World civilization

Asia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia was found between the Tigris and the Euphrates River. Mesopotamia means
“between the rivers”. Fertile Crescent was the eastern end of Mesopotamia. The creators
were the Sumerians. By 3000B.C. Sumerians established independent cities in south
including Eridu, Ur, and Uruk. They formed the basic units of Sumerian civilization city states.
The cities were surrounded by walls Uruk was surrounded by six miles long with defense
tower. City dwellings, built of sun dried bricks, including both the small houses of peasants
and the larger buildings of the city official, priests, and priestesses. Mud bricks were used for
building. The temple dedicated to the chief god or goddess of the city was well known
buildings called ziggurat. Much of city wealth would go to the temples and for the priests
and priestesses. The temple was the physical, economical, and political center of the city.
The Sumerians believed the gods made the state a theocracy (ruled by divine authority).
Sumerians viewed kingship as divine in the origin. Kings led armies, supervised public works,
and organized workers for irrigation projects. Their economy was based mainly on farming,
even though trade and industry were important. They were specially known for woolen
textiles; pottery; and metalwork. Imported copper, tin and timber .In return for dried fish,
wool, barley, wheat, and the metal goods. Traders would travel as far as India. The transport
of good got easier by 3000B.C. Because of wheel inventions which led to carts with wheels.
The society is divided into three main groups: nobles, commoners and slaves. Nobles are
royal and priestly officials and their families. Commoners worked for the palace and temple
estates. Slaves belonged to palace officials who used them for building projects.

Empires in Ancient Mesopotamia

As conflict arose the Sumerian city face invasion coming from the north of the city states
called the Semitic people. The leader of the Akkadians leader Sargon would invade by
2340B.C. and setup the first empire in history. The Akkadian empire falls from attacks from
neighboring hills people. By the end of 2100B.C. brought a return to the system of warring
city states. The constant wars with the burning and sacking of the city left Sumerians in deep
despair. When a city state of south Akkad, Babylon where Hammurabi came to power in
1792B.C. the empire was come under one rule. Hammurabi had a well disciple army who
carried axes, spears, and copper or bronze draggers. By conquering Sumer and Akkad he
created a new Mesopotamian kingdom. ”The sun of Babylon, the king who has made the
four quarters of the world subservient” was a title he gave to himself after the conquests. He
was a man of war as well as a man of peace. He built temples, defensive walls, and
irrigation canals and encouraged trade and brought an economic revival

Code of Hammurabi
The best known achievement of Hammurabi is the law code a collection of 282 laws. Code of
Hammurabi varied according to social class of the victim and was based on strict justice
system. A crime against the lower class was served less punishment rather the upper class.
The fundamental part of the justice system was the principle of retaliation (“an eye for an
eye, tooth for a tooth”). According to the code duties of public officials were taken seriously.
If the officials failed to catch burglars they had to replace the lost property. If they failed to
catch a murder they were supposed to pay a fine to the relatives of the victim. The code also
encouraged consumer protection laws. If house was collapsed and it destroyed goods the
builder were supposed to build and pay the goods at his own expenses. If a building
collapsed and the owner died the builder would be killed if the owners sons would die
because of the collapse the builder sons will be killed. The main focus of the code was
marriage and family. Parents arrange marriages where the two parties must sign contract.

The society was a patriarchal; the code makes it clear that women had far fewer privileges
and rights in marriage than men. If a wife fail to fulfil her expected duties or was not able to
bear children or tried to engage in business her husband could divorce, and could be
drowned if she was a “gadabout” neglecting her house and humiliating her husband. A
father ruled their wife s as well as their children. If a son has struck his father he shall cut off
his hands. A son code also be disinherit if he committed a serious offense to his father.
Obedience was expected.

Importance of religion
As a result of ferocious floods, heavy downpours, scorching winds, and oppressive humidity
Mesopotamians were assured the world was controlled by supernatural forces. The
Mesopotamians religion was polytheistic since they identified 3000 gods and goddesses.
According to Sumerian myth humans were inferior to gods and humans were created to do
manual labor the gods were unwilling to do.

The “Cradle of civilization”: The creativity of the Sumerians

The Sumerians created a system of writing called cuneiform using a red stylus, they made
wedge shaped impressions on clay tablets, which were then baked or dried in the sun. They
used writing mainly for recording keeping. They would record tallies of wage payments,
accounts, contracts, and court decisions affecting business life. Text was also use in school to
train scribes for careers in the temples and palaces, the military, and government services.
Writing was important because it allowed the society to keep records and maintain
knowledge and made it possible for people to communicate. The Epic of Gilgamesh records
the exploits of the king Gilgamesh. In the poem it tells that Gilgamesh was a wise and string
kings with his befriends a hairy best man named Enkidu. When Enkidu ides Gilgamesh began
his search for immortality but remains mortal. I math Sumerians devised a number of system
based on 60 using combinations of 6 and 10. Geometry was used to measure fields and erect
buildings. In astronomy the Sumerians made use of units of 60 and charted heavenly
constellations. They also made division of 60 minutes in an hour. And created a calendar
based on twelve lunar months.

The Phoenicians

Phoenicians lived in the area of Palestine along the Mediterranean coast. The down fall of
the Hittite and Egypt power and expanded their trade. They were well known traders and
sailors. They occupied cities along eastern Mediterranean coast in present day Lebanon and
Syria. With various people moving about a new state the Cannan city shrank and the virtues
along the coast become important. By the first millennium they Phoenicians established
their empire. The people didn’t call themselves Phoenicians since it was a name given by the
Greeks rather they named their selves after their cities. Tyrians (Tyre city),Sidonians (Sidon
city)and Byblians(Byblos city). The people were dominant in trade around the eastern
Mediterranean. The cities weren’t unified in other words there wasn’t a unified Phoenicia.
Instead the cities were independent; they have their own kings/rulers, trading merchants,
fleets, fighting ships and their own defenders. However the cities would often opposed each
other than cooperating, even sometimes they would help foreign attackers opposing one
other. Even there were conflict between them they maintained a peaceful relationship with
neighbors and served as producers, merchants, and middle men. They exported purple dye,
glass and lumber. They created a trade empire by developing sea ships. They also set new
trade routes in western Mediterranean, Atlantic Ocean, reached Britain and sailed south
along the west coast of Africa. They also had a famous colony located in the North Africa
coast called Carthage. Carthage literally means new city. Carthage was found by Tyre
aristocratic class who moved because of political conflict. They maintained trade supremacy
and have their own colonies in North Africa, Spain, Sicily, and large islands near Italy and
France. They are best known for their writing system that consisted twenty two different
signs to represent sound. The alphabet was important because it passed to Greeks and
Romans and the Americans and most of the world use today

The Rise of new empires

Assyrian empire
Assyrians lived on the upper Tigris River and were Semitic speaking people. They learned to
produce iron weapons and established their empire by 1350B.C. by 1100B.C. their empire
included Mesopotamia, parts of Iran plateau, sections of Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine and
Egypt down to Thebes. Even though the rulers had absolute power they encouraged ordered
society. Local officials were directly responsible to the king A system of communication was
developed to administer the empire more effectively. A network of staging posts was
established throughout the empire that is relay on horses to carry messages. The system
was as effective as anywhere the empire could sent a question and receive answer in a week
they were the first rulers to develop extensive laws regulating life within the royal house.
For example the women of the places had to wear veils Infantrymen joined by cavalrymen
and horse drawn chariots was the core. One factor of the army’s success was the Assyrians
were the first large armies equipped with iron weapons. The other factor is they used
different kind of military tactics, they were able to of waging guerrilla warfare in the
mountains and set battles on open ground as well as laying siege to cities. Soldiers would
hammer a city wall with wheeled heavy siege towers and armored battering rams while
others dug tunnels to undermine the walls foundation s and cause them to collapse these
actions were especially known. They used to smash dams; looted and destroy towns; set
crops on fire; cut downs tress specially fruit trees; and commit atrocities on their captives.

Nebuchadnezzar revives Babylon

In 612B.C. the capital city of Nineveh fell under the Chaldeans and Mendes union after the
death of Assurbanipal. Later a king named Nabopolassar reestablish a power in 625B.C.
which marked the beginning of the Babylonian empire that stretched from Persia Gulf to
Mediterranean Sea. As Nebuchadnezzar rose to power the city faces decline and
destruction. The city became one of the largest and most highly regarded in the history of
ancient Mesopotamia. Nebuchadnezzar surrounded Babylon with a defensive moat and a
brick of wall that was 85feet thick. People were allowed to pass the wall through the Nine
solid gate dedicated to important gods. The Ishtar gate was made of bricks glazed bright
blue and covered in lions representing the goodness Ishtar, dragons representing god
Marduk and bulls for god Hadad. At the center of the city the city’s ziggurat was dedicated to
gods and restored the temple honoring the chief god, Marduk. In 539B.C. Cyrus the great
controlled Babylon.

Persian Empire
They were an Indo European speaking people who live in the present day of south western
Iran. Persians were nomadic people organized in tribes until Achaemenid family unified
them. In 539B.C. Cyrus the great controlled Babylon which showed restraint and wisdom. He
kept the officials of Babylon in their positions. Also issued and edict permitting the Jews to
return to Jerusalem and rebuilt their temples. He was accepted as a king by Mende, Babylon
and Hebrews. Jews see him as the one sent by God. Cambyses son of Cyrus extended their
territory further to Egypt. Darius stretched the territory to Indus River and in Europe Thrace
creating the largest territory. He also undertake invasion of the Greek mainland which
resulted the Battle of Marathon in 490B.C. He divided the empire into twenty provinces
called satrapies each with a ruler called satrap (means protector of the kingdom). Satraps
collected taxes, provided justice and security and recruited soldiers for the royal army.
Roads made easy for officials to travel through the empire. The Royal Road stretched form
Lydia in Asia Minor to Susa. The Persian king “Great King” occupied an exalted position. The
king was source of justice. The empire and the rulers were dependent on the military.
Persian had created an international army of composed of people all over the empire as
cavalry force and infantry force called Immortals were its core.

The Persian Empire weakened after Darius. The kings become isolated at their courts and
surrounded by luxuries. As taxes increased the loyalty to empire began to decline and the
struggle over throne affected the monarchy. Persian Kings had many wives and children as
an example Artaxerxes the second had 115 sons which made them engage in plots to gain
the throne. After Darius six kings were murdered as a result of court intrigue. The bloody
struggle for throne encouraged the Alexander the Great to conquest.

Persian religion
Zoroaster was born in660B.C. He had a vision that caused him to believe himself as a
prophet of the “true religion”. His teachings were written down in the Zend Avesta the
sacred book of Zoroastrianism. The religion was monotheistic. According to Zoroaster
Ahuramazda was the only god and the religion was perfect. Ahuramazada possess qualities
all human should aspire and hew was supreme however he was opposed by the evil spirit
called Ahriman. Ahuramazada had given the freedom to choose between good and evil and
eventually on the last judgment day the final separation of good and evil would occur. If a
person performed good deeds he/she will get to paradise if not they would be thrown into
an abyss.

India
India is a country in south Asia whose name comes from the Indus River. The name
‘Baharata’ is used as a designation for an ancient mythological emperor, Baharata, whose
story is told, in part, in the Indian epic Mahabharata.
According to the writings known as the Puranas, Baharata conquered the whole sub-
continent of India and ruled the land in peace and harmony. The land was, therefore, known
as Baharatavarsha. Hominid activity in India stretches back over 250,000 years, and it is,
therefore, one of the oldest inhabited regions on the planet.
Excavations have discovered artifacts used by early humans, including stone tools, which
suggests an extremely date for human inhabitation and technology in the area. While the
civilizations of Mesopotomia and Egypt have long been recognized for their celebrated
contributions to civilization, India has often been overlooked, especially in the west, though
its history and culture is just as rich. The Indus valley civilization (700-600 B.C) was among
the greatest of the ancient world, covering more territory than Egypt or Mesopotamia and
producing an equally vibrant and progressive culture.
Ancient Indians lived by hunting and gathering. The men of India liked gambling,
storytelling and fighting while the woman took care of the home and children.
It is the birthplace of four great world religions as well as philosophical schools. The
inventions and innovations include many aspects of modern life taken for granted today
including the flush toilet, drainage and sewer systems, public pools, mathematics, veterinary
science, plastic surgery, board game, yoga and meditation, as well as many more.

Indus valley civilization

The Indus Valley civilization dates to 7000 B.C and grew steadily throughout the Gangetic
Valley region southwards and northwards to Malwa. The cities of this period were larger
than contemporary settlements in other countries, were situated according to cardinal
points and were built of mud bricks, often kiln-fired. Houses were constructed with a large
courtyard opening from the front door, a kitchen/workroom for the preparation of food and
smaller bedrooms.
 The buildings and homes of the Indus valley people were far more advanced technologically
with many featuring flush toilets and “wind catchers” on the rooftops which provided air
conditioning. The sewer and drainage systems of the cities excavated so far are more
advance than those of Rome at its height.
The most famous cities of this period are Mohenjo Daro and Harappa both located in
present day Pakistan which was part of India until 1947. Harrapa has given its name to the
Harappan civilization which is usually divided into Early, Middle and Mature periods.
Mohenjo Daro was an elaborately constructed city with streets laid out evenly at right
angles and a sophisticated drainage system. The Great Bata, a central structure at the site,
was heated and seems to have been a focal point for the community. The citizens were
skilled in the use of metals such as copper, bronze, lead and tin, evidenced by artworks such
as bronze statues of the Dancing Girl. They cultivated barley, wheat, peas, sesame and
cotton. Trade was an important source of commerce and it is thought that ancient
Mesopotamian texts which mention Magan and Meluhha refer to India generally, or
perhaps, Mohenjo-Dar specifically. Artifacts from the Indus valley region have been found at
sites in Mesopotamia though their precise point of origin in India is not always clear.

Decline of Harappan civilization

The people of the Harappan civilization worshipped many gods and were engaged in ritual
worship. Statues of various deities such as Indra, the god of storm and war, have been found
at many sites and, chief among them, terracotta pieces depicting the Shakti (mother
goddess) suggesting a popular, common worship of the feminine principle. In 2000-1500 B.C
it is though that another race, known as Aryans, migrated into India through the Khyber Pass
and assimilated into the existing culture, bringing their gods and the language of Sanskrit
with them which they then introduced to the region’s existing belief system. Who the Aryans
were and what effect they had on the indigenous people continue to be debate but it’s
generally acknowledged that, at about the same time as their arrival, the Harappan culture
began to decline.
Climate change is cited as one possible reason because some evidence suggests of drought
and famine in the region. The Indus River is thought to have begun flooding the region more
regularly (evidenced by 30 feet or 9 meters of slit at Mohenjo-Daro) and this destroyed
crops and encouraged famine. It is also thought the path of the monsoon, relied upon for
watering the crops, could have changed and people left the cities in the north for lands in
the south. Another possibility loss of trade relations with Mesopotamia and Egypt, their two
most vital partners in commerce, as both of those regions were undergoing domestic
conflicts at this same time.
Other assumption is that the Indus river valley civilization fell to the invasion of light-
skinned Aryans but this theory has no long been discredited. Equally unaccepted theory is
that the people were driven south by extra-terrestrials. Among the most mysterious aspect
of Mohenjo-Daro is that the site had been exposed to intense heat which melted the brick
and stone.

Ancient India
The ancient history of India is marked by the Indus valley civilization and the Aryans which

make up the pre-Vedic and Vedic phases or periods.

