance       * Pillars Of Ashoka: raised stone columns carved with Buddhist teachings       * Gupta scholars originated the decimal system, “Arabic numerals and the concepts of 0 and ∏       * Strengthened the caste system and sati ritual   * Phoenicia, Greece, Alexander the Great, and Rome (The Mediterranean)     * Phoenicians: originators of the alphabet and great seafaring traders     * Established city-states       * Most important: North African port of Carthage         * High degree of social mobility         * Oligarchic government: rich, powerful families ruled         * Sparta and Athens: Greek city-states and colonies           * Sparta: Produced the Greek world’s finest and most feared army           * Athens focused on cultural and political advancement           * Slavery was common in all Greek city-states           * Formed a democracy run by people, excluding women and slaves         * Hellenic culture: gave rise to philosophy, scientific thinking, Greek dramas, and fine architecture and sculpture         * Alexander the Great: launched one of the most successful military campaigns of all time           * Promoted Greek culture and fusing it with other traditions to create Hellenistic (Greek-life) culture           * Alexandria: Alexander’s grand capital located in Egypt           * Great Library: world’s greatest centers of trade, learning, and culture         * Roman Republic: a state without a monarch and one in which all or most citizens play some role           * tensions between plebeian (lower) and patrician class (upper)           * Collapse of the Roman Republic: small farmers went bankrupt, poverty worsened and people joined violent mobs         * Roman Empire: founded by Caesar’s adopted son, revived Rome’s strength and wealth, and created the position of emperor           * Experienced “pax Romana”: a period of peak power and prosperity           * Administered a huge bureaucracy: divided the empire into provinces governed by proconsuls             * proconsuls: regional officials           * Built roads, sea lanes, aqueducts, and fortifications             * aqueducts: to carry water over long distances           * Distribution of grain was a state priority           * smallpox epidemic, measles and bubonic plague: severely depleted the empire’s population and economic production           * Byzantine Empire: the eastern half of the Empire after it split from the western half, headquartered in Constantinople           * Paterfamilias: male family head, strictly patriarchal system           * Greco-Roman classicism: Roman and Greek culture absorbing together             * Improved on architects, engineers, aqueducts, cities and fortifications             * Roman law               * Twelve Tables               * Justinian law code             * Latin             * Legalized Christianity, and made it their official faith   * Teotihuacan, the Maya, and the Moche     * Societies emerged from the religious and cultural teachings left from the Olmecs     * Allowed women to rule     * Practiced human sacrifice     * Built pyramids that symbolized sacred mountains with roots in the underworld, but also reaching heaven     * Teotihuacan Society       * Near present day Mexico City

      * Governed by means of oligarchy rather than monarchy       * Practiced human sacrifice       * Built pyramid temples to represent the sun and moon       * Engaged in intensive farming     * Maya       * Near present day Guatemala       * Built pyramids and practiced human sacrifice       * Slavery       * Hieroglyphic script: the most advance system of writing in pre-Columbian Americas       * Understood the concept of 0       * Invented an intricate and accurate calendar   * Methods of Rule     * Administration and State Institutions     * Centralized government
    * Law codes and courts enforced rules     * Bureaucracies       * tax collection       * law enforcement       * mobilization of food and resources       * military defense       * regulation of trade       * creation of currencies       * maintenance of infrastructure       * regional and local levels of government       * religious justification       * claiming the legacy       * official religions       * religious toleration     * Projection of Power       * Often led to war       * military force       * land armies       * naval warfare       * Siegecraft: art of capturing cities     * Diplomacy: states sought allies, negotiated treaties to end or avoid wars       * Divide and conquer       * Tributary states: extorting money or dictating policy without conquering states     * Armies and navies had to be fed and kept well to ensure efficiency       * Supply lines       * Sea lanes       * Road building       * Fortifications in the form of city walls   * Social Structures     * Cities     * Hierarchies     * Elite classes     * Aristocracies: noble families who shared inn running the government     * Caste systems     * Slavery and serfdom     * Patriarchal   * Imperial and Political Overreach     * States and empires collapsed     * Collapse can be due to internal or external factors     * Overreach: the state assumed too many responsibilities, spent too much money, or conquered too many territories

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