BLOG-2 5/28/12

Sheila Romero

BLOG 2

CHAPT-4

Chapter 4: Eurasian Empires

The Eurasian empires during the Classical era, which spanned 1,000 years from 500 BCE to 500 CE and included: 

The Persian Empire, the largest and most impressive of the empires; whose homeland lay on the Iranian plateau just north of the Persian gulf, governed by an absolute and almost unapproachable monarch.

 The Greek Empire, a small competing city-state of classical Greece, which allowed varying degrees of popular participation in political life.

The Roman Empire, was located on the far western side of Eurasia and whose political systems still are emulated today, especially in the United States.

The Chinese Empire, located on the far eastern end of Eurasia.

The Indian Empire. based far east along the Ganges River on India’s northern plain 

PERSIAN EMPIRE

·       35 million people in state

·       Immensely diverse containing dozens of peoples, states, languages, cultural traditions

·       Centered on cult Kingship. The King could be approached only through elaborate ritual.

·       Had administrative system in place called the satraps

·       Governors in each of the 23 provinces

·       Had imperial spies—they were the eyes and ears of the King  

·       General policy of respect for non-Persian cultures

·       Allowed exiled Jews in Babylon to return to their homeland and rebuild temple in Jerusalem

·       In Egypt and Babylon, Persian kings upheld religious beliefs/cults to foster Persian support

·       Survived 1,000 years prior to collapse

·       Imperial bureaucracy/court life (administrators, tax collectors, record keepers, translators became model for subsequent regimes, including Islamic world)

·      Infrastructure included a system of standardized coinage, predictable taxes levied on each province.

·       Canal linking Nile with Red Sea that allowed commerce/trade with Egypt

·       Roads, 1700 miles—facilitated communication/commerce

·       Immense wealth & power

·      GREEK EMPIRE

·      Was a fraction of the Persian Empire

·      Referred to themselves as Hellenes

·      Allowed people various degrees of participation in political life

·      Hundreds of small, very competitive city-states or settlements that were fiercely independent and in frequent conflict with each other.

·      These city-states spoke the same language and worshiped the same gods.

·      Most of these city-states were modest in size 500-5000 male citizens

·      Emerged in 750 BCE; empire lasted 400 years.  Then, absorbed by other foreign   empires.   

·       Population 2-3 million people

·       Expansive people, but expansion took form of settlements in distant places, rather than in conquests that became part of the empire.

·       Olympic Games—every four years, began in 776 BCE.

·       The Greeks defeated the Persians on both land and sea

·       The Greeks’ victory radicalized Athenian democracy

·       The Golden Age of the Greek culture

Greco-Persian Wars—the East-West Divide

Land expansion essentially was the reason behind the Greco-Persian Wars.

Alexander the Great led a 10-year assault against the Persians that represented one of the greatest military feats of the classical period. It created a Greek empire from Egypt and Anatolia in the west to Afghanistan and India in the east. Ultimately, the Persians were defeated. In Egypt, Alexander was celebrated the as a liberator from Persian domination. Alexander’s greatest accomplishments were in the widespread dissemination of Greek culture during world historians refer to as the Hellenistic era (323-30 BCE).  Elements of that culture now were found in Egypt, Mesopotamia and India! It included the wide spread of the Greek culture, language, monuments, sculptures and markets. A fair amount of cultural interaction and bleeding occurred from Mesopotamia, Asia, India, and Egypt. In the long run the Greek cultural influence disappeared and was replaced by the Roman culture.

ROMAN EMPIRE

·      Began as a small and impoverished city-state

·      Romans were reduce to kidnapping neighboring women in order to reproduce

·      Became an enormous imperial state that encompassed the Mediterranean basin and parts of continental Europe, Britain, North Africa and the Middle East

·      Executive authority was exercised by two consuls who were advised by the Senate

·      Has a written code of law which offered plebeians some protection from abuse

·      System of public assemblies provided opportunity for plebeians, allowed them to block unfavorable legislation

·      Roman took pride on their legal system

·      The values of the republic-rule of law, the rights of citizens, the absence of pretension, upright moral behavior, keeping one’s word-

·      Subsequent expansion in the eastern Mediterranean brought the ancient civilizations of Greece, Egypt, and Mesopotamia under Roman domination

·      Rome also expanded into Southern and Western Europe, including present-day

Spain, France, and Britain.

·      Caesar Augustus, (refuse to call himself emperor/king) referred him self as “first man”. Caesar was emperor in practice he was able to exercise sole authority backed up by his command of professional army.

CHINESE EMPIRE

·      Wasn’t building a “new” empire but re-building

·      Was equal in size and population to the Roman Empire

·      Developed bureaucracy to hold the empire together

·      Equipped it’s army with iron weapons

·      Rapidly growing agriculture

·      Growing population

·      Adopted political philosophy called Legalism, which advocated harsh punishments for enforcing authority

·      Religious tradition was Buddhism came from India

·      Were more advance and skilled working with metals

·      Developed an elaborate bureaucracy

·      Established an imperial academy for training officials for emerging bureaucracy based on the writing of Confucius

·      “Confucius” the philosophy of the importance of practical moral values

·      Chinese didn’t translated to other languages, but the written Chinese could be understood by literate people no matter which dialect they spoke.