The Vedic Period

The period that followed the decline of the Indus valley civilization was characterized by a
pastoral lifestyle and adherence to the religious text known as the Vedas. Society became
divided into four classes of Varnas, popularly known as ‘the caste system’ which were
comprised of the Brahmana at the top (priests and scholars), the Kshatiya (warriors), and
the Vashiya (farmers and merchants) Shudra (laborers). The lowest caste was the Daltis, the
untouchables, who handled meat and waste.
At firsts, this caste system was merely a reflection of one’s occupation but, in time, it
became more rigidly interpreted to be determined by ones birth and one was not allowed to
change castes nor to marry into a caste other than one’s own. This understanding was a
reflection of the belief in an eternal order to human life dictated by a supreme deity.
It was during this period that a system of religions of Sanatan Dharms (‘Eternal Order’)
known today as Hinduism (this name deriving from the Indus (or Sindus) Rivers where
worshippers were known to gather). The underlying Tenet of the religion is that there is an
order and a purpose to the human life and by accepting this order and living in accordance
with it, one will experience life as it is meant to be properly live.
Hinduism had its origins in the religious beliefs of the Aryans.
The religion is considered polytheistic consisting of many gods, it is actually monotheistic in
that it holds there is one god, Brahman, who, because of his greatness cannot be fully
apprehended so he is revealed as the different gods of Hindu pantheon.
It is Brahman who decrees the eternal order and maintains the universe through it. This
belief in an order to the universe reflects the stability of the society in which it grew and
flourished as, during the Vedic Period government became centralized and social customs
integrated fully into daily lives of the region. Besides the Vedas, the great religious and
literary works of the Puranas, the Mahabharata, Bhagavad-Gita and the Ramayana all come
from this period.
By the sixth century a new concept – reincarnation was introduced in the Hinduism religion.
In the 6thc B.C, the religious reformers Vardhamana Mahavira (599-527 B.C) and Siddhartha
Gautama (563-483) developed their own belief system and broke away from mainstream
Hinduism to eventually create their own religions of Jainism and Buddhism, respectively.
These changes in religion were a part of a wider pattern of social and cultural upheaval
which resulted in the formation of city-states and the rise of powerful kingdoms such as the
Magadha Kingdom under Bimbisara and the proliferation of philosophical schools which
challenged orthodox Hinduism.
Mahavira rejected the Vedas and placed the responsibility for salvation and enlightenment
directly on the individual and the Buddha would later do the same. The philosopher of the
school of Charvaka rejected all supernatural elements of religious belief and maintained that
only senses could be trusted to apprehend the truth and further, that the greatest goal in
life was pleasure and one’s own enjoyment. Although Charvaka did not endure as a school of
thought, it influenced the development of a new way of thinking which was more grounded
and encouraged the adoption of empirical and scientific observation and method.
Expansion of cities was also evident during this time and the increased urbanization and
wealth attracted the attention of Cyrus II of the Persian Empire who Invaded India in 530 B.C
and initiated a campaign of conquest in the region. Ten years later, under the reign of his
son Darius I, northern India was firmly under Persian control (modern day Afghanistan and
Pakistan) and the inhabitants of that area subject to Persian laws and customs. One
consequence of this is the merging of Persian and India beliefs which led to religious and
cultural reforms.

Ancient India and China

Emergence of Ancient India
The Vedic Period
The period that followed the decline of the Indus valley civilization was characterized by a
pastoral lifestyle and adherence to the religious text known as the Vedas. Society became
divided into four classes of Varnas, popularly known as ‘the caste system’ which were
comprised of the Brahmana at the top (priests and scholars), the Kshatiya (warriors), and
the Vashiya (farmers and merchants) Shudra (laborers). The lowest caste was the Daltis, the
untouchables, who handled meat and waste.
At firsts, this caste system was merely a reflection of one’s occupation but, in time, it
became more rigidly interpreted to be determined by ones birth and one was not allowed to
change castes nor to marry into a caste other than one’s own. This understanding was a
reflection of the belief in an eternal order to human life dictated by a supreme deity.
It was during this period that a system of religions of Sanatan Dharms (‘Eternal Order’)
known today as Hinduism (this name deriving from the Indus (or Sindus) Rivers where
worshippers were known to gather). The underlying Tenet of the religion is that there is an
order and a purpose to the human life and by accepting this order and living in accordance
with it, one will experience life as it is meant to be properly live.
Hinduism had its origins in the religious beliefs of the Aryans.
The religion is considered polytheistic consisting of many gods, it is actually monotheistic in
that it holds there is one god, Brahman, who, because of his greatness cannot be fully
apprehended so he is revealed as the different gods of Hindu pantheon.
It is Brahman who decrees the eternal order and maintains the universe through it. This
belief in an order to the universe reflects the stability of the society in which it grew and
flourished as, during the Vedic Period government became centralized and social customs
integrated fully into daily lives of the region. Besides the Vedas, the great religious and
literary works of the Puranas, the Mahabharata, Bhagavad-Gita and the Ramayana all come
from this period.
By the sixth century a new concept – reincarnation was introduced in the Hinduism religion.
In the 6thc B.C, the religious reformers Vardhamana Mahavira (599-527 B.C) and Siddhartha
Gautama (563-483) developed their own belief system and broke away from mainstream
Hinduism to eventually create their own religions of Jainism and Buddhism, respectively.
These changes in religion were a part of a wider pattern of social and cultural upheaval
which resulted in the formation of city-states and the rise of powerful kingdoms such as the
Magadha Kingdom under Bimbisara and the proliferation of philosophical schools which
challenged orthodox Hinduism.
 Mahavira rejected the Vedas and placed the responsibility for salvation and enlightenment
directly on the individual and the Buddha would later do the same. The philosopher of the
school of Charvaka rejected all supernatural elements of religious belief and maintained that
only senses could be trusted to apprehend the truth and further, that the greatest goal in
life was pleasure and one’s own enjoyment. Although Charvaka did not endure as a school of
thought, it influenced the development of a new way of thinking which was more grounded
and encouraged the adoption of empirical and scientific observation and method.
Expansion of cities was also evident during this time and the increased urbanization and
wealth attracted the attention of Cyrus II of the Persian Empire who Invaded India in 530 B.C
and initiated a campaign of conquest in the region. Ten years later, under the reign of his
son Darius I, northern India was firmly under Persian control (modern day Afghanistan and
Pakistan) and the inhabitants of that area subject to Persian laws and customs. One
consequence of this is the merging of Persian and India beliefs which led to religious and
cultural reforms.

Guptan Empire
The Empire is believed to have been found by Sri Gupta. Sri was of the Vasihya (merchant)
class, his rise to power was a remarkable feat. He laid the foundation for the government
which would so stabilize India that virtually every aspect of culture reached its height. Under
the reign of the Guptas, philosophy, literature, mathematics, architecture, astronomy,
technology, art, engineering, religion, and astronomy flourished, resulting in some of the
world’s greatest achievements.
Many great leaders emerged during this age like Chandragupta. He based his empire at a
city known as Pataliputra, the site of the old palace of Maurya. His successor and son
Samudragupta, expanded the empire into surrounding areas. Samudragupta was a believed
king. Some were fond of his strength and others of his beauty. It’s said that he could wage
hundreds of battles with just his hands and his beauty was further enhanced by the wounds
and injuries he had endured.
The Guptan Empire became the greatest power in Europe since the decline of the Maurya.
The Guptan Empire was the prominent force in northern India and also had some control
over Central India.
Under Chandragupta II a new age of Indian civilization was created. The greatness of this
civilizations culture was famed all around the world and was even documented by a Chinese
man by the name of Fa Xian, who was a Buddhist monk and had spent many years in India.
He admired the Empires tolerance of Buddhism and strong rule and culture.
 The Empire conducted frequent trades with China, Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean.
These strong relations helped in the formation of prosperous cities with great temples. They
also conducted a different form of trade known as religious trades. They travelled as pilgrims
to Chinese religious centers and conducted a series of trades.
With the rise of trade the Empire saw a growth in the private sector. However, the trade
was still managed by the Guptan government. The Guptan’s had control over large silver,
gold and iron mines. They made huge profits and live a luxurious and prestigious life.
The rise and success of the Empire was cut short by invasions by nomads known as the
Huns from the northwest which gradually reduced the power of the Empire. In the mid-
seventh century the Empire had been revived by a military general known as Harsa.

Indian Literature
The earliest known literary development is dated back to the Aryan tradition of the Four
Vedas. The Vedas were passed down orally from generation to generation but after Aryans
over run the subcontinent of India it started being written down. The earliest of the Vedas,
Rigveda dates back to the second millennium B.C and consists of 10 mandalas/chapters and
over ten thousand verses. It is a collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns. It has four major layers
known as Samhita, Brahmana’s, Aranyakas and Upansihads. The Rigveda Samhita is the core
text and is a collection of 10 books with one thousand hymns. In the eight books (two
through 9), the hymns predominantly discuss cosmology, rituals and praise while the other
two, Books 1 and 10 discuss psychology and virtues. The other three Vedas were written
later and talk about religious ceremonies connected to Aryan religious beliefs.
The Vedas were mainly written in Sanskrit, a member of the Indo-European language
family. With the coming of Aryans use of Sanskrit had declined but it was still used in
governmental bureaus.
After the development of a new writing system in the first millennium B.C it was used to
create literary works written on palm leaves that were stitched together. The earliest of
these writings are the two great Indian epics, Mahabharata and Ramayana.
The Mahabharata consisted of over ninety thousand stanzas, series of lines of poetry,
making it the longest poem in any written language. It is assumed that it was written in 100
B.C. The poem describes a war between cousins in Aryan tribal society for control of the
Kingdom. It shows the moral dilemmas between the two. The most section of the book is
the Bhagavadgita, a sermon of Krishna, one of the incarnations of the god Vishnu, on the eve
of a major battle. In this sermon Krishna sets forth a major pillar in the Indian society. He
stated, in taking action one must not worry about success or failure. One should only be
aware of the moral rightness of the act itself.
The Ramayana on the other hand is much shorter. It is written on the accounts of King
Rama. As the story goes, he was banished from the kingdom and forced to live as Hermit in
the forest. He then faces the demon king Ceylon, who had kidnapped his wife Sita. The book
was meant to teach people life and moral lessons.
The Indian Shakespeare, Kalidasa was majorly known for his hundred verse poem, The
Cloud Messenger. It tells of an exiled male spirit who misses his wife and shares his grief
with a passing cloud.

Architectural Development
There were three main types of religious structures: The pillar, the stupa and the rock
chamber. The pillar was the most famous of the three. During AShokas reign, many stone
pillars were erected alongside roads to mark sites related to Buddha’s life, as well as
pilgrims’ routes to holy places. Weighing up to fifty tons each and rising as high as thirty feet,
these polished sandstone pillars were topped with carvings, usually depicting lions uttering
Buddha’s messages. Ten remain standing today.
A stupa was originally mean to house a relic of Buddha and was built in the form of a burial
mound. Eventually the stupa became a place of devotion. It is said that Ashoka ordered the
construction of 84,000 stupas.
The rock chamber was developed by Ashoka to provide a series of rooms to house monks
and to serve as a hole for religious ceremonies. The rooms were carved from rock hills on
the side of mountains. Both the interior and exterior were carved as sculptures.

Science in Ancient India

The most profound work of Ancient Indians is in the field of Astronomy. They mapped
out the movements of the heavenly bodies and recognized that earth is a sphere and
revolved around the sun. They had similar ideologies in regards to physics with that of the
Greeks. They divided matter into 5. Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Ether.
They were also skilled at making surgical instruments. They had made use of 20 sharp and
101 blunt instruments, including scalpels, razors, probes, needles, forceps and syringes. This
made them great surgeons and skillful in conducting surgical operations.
Their most important contribution, however, was in the field of Mathematics. The most
famous Indian mathematician was Aryabhata of the Guptan Empire. He devised the decimal
system and also counting in tens. The Indian mathematicians are also credited with the
development of the concept of zero (0). Their mathematical ideologies were adopted by
Arabs who then spread it into Europe.

Buddhism

Arabs in India
The first Arab invasion of India was an expedition by sea to conquer Thana near Mumbai as
early as 636 A.D. It was undertaken during the vigorous expansionist regime of the second
Caliph, Umar-bin-Akhtab, who was on a proselytizing mission to spread Islam to all corners
of the world. He appointed Usman, of the tribe of Sakif, to capture Bahrain and Oman.
Usman sent his brother Hakam to Bahrain and himself proceeded to Oman. Upon reaching
Oman, Usman sent a naval expedition to capture Thana on the western coast of India.The
Arab army was repulsed decisively and returned to Oman and the first ever Arab raid on
India was defeated.
A second naval expedition was sent to conquer Barwas or Barauz (Broach) on the coast of
southern Gujarat by Hakam, the brother of Usman. This attack too was repelled and the
Arabs were driven back successfully.
The third wave of military expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate lasted from 692 to 718 A.D.
The reign of Al-Walid I (705–715 A.D) saw the most dramatic Marwanid Umayyad conquests.
In a period of barely ten years, North Africa, Spain, Transoxiana, and Sindh were subdued
and colonised. Sindh, controlled by King Raja Dahir of the Rai dynasty, was captured by the
Umayyad general Muhammad bin Qasim. Sindh, now a second-level province of the
Caliphate (iqlim) with its capital at Al Mansura, was a suitable base for excursions into India.
But, after bin Qasim's departure most of his captured territories were recaptured by Indian
kings.
During the reign of Yazid II (720 to 724 A.D), the fourth expansion was launched to all the
warring frontiers, including India. The campaign lasted from 720 to 740 A.D. During Yazid's
times, there was no significant check to the Arab expansion. However, the advent of Hisham
ibn Abd al-Malik (r. 691–743 A.D), the 10th Umayyad Caliph, saw a turn in the fortune of the
Umayyads which resulted in eventual defeat on all the fronts and a complete halt of Arab
expansionism. The hiatus from 740 to 750 A.D due to military exhaustion, also saw the
advent of the third of a series of civil wars, which resulted in the collapse of the Umayyad
Caliphate.
 After conquering Brahmanabad in Sindh, Bin Qasim co-opted the local Brahman elite,
whom he held in esteem, re-appointing them to posts held under the Brahman dynasty and
offering honors and awards to their religious leaders and scholars. This arrangement with
local Brahman elites resulted in the continued persecution of Jatts, with Bin Qasim
confirming the existing Brahman regulation forbidding them from wearing anything but
coarse clothing and requiring them to always walk barefoot accompanied by dogs. The
eastern Jats supported the Sind ruler, Dahir, against the Arab invaders, whereas the
western Jats aligned with Muhammad bin Qasim against Dahir. Having settled the question
of the freedom of religion and the social status of the Brahmans, Muhammad bin al-Qasim
turned his attention to the Jats and Lohana.
Significant medieval Muslim chronicles such as the Chach Nama, Zainul-Akhbar and Tarikh-
I-Baihaqi have recorded battles between Jats and forces of Muhammad ibn Qasim.
Following his success in Sindh, Muhammad bin Qasim wrote to `the kings of Hind' calling
upon them to surrender and accept the faith of Islam. He dispatched a force against al-
Baylaman (Bhinmal), which is said to have offered submission. The Mid people
of Surast (Maitrakas of Vallabhi) also made peace. Bin Qasim then sent a cavalry of 10,000 to
Kanauj, along with a decree from the Caliph. He himself went with an army to the prevailing
frontier of Kashmir called panj-māhīyāt (in west Punjab). Nothing is known of the Kanauj
expedition. The frontier of Kashmir might be what is referred to as al-Kiraj in later records
(Kira kingdom in Kangra Valley, Himachal Pradesh), which was apparently subdued.
Bin Qasim was recalled in 715 A.D and died en route. Al-Baladhuri writes that, upon his
departure, the kings of al-Hind had come back to their kingdoms. The period of Caliph Umar
II (717–720) was relatively peaceful. Umar invited the kings of "al-Hind" to convert to Islam
and become his subjects, in return for which they would continue to remain kings. Hullishah
of Sindh and other kings accepted the offer and adopted Arab names
During the caliphates of Yazid II (720–724) and Hisham (724–743), the expansion policy
was resumed. Junayd ibn Abd ar-Rahman al-Murri (or Al Junayd) was appointed the
governor of Sindh in 723 A.D.
After subduing Sindh, Junayd sent campaigns to various parts of India. The justification was
that these parts had previously paid tribute to Bin Qasim but then stopped. The first target
was al-Kiraj (possibly Kangra valley), whose conquest effectively put an end to the kingdom.
A large campaign was carried out in Rajasthan which included Mermad (Maru-Mada,
in Jaisalmer and north Jodhpur), al-Baylaman (Bhillamala or Bhinmal) and Jurz (Gurjara
country—southern Rajasthan and northern Gujarat). Another force was sent
against Uzayn (Ujjain), which made incursions into its country (Avanti) and some parts of it
were destroyed (the city of Baharimad, unidentified). Ujjain itself may not have been
conquered. A separate force was also sent against al-Malibah (Malwa, to the east of Ujjain),
but the outcome is not recorded.
Towards the North, Umayyads attempted to expand into Punjab but were defeated
by Lalitaditya Muktapida of Kashmir. Another force was dispatched south. It
subdued Qassa (Kutch), al-Mandal (perhaps Okha), Dahnaj (unidentified), Surast
(Saurashtra) and Barus or Barwas (Bharuch).
The kingdoms weakened or destroyed included the Bhattis of Jaisalmer, the Gurjaras of
Bhinmal, the Mauryas of Chittor, the Guhilots of Mewar, the Kacchelas of Kutch,
the Maitrakas of Saurashtra and Gurjaras of Nandipuri. Altogether, Al-Junayd might have
conquered all of Gujarat, a large part of Rajasthan, and some parts of Madhya
Pradesh. Blankinship states that this was a full-scale invasion carried out with the intent of
founding a new province of the Caliphate.
In 726 A.D, the Caliphate replaced Al-Junayd by Tamim ibn Zaid al-Utbi (Tamim) as the
governor of Sindh. During the next few years, all of the gains made by Junayd were lost. The
Arab records do not explain why, except to state that the Caliphate troops, drawn from
distant lands such as Syria and Yemen, abandoned their posts in India and refused to go
back. Blankinship admits the possibility that the Indians must have revolted, but thinks it
more likely that the problems were internal to the Arab forces.
Governor Tamim is said to have fled Sindh and died en route. The Caliphate appointed al-
Hakam ibn Awana al-Kalbi (Al-Hakam) in 731 who governed till 740.
Al-Hakam restored order to Sindh and Kutch and built secure fortifications at Al-Mahfuzah
and Al-Mansur. He then proceeded to retake Indian kingdoms previously conquered by Al-
Junayd. The Arab sources are silent on the details of the campaigns. However, several Indian
sources record victories over the Arab forces.
The king of Nandipuri, Jayabhata IV, documented, in an inscription dated to 736 A.D, that
he went to the aid of the king of Vallabhi and inflicted a crushing defeat on a Tājika (Arab)
army. The Arabs then overran the kingdom of Jayabhata himself and proceeded on
to Navsari in southern Gujarat. The Arab intention might have been to make inroads
into South India. However, to the south of the Mahi River lay the
powerful Chalukyan Empire. The Chalukyan viceroy at Navsari, Avanijanashraya Pulakeshin,
decisively defeated the invading Arab forces as documented in a Navsari grant of 739 A.D.
The Tājika (Arab) army defeated was, according to the grant, one that had attacked
"Kacchella, Saindhava, Saurashtra, Cavotaka, Maurya and Gurjara" kings. Pulakeshin
subsequently received the titles "Solid Pillar of Deccan" (Dakshināpatha-sādhāra) and the
"Repeller of the Unrepellable" (Anivartaka-nivartayitr). The Rashtrakuta prince Dantidurga,
who was subsidiary to Chalukyas at this time, also played an important role in the battle.
The kingdoms recorded in the Navsari grant are interpreted as follows: Kacchelas were the
people of Kutch. The Saindhavas are thought to have been emigrants from Sindh, who
presumably moved to Kathiawar after the Arab occupation of Sindh in 712 A.D. Settling
down in the northern tip of Kathiawar, they had a ruler by the name of Pushyadeva.
The Cavotakas (also called Capotaka or Capa) were also associated with Kathiawar, with
their capital at Anahilapataka. Saurashtra is south Kathiawar. The Mauryas and Gurjaras are
open to interpretation. Blankinship takes them to be the Mauryas of Chittor and Gurjaras of
Bhinmal whereas Baij Nath Puri takes them to be a subsidiary line of Mauryas based
in Vallabhi and the Gurjaras of Bharuch under Jayabhata IV. In Puri's interpretation, this
invasion of the Arab forces was limited to the southern parts of modern Gujarat with several
small kingdoms, which was halted by the Chalukyan Empire.
Indications are that Al-Hakam was overstretched. An appeal for reinforcements from the
Caliphate in 737 is recorded, with 600 men being sent, a surprisingly small contingent. Even
this force was absorbed in its passage through Iraq for quelling a local rebellion. The defeat
at the hands of Chalukyas is believed to have been a blow to the Arab forces with large costs
in men and arms.
The weakened Arab forces were driven out by the subsidiaries of the erstwhile kings.
The Guhilot prince Bappa Rawal (734–753) drove out the Arabs who had put an end to the
Maurya dynasty at Chittor. A Jain prabandha mentions a king Nahada, who is said to have
been the first ruler of his family at Jalore, near Bhinmal, and who came into conflict with a
Muslim ruler whom he defeated. Nahada is identified with Nagabhata I (730–760), the
founder of the Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty, which is believed to have started from the Jalore-
Bhinmal area and spread to Avanti at Ujjain. The Gwalior inscription of the king Bhoja I, says
that Nagabhata, the founder of the dynasty, defeated a powerful army of Valacha
Mlecchas (foreigners called "Baluch’s") around 725 A.D. Even though many historians
believe that Nagabhata repulsed Arab forces at Ujjain, there is no authentic information
about where precisely he encountered them.
Baij Nath Puri states that the Arab campaigns to the east of Indus proved ineffective.
However, they had the unintended effect of integrating the Indian kingdoms in Rajasthan
and Gujarat. The Chalukyas extended their empire to the north after fighting off the Arabs
successfully. Nagabhata I secured a firm position and laid the foundation for a new dynasty,
which would rise to become the principal deterrent against Arab expansion. Blankinship also
notes that Hakam's campaigns caused the creation of larger, more powerful kingdoms,
which was inimical to the caliphate's interests. Al-Hakam died in battle in 740 A.D while
fighting the Meds of north Saurashtra.

