The Old Stone Age

4million-12,000 BCE

People started arising and using stone tools

It is the beginning of history and the rise of Homo Sapiens

It is where we enter familiar territory-something we can identify with

time of different hominid species (homo sapiens, homo erectus)

Homo Sapiens become dominant by the end of the era

They were hunter/gatherers with no evidence of agriculture

they would follow herds, move with seasons, gather stuff

the created gender roles: the men did the hunting while the women did the gathering

Venus figurines show that women were respected and valued because they could reproduce

men and women were equal because men brought meat (protein) and women brought everything else

we shouldn't see ourselves as better than them; our brain size and stature hasn't gotten bigger since the homo sapiens of 2000 BC on, their mental and reasoning capacity is the same as ours

had small communities of about 50 people, they moved often and their diets consisted of where they lived (environment) and what they were able to hunt

women gathered grains, fruit, root vegetables

hunter/gatherers were not permanant, they were very mobile societies

New Stone Age

Began 12,000 years ago when people had to start thinking of more stable ways of eating, and we saw a move towards agriculture

It is a time when agriculture came about

Practiced "Slash and Burn" It is a type of agriculture where they would slash bark off of trees and deforest; it was important for clearing forests and bring them under agricultural production. They lacked metal or sophisticated tools but this allowed them to enhance their agriculture. 

Populations grew from 4 million people to 100 million people (from Neolithic era to elsewhere).

Move from these types of towns to large cities at the end of Neolithic era. We would have streets, grids, and population exceeding 50,000 people. In hunter/gatherer societies there was angarian societies. Once we get to urban societies, there are urban societies being grown. Women start being excluded

  Neolithic era—rise of agriculture (5-6,000 people)

There was a need for education that was not there in less complex societies of Neolithic period

While Neolithic cultures used stone tools like their earlier ancestors, these tools tended to be more complex and refined, and people were beginning to explore metals, albeit informally. More importantly, the Neolithic period was marked by a transition from hunting and gathering culture to settled farming. This transition allowed people to create permanent towns and villages, and it paved the way to a more complex culture.

During the Neolithic Period, people began experimenting with crafts like pottery, weaving, and other forms of artistic expression. Because they were settled in agricultural communities, they could invest more time in these activities, since they weren't living a hand to mouth lifestyle as hunter gathers. In addition to growing crops, these early humans also started domesticating animals to work for them and to serve as sources of food. 

1.   an extinct species of hominid that originated in Africa but settled over all parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia over time. and is the ancestor to homo sapiens. They are the direct ancestors to homo sapiens. Brain is 75% the size of ours. But, they lacked complex speech. 

1.   the largest and best preserved Neolithic site to date. It is a town in modern day Turkey. It was occupied from 7000-6000 BCE. Not known why it declined. While it was around, it was a bustling town with about 8000 inhabitants. One of the largest communities of the time (much bigger than hunter/gatherer). Similar to Jericho. Not self sufficient (unlike hunter-gatherer). Rise of trade networks. There was pottery, textiles, and metal. Each area specialized in different industries.

1.   the largest and best preserved Neolithic site to date. It is a town in modern day Turkey. It was occupied from 7000-6000 BCE. Not known why it declined. While it was around, it was a bustling town with about 8000 inhabitants. One of the largest communities of the time (much bigger than hunter/gatherer). Similar to Jericho. Not self sufficient (unlike hunter-gatherer). Rise of trade networks. There was pottery, textiles, and metal. Each area specialized in different industries.

 1.   Most famous pyramids. Site of the pyramids and sphinx in Egypt. Housed remains of deceased pharaohs. Large villages for pyramid workers extragated. Very labor intensive but very amazing. It shows that Egypt is a very complex society that has a number of institutions and structures that allow for mega structures to take place.

expansion of trade and of Egypt and imperial force lead to formation of Kush. Burial places for kings and nobles are found in Kush. It is much more vertical and smaller than Egypt. Had the influence of trade and contact with the two places. Warfare between the two. Established after bronze age collapse and disintegration of Egypt. 

in Sumerian texts, he was the fifth king of Uruk in modern day Iraq. He is the central character of the Epic of Gilgamesh which is the greatest surviving work of Mesopotamian literature. In Mesopotamian mythology, his mom was a goddess and he had superhuman strength and built the walls of uruk to defend the people of the city. He was denied life after death in the epic of Gilgamesh. Flood myth—flood could destroy the world at any moment. Polytheistic set of beliefs. Picture of no afterlife—even king Gilgamesh will die

people living in the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Mesopotamia. They are the earliest people to speak a Semitic language. Intimate cultural synthesis between sumerians and Akkadians took place creating billinguilism. Akkadian language replaced Sumerian language. Akkad reached its political peak following the conquests of king Sargon of Akkad. Akkad is the first empire. Sargon united the city states  in Mesopotamia. Wrote in cuneiform

