THE CLASSICAL CIVILIZATIONS (1000 BCE - 600 CE)

During this era world history was shaped by the rise of several large civilizations that grew from areas where the earlier civilizations thrived.

• 1. They kept better and more recent records, so historical information about them is much more abundant.

• 2. The classical societies provide many direct links to today's world, so that we may refer to them as root civilizations, or ones that modern societies have grown from.

• 3. Classical civilizations were expansionist, deliberately conquering lands around them to create large empires.

COMMON FEATURES OF CLASSICAL CIVILIZATIONS

• The three areas of classical civilizations developed their own beliefs, lifestyles, political institutions, and social structures. However, there were important similarities among them:

• Patriarchal family structures - Like the river valley civilizations that preceded them, the classical civilization valued male authority within families, as well as in most other areas of life.

• Agricultural-based economies - Despite more sophisticated and complex job specialization, the most common occupation in all areas was farming.

• Complex governments - Because they were so large, these three civilizations had to invent new ways to keep their lands together politically. Their governments were large and complex, although they each had unique ways of governing

• Expanding trade base - Their economic systems were complex. Although they generally operated independently, trade routes connected them by both land and sea.

Characteristics of Classical Empires

• Powerful military• Effective government bureaucracy• Control large territory-multiethnic and multicultural• Uniform currency and weights and measures• Service of citizens• Military technology• Uniform legal codes• Public works• Lavish public monuments• Patronize the arts and scholarship

Comparing Empires: Roman and Chinese

Had little direct contact but interesting similarities• Both flourished about 200 BCE – 200 CE• Were of similar size (about 1.5 million sq. miles)• Both had 50 to 60 million people• Between them, they controlled nearly half the

world’s population• Interesting variations on imperial theme

CHINA: The Han Empire, 206 BCE-220 CE

ROMAN Empire

Rome: From City-State to Empire

• Started as small, unimportant city-state in central Italy in 8th century BCE

• Overthrew monarchy and established republic about 509 BCE but conflict with plebeians

• Creation of empire began in 490s BCE with wars to control Italian peninsula, political crisis of first century BCE, establishment of Pax Romana

China: From Warring States to Empire

• Creation of empire regarded as restoration of dynastic rule

• Unification by ShiHuangdi, ruler of Qin (r. 221-210 BCE), creation of empire was brutal (military force, book burning, thousands of laborers building Great Wall)

• Established standardized weights & measures, currency, written Chinese, axle lengths for carts

• Han Dynasty established by 206 BCE keeping Qin centralization but less harsh

Han China and Imperial Rome

The Silk Road China to India, across Central Asia to Antioch, Baghdad, Alexandria

and Rome Trade

East to West: silk and spices West to East: manufactured goods (glassware, jewelry,

perfumes) and commodities such as olive oil Religious movements

Buddhism to Central Asia, Southeast Asia and China Hinduism to Southeast Asia Christianity to Persia, India and China

Epidemics 2nd and 3rd c. CE Han and Roman Empires suffered large-scale

epidemics: small pox, measles, bubonic plague Population decline lead to economic and social change

Comparison of Roman & Han Empires

• Both had highly stratified societies• Patriarchal families—Confucianism vs. pater familias• Agricultural base—free peasants-small farms or tenant

farmers vs. heavy dependency on slavery and latifundias• Highly centralized state—dynastic cycle and Mandate of

Heaven vs. empires with appearance of limits through Senate

• Both claimed supernatural sanctions: deceased Roman emperors as gods vs. Chinese emperor as Son of Heaven

Comparison of Roman & Han Empires

• Both absorbed a foreign religious tradition – development of Christianity in Roman Empire vs. introduction of Buddhism into China by traders

• Relationships with societies they governed differed -1. Romans were always a minority in empire vs. ethnic Chinese had

much larger cultural heartland2. Gradual expansion of Roman citizenship vs. Chinese active

assimilation of “barbarians”• Role of language differed in two empires – Latin (alphabetic) gave

rise to other languages vs. Chinese characters (represented words or ideas) could not be transferred easily to other languages

Comparison of Roman & Han Empires

• Roman Empire’s peoples maintained separate cultural identities far more than in China

• Bureaucracy was much more elaborate in China than in Roman Empire– Chinese emperor Wudi established an academy to

train officials on works of Confucius and developed into civil service system

– Roman administration relied on civic responsibility developing a body of law applicable to all people of the realm and on regional elites and army

Comparisons China

Well organized bureaucracy founded on Confucian ideals and education

Emphasis on family, ancestors: patriarchal

Reliance on landed gentry as support: good marriages afforded women more rights

Engineering: roads, canals, the Great Wall

Inventions: wheelbarrow, gunpowder, printing press, compass, paper, paper currency (all before 1000 ce)

Religion: Confucianism, Taoism, native gods, introduction of Buddhism

Rome Well organized bureaucracy

founded on Roman law and classical learning

Emphasis on family: pater familias

Reliance on patricians: women gained power and property rights within families

Engineering: roads, aqueducts, amphitheatres, domes, sewage systems, central heating

Inventions: concrete, the arch (probably Etruscan), insulae (apartment buildings)

Religion: Emperor as god, paganism, mystery religions, introduction of Christianity