China
The history of the area now known as China has alternated between periods of
prosperity. Political unity, and peace and periods of war and statehood. The Yellow River
nurtured Chinas civilization. Between areas of multiple kingdoms and warlords, Chinese
dynasties have ruled parts of all of China; in some eras control stretches as far Xinjiang, Tibet
and Inner Mongolia. The regions were occupied by other people of the steppe identified as
Mongolic, Turkic and Khitan. With a continuous history, China is regarded as one of the
oldest civilizations in the world.
According to Chinese historians, Xia dynasty (2070-1600 B.C) is said to be the first dynasty
although no written records imply its existence. But although no written records are known
from the period and Shang writings do not indicated the existence of Xia, Neolithic
civilizations originated at various cultural centers along both the Yellow River and Yangtze
River, and these Yellow River and Yangtze River civilizations arose a millennia before the Xia
and Shang.
The earliest written record of history in China date from as early as 1250 B.C, from the
Shang dynasty during the reign of King Wu Ding. The oracle bone script depicts and recorded
various events of the Shang dynasty. The Shang ruled in the Yellow River valley, which is
commonly held to be the cradle of Chinese civilization.

Shang Dynasty (Yin dynasty)

The assumed earliest Chinese dynasty, Xia dynasty is believed to have been found by a
man named Yu the Great. After the death of Shun, the last of the Five Emperors gave the
throne to him, the Xia was later succeeded by the Shang dynasty.
The Shang dynasty (1750-1122 B.C) is the earliest known dynasty of traditional Chinese
history. China under the Shang was a mostly farming society ruled by an aristocratic class
whose major concern was war. The big affairs of this state consisted of sacrifice and soldiery.
Combat was carried out by means of two-horse chariots.
 It has been discovered that the dynasty had many strong cities. It is said that the Shang
kings had 5 different capitals before moving to Anyang (Yin, which was the last capital of the
dynasty), just north of the Huang River in north central China. These cities had large walls,
royal palaces and large royal tombs. The aristocrats lived within the walls while the workers
lived outside the walls but near it.
The royal tombs housed the corpse of the royal family. The two most prominent figures in
the early Shang period were Wu Ding and his wife Fu Hao. Wu Ding ruled during the
thirteenth century B.C. He ruled for over 49 years. During his reign, He sent out a number of
important military expedition, two of which were led by Fu Hao.
The king of the Shang had the authority to assign chiefs. He also had the responsibility of
protecting his territory and commanded a very large army. The king was an essential part of
the Shang society. This proven by the sacrificial rituals done for the king after his death. Just
liked Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, The Shang kings were buried with their faithful
retainers (human sacrifice of servants of the dead).
The Chinese rulers believe they could attain divinity by asking supernatural beings and
forces for help. To communicate with the Gods and ask for help, they made use of oracle
bones. These were bones on which questions asked by the rulers is written on by the priests.
The bones were then placed on heated metal roads then stuck into the bones causing them
to crack. The priests then wrote down the answers and stored the oracle bones. These
oracle bones now serve as a proof for the existence of the dynasty.
Folk religion during the Shang dynasty was polytheistic, meaning the people worshipped
many gods. This bronze sculpture of a human head with gold leaf is typical of the bronze
network created during the Shang dynasty. Ancient worship was also very important to the
Shang. They made sacrifices towards their gods. While other forms of sacrifices helped
company the kings one the journey to the next world. This belief created the idea of
veneration of ancestors, practice of building replicas of physical objects to company the
dead into the next world.
At the top of the Shang dynasty societal structure was the King, his family and groups of
aristocrats. The aristocrats had the power to wage wars, appoint officials and were the most
dominant landowners of the dynasty. The second class was composed of merchants and
artisans. The last class consisted of farmers and slaves. The majority of the population was
composed of landless peasants.
They were skilled bronze artists. They made bronze objects that made the Chinese famous
in their artistic skills. They first used bronze casting the creation of new weapons, but they
later started making use of bronze to make vessels for religious rituals. These vessels were
used to serve food and drink. Later on they were used as decoration. As time went on
bronze casting became a major practice and form of business. The Shang bronze arts
represent the peak of Chinese creative art.

Zhou Dynasty
Successor of the Shang dynasty and the longest reigning dynastic regime in Chinese
history. In 1122 B.C a new state centered around the bend of the Huang river dethroned the
Shang dynasty. The new dynasty, known as Zhou lasted for almost nine hundred years (1122
to 256 B.C). It was sub-divided into the Northern Zhou, Southern Zhou, Eastern Zhou and
Western Zhou.
The Zhou rulers ruled in the western frontiers of the Shang state. As the legend goes, the
last king was wicked, evil and tyrant. He ruled over the people harshly, led an over the top
lavish life and ruined the morale of the nation. He swam in “ponds of wine” and ordered the
writings of lustful which were considered to have ruined morale of the nation. This caused
the Zhou king to rebel and establish a new dynasty.
The Zhou established their capital at present day Xian. Later on they established another
capital at present day Luoyang which was much farther to east so as to make governance of
captured Shang dynasty cities easier. This resulted in the creation of capital in both the west
and east which lasted for nearly 2000 years.
The Zhou dynasty had a similar political system and structure to the Shang dynasty. The
head of the social structure was the king, who made use of the bureaucracy under him. In
the Zhou period, the bureaucratic system had grown in size and complexity when compared
to the Shang. The king was an important figure in the dynasty. He was assumed to be the
link between man and god, heaven and earth, living and dead and people and nature. Rituals
were carried to strengthen that link.
The Zhou’s continued the division of territories and appointed officials ruling them. The
officials were appointed by the king and were subjected to his authority. The Zhou system
was considered as an extended family because every princely official had an allegiance to
the king. The other responsibility of the Zhou king was defense and leading the army.
As according to a written document, Rites of Zhou, the Chines had begun development a
theory of government. According to the writing, the Zhou house possessed power due to the
mandate of Heaven. It was believed that the law of nature was kept in order by the Zhou
king. The mandate was expected the king to rule in the right and proper way and it was also
his duty to please the gods. This system was then embodied by a ritual ceremony at the
temple of Beijing.
The mandate on the other hand also provided the people with the “right to revolution”
towards the kings they deemed evil.
The later Zhou kings were powerful and please the people but in the later stages the kings
began to decline intellectually and morally. The states into which the Zhou had been divided,
grew in power and challenged the Zhou. In 403 B.C civil war broke out and the start of the
“period of warring states”. The powerful states battled against one another and completely
ignored the Zhou court.
The nature of the Chinese war had changed since chariots were not useful in high lands or
in the damp of Yangtze valley. New forms of warfare emerged with new iron weapons that
were much more powerful than bronze weapons. Infantry and Cavalry also made their first
appearance. Members of the cavalry were armed with crossbows which was invented in
seventh century B.C. The development of the crossbow came because King Chi’n deemed
the bow not useful for battle.
The Zhou appear to have spoken a language that wasn’t much different from the Shang.
The Zhou inherited extensively Shang cultural practices, perhaps to legitimize their own rule
and became the successors to Shang culture.
The basic feature of the economy was a continuation of the Shang’s pattern of land
ownership. The peasants worked on these lands but also had lands of their own. The outer
plots of the land is where the peasant family farmed for their own use while the inner plot
was farmed by man families for the use of their lord.
There was also an extensive use of poetry to express emotions like discernment, joy, anger
and many more.
In addition to the upper and the lower class there was also the merchants and artisans
class. They lived in walled towns under the direct control of a lord. With the increase of
trade merchants and artisans shifted from local trade to long distance trade, bringing goods
from distant regions. The goods were usually salt, iron, cloth and luxury items.
There was also another additional class made up of slaves who could be bought and sold.
Most of them were prisoners of war captured during conflicts. They made a very low
percentage of the population.
The major technological innovations of the dynasty were the introduction of iron weapons,
Ox-drawn plows, crossbows and horseback riding (cavalry) as well as large-scale irrigation,
canal construction and water-control projects which increased the crop yield of northern
China.
With the political changes happening in the empire, new revolutions started appearing.
States directing the local economies and impose new taxes for their growing armies. The
later Zhou rulers brought great economic growth.
The farmers that were highly reliant on rainfall started planting millet and other crops that
require little moisture. In the south, on the Yangtze River delta or along the southern coast,
irrigation was in wide use. The construction of canals was important to transport goods from
one region to another.
The change in farming practices improved crop production. By the mid-sixth century B.C
the use of plowshares made it easier to plow lands that hadn’t been used for farming. This
helped in the increase of arable lands.
The advances in farming enabled the population of China rise as high as fifty million during
the late Zhou period. They also played a major role in the increase of trade and
manufacturing. During the later period economic wealth replaced noble birth as a prime
source of power and influence.
One of the most important trading items in China was silk. Silk was not only used to make
cloth but also to wrap the bodies of the dead. Chinese silks have been found as far as Greece
and Rome.

The Chinese Writing System (中文书写系统)

The most important contribution of ancient China was the development of the Chinese
written language. The Shang were the first assemble a simple script, from a complex
language ancestor. Each character of the language was given a sound by the speaker when
pronounced. The Chinese would attack attach a phonetic meaning to some of their symbols
just like the Roman alphabet, this made it easier to guess the pronunciation of a character
one has never seen before. Although Chinese had evolved and developed throughout the
years, it has never abandoned its original format. The Chinese writing system is one of the
most unique in the world.
The Chinese writing has also served as an aid to national unity. If the language was based
on the phonetic alphabet, it would have been difficult to serve as the national language of an
ever expanding civilization. The versions of Chinese spoken in the different regions differed
from one another despite being of the same origin. Example: The native language of Beijing,
North China widely differs from the native language of Shanghai, Lower Yangtze valley.
 The Chinese response to this problem was formulation of a common writing system.
Although the character could be differently the character would still be written the same
way everywhere.
The Chinese characters depicted greater detail than seen from the outside. The usually
used the combination of characters to describe to complex entities. Example: the symbol for
man (男人) combines the symbols for strength and rice fields. The character for woman (女
士) shows submission and respect. The Chinese language had deep beliefs in male
supremacy.

Confucius (孔子)
Confucius was and is a major figure in Chinese history. The people of China usually refer to
him as the First Teacher. His name is the Latin form of Kung Fuci (Master Kung as he was
called by his students). Confucius was born in 551 B.C. He was a Chinese philosopher and
politician of the spring and autumn period who is traditionally considered as the head of
Chinese sages. During his life time China had been divided into many principalities and war
and decay had settled in. He was a devout man that sought to change this course. He
attempted to persuade the political leaders to be pacifists by travelling around the regions.
His sayings and teachings were written by his students in a document called the Anadects.
Most of his teachings revolved around strong family loyalty, Veneration of ancestors and
respect of elders by their children, husbands by their wives, lord by slaves, elder friend by
younger friend, rulers by their subjects and brother by younger brother. His golden rule was
“Do not do unto others what you do not want done to yourself”. Until the twelfth century,
almost every pupil in China had studied his sayings. This made Confucianism an important
pillar of Chinese society.
His lifetime was filled with Chinese battle and warfare and he wanted to stop it. To do this,
he developed basic ideas of ethics based on three important aspects of life: a) ceremonies
associated with sacrifice to ancestors and deities of various types, b) social and political
institutions and c) the etiquette of family behaviors. The major theories of his belief were
known as li and yi. Li was doing the proper thing at the proper time; balancing norms and
actions while yi is translated as righteousness; doing what is ethically best to do in a certain
context.
His political thought was based upon his ethical thought. He argued that the best
government is one that ruled through people’s natural morality. He was quite nostalgic upon
earlier days and urged the Chinese, particularly those in power to model themselves on
earlier examples.
 He also promoted the use of music with rituals and rites order. Rite serves as the starting
point for each individual and that these sacred social function allow each person’s human
nature to be harmonious with reality.

The master said, “My children,

Why do not study the book of poetry?

The odes serve to stimulate the mind.

They may be used for purposes of self-contemplation.

They teach the art of stability.

From them we become largely acquainted with the names of

birds, beasts and plants.”

