Q: What are the issues involved in using "civilization" as an organizing principle in world history?
By organizing information through the use of civilization, one is able to distinctly outline specific cultures based on their time and places.
Q: What is the most common source of change: connection of diffusion versus independent innovation?
Connection of diffusion is undoubtedly the more common source of change. This is because an entire civilization is bound to hold more innovations that one single individual, no matter how revolutionary that person’s ideas are. In addition to this, independent innovation may be impressive by itself, but it is not of use until it has been spread, something that diffusion would help do. Perhaps more importantly, diffusion allows for not only the discovery of new ideas, but the ability to expand on them as well (i.e. Sumerian city-state Akkad’s code of law was adapted and improved to the make Code of Hammurabi, which then improved on my the next conqueror, and so on and on until our modern legal system appears.)
Foraging Societies
o No real structure
o Traveled in small groups
Neolithic Revolution 8000-3000 B.C.
o People shift from Nomadic life to town life
o Farming is discovered
o Steady food supply allows people to settle
o People start to associate certain land as “home”
Early Civilizations
o Not all headed by central authority
o Many made up of city-states
o City-states are grouped together based on cultural similarities but in actually competed with each other
o Rulers where often connected to the gods in some way
China
o Dynasty: ruling family
o Shang --> Zhou
o Zhou
Mandate of Heaven - heaven would grant power to rulers if they governed wise and justly + would some how take it away if they didn’t (i.e. rebellion)
Feudalism - King is ruler of entire empire while nobles are given power in smaller region throughout the empire (empire is too big for king to manage by himself)
Bureaucracies - a system of organizing government tasks by department so that different parts of the government could specialize and stabilize
West Africa
o Bantu
o Collection of urban individual communities→ no hierarchy
o Bantu migration: due to climate change people migrate east and south
o Creates stateless society
Mayan Civilization
o Competing city-states under one ruler
India
o Mauryan Empire (321-180 B.C.)
• Wealthy because of trade w/ Roman Empire
o Gupta Empire (320-550 A.D.)
• Decentralized and smaller than Mauryan
Ancient Greece
o Collection of city-states
o Athens started as monarchy→aristocracy→democracy
o Draco and Solon→ worked to create fair, equal, and open participation from democracy in Athens
o Every male citizen expected to participate
o Delian League→alliance of city-states against common enemies (i.e. Persians)
Roman Empire (509 B.C.-476 A.D.)
o Roman Republic
Three types of people:
• Patricians: land-owning nobles
• Plebeians: all other free men
• Slaves
o Governing Body made up of two groups: Senate + Assembly
o Senate- made up of patricians
o Assembly- made up at first only patricians, but then patricians and plebeians
o Two consuls elected by the Assembly
• Consuls had veto power over decisions of Assembly
• Developed civil law to protect individual rights
o Twelve Tables of Rome
o First triumvirate: Pompey, Crassus, Julius Caesar
• Caesar becomes emperor
o Second triumvirate: Octavius, Marc Anthony, Lepidus
• Octavius become emperor→known as Augustus Caesar
Friday, May 15, 2009
Crises of Late Antiquities
Movements of Peoples
· Migration- The mass movement of large numbers of people.
· Had a tremendous effect on the ethnic and cultural makeup of most of the world’s major societies
· From 200 C.E. to 1000 C.E. – known as the Great Age of Migrations.
· Germanic people from the North moved toward and into Europe.
· Asiatic people such as the Huns moved further into Central Asia and Europe.
· Seen as barbarians, many of these peoples eventually settled throughout Europe and Asia.
· Also in the Middle East, Arabs such as the Hittites and the Hyksos spread as well.
· Refer to the Map for details on the major migrations.
The Collapses
· The Fall of Rome
· From the early 200s C.E. onward, Rome was at crisis.
· 300s C.E., the eastern half breaks away, formally separating in 395 C.E.
§ Troubles
· Overextension of military and political strength
· Army gained a large degree of control over the imperial government.
· The economy experienced downturns.
· Migratory waves of Barbarians attacked Roman lands from the east and from the north.
· In 410 C.E. Gothic tribes sack Rome.
· 476 C.E., another wave of Goths took over the city and Rome is considered fallen this year.
· The Fall of the Han Dynasty
· By 200 C.E., the dynasty was at decline.
§ Troubles
· Downturn in agricultural production.
· Overall economic slump
· Government corruption
· Weak leadership
· Outside invaders, bandits, and rebels
· In 220 C.E., the dynasty collapses.
