1. Ways of the World: A Brief Global History First Edition
Robert W. Strayer
Ways of the World: A Brief Global History First Edition
CHAPTER 4
Eurasian Empires
500 B.C.E.–500 C.E.
Copyright © 2009 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

2. Continuities
Changes
▪Monarchs continued to rule most of the new civilizations.
▪Men continued to dominate women.
▪A sharp divide between the elite and everyone else persisted almost everywhere
▪The practice of slavery continued.
▪Population grew more rapidly than ever before during this period.
▪States and empires expanded, growing in size, dwarfing in size the city-states of Mesopotamia and the Egypt of the pharaohs.
▪The rise and fall of empires had a dramatic effect on large populations inasmuch as that civilizations dissolved—for example the Mayans or Roman Empire.
▪New philosophical and religious systems provided the moral and spiritual framework within which people sought to order their lives and define their relationships to the mysteries of life and death.
▪China was the primary source of technological changes that included piston bellows, the draw-loom, silk-handling machinery, the wheelbarrows, a better harness for draft animals, the crossbow, iron casting, the iron chain suspension bridge, gunpowder, firearms, the magnetic compass, paper, printing, and porcelain. India pioneered the crystallization of sugar and techniques for the manufacture of cotton textiles. Roman technological achievements were apparent in construction and civil engineering—the building of roads, bridges, aqueducts, and fortifications—and in the art of glassblowing.
▪The emergence of a widespread and dense network of communication and exchange that connected many of the world’s peoples to one another, especially through long-distance trade routes.

4. Empires and Civilizations in Collision: The Persians and the Greeks

5. The Persian Empire

6. The Greeks

7. Collision: The Greco-Persian Wars

8. Collision: Alexander and the Hellenistic Era

9. Comparing Empires: Roman and Chinese

10. Rome: From City-State to Empire

11. China: From Warring States to Empire

12. Consolidating the Roman and Chinese Empires

13. The Collapse of Empires

14. Intermittent Empire: The Case of India

27. Part II: The Classical Era in World History, 500 B. C. E. –500 C. E
Part II: The Classical Era in World History, 500 B.C.E.–500 C.E. Chapter 4: Eurasian Empires, 500 B.C.E.–500 C.E.
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Questions

28. Comparison: The classical empires formed between 500 b.c.e. and 500 c.e. differed from earlier First Civilizations in all EXCEPT which of the following ways?
a. Classical empires were in general larger than First Civilizations.
b. Classical empires possessed professionally organized armies, which allowed them to rule in part through coercion of conquered peoples.
c. Classical empires were rarely ruled by monarchs.
d. Classical empires in general possessed more elaborate means of administering the empire than First Civilizations.

29. Change: Few classical empires
a. were formed through conquest.
b. used coercion to extract resources from conquered peoples.
c. sought to rule their subjects separately, making little effort to tie the empire together as a single entity.
d. were ruled by a single monarch.

30. Comparison: Which of the following is a reason why classical empires did not prosper to the same extent in India as elsewhere?
a. The chronic economic underdevelopment of India
b. India’s lack of cultural diversity
c. The lack of political leaders intent on conquest
d. The social structure of India

31. a. Han China b. Persia c. Rome d. Greece
Discussion Starter: The accomplishments of which of the following classical empires most impressed you?
a. Han China
b. Persia
c. Rome
d. Greece

32. Discussion Starter: Do you believe that democracy as practiced at the height of the classical period in Athens
a. was not a democracy at all?
b. was not a democracy but provided an important step toward democracy?
c. was a democracy, just not in a form that would be acceptable the United States today?
d. was a democracy?

33. Discussion Starter: On the whole, did classical empires do more good or more harm?
a. Classical empires did more good than harm.
b. Classical empires did more harm than good.

34. Answer is B Answer is C Answer is D
Answer Key for Chapter 4
Answer is B
Answer is C
Answer is D