Development of the Chinese Traditions

Three major schools of thought emerged in China about the nature of human beings
and nature. Confucianism, Taoism and Legalism. The theories of the Chinese philosophers
were different from the Indians in a sense that the Indian schools of thought, Hinduism and
Buddhism focused on freeing the soul from society.
Confucius’s interest in philosophy was ethical and political, not spiritual. He believed that
it was useless to speculate on spiritual questions. He believed that there was an order in the
universe and then focus one’s attention on ordering the affairs of this world. The universe
was made in such a way that, of humans would act in harmony with its purposes, their own
affairs would prosper. Much of his concern was with human behavior. The key to proper
behavior was to behave in accordance with the Tao (way).
There were two major elements in Confucians view of Tao: duty and humanity. He
believed if an individual fulfilled his/her duty then society would prosper as a whole as well.
“If there is righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in the character. If there is beauty
in the character, there will be harmony in the home. If there is harmony in the home, there
will be order in the nation.” He emphasized the on the need of Kings following “kingly ways”
by setting examples in striving for the common good. His view of duty revolved around
work-ethic.
 The second view of humanity consisted of a sense of compassion and empathy for others.
This view has similar ideas to Christianity. Christianity: “Do unto others what you want done
to yourself” while Confucianism stated, “Do not do unto yourself what you don’t want done
to you”. Confucius urged people to measure the feelings of others by one’s own feelings.
After his death in 479 B.C. It is said that he was very unpleased by the events of his age and
wanted ti bring back the ages of early Zhou dynasty. However, he was not a man living in the
past, in fact, most of his philosophies focus on the future.
His most striking political view was that position of power should not be exclusive to those
of noble birth but must also include every man of superior talent. This view of his wasn’t
popular among aristocrats and caused a dislike. Nevertheless, his ideas led to development
of new ideas of statecraft.

Taoism (道教)
Taoism is one of the most popular rivals to Confucianism. Taoism refers to teachings based
on the ideas of Lao Tzu or the old master. It is unknown if Lao actually existed. The Tao
teaching is not straightforward although the followers of the doctrine try to be. Taoism does
not concern itself with speculating the truth of the universe. Instead it tries to list proper
form of behavior for humans. The general belief of Taoism is very different from
Confucianism. While the latter beliefs it is the duty of the individual to work hard to improve
life, Taoists belief to follow the will of Heaven is not action, but inaction.
The ideas of Taoism are listed in a work known as Tao Te Ching (道德经, the way of Tao).
The document states the life of Lao Tzu in his older age. Seeking solitude, Lao got on a water
buffalo and rode westward to Tibet. A gatekeeper at the Hanko pass, recognizing him asked
him to turn back and not leave China. Lao refused, which prompted the gatekeeper to ask
him if he would at least make a record of his beliefs before he left civilization. Lao returned
three days later with Tao Te Ching.
Popular Taoism is less a philosophy than a religion. It consisted of a variety of rituals that
were seen as a means for achieving heavenly salvation. Taoist magicians practice many
exercises for mind and body control in hopes of achieving power and a longer life. It was in
this form that Taoism survived for long.

Legalism (法家主义)
Unlike Confucianism and Taoism, Legalism was a belief that humans were evil by nature.
Human beings can only be made to follow the right path through harsh rules and stiff
punishments. Legalism countered Confucianism’s belief that a government made up of
capable men would solve society’s problems. They believed that a system of impersonal
laws is what would solve these problems.
Legalists believed that only a state could bring social order instead of earth’s moral core, as
stated in Confucianism. They believed that because of humans being corrupt rulers could not
be trusted and only a strong ruler could bring order to society. All human actions should be
subordinated to the effort to create a strong and prosperous state that was subject to the
will of the strong ruler. To the legalists, people were not capable of being good. Only fear of
harsh punishment would cause the common people to serve the interests of the ruler. They
believed in a strong authoritarian ruler who governed by punishment. Only this system could
maintain peace and stability.

The Rise and fall of the Chinese Empires: Qin and Han
During the later period of Zhou, many powerful states ignored the Zhou kings and fought
one another in a bloody civil war. Out of the states, Qin defeated their chief rivals. In 221 the
Qin ruler declared the creation of a new dynasty.

Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C)

At the end of the Warring States period (475–221 B.C), the state of Qin conquered all other
states and established the Qin dynasty (221–206 B.C). It was China’s first unified state whose
power was centralized instead of spread among different kingdoms in the north and south.
Although it lasted only about fifteen years, the Qin dynasty greatly influenced the next two
thousand years of Chinese history.
The first emperor of Qin, known as Qin Shihuangdi (First Emperor, 259–210 B.C), instituted
a central and systematic bureaucracy. He divided the state into provinces and prefectures
governed by appointed officials. This administrative structure has served as a model for
government in China to the present day. Shihuangdi sought to standardize numerous
aspects of Chinese life, including weights and measures, coinage, and the writing system.
These standards would last for centuries after the fall of his short-lived dynasty. He also
ordered many construction projects. He expanded the network of roads and canals
throughout the country. The first Great Wall (not the one that exists today) was built during
his reign.
 The emperor rose to the Qin throne in 246 B.C, at the age of 13. The famous historian Sima
Qian described him as having “the chest of a bird prey, the voice of a jackal and the heart of
a tiger.” In 221 B.C, he defeated Qin’s rivals and founded a new dynasty.
He changed many old Chinese policies and even adopted Legalism as state ideology. Those
who opposed his reforms and policies were often punished and executed. Even books that
opposed his ideologies were burned.
The central bureaucracy was divided into three divisions: civil division, military division and
censorate. The censorate had inspectors who checked on governmental officials to make
sure they were doing their jobs. This became standard procedure for future Chinese
dynasties.
Below the central government there were two levels of administration, provinces and
counties. Officials installed in this positions did not inherit their positions, as it was done
during the Zhou Empire, instead, they were given the positions by the emperor himself.
After the unification of China, he created a single monetary system and ordered the
construction of a system of roads throughout the empire. Many of these roads stretched out
from the capital Xiangyang, north of modern Xian. He was also able to reduce the power if
aristocrats by dividing their estates among the peasants, who were now taxed directly by the
government. In doing so, he eliminated possible rivals and gained tax revenues for the
central government.

He was also an expansionist and an aggressive commander. He commanded his armies to

advance to the south to the edge of the Red River in modern-day Vietnam. To supply his
armies with food and weapons, he had a canal dug from the Yangtze River to modern-day
Guangzhou.
Despite the many accomplishments of the Qin dynasty, Shihuangdi was considered a severe
ruler. He was intolerant of any threats to his rule and established harsh laws to maintain his
control. He had his chief advisor burn all books that were not written on subjects he
considered useful (useful subjects included agriculture and medicine) and reportedly buried
hundreds of scholars alive.
The Qin dynasty is one of the best-known periods in Chinese history in the West because
of the 1974 discovery of thousands of life-size terracotta warriors. They were part of the vast
army guarding the tomb of Qin Shihuangdi. These figures were modeled after general
categories of soldiers, such as archers and infantrymen, but possessed some individual
characteristics as well. The warriors reflect Shihuangdi’s reliance on the military to create
and maintain a unified China and indicate his desire to retain a protective army in the
afterlife.
The Emperor’s major troubles came from the north. In southern Gobi desert, there were
nomadic people known to the Chinese as Xiognu and had mastered the art of riding horses.
Galloping on their horses, these nomads conducted a wide search for pasture lands for the
use of their cattles. The Xiognu nomads were organized loosely into tribes and moved with
the seasons from one pasture to another.
These people were also very skilled in fighting on horseback. They soon became a threat to
the Qin Empire by challenging northern farmers and other Chinese communities near the
northern frontier. Many Chinese states near the north started building walls to keep them
out (these walls and others built by succeeding dynasties and was then joined by the Ming
dynasty to form the Great Wall of China). Nevertheless, the nomads were very successful in
infantry battle.
The emperor responded to this by strengthening the existing system of walls to keep the
nomads out and thereby created the defensive wall project we now know as the Great Wall
of China. However, this wall isn’t the one we know from pictures because the project had
not been completed until 1500 years later under the Ming dynasty. Moreover, Qin
Shihuangdi did not begin the construction of the walls. Defensive walls against the nomads
had existed in various parts of North China had existed for years. Qin Shihuangdi only linked
the sections of the wall together to create “The wall of Ten Thousand Li” (a Li being a third of
a mile).
The construction of the wall required the efforts of thousands of laborers, many of which
died during the construction and were buried within the walls. The construction of the wall
gave the Emperor several victories but success was temporary. Over the next 2000 years the
wall site of northern China was a place of constant warfare.
The emperor had hope to crush the nomads and establish a rule that would be enjoyed by
his sins for ten thousand generations. The emperor had angered many of his people by the
constant execution and ruthless acts. He killed men like he could never finish and tortured
them as if the whole world would revolt against him.
Following the death of Qin Shihuangdi in 210 B.C, the Qin dynasty collapsed into chaos and
fell from power just 4 years later. In 206 B.C, China was reunited under the rule of the Han
dynasty (206 B.C–220 A.D).
Han Dynasty (206 B.C – 220 A.D)
Following a mass revolt in the Qin Empire in 210 B.C. and brief control by warlord Xiang Yu,
Liu Bang seized the title of emperor of the Han Dynasty in 202 B.C.
He established the Han capital of Chang’an along the Wei River in one of the few surviving
palaces of the Qin Dynasty and took the name Emperor Gaozu. The period of time where
Chang’an served as the capital of the empire known as the Western Han. It would last until
around 23 A.D.
Gaozu expressed his desire to discard the harsh policies of Qin dynasty. He abandoned the
use of cruel and unusual punishments that had been part of the law enforcement. He made
the Confucian principles became the official state ideology. This led to the revival of
Confucianism. Many Confucian texts had been confiscated by the Qin Dynasty and then
permanently lost when the imperial library was burned down in a civil war in 210 B.C. Fu
Sheng had saved The Book of Documents, and the Han Dynasty put forth a forceful effort to
round-up remaining Confucian documents. Some were in the possession of kings, while
others were found in the walls of Confucius’ home. This books were used to teach the five
Confucius classic in the imperial universities.
However, the new dynasty didn’t get rid of all the policies created by Qin. They kept
policies like the division of the central government. They also kept the system of local
government that divided the empire into provinces and counties.
They also continued the system of choosing government officials on the basis of merit
rather than birth. To create a regular system for officials, they introduced the civil service
examination and established a school to train candidates. This system was also used by
future dynasties. Students were expected to learn the teachings of Confucius, Chinese
history and law.
China under the Han was a vast empire. Population rapidly increased and reached 60
million from 20 million. The population growth created the need for a strong bureaucracy.
Gaozu immediately recognized a number of kingdoms in Ancient China but systematically
replaced many of the kings with members of his own Liu family before his death in 195 B.C.
The idea was to prevent rebellions, but the Liu family kings often tested the stamina of the
empire in favor of their own ambitions.
Following Gaozu’s death, the Empress Lu Zhi made an attempt to take control by murdering
a few of Gaozu’s sons. Lu Zhi also personally mutilated and murdered her mother and
Gaozu’s preferred mistress, Lady Qi, before throwing her body into a privy and showing it off
to visitors.
The power struggle lasted for 15 years, ending when Gaozu’s son, Emperor Wan,
slaughtered Lu Zhi’s family and became emperor.
The Han emperors, especially Han Wudi (Martial Emperor of Han) added the southern
regions below the Yangtze River into the empire. Along the coast of the South China Sea,
part of what is now northern Vietnam became part of the empire in 111 B.C. Han armies also
went westward into central Asia, extending the Chinese boundary there.
Despite of their land being conquered, the Vietnam still managed some of their social
values like: woman could inherit property and become political leaders. Two Vietnamese
sisters, Trung Trac and Trung Nhi were daughters of a powerful landowner and became well
known for their political leadership. The Trung sisters were able to remove Chinese
dominancy from their region and rose to power subsequently. During their reign they
eliminated taxes levied by the Chinese. Their rule, however, was short lived. In 42 A.D the
Han dynasty sent troops to restore Chinese control. To avoid capture, the Trung sisters took
their own lives by drowning in order to preserve their honors. They are still celebrated in
Vietnam as the leaders of the first revolt against the Chinese.
Han rulers held values in economic and social policies of their predecessors. They had a
firm belief in the benefit of peasant paying direct taxes to the central government. This
limited the power of noble families and increased the states revenue. Land taxes were fairly
light and peasants were treated far better during this period than during the Qin dynasty.
However, as time went on, many peasants were forced to sell their land and become
tenant farmers, who paid rents ranging up to half of the annual harvest. Land once again
came to be held in the hands of the powerful aristocrats. The nobles usually held extensive
land on which tenants worked. They used their military to force farmers into becoming
tenants. The nobles kept on committing horrific acts despite the attempts of the reformers.
The peasants continued to suffer and this is created a discontent in the hearts of many. They
eventually turned to violence due to their desire for change.
Although the discontent led to the eventual downfall of the dynasty, in general the period
was one of great prosperity. There was major expansion in trade and manufacturing, much
of which was led and directed by the government since it owned shipyards, made weapon
and controlled mining operations. The government eventually expanded from foreign trade
into an international trade with central and Southeast Asia. They even conducted trade with
states such as India and prosperous regions like the Mediterranean. Some of the long-
distance trade was carried by sea (southern port) but it was still majorly dominated by land
through caravan merchants.
 New technology added to the prosperity of the Han dynasty. Much progress was made in
areas such as textile manufacturing, water mills for grinding grain and iron casting. Iron
casting technology led to the innovation of steel. Paper was also developed under the Han
dynasty.
The trade on sea was possible due to the strong and large merchant ships built. Merchant
ships were enhanced by new inventions such as the rudder and fore-and-aft rigging, ships
could sail into the wind for the first time. This made it possible for Chinese merchant ships
carrying heavy cargoes to travel throughout the islands of the Southeast Asia and into the
Indian Ocean.
Another change during the Han dynasty was an increase in the importance of the family in
the Chinese system of life. The first Qin Emperor had tried to weaken the family, seeing
family loyalty as a threat to a strong monarch. However, the efforts of the Qin emperor to
weaken the family system ran into heavy opposition. Thus, the Han rulers, drawing on the
ideas of Confucianism, renewed the emphasis on the family. Under the Han rulers, the
family system began to take shape.

Silk Road
In 138 B.C., a man named Zhang Qian was sent on a mission by Emperor Wu to make
contact with tribes to the west. He and his party were captured by the Xiognu tribe, but
Zhang Qian escaped and continued west. He reached Afghanistan, in an area known as
Bactria, which was under Greek control.
In Bactria, Zhang Qian saw bamboo and textiles brought from China and asked how they
had gotten there. He was told that the items came from a kingdom in Afghanistan called
Shendu.
Thirteen years after he had left, Zhang Qian made his way back to the Emperor, told him of
what he had seen and mapped out a route to send an expedition back there. The map and
this route was used more and more, and developed into the international trade route known
as the Silk Road.

The Silk Road served as a bridge between people and cultures. Religious, intellectual,
scientific and artistic ideas, as well as disease, have been spread from one part of the world
to another by merchants who travelled from one region to another carrying goods. The Silk
Road mainly linked Chinese and Roman Empires.
In the time between 200 B.C and 100 A.D, caravan merchants from China and
Mediterranean countries were conducting constant trade. The trade stretched from
Chang’an, China and went across central Asia to Mesopotamia. The Silk Road got its name
from the most valuable exchanged, Silk. The road covered about four thousand miles. Men
and camels carried their goods and stopped in Syria at Antioch, a port city on the
Mediterranean. At Antioch, luxury goods from the west were traded for luxury goods from
the east. The eastern goods were then shipped across the Mediterranean to Greece and
Rome. Only luxury goods were carried on the Silk Road, because travel by camel was difficult
and dangerous and thus expensive.
Chinese merchants made large fortunes by sending luxury goods, such as silk, spices,
porcelain and lacquerware. These goods were exchanged for woolen and linen clothes, glass
and precious stones from the Roman Empire. Silk was especially desired by Romans, who
considered it worth its weight in gold. The Romans knew China as Serica, which means “land
of silk”.