New Empires and Political Systems
· China
· After the Han, the Sui dynasty took power from 589-618.
§ Expanded borders through conquest and reunified China
· After the Sui, an even more powerful Tang Dynasty (618-906) takes power.
§ Strong economy due to advanced infrastructure such as roads and canals.
§ Increased trade stimulated economy.
· Japan
· The Nara State
§ The first imperial state ruled by the Yamato family, starting in the 300s to 400s.
§ Shinto religion- remained important, legitimated the emperors, declaring them descendants of the sun goddess.
§ Nara, served as the capital of Japan.
§ During this period (300-794 C.E.), the foundations were laid.
§ Comes in contact with Korea and China.
§ Influenced by Chinese in art, architecture, literature and religion.
· Byzantium
· In 395, when the Roman Empire split in two, the eastern half flourished.
§ Capital: Constantinople
§ Geographical positioning of the city made it a city of remarkable economic and military importance.
§ Territorial might under Justinian in the 500s.
§ Corpus Juris Civilis- a codification of existing Roman laws.
§ Hagia Sophia was built.
· Feudal Europe
· The medieval period begins in the 500s.
· The beginning stages: political decentralization and overall “backwardness”
· Feudal systems established shortly.
· Arabs
· Islam spread throughout Arabia in 620 – 630s.
· Muslim forces conquer Persia. Also most of Middle East, most of North Africa, Spain, parts of Italy, Central Asia and India’s western frontier under their control.
· Converts most of the Middle East to Islam.
§ Caliph- “Successor”, title assumed by the leaders after Mohammed’s death in 632.
§ Three Caliphs before Sunni-Shiite split (656-661): Abu Bakr, Umar and Utjman.
§ After, power passed to the Ummayad Caliphate (661-750):
· Governed in Damascus and continued expansion.
· Arabic is made the official language.
· Taxes were imposed on non-Muslims.
· Decline followed due to rebellions
§ After the Ummayad, power is passed on to the Abbasid Caliphate.
· Established a capital at Baghdad and presided over the golden age of classical Islamic culture.
Slavery
Ways to Fall into Slavery
- prisoners of war or captives
- Debtors
- Kidnapped or forced into service
- Slave status was hereditary
- Mediterranean, Africa, China, Arab World had important slave markets
- more freedoms and protections than slaves
- bound to land and could not move or change profession without permission of the land owner
Basic Social Structures
Han China
- strong emperor with the Mandate of Heaven
- large bureaucracy
- society was divided into citizens and noncitizens, who were subject people with no rights
- Upper-class patricians and lower class plebeians
- Wealth and ancestry determined one's place in the Roman social divisions
- Family heads (paterfamilias) were male and had power over wife and children
- Women could not vote but could divorce and influence the family's financial affairs
- caste system divided society into specific social classes
- established farming communities in an area populated by a few groups of hunter-gatherers
- gave Africa a sense of cultural unity
- Monarchy - rule by single leader
- Oligarchy - rule by small elite
- Republic - most citizens play a role in government (Rome)
- Democracy - political rights to all adult citizens (Athens)
- Independent city- states - Greece
- Parliament (law making body) and Nobility - assist Monarch in ruling
- Hierarchy - social class rankings
- Social Mobility - the ability for an individual to more from one class to another
- Patriarchies - male dominated societies
Developments in the Arts and Sciences
Mesopotamia
- Cuneiform (3300 BCE) - script using wedged shaped characters
- Gilgamesh Epic (2000 BCE) - one of the world's oldest literary works. This tells the story of a Sumerian king's quest to achieve immportality
- Pottery and metalworking
- Skilled astronomers
- developed a base-60 number system
- Egyptian Book of the Dead - important religious text explaining what happened to the soul after death and how to reach a happy afterlife
- Hieroglyphics (3100 BCE) - script made of pictorial characters
- Pyramids (2630 BCE) - tombs for pharaohs
- Papyrus - paper made from the fibers of reeds
- developed world's first alphabet (1100 BCE)
- Homer - poet who composed the Iliad and the Odyssey
- Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides - classical playwrights
- Socrates, Plato, Aristotle - philosophers
- Hippocrates - ancient Greek medicine
- Wide assortment of classical architecture and sculptures
- master road builders and engineers
