1. Key Concept 2.2: The Development of States and Empires
Period 2: 600 BCE- 600 CE

2. Classical Empires
The number and size of key states and empires grew dramatically by imposing political unity on areas where previously there had been competing states.

4. Imperial Administration
New techniques based, in part, on the success of earlier political forms
Rulers created administrative institutions in many regions to organize their subjects
China
Persia
Rome
South Asia

5. Examples of Administrative Institutions
Centralized Governments
Legal Systems & Bureaucracies
China- Civil Service Exams, Scholar-Bureaucrats
Rome- 12 Tables, Code of Justinian

6. Military Power
Governments projected military power over large areas by using a variety of techniques:
Diplomacy
Supply lines
Fortifications
Roads
Military Recruitment

7. Trade
Much of the success of the empires rested on their promotion of trade economic integration by building and maintaining roads and issuing currencies

8. Trade First major trade centers developed
Persepolis, Athens, Chang’an, Rome, Constantinople, Teotihuacan

9. Social Structures
Social structures of empires displayed hierarchies that included cultivators, laborers, slaves, artisans, merchants, or caste groups
Caste Systems

10. Production
Imperial societies relied on a range of methods to maintain the production of food and provide rewards for the loyalty of the elites
Corvee
Slavery
Rents & Tributes
Peasant Communities
Family & Household Production

11. Patriarchy
Patriarchy continued to shape gender and family relations in all imperial societies of this period

12. Causes of Imperial Collapse: Environmental Damage
Excessive mobilization of resources caused environmental damage and generated social tensions and economic difficulties by concentrating too much wealth in the hands of elites
Deforestation, Desertification, Erosion

13. Causes of Imperial Collapse: External Problems
Resulted from security issues along the frontiers, including the threat of invasions
Han v. Xiongnu
Gupta v. White Huns
Romans v. Germans