1. Classical Civilization 600 BCE – 600 CE
WHAP Review: Unit 2
Classical Civilization
600 BCE – 600 CE

2. Classical Civilizations

3. How were Classical civilizations different from Ancient civilizations?
Larger and more powerful – empires
More complex cultures – world religions, advanced art and literature
Written records (more and better) – introduction of phonetic alphabets
More complex long-distance trade
More contact between nomads and sedentary people

4. Greece Political Minoans Mycenaeans
“Dark Ages” (conquest by the Dorians)
Persian Wars
Classical Greece (Delian League)
Peloponnesian War
Hellenistic Greece (Alexander the Great)
City-states (a.k.a. polis)
-Athens (aristocracy  democracy); Age of Pericles
-Sparta (oligarchy)
Economic
City-states set up colonies around the Mediterranean
Religious
Mythology  Secularism (more focused on the natural world)
Social
Women more equal in Sparta, helots in Sparta (conquered people = serfs)
Intellectual
Law code (Solon), Democracy (Cleisthenes), Philosophy (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle),
Artistic
Drama (tragedy and comedy), sculpture, Literature (Homer)
Near (Geography)
Mediterranean, sea travel/trade very important, mountainous terrain  isolated city-states

5. Persia (a.k.a. Achaemenid Empire)
Political
Cyrus the Great (founded)
Darius I (expanded)
Xerxes (Persian Wars)
Highly organized administration of the empire: Satraps (Governors), Royal Road
Conquered by Alexander the Great
Economic
Standardized taxes and currency (first standardized coins), center of trade routes
Religious
Zoroastrianism (first monotheistic religion… kind of?)
Social
Tolerance
Intellectual
Artistic
Near (Geography)
Turkey and surrounding southwest Asia, capital: Persepolis

6. Rome Political Etruscans
Roman Republic – Senate, 2 consuls, tribunes (plebeian reps)
Punic Wars vs. Carthage
3. Triumvirates
First: Caesar, Pompey, some other guy
Second: Octavian, Antony, some other guy
4. Roman Empire
Augustus (Octavian), Diocletian (divided)
Economic
Farming, taxes, trade
Religious
Polytheistic  Christianity (Constantine)
Social
Two main classes: patricians (aristocrats) and plebeians (commoners),
Intellectual
Law of the Twelve Tables,
Artistic
Virgil (Poet, The Aeneid)
Near (Geography)
Mediterranean, Alexander’s empire (including Persia and Egypt), Germanic invasions from the north

7. Classical China Qin Dynasty Han Dynasty Political Legalism Shi Huangdi
Confucianism
Strong, nonhereditary bureaucracy (like the Romans) – civil examination system
Economic
Standardized currency, built roads
Urban empire ruling a peasant population, silk, expansion of trade
Religious
Confucianism + Daoism + Buddhism (later)
Social
Standardized laws
Scholar-gentry at top, women’s status highest than any other dynasty
Intellectual
Standardized written language, burned books, anti-Confucianism
Interest in scientific experimentation
Artistic
Growth of artisans
Near (Geography)
Great Wall of China
Expanded China

8. Classical India Vedic Age Maurya Gupta Political Aryan invasion
Little overarching organization, politically fragmented
Ashoka
Chandra Gupta
Economic
Religious
Hinduism
Buddhism founded by Siddhartha Gautama
Buddhism
Social
Caste system based on varna (skin color)
Caste system
Intellectual
Vedas (religious texts)
Upanishads (Brahman and basic beliefs of Hinduism)
Artistic
“Golden Age of Hindu culture”
Near (Geography)
Ruled most of India
Ruled north India

9. Trade Networks Silk Road Indian Ocean Trade Saharan Trade Location
China to Rome
Red Sea to India/southwestern China
Africa to Mediterranean
What is traded?
Silk (duh), fruits/grains/spices, ideas (Christianity and Buddhism)
Spices, pottery, ivory
Salt, gold
Traders
Pastoral nomads on horses (using stirrups)
Ships (using the lateen sail), harnessing monsoon winds
Caravans on camels

10. Compare/Contrast: Fall of Great Empires
Similarities
Attacks by nomadic groups
Internal problems
Interdependence
Differences
Rome – does not retain cultural identity (like China, India) – because Christianity came too late to be the “glue”? (China – Confucianism, India – Hinduism)

11. Compare/Contrast: Rome and Han China
Similarities
Huge empires with long borders to defend
Nonhereditary bureaucracy
Economies based on agriculture but with urban capital
Homogenous core controls diverse population
Differences
Slavery less prominent in Han
Confucianism provides “glue” (Christianity too late)

12. CCOT – Mediterranean (600BCE – 600CE)
Change
Political
Center of power shifts from Greece to Rome
Decentralized city states > empire
Religion: polytheism > monotheism
Continuity
Trade – sea trade in Greece, Silk Road in Rome
Conflict with external forces
Greeks vs. Persians and Macedonians
Romans vs. Carthage and Germanic tribes

13. The Discobolus of Myron, 450 BCE

15. Possible Documents
“Our purpose is to grant both to the Christians and to all others full authority to follow whatever worship each person has desired, whereby whatsoever Divinity dwells in heaven may be benevolent and propitious to us, and to all who are placed under our authority.” Edict of Milan, 313 CE