1. Classical Civilizations Notes

2. First Great Persian Empire Known as the Achaemenid Empire Centered in Modern Iran Stretched from Western India almost to Greece Used regional leaders known as satraps First “highway” system to rapidly move armies

3. Alexander the Great In 300 Bce Alexander the Great led a quest to conquer the Achamenid Empire. 100 years after the death of Alexander the Great the Parthian Empire rose out of Alexander’s divided empire. This empire frequently clashed with Romans

4. Qin Shihuangdi He used Legalism during the Qin Dyansty’s rule Qin Dynasty didn’t last very long

5. Han Dynasty Lasted much longer than the Qin Roughly as large as Rome Used the Silk roads for diplomatic relations and trade Built great Canals The Han began the building of the Great Wall of China

6. Maurya Most famous Ruler was Ashoka He converted to a peaceful life of Buddhism This came after many years of bloody conquest Despite his conversion Hinduism still remained the dominate religion

7. Gupta Covered roughly the complete northern part of India Invented the concept of zero Chess Medicine

8. The Phoenicians Used their seafaring skills to spread influence across the Mediterranean Did not used military conquest to gain influence Expanded by trade Made the alphabet and reading from left to right

9. The Phoenicians Influenced future Greek Civilizations Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet

10. Greek City-States Contributed to our modern ideas of democracy Athens and Sparta are the major ones They fought each other during the Peloponnesian Wars

11. Athens Democracy Philosophy Women had less privileges than in Sparta Focus on reason and logic, Philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

12. Sparta Women enjoyed many privileges Highly militaristic Did not tolerate and weaknesses Conquered people and made them do the farming, they were called helots

13. City-States Alexander the Great united the Greek City- States He expanded Greek though and culture. This process was called Hellenism Hellenistic culture is culture based on the Greek ideas and culture

14. Hellenism Definition: Hellenism is a blending of Greek Math, science, philosophy, literature, government, architecture and art. It also blended parts of Egyptian culture into it. Cultural Syncretism:example Egyptian scholars educated in Greek Schools, Greek style statues of the Buddha in India

15. Rome Rome conquered Greece but, adopted a large part of their culture. Romans adopted versions of many Greek Gods Romans are known for aqueducts and large architectural structure as well as roads.

16. Rome 1/3 of Roman Empire was made up of slaves Very dependent on slave labor

17. Classical Empires Social Stratification Class of slaves always at the bottom East Asian societies had merchants near the bottom India social status was determined by caste Agricultural labor was often done by free people

18. Classical Empires A main continuity male domination was common of a classical empire

19. Fall of Classical Empires The Maurya, Han, Western Rome, and Gupta collapse in that order. East Rome becomes the Byzantine Empire Fall due to internal pressure such as, diseases, peasant and slave revolts, high taxation, breakdown of authority, and failing economy

20. Fall Han Dynasty had the Yellow Turban Rebellion External Pressures – Barbarian invaders Huns, Goths, Vandals