Long-Distance Travel in the Ancient World

• Lack of police enforcement outside of established settlements

• Changed in classical period– Improvement of infrastructure– Development of empires

Trade Networks Develop• Dramatic increase in trade due to Greek

colonization (Hellenism)• Maintenance of roads, bridges• Discovery of Monsoon wind patterns

(Ptolemaic Egypt)• Increased tariff revenues used to maintain

open routes

Trade in the Hellenistic World• Bactria/India

– Spices, pepper, cosmetics, gems, pearls• Persia, Egypt

– Grain• Mediterranean

– Wine, oil, jewelry, art• Development of professional merchant

class

The Silk Roads• Named for principal commodity from China• Dependent on imperial stability• Overland trade routes from China to

Roman Empire• Sea Lanes and Maritime trade as well

The Silk Roads 200 BC – 30 AD

Organization of Long-Distance Trade

• Divided into small segments• Tariffs and tolls finance local supervision• Tax income incentives to maintain safety,

maintenance of passage

Cultural Trade: Buddhism and Hinduism

• Merchants carry religious ideas along silk routes

• India through central Asia to east Asia• Cosmopolitan centers promote

development of monasteries to shelter traveling merchants

• Buddhism becomes dominant faith of silk roads, 200 BC-700 AD

The spread of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity, 200 BC – 400 AD

Buddhism in China• Originally, Buddhism restricted to foreign

merchant populations• Gradual spread to larger population

beginning 5th c. AD

Buddhism and Hinduism in SE Asia

• Sea lanes in Indian Ocean• 1st c. AD clear Indian influence in SE Asia

– Rulers called “rajas”– Sanskrit used for written communication– Buddhism, Hinduism increasingly popular

faiths

Christianity in Mediterranean Basin

• Gregory the Wonderworker, central Anatolia 3rd c. AD (St. Gregory)

• Christianity spreads through Middle East, North Africa, Europe

• Sizeable communities as far east as India

• Judaism, Zoroastrianism also practiced

Saint Gregory of Neocaesarea

Christianity in SW Asia• Influence of ascetic practices from India• Desert-dwelling hermits, monastic

societies• After 5th c. AD, followed Nestorius, a

Greek theologian– Emphasized human nature of Jesus– Nestorian Schism

Spread of Manichaeism• Mani, a devout Zoroastrian (216-272 AD)• Viewed himself a prophet for all humanity• Influenced by Christianity and Buddhism,

was a Gnostic faith• Dualist

– good vs. evil– light vs. dark– spirit vs. matter

Manichaean Society• Devout: “the Elect”

– Ascetic lifestyle– Celibacy, vegetarianism– Life of prayer and fasting

• Laity: “the Hearers”– Material supporters of “the Elect”– More conventional lives, but followed strict

moral code and provided food and gifts to support the “Elect”

Decline of Manichaeism• Spread through silk routes to major cities

in Roman Empire• Zoroastrian opposition provokes Sassanid

persecution– Mani arrested, dies in captivity

• Romans, fearing Persian influence, also persecute

The Spread of Epidemic Disease

• Role of trade routes in spread of pathogens

• Limited data, but trends in demographics reasonably clear

• Smallpox, measles, bubonic plague• Effect: Economic slowdown, move to

regional self-sufficiency

Epidemics in the Han and Roman Empires

0102030405060

c. 0AD

c.200AD

c.400AD

c.600AD

Chinese Population, 0-600 AD

Millions

0102030405060

c. 0 AD c. 200AD

c. 400AD

Roman Population, 0-400 AD

Millions

Internal Decay of the Han State

• Formation of factions– Reduced effectiveness of central government

• Problem of land distribution– Large landholders develop private armies

• Epidemics• Peasant rebellions

– 184 AD Yellow Turban Rebellion

Collapse of the Han Dynasty• Generals assume

authority, reduce Emperor to puppet figure

• Alliance with landowners• 200 AD Han Dynasty

abolished, replaced by 3 kingdoms

• Immigration of northern nomads increases

China after the Han Dynasty, 220 AD

Sinicization of Nomadic Peoples

• Social and cultural changes to a Chinese way of life

• Adapted to the Chinese environment– Agriculture

• Adoption of Chinese names, dress, intermarriage

Popularity of Buddhism and Daoism

• Disintegration of political order casts doubt on Confucian doctrines

• Buddhism, Daoism gain popularity• Religions of salvation

Fall of the Roman Empire: Internal Factors

• The Barracks Emperors– Between 235-284 AD , 26 claimants to the

throne, all but one killed in power struggles• Epidemics• Disintegration of imperial economy in favor

of local and regional self-sufficient economies

Diocletian (r. 284-305 AD)• Divided empire into two administrative

districts• Co-Emperors, dual Lieutenants

– “Tetrarchs”• Currency, budget reform• Relative stability disappears after

Diocletian's death, civil war follows• Constantine emerges victorious

Military issue coin of Diocletian

Diocletian's Palace at Salona (Split, Croatia)

Modern view of Diocletian's Palace near Salona (in Split, Croatia)

Fall of the Roman Empire: External Factors

• Visigoths, influenced by Roman law, Christianity– Formerly buffer states for Roman Empire

• Attacked by Huns under Attila in 5th c. AD • Massive migration of Germanic peoples

into Roman Empire• The Visigoth Alaric sacked Rome in 410

AD , established Germanic emperor Odovacar in 476 AD

Romulus Augustus, the last of the Western Roman Emperors.

The German army commander Odovacar dethrones Romulus Augustus in 476, wood

engraving, c. 1880.

Germanic invasions and the fall of the western Roman Empire, 450-476 CE

Cultural Change in the Roman Empire

• Growth of Christianity– Constantine’s Vision, 312 AD – Promulgates Edict of Milan, allows Christian

practice– Converts to Christianity

• 380 AD Emperor Theodosius proclaims Christianity official religion of Roman Empire– In 391, the "Theodosian decrees" declared

that Pagan religions that had not yet been rendered Christian ones, were banned.

St. Augustine (354-430 AD)• Hippo, North Africa• Experimented with

Greek thought, Manichaeism

• 387 converts to Christianity

• Made Christianity intellectually respectable

• Major theologian– City of God Augustine as depicted by

Sandro Botticelli (c. 1480)

The Institutional Church• Conflicts over doctrine and practice in

early Church– Divinity of Jesus– Role of women

• Church hierarchy established– Patriarchs, Bishops, Bishop of Rome

recognized as Pope (the first recognized as St. Peter)