1.   another major city. Mohenjadora and Harappa are the two largest cities at this time. Lots of artifacts found. Develop a script an language, start cultivating many more crops, no monumental architecture like massive pyramids or ziggurats, way cities are planned show the agriculture. A lot of urban planning unlike in Mesopotamia an Egypt. Well conceived urban plans create cities. Citadels three stories high. Cities are not carelessly developed. Divided by classes. One section for merchants, artisans, etc. marketplace. Planned grid pattern. Standardized weights and measures, can’t read their language, don’t know about their government, buildings show central authority, there were palaces, seaborn trade

Chinese example of urbanization is the Xia dynasty. Had a complex system of irrigation networks and flood control. Had formal political institutions. Various classes in society (aristocratic, peasant, etc.) used bronze and other tools as well. 

1.   this dynasty arose after Xia dynasty. Many written records. Had chariots, wheeled vehicles, horsemen, metallurgy, monopolize production of bronze by controlling copper and tin mines in the region. They had a monopoly and this is important to their rise. Hereditary rulership. Egypt has this, but is more centralized. In shang dynasty, local ruler were in charge. Had very tall 30 foot tall walls. Needed these defenses because the states were local and warring with each other. Believe in afterlife and had royal tombs and royals being buried with people and objects. 

1.   hebrews are people who speak Hebrew. It is a form of semitic language. They were nomadic pastoralist people living near Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Influenced by urban societies of Mesopotamia and Egypt. One of heaviest influences on Mesopotamia culture is a Hebrew named Abraham. Legal code of Hammurabi—an eye for an eye. Hebrew speakers started believing in monotheism and Yahweh—supreme god. 

1.   fighting between Canaanites and Israelites. There was intermarriage. They start to adopt agrarian lifestyles. They are associated with Egypt. Rival between Jews who are Hebrews who settled in Judae and Israelites. Salvation theory—egyptians thought they were the chosen one. 

·      The earliest culture that moved from mere ceremonial centers to urban centers or cities is the Olmecs in the region along the Gulf Coast at about 1200 BCE. These populations start to arise in the ceremonial centers in this region. We see the building of very elaborate irrigation systems, canals, dams, etc. we also start to see the appearance of very magnificent large scale agriculture. We see no evidence of the wheel or different metals. Instead, we see very human intensive projects, and the use of waterways rather than the use of roads. Rather than metal, the use of asidian to make tools. What kind of government was there? We start to see by 800 BCE large city centers start to arise. These places were trading and importing jade and other commodities and they were exporting goods. This is urbanized, has specialized labor, some kind of government or ruling elite. But we are not sure what kind of government. Many argue that it is a pretty authoritarian elite (force) and this accounts for the large scale public works. There is lots of evidence of priestly classes and in Olmec society we see a hugely developed calendar. This shows these are agrarian societies. Knowing the seasons is part of this. So they could know when to plant or harvest their goods. The calendar was important. Scholars think there was a more authoritarian structure because its decline is roughly between 400-100 BCE. We see not only the collapse of Olmec society but also the destruction of these societies. It is hard for us today to see their actual mode of governace. Speculation is that there is question about the legitimacy of the ruling elites. Wiping out the entire cities that are centers of power. Internal conflict leads to the decline of the Olmecs. The stability of the city is undermined and Olmec society is declined. What is most important about the Olmecs is that there is an enduring influence. They are the foundations for all the later societies that arise in MesoAmerica particularly one that is best known as the Mayans.

·      Mayan culture spread from the Yucatan Peninsula down to the coast. As seen in indus valley, are we talking about one major state or many city-states that share the same culture and writing. Scholars say the mayan represent a number of city states that were in competition with each other but shared common ideas. The influence of Olmec culture coming through into the Maya.

·      This is true in terms of the sciences that the Olmecs carried forward, the writing systems they involved, the myths they write, connect the traces of Olmec society present in the Mayans as well

·      Mayan society arising at 300 BCE—where we see Olmecs declining

·      Many city-states or kingdoms were in competition with each other and very often that competition spilled over into warfare. There is evidence of massive trade network that binded the cities. As with the Olmecs, we are talking about trade playing an important role in these societies.

·      Organization—ultimately it is so sketchy that we are left at a loss. The records are lost. The priestly classes were extremely powerful and played an important role

·      This is a very different kind of governmental structure. There is some evidence of priests who are very prominent in the works of art. Decline here also follows a similar root than the Mayan. Ultimately, there was increasing military pressures from people moving into the North. This put a lot of pressure on the people moving into the states. It declines that leads to the sacking and burning of the cities and destroying of its cities and monuments. Mesoamerica has cultures arising in very different way than from eastern hemisphere.