Emperor Qin’s Terracotta Army

Workers digging a well outside the city of Xi'an, China, in 1974 struck upon one of
the greatest archaeological discoveries in the world: a life-size clay soldier poised for battle.
The diggers notified Chinese authorities, who dispatched government archaeologists to the
site.
They found not one, but thousands of clay soldiers, each with unique facial expressions and
positioned according to rank. And though largely gray today, patches of paint hint at once
brightly colored clothes. Further excavations have revealed swords, arrow tips, and other
weapons, many in pristine condition.
The soldiers are in trench like, underground corridors. In some of the corridors, clay horses
are aligned four abreast; behind them are wooden chariots.
The terra-cotta army, as it is known, is part of an elaborate mausoleum created to
accompany the first emperor of China into the afterlife, according to archaeologists.
During his rule, Qin standardized coins, weights, and measures; interlinked the states with
canals and roads; and is credited for building the first version of the Great Wall.
According to writings of court historian Siam Qian during the following Han dynasty, Qin
ordered the mausoleum's construction shortly after taking the throne. More than 700,000
laborers worked on the project, which was halted in 209 B.C. amid uprisings a year after
Qin's death.
To date, four pits have been partially excavated. Three are filled with the terra-cotta soldiers,
horse-drawn chariots, and weapons. The fourth pit is empty, a testament to the original
unfinished construction.
Archaeologists estimate the pits may contain as many as 8,000 figures, but the total may
never be known.
Qin's tomb itself remains unexcavated, though Siam Qian's writings suggest even greater
treasures.
Experimental pits dug around the tomb have revealed dancers, musicians, and acrobats full
of life and caught in mid-performance, a sharp contrast to the military poses of the famous

terra-cotta soldiers.

Culture in Qin and Han China

The Qin and Han dynasties were also known for their cultural achievements. The key works
of the Confucian school were made into a set of Confucian classics. The classics introduced
student and children to the behavior they would need as adults.
During the Han, writing of history became the chief form of literary effort. The major
histories of the period written by Sima Quan and Ban Gu. These works combined political
and social history with biographies of key figures. The primary purpose was moral and
political. They intended to help rulers learn from mistakes of past rulers.
Ban Gu’s sister, Ban Zhao was a prominent figure as well. Her life was an exception the
belief that women were primarily mothers and homemakers. But even she wrote, “To
behave properly in serving her husband; to be serene and self-possessed, shunning jests and
laughter… this is called being worthy of continuing the husbands lineage.”
Another form of culture of the period was music. The first musical instrument used was a
set of Bamboo pipes. Other musical instruments such as flute, various stringed instruments,
bells and chimes and drums were used in this period of Chinese history.
In China music was not seen as a means of pleasure but as a means of setting political order
and refining character. In fact, music may have originated as a means of helping with sacred
rituals at the royal court. Later it became its own entity and was accompanied with singing
and dancing.

The fall of the Han Empire

Over a period of time, the Han Empire began to fall into decay. As weak rulers amused
themselves with the pleasure of court life, the power of the central government began to
decline. Great noble families used this chance amass vast land estates and forcing farmers
into being their tenants. Corruption of officials and the concentration of land in the hands of
the wealthy led to the widespread of peasant unrest. Many conflicts, civil wars and mass
murders took places. The harsh reality of the time is proved by the population dropping
from sixty million (Based on Chinas first census in 2nd A.D) to less than twenty million in 200
years.
The Han was also struck by raids from nomads on Chinese territory from the north. At one
point, a group of invaders reached the gates of the capital city at Chang’an.
By 170 A.d, wars, intrigues at the court and peasant uprisings brought the virtual collapse
of the Han. In 189, rebel armies sacked the Han capital, Chang’an. The final blow came in
220, when a general seized control. He was unable to maintain his power for long and he
was overthrown. China again dipped into civil war, made worse by invasions of northern
tribal people. The next great dynasty did not rise until four hundred years later.

Europe
Greece
Ancient Greece was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization that existed from the 12th-
9thc B.C the end of the times of the ancient world (600 A.D). Ancient Greece was comprised
of culturally and linguistically related city states and other territories. The only time most of
these regions were officially united was for 13 years, under Alexander the Great’s empire
from 336-323 B.C.
A group of Greek speaking Indo-Europeans had moved into Greece from the north at
around 1900 B.C but “Greece” wasn’t an actual entity yet. Greece emerged in the 8 thc B.C
from the Dark Ages which followed the fall of the Mycenaean civilization. In the Dark Ages,
Literacy had been lost and the Mycenaean scripts had been forgotten, but the Greeks
adopted the Phoenician alphabet and modified it into the Greek alphabet. The fact that the
Greeks had used the Phoenician alphabet for a time is evident in the objects found in Greece
that were inscribed with Phoenician writing dating back to the 9 thc B.C. The earliest evidence
of Greek writing comes from graffiti’s on Greek pottery from the mid-8thc B.C.

Greece: The Impact of Geography

Geography played a huge role in the development of Greek history. A compared to ancient
Egypt and Mesopotamia early Greece had controlled a very small territory filled with
mountains spread across a forty five thousand square mile of territory. Greece also
consisted of plains and river valleys most of which were surrounded by mountains ranges of
eight thousand to ten thousand feet high. The sea also had a great impact on the Greece
society since some of the Greeks also lived on islands to the west, south and east. Even later
the mountains and seas affected the Greek settlement. Greece was divided into many small
self-governing states in a pattern largely dictated by geography.
 The first Greek state
Mycenaean Greek
The civilization was found by Indo-European families that spread from their original location
in the Steppe region north of the Black sea into Western Europe, India and Iran. It existed in
the last phase of the Bronze Age (1750-1050). It was the first advanced and distinctively
Greek civilization in mainland Greece with urban organization, works of art and a writing
system. It’s assumed that civilization came to life after their contact with Mediterranean
cultures which helped them develop a sophisticated sociopolitical culture of their own. The
most prominent state throughout the civilization was Mycenae, after which the civilization
and culture of this age is named. Some other states included Pylos, Tiryns, Midea in the
Peloponnese, Orchomenos, Thebes, and Athens in central Greece and Lolcos in Thessaly.
Some forms of Mycenaean settlements also appeared in Epirus, Macedonia, on the islands in
the Aegean Sea, on south west coast of Asia Minor, Cyprus, Levant and Italy.
The Mycenaean’s lived as a warrior people which prided themselves in heroic act in battle.
It is assumed that this civilization reached its peak in between 1700 and 1200 B.C.
It followed a place-centric administrative system, economy and Culture. They were highly
skilled in Cyclopean Masonry and storing of scripts.
The gradual fall of the Mycenaean civilization came during the late 13thc B.C. The states
fought against one another while also being victims of consecutive earthquakes. The
civilization finally collapsed in 1100 B.C.

The Greeks in the Dark Ages (1100-750 B.C)

The Greek dark ages is a period stretching from the fall of the Mycenaean civilization to the
beginning of the Archaic. Most of the Bronze Age Civilization had collapse along with
Mycenae in the Eastern Mediterranean world at the outset of the period, as the great
palaces and cities of the Mycenaean’s were destroyed or abandoned. Cities like Gaza were
destroyed by Troy and the Kingdom had also collapsed in Egypt.
The Dark Ages for Greece were a hard time since population and food supply had dropped.
It was only after 850 B.C that farming had revived.
During the Dark Ages, large number of Greeks left the mainland and sailed across the
Aegean Sea to various islands. In this Islands they made use of iron to make weapons.
In the 8thc B.C the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet providing themselves with a
new writing system.
 The dark ages wasn’t only a time of decline in fact, the latter age held some great events.
The first Olympics was held in 776 B.C and the composition of the Homeric epics like Lilad
and the Odyssey. The Homeric epics were a collection of poems of early Greece which were
based on stories that had been passed from generation to generation. The Lilad was based
on the stories of the great Greek warrior Achilles while the Odyssey was based on the story
of King Odysseus of Ithaca, who wanders for 10 years trying to get home after the Trojan
War.

The polis as the center

Polis means ‘city’ in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and
religious city center as distinct from the rest of the city. Later it also came to mean the body
of citizens under a city’s jurisdiction. In modern historiography the term is normally used to
refer to the ancient Greek city states such as classical Athens and its contemporaries. The
polis were not like other primordial ancient city states such as Tyre or Sidon, which were
ruled by a king or a small oligarchy; rather, they were political entities ruled by their bodies
of citizens.
The Ancient Greek polis developed during the Archaic period as the ancestors of the
Ancient Greek city, state and citizenship and persisted well into Roman times, when the
equivalent Latin world was Civitas which meant ‘citizen hood’ whilst municipium in Latin
meant a non-sovereign town or city.
The Ancient Greek term meant the totality of urban buildings and spaces is asty. The
Ancient Greek polis consisted of an asty built on acropolis or harbor and controlling
surrounding territories of land. As according to Plato the best possible polis was the one that
leads to the common good.
The polis served as central part where people could meet for political, social and religious
activities. Acropolis served as a place of refuge during an attack and sometimes came to be
the religious center one which temples and public buildings were built. Below an acropolis
was an agora, an open place that served both as a place where citizens could assemble and
shop at markets.
The city state varied in size and population. There were over 1,000 city states in ancient
Greece, but the main one were Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Thebes, Syracuse, Aegina, Rhodes,
Argos, Eretria and Elis. Athens had a population of over 300,000 by the 5thc B.C. However,
most city states were small consisting of only a few hundred to seven thousand people. The
polis consisted of citizens with political rights (adult males) and citizens with no political
rights (women and children) and non-citizens (slaves).

Greek Colonization Abroad

In between 750 and 550 B.C, many Greeks travelled and settle in distant lands. This was
because of their desire for good farmlands and the growth of trade. This movement
established many colonies and these colonies became new polis which were independent of
the polis that had founded them.
In the Mediterranean the Greeks colonized the coasts of southern Italy, southern France,
eastern Spain and northern Africa west of Egypt.

Sparta
Sparta was one of the prominent city states located in Laconia. In ancient times its name
was Lacedaemon. Sparta was a settlement on the banks of the Eurotas River in Laconia, in
southeastern Peloponnese. At around 650 B.C Sparta became the most dominant military
land power in ancient Greece. Just as the other states Sparta was faced with the need for
more land. However, Sparta didn’t send its people abroad instead, starting from 740 B.C,
Sparta conquered the neighboring state of Messina, Italy despite the states large size and
population. After 600 B.C, Sparta transformed itself into a military camp. The lives of the
Spartans became rigid and military based. The Spartans spent their entire life time in military
service. Spartans were trained with combat and military skills since childhood (the age of 7)
until the age of sixty. The Spartans also had a simple meal ration. They usually ate Pork
chops boiled in salt and vinegar. In Sparta, only Spartan males were allowed to vote in
assembly. Spartan women usually stayed at home and had a greater freedom of movement
than those in the other states.

The Spartan and Athenian Models

Despite having common Greek origins this two city states had different political systems.
They also followed different systems and methods of raising children. In Sparta boys were
trained to be soldiers. At birth children were examined by church officials decide whether or
not the child was fit to live or not. Those who were deemed unfit were left in the open on a
mountainside to die while children who were deemed fit were taken from their mother at
the age of seven and put under control of the state. These children lived in military style
barracks where they were subjected to harsh disciplinary measures. They were also taught
boxing, swimming, wrestling, and javelin-throwing, discuss throwing, cultivating skills,
stealth, and pain tolerance, dancing, singing and developing loyalty to the Spartan state.
Apart from the Spartites who were exempted from manual labor and controlled the
government of the state the Spartan army didn’t have ranks. “Spartan don’t have ranks
because Spartan is your rank.” The Spartan soldiers were armored with flanged bronze
cuirasses, leg greaves and a helmet often of the Corinthian type. These soldiers were split
into units.

Unit Strength Commander

Stratos 6,912 King
Mora 1,152 Polemarchs
Lochos 288 Lochagoi
Pentecostys 144 Pentecosteres
Encomotia 36(3x12) Enomotiarch

The chain of command was linear. Gods passed unto the Kings, The kings unto Polemarchs,
The polemarchs unto the Spartiates and the Spartites unto the light armed skirmishers.
The soldiers of Sparta were known as the best in all of Greece. Due to their fame in
strength the Spartan soldiers were appointed as the leading force of the unified Greco-
Persian wars and also listed as the number one enemy and rival to Athenian power.
The girls of Sparta also underwent physical training in order to strengthen them for their
role as mothers.
On the other hand Athenian citizens raised their children very differently. The children
were carefully nurtured by their mothers until the age of seven. After reaching seven a boy
of the upper class was turned over to a male servant, known as Peolagogue, who became
the Childs constant companion until his late teens. The peolagogue was responsible for the
child and accompanied him to school and taught him good manners. The education of the
children focused on creating a well-rounded son. The boys had three teachers each. One for
reading, writing and arithmetic. Another for physical education and the last for music.
Formal Athenian education was only for boys, the girls remained at home. Nevertheless,
some mothers taught their children how to read and write.

Athens
Athens became the leading city of Ancient Greece in the first millennium B.C, and its
cultural achievements during the 5thc B.C laid the foundation for the western civilization.
 Early Athens used to be ruled by a king and by the 7thc B.C it had become an oligarchy. The
aristocrats had control of all the good lands and had a political power which they were able
to use at councils.
At the end of the 7thc was in a bad state due to economic and political problems. Many
farmers became slaves because they were unable to pay their debts and Athens was on the
verge of civil war. This problems were solved in 594 B.C after the ruling aristocrats gave full
power to a man name Solon. Solon was a reform minded aristocrat who made many
changes. He canceled all land debts and freed the slaves. In 560 B.C a new aristocrat came to
power by the name of Pisistratus. He revived the Athenian trade and was very popular
among the merchants because he had taken the land from the nobles and given it to the
merchants and peasants. He gained popular support among the poor. Pisistratus was
succeeded by his son but he didn’t rule because he was rebelled against and his tyranny
ended in 510 B.C. Following him a man named Cleisthenes came to power. He was another
reformer just like those before him. He formed a council of five hundred that supervised
foreign officials, the treasury and proposed the law that would be voted on by the assembly.
This reform he made created the foundation for the Athenian democracy.
The Athenian democracy was developed around the 6thc B.C in Athens and the surrounding
land of Attica. Although Athens was the famous democratic city state, it was not the only
one nor the first. Multiple other cities had adopted similar democratic constitutions before
Athens.
Athens practiced a political system of legislation and executive bills. Participation was open
to adult and free male citizens (30% of the total adult population). The Athenian democracy
elected rulers. The longest lasting ruler elected by a democracy was Pericles. After his death
the democracy was interrupted twice by oligarchical revolutions in 411 and 404 B.C. The
Periclean democratic system was again interrupted by Macedonia in 322 B.C.
The council of 500 represented the full time government of Athens. It consisted of 500
citizens, 10 from each of the ten Athenian tribes, who served for one year. The council could
issue decrees on its own, regarding certain matters, but its main function was to prepare
agendas for meetings of the Assembly.
The Assembly was a place of discussion and liberty of ideas. It gave a regular opportunity
for all male citizens of Athens to speak their minds and exercise their votes regarding the
government of their city. Ecclesia was a place of assembly of the citizens in the city states of
ancient Greece.
 Golden Age of Greece (5thc B.C)
It was a period of around 200 years in Greece. It marked much of Greece culture gaining
independence from the Persian Empire, the peak of democratic Athens, the first and second
Peloponnesian war, the Theban hegemony and the expansion of Macedonia under Philip II.
It was the period of Greece’s development in politics, architecture and sculpture, scientific
thought, theatre, literature and philosophy of the western civilization. It also expresses the
period of Greek history which had a powerful influence on the later Roman Empire. This era
of classical antiquity came to an end after Philip II’s unification of most of Greek against the
common enemy, the Persian Empire which was conquered within 13 years during the wars
of Alexander the Great.

The challenge of Persia

The Persian went to Greece three times and fought three huge battles. The battle of
Marathon (king Darius) in 490 B.C, Thermoplyae (vs Leonaids I) in 480 B.C and Salamis (naval
battle) in 480 B.C. Each time they came the Persians were convinced it would be an easy
battle and that they would conquer Greece but they were drove away. The Persians then
learned that the Greeks were incredible warriors.

The Growth of an Athenian Empire

In the Age of Pericles
After the win over Persians, Athens became the leading power of Greece. In 417 Athens
and the other city states formed a military alliance called the Dilean league under the
leadership of Athens. The main purpose of this alliance was to counter any future attacks
from Persia as one.
The Athens strongly dominated the Dilean league. In 454 B.C they furthered their
dominance by moving the leagues treasury to Athens. This control of the Dilean league
helped Athens in the formation of an Athenian empire.
The Athens of the time was led by Pericles and his politics. Pericles was a dominant figure
in the politics of Athens between 461 and 429 B.C. He expanded the new Athenian Empire
abroad and also helped in the flourishment of Athenian democracy. A deep affection to
democracy was present in his reign and any man above the age of 18 was able to freely
express his idea.
 The Great Peloponnesian War
And the decline of the Greek states
The Peloponnesian was an ancient Greek war fought between Athens and Sparta and
their respective allies for the control of the Greek world and the Dilean league. The war
remained dormant and undecided until the intervention of Persia in the support of Persia.
The Spartan fleet led by Lysander and supported by Persia defeated Athens and started a
period of Spartan Hegemony over Greece.
The phases of the war are divided into three. The first phase (432-421 B.C) was named the
Ten Years War, or the Archidamian war, after the Spartan king Archidamus II, who launched
several invasions of Attica with the full Hoplite army of the Peloponnesian league, the
alliance that was dominated by Sparta. However, Athens’ long walls made the attack
ineffective. While on the coast the strong Athenian navy of the dillean league conducted
attacks. Peace of Nicias was signed in 421 but minor wars were still conducted. The Sicillian
Expedition was a major event in this phase, Athens lost almost all its navy in the attempted
capture of Syacruse, an ally of Sparta.
The third phases was named the Decelean war or the Ionian war, when the Persian Empire
supported Sparta in order to recover the control of the Greek cities of Asia Minor,
incorporated into the Dillean League at the end of the Persian wars. With Persian money,
Sparta built a massive fleet under the leadership of Lysander, who won a streak of decisive
victories in the Aegean Sea. Athens was then able to further resist enemy attacks and hence
lost all its empire. Lysander then imposed puppet oligarchies on the former members of the
Dilean League and Athens known as the Thirty-Tyrants. The Peloponnesian war was followed
by the Corinthian war which helped Athens regain its independence.

