Unit 2: Classic Civilizations 600 BCE - 600 CE Ted Walker, Spencer Buted, Leanne Sigman
Qin China 221 - 206 BCE (only 15 years!) Founder = Qin Shi Huangdi Legalism Centralized Unified China Started Great Wall
Han Dynasty 206 BCE - 220 BCE Golden Age!!!!! Emperor Wu Centralize and Expand Silk Roads Coins, paper, clocks, seismographs Capital = Chang’an (size of Rome) Educated Bureaucracy
Japan Isolated - yet influence from China on writing, bureaucracy, artistic expression, Buddhism, and Confucianism Buddhism blends with Shinto
Mediterranean 740 - 146 BCE Phoenician Maritime Trading Culture Alphabet City States Greek/Hellenistic Foundation of the West Architecture, Politics, Democracy, Philosophy, Drama, Math Greco-Persian Wars Peloponnesian Wars - weaken city states Conquered by Alexander the Great
Persia 550 - 331 BCE Achaemenid dynasty founded by Cyrus Conquered Lydians Provincial gov’t: divided empire into 20 regions and authority given to officials called satraps Darius the Great (522-486 BCE) expanded empire from Turkey and Libya to India - largest empire at this point Patriarchal Collapsed to Hellenistic conquerer Alexander the Great Then Sassinid Empire (rival of Rome and Byzantine)
Rome 509 BCE - 476 CE Monarchy - Romulus = founder and 1 out of 7 kings Republic - senate overthrew monarchy Empire - established by Augustus 27 BCE Paterfamilias - male control in household Upper class women had more power than in Greece Slave labor Plebian and Patrician classes Eastern Roman empire became Byzantine (in 330) b/c of external threats, lack of unity, Western collapse in 476
Mauryan Empire Chandragupta = founder Emperor Ashoka seen as greatest and converted to Buddhism (Buddhist empire too) Bureaucracy w/ tax on agricultural production based on military conquest encouraged trade with China attacks from outside enemies
Gupta Empire Hindu smaller, less centralized; focused on diplomacy to maintain authority created decimal system more patriarchal status of women declined attacked by White Huns
Ghana Senegal River gold and salt trade and other great resources berbers, camels - spread of Islam well trained army King collects taxes, owned all gold Civil War = decline
Mali Defeated Ghana Atlantic coast to Timbuktu - learning center, large city wealth from salt and gold trade each village had own ruler (still paid taxes to king) Mansa Musa - centralized gov’t, kingdom w/ provinces
Songhai Niger River Valley Islamic Benefitted from Muslim trade routes Timbuktu and Djenne professional army, yet overthrown by north African armies
Technology Coins - Persia “Arabic” numerals - South Asia Phoenician alphabet Compass, paper, porcelain, canals, horse collar, stirrup - China Astrolabe, lateen sail, concrete - China/Southwest Asia
Downfalls Attacks from Huns Deterioration of political institutes Protection of borders = bad Diseases following trade routes
Common Features Patriarchal family structure - male authority in family and other areas Agricultural based economy - even with complex job specialization Complex governments - new ways to keep large lands together politically Expanding trade base - The Silk Roads, Indian Ocean, Trans-Sahara, Sub-Saharan