- created many roads, fortifications, cities, and aqueducts
- imitated Greek cultu
- created the decimal system
- created the concepts of pi and zero
- Justinian ordered the creation of the Church of Hagia Sophia
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Belief Systems Through 600 CE
· Monotheism – belief in only one God
· Polytheism – belief in multiple Gods
Hinduism
- Most predominant religion in northern India
- Aryan Invasions 2000 CE
- One supreme force (Brahma) creator of all things
o Gods all manifestations of Brahma
§ Vishnu – Preserver of the World
§ Shiva – Destroyer of the World
- Worship at home and at temple
- No single holy written source because it was passed on for centuries – has a holy set of literature
o Veda – collection of prayers, hymns, incantations and services
o Upanishads – sacred texts/interpretations of Vedic traditions
- Caste system
o Brahmin – priests
o Kshatriyas – warriors and princes
o Vaisyas – merchants
o Sudras – peasants
o Untouchables – everyone else
- Dharma – rules and obligations you were born into (each caste followed own dharma)
- Ultimate goal – to achieve moksha – highest state of being
- Reincarnation
- Sati – sacrifice of women at husband’s cremation
- Cow is sacred
- Jainism – offshoot of Hinduism, takes sacredness higher
Buddhism
- Siddartha Gautama 563 BCE
o Became Buddha or “Enlightened One” after sitting under Bodhi tree and thinking about life
- Four Noble Truths
o Suffering is universal
o Suffering is caused by desire
o The cure to suffering is eliminating all desire
o Following the Eightfold Path will eliminate desire
- Eightfold Path
o Right knowledge
o Right aspirations
o Right speech
o Right conduct
o Right livelihood
o Right effort
o Right mindfulness
o Right meditation
- Nirvana – “self extinction”, state of perfect peace and harmony
o Ultimate goal of Buddhism – extinguish all desire and the self
o May take lifetimes to achieve
- Divided after Buddha’s death 483 BCE
o Theravada Buddhism – “lesser vehicle”
§ Most closely followed precepts of Buddha
§ Meditation, simplicity
§ Largely followed in SE Asia ex) Vietnam
o Mahayana Buddhism – “greater vehicle”
§ Complicated, lots of rituals
§ Followed in Japan, China, Korea
Taoism/Daoism
- The Tao – “the road or path”
- Lao Tzu 600 BCE
o Believed to be author of Tao Te Ching
§ Addressed individual, ideal state, relationship of individual to state, and attributes of good leader
§ Individual was good, but individuals living close together brought chaos (ambition/activism brought chaos)
- Urged search for balance in universe -Yin-yang
o Yin – feminine, passive, cold
o Yang – masculine, active, hot
- Didn’t address needs of daily living – Confucius did one a century and half later
Confucianism
- Not a religion, but a philosophy
- Confucius (Kung Fu-tzu) 551 BCE
o Remembered through Analects – his sayings/teachings compiled by his students
o Stressed virtue, which could be developed by education
§ Education should be open to everyone
- Filial piety – respect to elders
- Five relations
o Subject to emperor
o Wife to husband
o Eldest son to father
o Younger brother to older brother
o Friend to friend
- Emperor in Confucius society most virtuous leader
· Following three religions are MONOTHEISTIC, and in order of evolution
Judaism
- Oldest monotheistic religion
- Moses and the Ten Commandments
- Torah is holy book
- Jews believed they were the “Chosen People” - if they follow his laws, worship him, remain faithful, they would be preserved for all time
- Task of humans is to honor/serve god by following laws of Moses, promote ethics of prophets, maintain identity of people
- Strict dietary laws
- Values freedom and choice of destiny
Christianity
- Jesus of Nazareth is son of God
o Born in Bethlehem
o Was considered a Messiah – would save the ppl
- Taught devotion to God and love for human
- Bible and the Gospels
- St. Paul important for spread of Christinity
- Emperor Constantine declared Christianity official religion of Roman Empire 380 CE
- Focused on individual’s troubles
- Worship at church
Islam
- Founded by Prophet Muhammed 7th cent. CE
o Hijira 622 to Medina – when Islamic calendar starts
- Allah is God
- Five pillars
o Testimony of faith – “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammed is the messenger of Allah”
o Praying 5 times a day
o Fasting during Ramadan
o Giving charity
o Pilgrimage to Mecca once in your lifetime
- Qur’an is holy book
- Mecca – sacred city, important in trade
- Emphasizes individual surrendering himself to God by following Qur’an – will enter paradise
- Worship at mosque
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