The effects of the Peloponnesian war

 Athens, a once great city state was turned into a state of new-complete subjection
while Sparta became the leading power in the Greek world.
 Economic cost of the war gave way to the spread of poverty.
 Greece became dominate by an Oligarchy.
 It marked the dramatic end of the Golden age of Greece.

Decline of Sparta
The Peloponnesian war had left Sparta as the dominant power in Greece. However, the
war had also taken a toll on Sparta, and in the following years, the city began to decline.
Sparta’s population decreased and its economy was no longer able to support its large
army. In addition, many of Sparta’s allies became resentful of its dominance, and they began
to rebel against Spartan rule. By the mid-fourth century B.C, Sparta’s power had declined
significantly, and it was no longer the dominant force in Greece.
Although the Spartans were often held up as an example of military prowess and strength,
they were not invincible. In fact, the Spartan state was eventually brought down by a
number of factors, including internal strife, economic decline and foreign invasion.
Sparta’s military dominance came to an end with its defeat at the Battle of Leuctra in 371
B.C. The city-state continued to decline in power over the next few centuries, culminating in
its incorporation into the Roman Empire in 146 B.C.
Despite its eventual fall from power, Sparta remains one of the most iconic and influential
societies of antiquity. Its legacy can be seen in many modern militaries, which continue to
promote the values of discipline courage, and patriotism that were first espoused by ancient
Spartans.

Classical Athens
Classical Athens was a major urban center of the other polis of the same time. Athens was
located in Attica, Greece. They also led the Dilean League in the Peloponnesian war against
Sparta and the Peloponnesian league. The Athenian democracy was established in 508 B.C
under Cleisthenes following the tyranny of Isagoras. This system remained remarkably
stable, and with a few brief interruptions remained in place for 180 years, until 322 B.C. The
peak of Athenian was achieved in the Age of Pericles.
In the classical period, Athens was a center for the arts, learning and philosophy. It was also
home of Plato’s Academy and Aristotle’s Lyceum, Athens was also the birthplace of Socrates,
Plato, Pericles, Aristophanes, Sophocoles and many other prominent philosophers, writers
and politicians of the ancient world. It is widely referred to as the cradle of western
civilization, and the birthplace of democracy, largely due to the impact of its cultural and
political achievements during the 5th and 4thc B.C on the then known Europe.
Athens had also become the chief producer of painted pottery using slave labor.
Many religious festivals were also conduct from time to time.

Religions of Greece
Religious practices in ancient Greece were a collection of beliefs, rituals and mythology, in
the form of both popular public religion and cult practices. It’s unknown if the different Gods
worshipped belong to different religion but according to Herodotus the Hellenes had
common shrines of the gods and sacrifices and the same kinds of customs.
 Most ancient Greeks recognized 12 major Olympian gods and goddesses- Zeus was the god
of the sky and thunder, Hera was the goddess of marriage, Poseidon was the god of the
oceans, Demeter goddess of harvest, Athena was the goddess of wisdom and warfare, Ares
was the god the underworld, Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty, Artemis was
the goddess of the wilderness, Apollo was the god of music and archery, Hephaestus was the
god of blacksmiths, Hermes was the messenger god and Hestia was the goddess of Hearth.
Athena was worshipped in Athens and had a temple there. Ritual was important activity
because the people wanted the gods to look down on their actions honorably and not send
them into eternal damnation in the underworld which was ruled by the god Hades. In the
Hellenes religion prayer was usually accompanied with gifts to the gods based on the
principle “I give so that you will give”. Rituals also meant sacrifices. Festivals also developed
as a way to honor the gods and goddesses. The festivals were held at specials like Worship of
Zeus at Olympia or to Apollo at Delphi. The first Olympics games were held during the
Olympia festival in 776 B.C. The Greeks were eager to know the will of the gods and so they
made use of oracles, a sacred shrine dedicated to a god or goddess and used to reveal the
future.

The Classical Ideals of Greek art

Greek dominated the art in the classical period. The classical style focused on the balance
and harmony of all things and was meant to civilize and express emotions and feelings. The
classical Greek architecture was characterized by Tall columns, intricate detail, symmetry,
harmony and balance. The Greeks built all sorts of buildings. These buildings made use of
five orders – Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Tuscan and Composite. These orders were also later
used in Roman times. The first three were created by Greeks and the last two were hugely
influenced by them. The orders didn’t make use of arches until the times of the Roman
Empire.
The Doric order is recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of columns. It
originated in the western Doric region of Greece, It is the earliest and in its essence, the
simplest of the orders, though still with complex details in the entablature. The Doric column
was fluted or smooth surfaced and had no base, dropping straight into the stylobate or
platform on which the building stood.
The Ionic order has the second narrowest columns next to the Corinthian order. The Ionic
capital is characterized by the use of Volutes. The ionic columns normally stand on a base
which separates the shaft of the column from the stylobate or platform while the capital is
usually enriched with egg-and-dart.
 The Corinthian order is the last developed of the three orders. It follows the Ionic in every
respect rather than the capitals of the columns. It is the most decorative and ornate of the
orders. It is characterized by slender fluted columns and elaborate capitals decorated with
acanthus leaves and scrolls. It was developed in the Greek city of Corinth.

Alexander the Great

Alexander III of Macedon or commonly known as Alexander the Great was a king of ancient
Greece and Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to the throne in 336 B.C at the age of
20, and spent most of his ruling years conducting a lengthy military campaign throughout
western Asia and Egypt. By the age of 30, he had created one of the largest empires in
history, stretching from Greece to North western India. He was undefeated in all of his battle
and is widely considered to be one of history’s greatest and most successful military
commanders. From the age of 13 to the age of 16 he was tutored by Aristotle. In 335 B.C
shortly after his assumption of kingship over Macedon, he campaigned in the Balkans and
reasserted control over Thebes, which was subsequently destroyed. Alexander then led the
League of Corinth and used his authority to launch the Pan-Hellenic project formulated by
his late father, Philip, assuming leadership over all Greeks in their conquest of Persia.
In 334 B.C he invaded the Persian Empire and began a series of campaigns that lasted for 10
years. After his conquest of Asia Minor he overthrew Darius III and conquered the Persian
Empire. After this Macedonian Empire held control over the Adriatic Sea and Indus River.
In 326 B.C he invaded India and defeated King Porus of Punjab.
His troops started complaining because they were homesick and so he turned back but died
in Babylon before reaching home in 323 B.C. His cause of death is assumed to be Typhoid
Fever.
His death marked the start of the Hellenistic dynasty. Alexander’s legacy included the
cultural diffusion and syncretism that his conquests created such as Greco-Buddhism and
Hellenistic Judaism. He also founded more than twenty cities in Egypt, the most famous of
them all being the city of Alexandria. The Greek language became the Lingua Franca. He
became a legendary classical hero in the mould of Achilles. His war tactics are studied in
universities up to date.

The Hellenistic Period (323-30 B.C)

This age covers the time in Mediterranean history after classical Greece, between the
death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C to the death of Cleopatra VII which was followed by
the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 31 B.C and the
conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt. The word “Hellenistic” is derived from the name of Greece,
Hellas. “Hellenic” refers to only Greek itself while “Hellenistic” refers to all ancient territories
under Greek influence (The Mediterranean and the east after Alexander the Greats
conquest.
During the Hellenistic period, Greek cultural influence and power reached its peak in the
Mediterranean and beyond. Prosperity and progress in arts, literature, theatre, architecture,
music, mathematic, philosophy and science characterize the era. The Hellenistic period saw
the rise of New Comedy, Alexandrian poetry, Septuagint and the philosophies of Stoicism,
Epicureanism and Pyrrhonism. In science the works of Euclid and Archimedes are exemplary.
The religious sphere expanded to include new gods such as the Greco-Egyptian Serapis,
eastern gods like Attis and Cybele and Buddhism from northwest India.
Soon after Alexander’s death, the united empire he had created fell apart due to the most
important Macedon generals being engaged in a struggle for power. By 300 B.C the situation
had gotten worse and any hope for unity had died. Eventually four Hellenistic kingdoms rose
as successors to Alexander. Macedonia and Syria in the east and the kingdom of Pergamum
in western Asia Minor, and Egypt. These kingdoms had strong bases and lasted for a while
before being conquered by Rome.
The main goal of Alexander was to merge Macedonia, Greece and the eastern regions into
one by using Persian as officials and encouraging his soldiers to marry native women. On the
other hand, his Hellenistic successors relied on Macedonians and Greeks to form the ruling
class. For any eastern to ascend to important government posts, he/she had to learn Greek.
The Greek ruling class were permanent rulers and couldn’t be deposed from their positions
since they were so determined to keep it.
In his conquest, Alexander had created many new cities and military settlements. This was
carried on by his successors. The population centers of the Hellenistic period were of various
size and population. Military settlements were usually established to maintain order and
consisted of around a few hundred men. There were also new independent cities liked
Alexandria in Egypt. This city was the largest city in the Mediterranean region by the first
century B.C. The city held many monuments within it, like: Lighthouse of Alexandria and the
library of Alexandria. The lighthouse stood on the island of Pharos in the harbor of
Alexandria and is said to have been more than 110 meters high. The lighthouse was built to
guide thousands of ships safely into the harbor. During the day, a reflective mirror on the
top level of the lighthouse would reflect the sunlight to guide the ships. At night, a fire was
used instead. It’s said that it was so effective that it could be seen from 100 miles out to sea.
The great library of Alexandria was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the
ancient world which used to house over 500,000. The library was part of a larger research
institution called the Mouseion, which was dedicated to Muses, the nine goddesses of the
arts. The library is said to have been destroyed when Caesar was cut off by a large fleet of
Egyptian boats in the harbor of Alexandria and he ordered the boats to be burned. The fleet
was destroyed, but the flames spread to the city and the library.
The rulers of the Hellenistic period encouraged Greek colonialism over the Middle East.
Greeks not only made up huge portions of the army but also provided recruits for the civilian
administration and workers who contributed to economic development. With the rising
demands of architects, engineers, dramatists and actors in the newly colonized Greek cities,
the Macedonians and Greeks got new opportunities to raise massive fortunes. The Greek
cities of the Hellenistic age came to be the chief agents in the spread of Greek culture in the
Middle East (As far as Afghanistan and India).
Due to the size of the encompassed land, the only unifying force was the spread of Greek
culture. The Hellenistic period was an age of many cultural accomplishments in areas of
philosophy and science. Cities like Alexandria served as centers for poets, writers,
philosophers and scientists.
The founding of new cities provided many opportunities for Greek architects and sculptors.
Many of the kings were willing to spend a huge sum of money to beautify the cities under
their rule. The streets of these cities were often lined with home land baths, theatres and
temples.
Sculptors of this period were patronized. Thousands of statues were built in towns and
cities. Many of the classical period artistry skills were maintained but the Hellenistic artisans
stayed away from classicism and chose a more sensible way of expression of deep emotions.
The most famous of the earlier astronomers of this time was Aristarchus of Samos (310-230
B.C.), who is sometimes called the "Hellenistic Copernicus." As a result of his discovery that
the apparent immobility of the "fixed" stars is due to their vast distance from the earth, he
was the first to have any adequate conception of the enormous size of the universe. But his
chief title to fame comes from his deduction that the earth and the other planets revolve
around the sun. Unfortunately this deduction was not accepted by his successors. It
conflicted with the teachings of Aristotle and with the anthropocentric ideas of the Greeks.
Besides, it was not in harmony with the beliefs of the Jews and other Orientals who made up
so large a percentage of the Hellenistic population. The only other astronomer of much
importance in the Hellenistic Age was Hipparchus, who did his most valuable work in
Alexandria in the latter half of the second century B.C. His chief contributions were the
invention of the astrolabe, the preparation of the best chart of the heavens known to
antiquity, the approximately correct calculation of the diameter of the moon and its distance
from the earth, and the discovery of the precession of the equinoxes. His fame was
eventually overshadowed, however, by the reputation of Ptolemy of Alexandria, the last of
the Hellenistic astronomers. Although Ptolemy made few original discoveries, he
systematized the work of others. His principal writing, the Almagest, based upon the
geocentric theory, was handed down to medieval Europe as the classic summary of ancient
astronomy.
Closely allied with astronomy were two other sciences, mathematics and geography. The
Hellenistic mathematician of greatest renown was of course Euclid (323 -
285 B.C), erroneously considered the founder of geometry. Until the middle of the
nineteenth century his Elements of Geometry remained the accepted basis for the study of
that branch of mathematics. Much of the material in this work was not original but was
compiled as a synthesis of the discoveries of others. The most original of the Hellenistic
mathematicians was probably Hipparchus, who laid the foundations of both plane and
spherical trigonometry. Hellenistic geography owed most of its development to
Eratosthenes (276-194 B.C), astronomer, poet, philologist, and librarian of Alexandria. By
means of sun dials placed some hundreds of miles apart, he calculated the circumference of
the earth with an error of less than 200 miles. He produced the most accurate map that had
yet been devised, with the surface of the earth divided into degrees of latitude and
longitude. He propounded the theory that all of the oceans are really one, and he was the
first to suggest the possibility of reaching India by sailing west. One of his successors divided
the earth into the five climatic zones which are still recognized and explained the ebb and
flow of the tides as due to the influence of the moon.
Perhaps none of the Hellenistic advances in science surpassed in importance the progress in
medicine. Especially significant was the work of Herophilus of Chalcedon, who conducted his
researches in Alexandria about the beginning of the third century. Without question he was
the greatest anatomist of antiquity and, according to Galen, the first to practice human
dissection. Among his most important achievements were a detailed description of the
brain, with an attempt to distinguish between the functions of its various parts; the
discovery of the significance of the pulse and its use in diagnosing illness; and the discovery
that the arteries contain blood alone, not a mixture of blood and air as Aristotle had taught,
and that their function is to carry blood from the heart to all parts of the body. The value of
this last discovery in laying the basis for a knowledge of the circulation of the blood can
hardly be overestimated.
The ablest of the successors of Herophilus was Erasistratus, who nourished in Alexandria
about the middle of the third century. He is considered the founder of physiology as a
separate science. Not only did he practice dissection, but he is believed to have gained a
great deal of his knowledge of bodily functions from vivisection. He discovered the valves of
the heart, distinguished between motor and sensory nerves, and taught that the ultimate
branches of the arteries and veins are connected. He was the first to reject absolutely the
humoral theory of disease and to condemn excessive blood-letting as a method of cure.
Unfortunately this theory was revived by Galen, the great encyclopedist of medicine who
lived in the Roman Empire in the second century A.D.
Prior to the third century B.C physics had been a branch of philosophy. It was made a
separate experimental science by Archimedes of Syracuse. Archimedes discovered the law of
floating bodies or specific gravity and formulated with scientific exactness the principles of
the lever, the pulley, and the screw. Among his memorable inventions were the compound
pulley, the tubular screw for pumping water, the screw propeller for ships, and the burning
lens. Although he has been called the "technical Yankee of antiquity," there is evidence that
he set no high value upon his ingenious mechanical contraptions and preferred to devote his
time to pure scientific research. It is also said that he had discovered specific gravity by
observing the water he displaced in his bath.
Certain other individuals in the Hellenistic Age were quite willing to give all their attention to
applied science. Pre-eminent among them was Hero or Heron of Alexandria, who lived in the
last century B.C. The record of inventions credited to him almost passes belief. The list
includes a fire engine, a siphon, a force pump, a hydraulic organ, and a slot machine, a
catapult operated by compressed air, a thermoscope, and even a steam engine. How many
of these inventions were really his own is impossible to say, but there appears to be no
question that such contrivances were actually in existence in his time or soon thereafter.
Nevertheless, the total progress in applied science was comparatively slight, probably for the
reason that human labor continued to be so abundant and cheap that it was not worthwhile
to substitute the labor of machines.
 Classical Greek Philosophy and Hellenistic Philosophy
The most famous classical Greek Philosophers were Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Socrates
was a Greek philosopher from Athens and is credited as the founder of western philosophy
and is among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. He was an
enigmatic figure in his day. He authored no texts and is known from accounts of Classical
writers and his students Plato and Xenophon. These accounts are written as dialogues in
which Socrates and his students examine a subject in the style of question and answer; this
gave rise to the Socratic dialogue literary genre. Contradictions make it difficult to define his
philosophy. In 399 B.C he was accused of impiety and corrupting the youth. After a trial that
lasted a day, he was sentenced to death. He spent his lasts days in prison, refusing offers to
help him escape. Plato was a Greek philosopher born in Athens. Plato founded the Academy,
a philosophical school where he taught the philosophical doctrines that became known as
Platonism. His actual name was Aristocles, son of Ariston. Plato was just a pen name derived
from his nickname which was given to him by his wrestling coach. His most famous work is
the Theory of forms (solution to problems of Universals). He is also the namesake of Platonic
love and Platonic solids. Aristotle was a Greek Philosopher and Polymath and was a student
of the remarkable Plato. His writings covered a broad range of subjects including: physics,
biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, drama, music, rhetoric,
psychology, linguistics, economics, politics, meteorology, geology and government. He is also
the founder of Peripatetic school of philosophy.
Athens remained the center of Greek philosophy throughout the period while Alexandria
became a center of art.
The most influential philosophers of the Hellenistic age were Zeno of Citium and Epicurus.
The major work of Zeno is the development of the Philosophy of stoics known as Stoicism.
Stoicism teaches the development of self-control and a means of overcoming destructive
emotions. Epicurus’ major work is the formulation of Epicureanism. Epicureanism is a school
of philosophy that rejected determinism and advocated hedonism (pleasure as the highest
good) but of a restrained kind.

