Period 2 Mindmap

Chapter 7: Organization and Reorganization of Human Societies, c. 600 B.C.E. to c. 600 C.E.

1. Classical Civilizations

   • India and China
     • Mauryan Empire (321 - 180 B.C.E.)
       • founded by Chandragupta Maurya, who unified the smaller Aryan kingdoms into a civilization
       • Ashoka Maurya, his grandson, took empire to greatest heights, converted to Buddhism
         • Rock and PIllar Edict, reminded Mauryans to live generous and righteous lives
     • Gupta Dynasty (320 - 550 C.E.)
       • revival under Chandra Gupta II, known as Chandra Gupta the Great
       • often referred to as a golden age because it enjoyed relative peace and saw advances int he arts and sciences
         • Arabic numerals
           • decimal system that used the numerals 1 through 9
       • restored Hinduism
     • Qin Dynasty (221 - 209 B.C.E.)
       • connected separate fortification walls that eventually became the Great Wall of China
       • Qin Shi Huang
         • recentralized various feudal kingdoms
         • standardized units and currency
         • refused to tolerate any dissent
     • Han Dynasty (200 B.CE. - 460s C.E.)
       • invaded by the Xiongnu
       • Wu Ti
         • enlarged the Han Empire
       • civil service exam
   • Mediterranean
     • Persian Empire
       • Satrapies and satraps
       • Lydians
         • came up with the concept of using coined money to conduct trade rather than using the barter system
       • Phoenicians
         • established powerful naval city-states all along the Mediterranean, developed a simple alphabet that only used 22 letters
       • Hebrews
         • religious belief in Judaism
     • Greece (800 - 500 B.C.E.)
       • collection of city-states
         • Athens
           • political, commercial, and cultural center of Greek civilization
         • Sparta
           • agricultural and highly militaristic region
         • Citizens - composed of adult males
         • Free people - no political rights
         • Non-citizens - no rights
       • Persian Wars (449-449 B.C.E.)
         • led to Golden Age of Pericles (480-404 B.C.E.)
           • Pericles established Delian League
             • an alliance against aggression from its common enemies
           • Greek philosophy
             • rational thinking
             • Socrates
             • Plato
             • Aristotle
           • Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.E.)
             • Athens lost, Sparta did not destroy Athens out of respect
               • Macedonians led by Philip III of Macedon (359-336 B.C.E.) took advantage of weakness
                 • Alexander the Great expanded Macedonian dominance
                   • conquered the Persian Empire and moved eastward to the shores of the Indus River
     • Rome (509 B.C.E. - 476 C.E.)
       • plebeians
         • all other free men
       • patricians
         • landowning noblemen
       • Government
         • Senate
         • Assembly
         • Twelve Tables of Rome
           • "innocent until proven guilty"
       • Punic Wars
         • First Punic War (264-241 B.C.E.)
           • fought to gain control of Sicily
             • Rome won
         • Second Punic War (218-201 B.C.E.)
           • Hannibal led an attack on Rome, but the Romans attacked Carthage, forcing him to retreat
         • Third Punic War (149-146 B.C.E.)
           • Rome invaded Carthage and burned it to the ground
         • Rome vs Carthage
         • First Triumvirate
           • Pompey
           • Crassus
           • Julius Caesar
             • became emperor for life, assassinated in 44 B.C.E.
               • Second Triumvirate
                 • Octavius
                   • assumed name of Augustus Caesar, and became emperor
                     • Rome was now an empire led by a single emperor
                       • Pax Romana for 200 years
                       • new religions introduced: Christianity and Judaism
                         • persecuted until Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313 C.E.
                           • Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in 391 C.E.
                 • Marc Antony
                 • Lepidus
   • Mesoamerica
     • Mayan Civilization (300 B.C.E. - 800 C.E.)
       • built enormous cities
       • similar to the Egyptians

2. Collapse of the Empires

   • Maya
     • not exactly sure
       • likely expanding population exhausted the Mayan environment
     • began to desert their cities in the 9th century C.E.
   • Han China
     • interrupted by Wang Mang (9-23 C.E.), established Xin Dynasty
       • used Mandate of Heaven
         • persistent famines, devastating floods, and increasing commodity prices fueled peasant uprisings
           • Xin Dynasty came to end in 23 C.E.
   • Gupta Empire
     • invaded by the White Huns
       • able to hold off the Huns for the first half of the 5th century
         • Hun kingdoms established in western and northern India
   • Western Portion of the Roman Empire
     • internal decay
     • external pressure
       • Attila's Huns
     • sheer size of the empire
     • weak/bad leaders
     • epidemics
     • Diocletian became emperor in 284 C.E.
       • divided empire into two regions
         • Constantine defeated rivals and assumed sole control over the empire in 322 C.E.
           • ordered the building of Constantinople at the site of the Greek city of Byzantium
             • became capital of a united empire in 340 C.E.
               • constantly attacked
                 • Sassanid Persian Empire, took over in Iran in 224 C.E.
                   • Zoroastrianism
                   • powerful military
                 • Germanic tribes
                 • Attila's Huns
       • brought armies under imperial control
       • strengthening the imperial currency
       • forcing a budget on the government
       • capping prices to deal with inflation
       • civil war erupted in 305 C.E. upon his retirement
   • Compare and Contrast
     • Western Rome
       • Tax revolts by upper class and church exempt from taxes
       • decrease in trade upon which economy depended
       • 25 of 26 emperors died violently in one 50-year span
       • division of empire weakened the western half
       • unable to defend against migratory invasions of Goths and Huns
     • Gupta
       • not enough taxes for military defense
       • land divisions increased power of provincial officials
       • unable to defend against invasions by the White Huns
     • Han China
       • officials exempt from taxes; difficult to collect from peasant population
       • population increases lead to less land per family
       • corruption of court officials
       • unable to control large estate owners
       • constant conflict with the nomadic Xiongnu who invaded after collapse

3. CCOT in Women

   • Rome/Greece
     • strict and patriarchal social divisions
     • little land ownership
     • literacy among upper class
     • Spartan women given citizenship
     • women (especially widows) could own businesses
     • women could be priestesses, or later, nuns
   • India
     • strict patriarchal caste system
     • women not allowed to inherit property
     • forbidden to read sacred texts
     • no citizenship for women
     • women needed large dowry; no remarriage for widows
     • women could not achieve moksha
   • China
     • strict Confucian social order and guidelines for virtuous behavior
     • only sons inherit property
     • upper classes educated in arts and literature, and all educated in virtues
     • no citizenship for women
     • arranged marriages, though widows were permitted to remarry
     • Buddhist convents; Daoism promoted male and female equality