Cultural Diffusion Spread of ideas, customs, or technology from one culture or people to another.

Persian Empire -Royal Roads/postal system -Satraps -Religious toleration

Geography of Greece Mountains made it difficult for unity among Greeks and led to the formation of city- states like Sparta and Athens. The sea was and still is their vital link to the world.

Greek polis Greece was divided into city-states or Poleis.

Minoans of Crete Inhabitants of the Island of Crete, whose rulers lived in the Palace at Knossos which had important frescoes of Minoan life. They were a sea-going culture or thalassocracy. By 1400 BC, they were destroyed by a volcanic eruption.

Athens An aristocracy dominated by noble landowners. Solon reformed Athens into the world’s first democracy with limited rights.

Sparta A nation of warrior- soldiers in Southern Greece that was ruled by kings and a council of elders.  From childhood, all Spartans were prepared to be soldiers or support the warrior culture.

Oligarchy Rule by a few, usually wealthy, people. Sparta was ruled by more than one king.

Delian League A military and economic collaboration of Greek city-states.

Peloponnesian Wars Wars between Athens and Sparta from 431 BC to 404 BC Sparta won

Socrates encouraged his students to examine their lives. "An unexamined life is not worth living" Wrote Politics Condemned to death by Athenians

Plato Great works: The Allegory of the Cave and The Republic in which he emphasized the importance of reason. Theory of forms

Aristotle Was the teacher of Alexander the Great and promoted learning and reason as the guiding forces of life. Rejected the Theory of Forms

Euclid His “Elements” were the foundation of Geometry

Pythagorus Pythagorean Theorum - The sum of the areas of the two squares on the legs (a and b) equals the area of the square on the hypotenuse (c). Contributions to philosophy, science and mathematics.

Parthenon

Eratosthenes Calculated the circumference of the Earth

Archimedes

Alexander the Great Took the throne of Macedonia when his father, Phillip was assassinated – built the Hellenistic Empire.

Hellenism Blending of Eastern and Western cultures because of the conquests of Alexander the Great. The city of Alexandria in Egypt was the heart of the Hellenistic Empire.

Geography of Rome Seven Hills of Rome – the Palentine Hill was the most important.

The Punic Wars “Carthage must be destroyed,” was the cry of Cato the Elder in the Senate of Rome. Carthage was a rival of Rome during it’s empire. Hannibal Barcus tried to defeat the empire but came up short when a war of attrition was fought at the gates of Rome.

Twelve Tables Roman Law Code Included, Habeas Corpus, right to confront accuser, & judicial review

Roman Republic Government by elected representatives – limited government.

Patricians Upper class landholders of Rome

Plebians Farmers, merchants, artisans and traders made up the bulk of Roman citizens.

Senators Dominated Roman government and elected Consuls or leaders to supervise business and the military.

Emperor The Roman Emperor was committed to establishing control over foreign lands and people. Called princeps (first citizen).

Roman Empire Led in the beginning by Octavian (Augustus); ushered in a period of justice and peace.

The Romans provided workers by enslaving the people they conquered. Although it was outlawed by Cyrus the Great in Persia, it was still present there as a source of labor. The Han dynasty also utilized slavery as a source of labor. What labor systems provided the workers for Classical Empires?

Julius Caesar Defied the Senate by crossing the Rubicon saying, “the die is cast.” He was assassinated in the Senate of Rome.

Emperor Augustus Ushered in the Pax Romana – time of peace.

Pax Romana

Greek and Roman Mythology Very similar, but Greek gods were believed to interfere in the daily lives of citizens.

What techniques did Classical empires create to administer their territories? China developed the best communication lines throughout the kingdom – messages could be easily sent and received. Rome built the greatest infrastructure, consisting of roads, aqueducts, and cities. All three empires relied on violence and military threat to maintain order to some degree, Persia most notably. Standardized taxes were levied on citizens to raise revenue

The remarkable growth of early Christianity reflected the new faith's appeal particularly to… the lower classes, urban populations, and women.

Emperor Diocletian Split the Roman Empire into the East and Western Empires. The Eastern Empire flourished while the Western Empire fell to barbarians and entered the Dark Ages.

Paul of Tarsus Principal figure in spreading Christianity Started many churches in the Mediterranean Wrote 14 of 27 books of New Testament

Describe the gender and family structures of Classical Era empires In China, family structures were based on Confucianism, which was based on relationships within a family. Typically fathers were at the top of the family, their sons were second, mothers were third and the son’s wives were the lowest in the family. For the most part, men dominated in the family structure in China. In China, loyalty to the family was considered to be very important. In Persia and Rome, gender played a greater role than family structure. Men performed jobs and left the home to earn wages. Women stayed home and took care of family and chores. Women married at a young age, some in their teens to men who were in their twenties. Roman family was best described as Paterfamilias