The Roman Republic (respublica Romana)

In the first millennium B.C a group of Latin speaking Indo-European people built a small
community on a plain called Latium in the Italian peninsula of Rome. Rome was one of the
many Latin speaking communities in Latium. Rome was founded by twin brothers Romulus
and Remus in 735. The settlement then grew to be the Roman Kingdom in the latter ages.
The image of she-wolf suckling the twins in their infancy has been a symbol of the city of
Rome and the ancient Romans since at least the 3rdc B.C. Although the takes place before
the founding of Rome around 750 B.C, the earliest known written account of the myth is
from the late 3rdc B.C. Possible historical bases for the story, and interpretations of its
various local variants, are subjects of ongoing debate.
The Roman Republic was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman
civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. It began
with the overthrow of the Roman kingdom (dated to 509 B.C) and ending in 27 B.C with the
establishment of the Roman Empire, Rome’s control rapidly expanded during this period
from the city’s immediate surroundings to a hegemony over the entire Mediterranean
world.
Roman society under the Republic was primarily a cultural mix of Latin and Etruscan
societies, as well as of Sabine, Oscan and Greek cultural elements which is especially visible
in the Ancient Roman religion and its Pantheon. Its political organization developed at
around the same time as direct democracy in Greece, with collective and magistracies,
overseen by a senate. The Roman Senate was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient
Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in
the first days of the city of Rome. The senate usually served for life. It survived the
overthrow of the Roman Monarchy (Roman Kingdom), the fall of the Roman Republic and
the division of the Roman Empire and the fall off the Western Roman Empire. The top
magistrates were the two Consuls, who had an extensive range of executive, legislative.
Judicial, military and religious powers. A consul held the highest elected political office of the
Roman Republic. The consul was seen as the second highest level of cursus honorum (an
ascending sequence of the public offices to which politicians aspired) after that of the
censor. Each year the Centuriate assembly elected two consuls to serve jointly for a one year
term. The Centuriate assembly was the only governmental body that could declare wars or
elect the highest ranking roman magistrates: consuls, praetors and censors. Praetor was a
title given to a man that was both a commander of an army and an elected magistrates. On
the other hand a censor was one who was responsible for maintaining the census and
supervising public morality. Although the magistrates were monopolized by powerful
families known as gentes, the Roman Republic was one of the earliest examples of
representative democracy.
 The major difference between the Roman state and Greece was that the Romans were
more practical in their laws and politics. They did not try to create an ideal government but
instead a fashioned political institution in response to problems as they arose.
The Romans had a major distrust in Kingships and of one sole ruler due to their experience
with Etruscans. At around 650 B.C they Etruscans had seized control of the initial Roman
settlement, which was a loose collection of farmers and shepherds. The Etruscans
established a very strong powerful government and the Romans found this to be Tyrannical.
This government of the Etruscans was known as the Roman Kingdom or Roman Monarchy.
Although the Romans had a deep hate for the Etruscans, the role they played in Roman
development is undeniable. Most of the Roman cultures and artistic traditions, from
gladiatorial combat, to hydraulic engineering, temple designing and religious ritual, among
many other things were inherited from the Etruscans.
The most famous of the Roman Republic rulers was Julius Caesar. He was a Roman general
and statesman. He led the Roman armies in many wars like the Gallic wars against his
political rival Pompey. The Gallic wars marked the ascension of the statesman to a dictator.
He ruled as a dictator from 49 B.C to 44 B.C. He played the most critical role in the shift of
Rome from a Republic to an Empire. He was assassinated by his own colleagues because
they feared he would remove them from their positions. A group of as many as conspirators
to assassinate him. Julius was stabbed 23 times by a man named Brutus and consequently
died in 44 B.C. Julius left behind three kids; Octavian (son of Atia), Mark Anthony (and
adopted son) and Caesarion (a child he bore with Cleopatra IV and also known as Ptolemy XV
Caesar).
The last civil war of the Roman Republic, fought between Mark Antony (assisted by
Cleopatra and Ptolemaic Egypt) and Octavian. In 32 B.C Octavian convinced the Roman
senate to declare a war on Cleopatra. Her lover and ally Mark Antony, who was Octavian’s
rival, gave his support for her. Forty percent of the consuls, left Rome to join the war on
Antony’s side. After a decisive victory for Octavian at the Battle of Actium, Cleopatra and
Antony withdrew to Alexandria, where Octavian besieged the city until both Antony and
Cleopatra were forced to commit suicide and Cleopatra’s son Caesarion was killed by
Octavian.
The war involved some of the largest Roman armies ever seen. Both Antony and Octavian’s
legions were experienced veterans of previous civil wars who had fought together, many
had also served under Caesar.
 Following the end of the war, Octavian brought peace to the Roman state that had been
plagues by a century of civil wars. Octavian became the most powerful man in the roman
world and the Senate bestowed upon him the honorific of Augustus in 27 B.C. Octavian, now
Augustus, would be the first Emperor and would transfer the Republic into the Roman
Empire.
The last Republican civil war marked the beginning of the Pax Romana, a period of relative
peace and stability. Pax Romana literally means “Roman peace” and refers to the time
period between 27B.C and 180c A.D. This period saw unprecedented peace and economic
prosperity throughout the Empire, which spanned from England in the north to Morocco in
the south and Iraq in the east.

The Roman conquest of the Mediterranean (264-133 B.C)

The Punic wars
After subjugating the Greek colonies in southern Italy, Rome sought to control the western
Mediterranean trade. Its chief rival, located across the Mediterranean in the northern Africa,
was the city-state of Carthage. Originally a Phoenician colony, Carthage had become a
powerful empire. Rome defeated Carthage in three Punic (Phoenician) Wars and gained
mastery of the western Mediterranean.
The First Punic war (264-241 B.C)
Fighting chiefly on the island of Sicily and in the Mediterranean Sea, Rome’s citizen-soldiers
eventually defeated Carthage’s mercenaries (hired foreign soldiers). Rome annexed Sicily
and then Sardinia and Corsica.
Both sides prepared to renew the struggle.
Carthage acquired a part of Spain and recruited Spanish troops. Rome consolidated its
position in Italy by conquering the Gaul’s, thereby extending its rule northward from the Po
River to the Alps.
The second Punic war (218-201 B.C)
Hannibal, Carthage’s great general, led an army from Spain across the Alps and into Italy. At
first he won numerous victories, climaxed by the battle of Cannae. However, he was unable
to seize the city of Rome. Gradually the tide of battle turned in favor of Rome.
The Romans destroyed a Carthaginian army sent to reinforce Hannibal, then conquered
Spain, and finally invaded North Africa. Hannibal withdrew his army from Italy to defend
Carthage but, in the Battle of Zama, was at last defeated. Rome annexed Carthage’s Spanish
provinces and reduced Carthage to a second-rate power.
The major reasons for Rome’s victory were:
 Superior wealth and military power
 The loyalty of most of its allies; and
 The rise of capable generals, notably Fabius and
Scipio. Fabius was called the Delayer because he did
not commit his troops to a decisive battle in Italy.
Believing that time would help Rome, he merely
harassed the enemy. Scipio was named Africanus
because he triumphed over Hannibal in North
Africa.
The Third Punic War (149-146 B.C)
Some Romans believed that Carthage remained a threat. Cato, a prominent Roman Senator
ended his speeches, regardless of his subject, with the statement “Carthage must be
destroyed.”
Rome finally attacked Carthage, destroyed the city and annexed the territory.

The Roman Empire (imperium Romanum)

The Roman Empire was the post Republican period of ancient Rome. It included large
territorial holdings in the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, North Africa and Western Asia and
was ruled by emperor from the time of Caesar Augustus to the military anarchy of the 3 rd
century, when it became a Principate with Italia as the metropole of its provinces and the
city of Rome as its sole capital. The Emperor was later ruled by multiple Emperors who
shared control over the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire. Rome
remained as the nominal capital of both parts until 476 A.D when the Eastern Roman rulers
shifted their capital to Constantinople following the captured of the western capital of
Ravenna by the Germanic Barbarians. The adoption of Christianity as the official state
religion in 380 A.D and the fall of the Western Roman Empire to Germanic kings marked the
end of classical antiquity and the beginning of the middle ages. Because of these events
Hellenization of the Eastern Roman Empire happened and it was renamed the Byzantine
Empire.

The Early Roman Empire (14 to 180 A.D)

Augustus’s new political system allowed the emperor to select his successor from his
natural or adopted family. The first four emperors (Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero)
after Augustus came from his family. During their reigns, more and more of the
responsibilities that Augustus had given to the Senate tended to be taken over by the
emperors. With this, emperors grew more powerful. However, they also became more
corrupt. Nero, for example, had people killed for no reason, even including his mother.
Without troops, the senators were unable to oppose his actions. But the Roman legions
finally revolted. Nero committed suicide and a civil war broke out in 69 A.D. Without a
system to appoint officials, emperors were appointed and removed at the will of legions
The predecessor state of the Roman Empire, the Roman Republic, became severely
destabilized in civil wars and political conflicts and gave way to the Roman Empire. The first
two centuries of the Roman Empire saw a period of unprecedented stability and prosperity
known as Pax Romana. Rome reached its greatest territorial expanse (include Dacia, Sinai
and Mesopotamia) during the reign of Trajan (98-117 A.D) so much so that his successors
found difficulties in administering such a large empire. His immediate successor, Hadrian,
withdrew his forces and went on the defensive in his frontier policy. He strengthened
fortifications along the coast of Rhine and Danube Rivers and built a defensive wall which
was 80 miles long along northern Britain to keep the scots out. The decline began with the
reign of Commodus (177-192). In the third century the Empire faced a crisis that threatened
its existence, as the Gallic and Palmyrene Empires broke away from the Roman state and a
series of short-lived Emperors, who were often commanders led the Empire. It was then
reunified by Aurelian (270-275). To stabilize it, Diocletian set up two different imperial courts
in the Greek East and Latin west in 286. In the 4th century Christians assumed positions of
power following the Edict of Milan of 313 and the Edict of Thessalonica of 380. The Edit of
Milan was the agreement to treat Christians benevolently within the Roman Empire. The
Western Roman Emperor Constantine I and Emperor Licinius, who controlled the Balkans,
met in Mediolanum (Milan) and, among other things, agreed to change policies towards
Christians. The Edict of Thessalonica was signed by Emperor Theodosius I. He made
Catholicism of Nicene Christians the state church of the Roman Empire. It condemned other
Christian creeds such as Arianism as heresies. Shortly after a period of large invasions from
the Germanic peoples and by the Huns of Attila, led with the fall of Ravenna to the Germanic
Herulians and the deposition of Romulus Augustus in 476 A.D by Odacer, the Western
Roman Empire finally collapsed; the Eastern Roman emperor Zeno was formally abolished in
480. The eastern Roman Empire survived for another millennium, until Constantinople fell in
1453 to the Ottoman Turks under Mehmet II.
Due to the Empires vast extent and long endurance, the institutions and culture of Rome
had a profound and lasting influence on the development of language, religion, art,
architecture, literature, philosophy, law and forms of government in the territory it
governed. The Latin language of the Romans evolved into the Romance language of the
medieval and Roman world, while Medieval Greek became the language of Eastern Roman
Empire. The adoption of Christianity led to the formation of medieval Christendom. Roman
and Greek art had a profound impact of the Renaissance. Rome’s architectural tradition
served as the basis for Romanesque, Renaissance and Neo-classical architecture. The corpus
of Roman law has its descendants in many modern legal systems of the world such as the
Napoleonic code of France, while Rome’s republican institutions have left an enduring
legacy, influencing the Italian state-Republics of the medieval period, as well as early United
States.

Pax Romana
The rulers of this age (the five good emperors: Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Anotnimus Pius and
Marcus Aurelius) treated the ruling class with respect, ended arbitrary executions, and
maintained peace in the empire and supported domestic policies. Although an absolute
monarchy, the period was known for tolerance. By adopting capable men as their sons and
successors, the first four good emperors reduced their succession problems.
Under these rulers, the powers of the emperor continued to expand at the expense of the
Senate. Officials of the government were appointed by the emperor. They also made new
reforms and developed programs and policies. Trajan, for example, created a program that
provided state fund to poor parents in raising and education of their children. The emperors
were also praised for their construction programs.
At its height in the 2ndc, the Roman Empire was one of the greatest states the world had
ever seen. It covered about three and a half million square miles and had an estimated
population of fifty million. The imperial administration provided a sense of unity with local
customs still in place. Roman privileges of citizenship were given out. In 212, Emperor
Caracalla gave Roman citizenship to every free person in the empire. Latin was the language
of the western part of Europe, whereas Greek was used in the east (due to Alexander’s
conquests). Roman culture spread throughout the empire and freely mixed with Greek
culture, creating a Greco-Roman civilization.