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE ROMAN AND CHINESE EMPIRES

1.      They both felt that they were universal or governed most of the world.

2.      Both invested in public works—roads, bridges, aqueducts, canals, protective walls,   

         designed militarily and commercially

3.      Both adopted supernatural beliefs to support their rule.

A) Romans belied that deceased emperors became gods and established religious cults to     

              support the authority of the living emperors.

B) The Romans persecuted the Christians for not participating in their cult.

C) Chinese emperor governed with a “Mandate from Heaven,” as long as he ruled   

      morally and with benevolence. If tragedy occurred, it was believed that the Chinese   

      emperor governed poorly and tragedy was punishment.

D) The Chinese emperor was referred to as the “Son of Heaven.”

4.      Both empires absorbed a foreign religious tradition. 

·       Christianity developed in the Roman Empire and became the dominant religion of Europe.

·       Buddhism came from India and developed in China.  It was introduced by Asian traders but received little support from the Han dynasty.  Emperor Wendi of the Sui dynasty reunited China and Buddhism became popular.

INDIAN EMPIRE

·      Fragmented collection of towns/cities, small republics governed by public assembles and some regional states ruled by kings.

·       Diverse—ethnically, culturally, linguistically

·       Hinduism—religious tradition, it is what has given India its identity.

·      Caste system—unique social system with “classes” of people--also responsible for India’s identity.

·       Once ruled by Persian emperors and then Alexander the Great.

·      Mauryan Empire (326 BCE to 184 BCE) large-scale political system, which was found in most of India.  Equivalent to Persian, Chinese and Roman empires, although not as l long lasting.

·      Population of 50 million

·       Large military force

·       Civilian bureaucracy, with ministries and large contingent of spies

·       Many industries: spinning, weaving, mining, shipbuilding, armaments

·       Financed using taxes

REASONS FOR THE COLLAPSE OF EMPIRES (ROMAN AND CHINESE)

·         Empires got too big, too over-extended and too expensive to sustain utilizing available   

           resources.

·         Growth of large landowning families with huge estates were able to avoid paying  

           taxes.  The free peasants became impoverished tenant farmers.  Central government

           authority diminished. 

·         Rivalries among elite factions created instability and eroded imperial authority.

·         Epidemic diseases

·         Growing threats from other regions

Journal 1 5/20/12

Who benefits from Civilization?

Civilization is the human development of modern life and conveniences that we all humans desire. From the beginning of time, civilization has been regarded as power. It is also responsible for business, trade, and culture. My question is, is civilization equally good for the entire population?

After reading chapters 1-3, I have come to the conclusion that there will always be changes in society as long as humans exist. From the beginning of human societies, during the Paleolithic era we see how life was so simple and family oriented. They seem to live in harmony with each other in their small groups. There is no sense of “private” property or even a chief or a king to set the rules. There is just mutual understanding that they all work as a group and they all benefit as a group. There was no land or crops to protect; it came down to survival for all members involved. When the Neolithic era came about, small changes began to evolve as well. Their hunting bands became communities, and they began to settle in one area through farming, developed better tools for hunting and farming and began to develop “private” belongings’.

At the end of chapter 3 of our textbook according to Stayer, we see obvious changes. Egypt and Mesopotamia after becoming civilized cities both different in how they governed at the beginning but both achieved the same result at the end. Egypt was a very strong society. They were not so urbanized at the beginning and they were able to spread out along the Nile. For millions of years Egypt stayed strong and at peace. Mesopotamia was on the other hand one of the most urban cities of its time. They had multiple chief or kings to govern these cities and they were at constant war to protect it. Both of these empires had a large network of commerce. Over the years they had become powerful and more skilled. They had developed their writing skills, beautiful monuments, castles, and even a military force. But through all these progress there was also a negative side to civilization. Now these urban cities have social separation causing an erosion of equality among their people. We can vividly see who really benefited from it, and obviously was the rich. These cities had kings, chiefs, pharaohs’ that control their cities.  The social inequalities were obvious. Women also became victims of the social power. In the Paleolithic era men and women worked side-side and women were considered very important in working the land. After the civilization men and women were no longer equal, women became second or less compared to men.  The other part of the population stayed poor, things didn’t get better for them. They continue to struggle; they were mistreated, and had limited goods.  These strong societies failed when a more intelligent and more powerful society overpower them.

These has been going for centuries even to this day, the country that has the most advance technology and the strongest army is the one that survives. My conclusion is that change and progress is always anticipated. Change creates social division and even violence at times, but change is necessary and at the end of all is power.