Culture and Society

Life in ancient Rome revolved around the city of Rome, its famed seven hills, and its
monumental architecture such as the Colosseum, Trajan's Forum, and the Pantheon. The
city also had several theaters and gymnasia, along with many taverns, baths and brothels.
Throughout the territory under ancient Rome's control, residential architecture ranged from
very modest houses to country villas, and in the capital city of Rome, there were imperial
residences on the elegant Palatine Hill, from which the word palace is derived. The vast
majority of the population lived in the city center, packed into insulae (apartment blocks).
The city of Rome was the largest megalopolis of that time, with a population that may well
have exceeded one million people, with a high-end estimate of 3.6 million and a low-end
estimate of 450,000. A substantial proportion of the population under the city's jurisdiction
lived in innumerable urban centers, with population of at least 10,000 and several military
settlements, a very high rate of urbanization by pre-industrial standards. The most urbanized
part of the Empire was Italy, which had an estimated rate of urbanization of 32%, the same
rate of urbanization of England in 1800. Most Roman towns and cities had a forum, temples
and the same type of buildings, on a smaller scale, as found in Rome. The large urban
population required an enormous supply of food, which was a complex logistical task,
including acquiring, transporting, storing and distribution of food for Rome and other urban
centers. Italian farms supplied vegetables and fruits, but fish and meat were
luxuries. Aqueducts were built to bring water to urban centers and wine and oil were
imported from Hispania, Gaul and Africa.
There was a very large amount of commerce between the provinces of the Roman Empire,
since its roads and transportation technology were very efficient. The average costs of
transport and the technology were comparable with 18th-century Europe.
The majority of the population under the jurisdiction of ancient Rome lived in the
countryside in settlements with less than 10,000 inhabitants. Landlords generally resided in
cities and their estates were left in the care of farm managers. The plight of rural slaves was
generally worse than their counterparts working in urban aristocratic households. To
stimulate a higher labor productivity most landlords freed a large number of slaves and
many received wages, but in some rural areas poverty and overcrowding were extreme.
[1] Rural poverty stimulated the migration of population to urban centers until the early 2nd
century when the urban population stopped growing and started to decline.
Starting in the middle of the 2nd century BC, private Greek culture was increasingly in
ascendancy, in spite of tirades against the "softening" effects of Hellenized culture from the
conservative moralists. By the time of Augustus, cultured Greek household slaves taught the
Roman young (sometimes even the girls); chefs, decorators, secretaries, doctors, and
hairdressers all came from the Greek East. Greek sculptures adorned Hellenistic landscape
gardening on the Palatine or in the villas, or were imitated in Roman sculpture yards by
Greek slaves.
Against this human background, both the urban and rural setting, one of history's most
influential civilizations took shape, leaving behind a cultural legacy that survives in part
today.
The Roman Empire began when Augustus became the first emperor of Rome in 31 BC and
ended in the west when the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed
by Odoacer in 476 AD. The Roman Empire, at its height (c. 117 AD), was the most extensive
political and social structure in Western civilization. By 285 AD, the Empire had grown too
vast to be ruled from the central government at Rome and so was divided by
Emperor Diocletian into a Western and an Eastern Roman Empire. In the east, the Empire
continued as the Byzantine Empire until the death of Constantine XI and the fall of
Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. The influence of the Roman Empire on
Western civilization was profound in its lasting contributions to virtually every aspect of
Western culture.
The center of the early social structure, dating from the time of the agricultural tribal city
state, was the family, which was not only marked by biological relations but also by the
legally constructed relation of patria potestas ("power of a father"). The pater familias was
the absolute head of the family; he was the master over his wife (if she was given to
him cum manu, otherwise the father of the wife retained patria potestas), his children, the
wives of his sons (again if married cum manu which became rarer towards the end of the
Republic), the nephews, the slaves and the freedmen (liberated slaves, the first generation
still legally inferior to the freeborn), disposing of them and of their goods at will, even
having them put to death.
Slavery and slaves were part of the social order. The slaves were mostly prisoners of war.
There were slave markets where they could be bought and sold. Roman law was not
consistent about the status of slaves, except that they were considered like any
other moveable property. Many slaves were freed by the masters for fine services rendered;
some slaves could save money to buy their freedom. Generally, mutilation and murder of
slaves was prohibited by legislation, although outrageous cruelty continued. In 4 A.D, the Lex
Aelia Sentia specified minimum age limits for both owners (20) and slaves (30) before
formal manumission could occur. No people of the time relied on the manual labor of slaves
as much as the Romans did. Before the 3rdc, a small Roman farmer might possess 2 or 3
slaves that helped farm his few acres and worked in the house. The slaves were most likely
from Italy and were regarded as part of the family household. Only the rich had a large
number of slaves.
The Roman conquest of the Mediterranean region brought a drastic change in the use of
slaves. A large sum of slaves were brought back to Italy as a result of war capture. Ambitious
generals such as Pompey and Caesar, made large fortunes by treating slaves captured by
their armies as private property
Slaves were used in many ways in Roman society. The rich owned the most and the best. In
the late Roman Republic, it had become a badge of prestige to be attended by many slaves.
Greek slaves were in much demand as tutors, musicians, doctors and artists. Roman
businessmen would employ them as shop assistants or craftspeople. Slaves were also used
as farm laborers. Huge sums of the slaves worked under pitiful conditions. Many slaves of
different nationalities were used a household workers, such as cooks, valets, waiters,
cleaners and gardeners. Roads, aqueducts and other public structures were constructed by
using slave labor. The exact amount of Roman slaves is unknown it’s said there was a slave
for every 2 free men.
Some slaves were treated well but most of the slaves while others faced severe
punishments, torture, abuse and hard labor. Some slaves revolted against their owners and
even murdered them, causing some Romans to live in great fear of their slaves. A murderous
fault committed by a slave resulted in the execution of whole other slaves found in the
household.
Near the end of the 2ndc B.C, large-scale slave revolts occurred in Sicily, where enormous
amounts of slaves were worked under horrible conditions on large landed estates. Slaves
were branded, beaten, fed little, kept in chains and housed at night in underground prisons.
It took several years to crush the revolt of 132, which lasted for 3 years and encompassed
70,000 slaves. The great revolt in Sicily (104 to 101 B.C) took a Roman army of 17,000 men
to suppress. The most famous of the revolts, however, was the revolt of the gladiator
Spartacus.
The revolt of the gladiator Spartacus in 73-71 B.C remains the most successful slave revolt
in the history of Rome. The rebellion is known as the Third Servile War and was the last of
three major slave revolts which Rome suppressed. The story of Spartacus has been told by
historians, novelists, and filmmakers up to the present day when it enjoys a wide following
as a very popular television series but admiration for the hero of the Third Servile War is
nothing new.
 The actual Spartacus, however, was not a proto-Marxian proletariat revolutionary nor a
hero of his people fighting for their freedom; he was simply a man who had endured enough
of the Roman institution of slavery and, one day, decided he would endure no more. The
revolt of Spartacus began, more or less, as an accident; the original plan of the gladiators,
according to the historian Plutarch (45-120 A.D), was simply to escape. Once that plan was
discovered, however, they had no choice but to fight for their freedom or submit to
execution.
The actual motivations behind Spartacus' revolt do not detract from his accomplishments,
however. The terrible conditions of life as a slave in ancient Rome have since been
compared to those of any group suffering oppression and Spartacus is the most recognizable
hero from the ancient world to serve as a symbol. In 73 B.C, however, he seems to have had
no other motivation than his own freedom and escape from the punishments he could
expect from his masters.
Apart from these families (called gentes) and the slaves (legally objects, mancipia, i.e.,
"kept in the master’s hand") there were plebeians that did not exist from a legal perspective.
They had no legal capacity and were not able to make contracts, even though they were not
slaves. To deal with this problem, the so-called clientela was created. By this institution, a
plebeian joined the family of a patrician (in a legal sense) and could close contracts by
mediation of his patrician pater familias. Everything the plebeian possessed or acquired
legally belonged to the gens. He was not allowed to form his own gens.
Different types of outdoor and indoor entertainment, free of cost, were available in
ancient Rome. Depending on the nature of the events, they were scheduled during
daytime, afternoons, evenings, or late nights. Huge crowds gathered at the Colosseum to
watch events such as events involving gladiators, combats between men, or fights between
men and wild animals. The Circus Maximus was used for chariot racing.
Life in the countryside was slow-paced but lively, with numerous local festivals and social
events. Farms were run by the farm managers, but estate owners would sometimes take a
retreat to the countryside for rest, enjoying the splendor of nature and the sunshine,
including activities like fishing, hunting, and riding.
The most distinguished poet of the Augustan period was Virgil. The son of a small
landholder in northern Italy, he welcomed the rule of Augustus and wrote his greatest work
in honor of the ruler. Virgil’s masterpiece was the Aeneid, an epic poem clearly meant to
rival the work of Homer. The connection between Troy and Rome is made in the poem when
Aeneas survives the destruction of Troy and eventually settles in Latium. The character of
Aeneas is depicted as the ideal Roman for his virtues of duty, piety and faithfulness. Virgil’s
general purpose was to show that Aeneas had fulfilled his mission to establish the Romans in
Italy and thereby start Rome on its divine mission to rule the world.

Roman Literature
Virgil was a sophisticated writer who delighted in pointing out to his fellow Romans the
“follies and vices of his age.” In the satires, Horace directed his attacks at job dissatisfaction.
Horace mostly laughed at the weaknesses of humans. In his final work, the Epistles, he used
a Greek form to provide a portrait of the things he held most dear: a simple life, good friends
and his beloved countryside.
The most beloved work of Latin literature was written by historian Livy, whose mastery was
the history of Rome. In a collection of 142 books, he wrote down the history of Rome from
its formation to the 9thc B.C. However, only 35 of those books have survived.
Livy celebrated Rome’s greatness and wrote in great detail. But not only did he write about
the figures of the age but also the virtues that uphold Rome.

Roman law
The Twelve Tables (aka Law of the Twelve Tables) was a set of laws inscribed on
12 bronze tablets created in ancient Rome in 451 and 450 B.C. They were the beginning of a
new approach to laws which were now passed by government and written down so that all
citizens might be treated equally before them.
Although not perhaps a fully codified system, the Twelve Tables was a first step which would
allow the protection of the rights of all citizens and permit wrongs to be redressed through
precisely-worded written laws known to everybody. Consequently, the Roman approach to
law would later become the model followed by many subsequent civilizations right up to the
present day.
According to tradition, in 451 B.C a committee, the decemviri, were, following public
pressure, given the task of composing a law code which would better represent the interests
of the ordinary people (plebeians) and reduce the undue influence on Roman law of the
aristocrats (patricians) and priests (pontifices). These latter had exclusively sat on a council
which interpreted the law as they saw fit. In preparation for this responsibility, a delegation
of three men was sent to Athens where they studied the laws of the celebrated
lawgiver Solon (640 – 560 B.C). Then ten men, all patricians, were given consular power
(imperium) and permitted to draw up a list of laws which they considered most needed and
useful. That is the traditional view of events, although, perhaps more realistically, the
composition of the Tables was an attempt by the elite to better govern themselves and
prevent abuses within their own social group. In any case, the result was a list of written
laws (legibus scribundis) presented on ten tables and two more were added the following
year to bring the total to twelve. As a consequence, laws became statute, that is they were
made only after first being decided on by a legislative body and were no longer based on
mere custom and tradition.
The exact reason why the Tables were drawn up may have been lost in the mists of time but
once written their content was consistently referenced in later Roman written works.
Unfortunately, the tablets themselves have not survived, destroyed, according to tradition,
when Rome was sacked by the Gauls in 390 B.C. From some remaining fragments and those
references in literature, it is possible to identify at least some specifics.
The list of laws seems to have covered most areas of private law and concentrated on
relations between individuals (as opposed to individuals vs. the state or the rights of non-
citizens) and thus is more a list of civil actions and penalties than a full, all-encompassing law
code. It also largely dealt with areas relevant to an agricultural state. For example, the crime
of arson was punishable by the death penalty (poena capitis), in this case by burning. The
crime of using magic on crops was also punishable by death, this time by a form
of crucifixion. Lesser penalties for property damage were banishment from Rome, loss of
citizenship, and, for being an accessory to a crime, confiscation of property. Settlements
could also be made by paying compensation to the plaintiff and thus avoiding court.
Roman law, the law of ancient Rome from the time of the founding of the city in
753 BCE until the fall of the Western Empire in the 5th century CE. It remained in use in the
Eastern, or Byzantine, Empire until 1453. As a legal system, Roman law has affected the
development of law in most of Western civilization as well as in parts of the East. It forms
the basis for the law codes of most countries of continental Europe (see civil law) and
derivative systems elsewhere.
The term Roman law today often refers to more than the laws of Roman society. The legal
institutions evolved by the Romans had influence on the laws of other peoples in times long
after the disappearance of the Roman Empire and in countries that were never subject to
Roman rule. To take the most striking example, in a large part of Germany, until the
adoption of a common code for the whole empire in 1900, the Roman law was in force as
“subsidiary law”; that is, it was applied unless excluded by contrary local provisions. This law,
however, which was in force in parts of Europe long after the fall of the Roman Empire, was
not the Roman law in its original form. Although its basis was indeed the Corpus Juris Civilis
—the codifying legislation of the emperor Justinian I—this legislation had been interpreted,
developed, and adapted to later conditions by generations of jurists from the 11th century
onward and had received additions from non-Roman sources.
Roman law, like other ancient systems, originally adopted the principle of personality—that
is, that the law of the state applied only to its citizens. Foreigners had no rights and, unless
protected by some treaty between their state and Rome, they could be seized like ownerless
pieces of property by any Roman. But from early times there were treaties with foreign
states guaranteeing mutual protection. Even in cases in which there was no treaty, the
increasing commercial interests of Rome forced it to protect, by some form of justice, the
foreigners who came within its borders. A magistrate could not simply apply Roman law
because that was the privilege of citizens; even had there not been this difficulty, foreigners
would probably have objected to the cumbersome formalism that characterized the early jus
civile.
The law that the magistrates applied probably consisted of three elements: (1) an
existing mercantile law that was used by the Mediterranean traders; (2) those institutions of
the Roman law that, after being purged of their formalistic elements, could be applied
universally to any litigant, Roman or foreigner; and (3) in the last resort, a magistrate’s own
sense of what was fair and just. This system of jus gentium was also adopted when Rome
began to acquire provinces so that provincial governors could administer justice to
the peregrini (foreigners). This word came to mean not so much persons living under
another government (of which, with the expansion of Roman power, there came to be fewer
and fewer) as Roman subjects who were not citizens. In general, disputes between members
of the same subject state were settled by that state’s own courts according to its own law,
whereas disputes between provincials of different states or between provincials and Romans
were resolved by the governor’s court applying jus gentium. By the 3rd century CE, when
citizenship was extended throughout the empire, the practical differences between jus
civile and jus gentium ceased to exist. Even before this, when a Roman lawyer said that
a contract of sale was juris gentium, he meant that it was formed in the same way and had
the same legal results whether the parties to it were citizens or not. This became the
practical meaning of jus gentium. Because of the universality of its application, however, the
idea was also linked with the theoretical notion that it was the law common to all peoples
and was dictated by nature—an idea that the Romans took from Greek philosophy.
The Romans divided their law into jus scriptum (written law) and jus non
scriptum (unwritten law). By “unwritten law” they meant custom; by “written law” they
meant not only the laws derived from legislation but, literally, laws based on any written
source.

Religion in the Roman Empire

Many reforms were made by Caesar Augustus and his successors to revive the religion of
the Roman state which had declined during the latter ages of the Roman republic. The state
religion was associated with the worship of multiple gods including Jupiter, Venus, Minerva
and Mars. They believed that these deities served a role in founding the
Roman civilization and that they helped shape the events of people’s lives on a daily basis.
Romans paid allegiance to the gods both in public spaces and in private homes. While the
Roman state recognized main gods and goddesses by decorating public buildings and
fountains with their images, families worshipping at home also put special emphasis on the
deities of their choosing.
They were very tolerant of the worship of native gods and goddesses and they had even
adopted some other local gods. In addition, beginning with Augustus, emperors were often
officially made gods by the Roman senate.
There were also household and countryside spirits that were worshipped. Heads of the
family, paterfamilias, made offerings to Vesta, goddess of the home, on a daily basis. These
worships were more appealing to the common people than the other portion of the social
class. This religions served as a more direct spiritual connection than the state religion.
The rising desire for a more emotional experience led many people to the mystery religions
of the Hellenistic east. These religions flooded into the western Roman world after the
Romans had conquered the Hellenistic states. The mystery religions promised their followers
an entry into a higher world of reality and the promise of a future life superior to the
present.

Jews in Rome
A Jewish diaspora had migrated to Rome and to the territories of Roman Europe from
the land of Israel, Anatolia, Babylon and Alexandria in response to economic hardship and
incessant warfare over the land of Israel between the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires from
the 4th to the 1st centuries BCE. In Rome, Jewish communities thrived economically.
Jews became a significant part of the Roman Empire's population in the first century A.D.
A Jewish diaspora existed for several centuries before the fall of the Second Temple, and
their dwelling in other countries for the most part was not a result of compulsory
dislocation. Before the middle of the first century A.D, in addition to Judea, Syria and
Babylonia, large Jewish communities existed in the Roman provinces of Egypt, Crete and
Cyrenaica, and in Rome itself; after the Siege of Jerusalem in 63 B.C, when the Hasmonean
kingdom became a protectorate of Rome, emigration intensified. Many Jews became
citizens of other parts of the Roman Empire. Josephus, the book of Acts in the New
Testament, as well as other Pauline texts, make frequent reference to the large populations
of Hellenized Jews in the cities of the Roman world.
Roman general Pompey conquered Jerusalem and its surroundings by 63 B.C. The
Romans deposed the ruling Hasmonean dynasty of Judaea (in power from 140 B.C) and
the Roman Senate declared Herod the Great "King of the Jews" in 40 B.C. Judea
proper, Samaria and Idumea became the Roman province of Judaea in 6 A.D. In 6 A.D. was
placed under the direction of a Roman official called procurator. Unrest in Judea soon arose
with division among the Jews themselves. One group was the Sadducees, which favored the
cooperation with Romans. The Essenes as revealed in the Dead Sea Scrolls, were a Jewish
sect that lived in a religious community near the dead sea, They, like most other Jews,
awaited a Messiah who would save Israel from oppression, usher in the Kingdom of God,
and establish a true paradise on earth. A third group, the Zealots, were extremists who
advocated the violent overthrow of the Roman rule. Jewish–Roman tensions resulted in
several Jewish–Roman wars between the years 66 and 135 A.D, which resulted in
the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple and the institution of the Jewish Tax in
70 (those who paid the tax were exempt from the obligation of making sacrifices to
the Roman imperial cult).