·      Some cultures arise in mountainous regions rather than river valleys

·      We see urbanization taking place first in the building of ceremonial places.

·      From these we start to see different kinds of urban centers start arising.

·      Around the time teotiluuacan we see the religious centers getting bigger and merging into cities themselves. 

1.    We can speak of the Canaanites—they too are nomadic cultures roaming these regions. They settled down around 3000 BCE, a little earlier than the Hebrews. They were also influenced by the variety of cultures and ideas around them. What is interesting about them is the Phoenicians. They went through same process of starting to move into agriculture, build small towns, and develop into city-states like Sidon, Tyre, etc.

2.     From here, we see Phoenicians take slightly different route than others. They live in a mountainous region that lacked water. They respond to this by shifting their attention from agriculture to trade. You see an important martan power arising that links land roots that set up communities all around Mesopotamian. All the way from Spain to what is today Lebanon. Urbanization, need for writing, trade arises. They get their influences from Mesopotamia and adopt many of their ideas and they start developing a writing system that is extremely important to the way we write

3.    early Phoenician writing is similar.

4.    As a result of trading so widely, you see need for record keeping spreading widely.

5.    Differences between Phoenicians and Isrealites and Jews. Their dependence on trade. 

it is a reference to the different series of wedges placed in the tablet. Each wedge was a different letter or idea.  Mesopotamia 

21.)Over time we see this old bronze age system decline

1.    Written material from Mesopotamia that talk about trade. Shift from bronze age to iron age

2.    Bronze is an alloid. It is a technique that brings tin and copper together and creates an alloid that is harder than both of them separately. As we move towards 4000 BCE, people not only have the know how to plough fields and look after their herds (or build other kinds of tools or how to live in larger communities), but they now have the ability through bronze to move into places that are better for agriculture. The only problem before that was the lack of tools to do that. The kinds of tools necessary to move into the river valleys and develop more complex societies. Mesopotamia covers what today is Iraq. The earliest cities (kinds of towns we looked at before) arise in the southern part of Mesopotamia and  city called Sumer. We see them arising and allow water to be brought from rivers into the towns and fields for people to live and grow. We also see a method of controlling the waters and floods. Society reaches a stage in Mesopotamia in roughly 5000 BCE where we see larger communities and cities. The earliest cities in the world include UR in Sumer and URUK in Sumer. In 3000 BCE these places were not only villages of a few thousand, but tens of thousands of people living in one city. We are not talking about people indigenous to that area, we are talking about migration: people bringing their knowledge of metal and such to these places. SUMERIANS, AKKADS, AND BABYLONIANS

Ølong term migrations of small groups of people is what is taking place again. Very widespread movement all the way to the british isles downward to spain. Patterns of long term interaction, sharing of ideas.

[image]   Good example of this is group known as the Hittites—among earliest wave of migrants beginning about 2000 BCE or so. As they migrated into Anatolia, they settled down. These guys moved in looking for new pastures. These guys settle down and adopt agriculture as their main means of substinence. As they settled down, they started needing to adopt things that are agrarian and moving to town life. This included writing systems

[image]   One of the most important sources is Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia became influential. They adopted things like Mesopotamian gods. They also adopted Mesopotamian writing. Trade networks with Mesopotamia. The Hittites adopt new forms of life. Great template in Mesopotamia to give them the framework they need for urbanization.

[image]   In distinction of Mesopotamians who had large block wheels, the hittites introduce the spoked wheels. They could go farther more easily. Horses could be tied to them and this meant swift movement. Mesopotamians took the idea of spoked wheels and faster moving chariots.

[image]   Hittites adopt iron and iron becomes a much better median for them—for their weaponry.

By 1500 BCE, having adopted Mesopotamian writing, gods, wheels, chariots, iron, Hittites form a very powerful state that no only challenges Mesopotamians but also the Egyptians.

21.)Chavin relgion—named after town called chavin de huantar. Here, we don’t have writing systems. In some places, a system of record keeping based on strings ultimately substituted for writing. Some evidence we have is from the chavin religion beginning at about 900 BCE-200BCE. Chavin religion gives us some clues to what the people were up to. We are talking about agrarian cultures, major construction and engineering projects. We don’t know what the people actually believed in. 

21.)-- Australopithecus was an early hominid which is now extinct. Fossil evidence suggests that they lived from approximately four to two million years ago, after evolving on the continent of Africa. It is believed that Australopithecus eventually evolved into modern humans, after first evolving into other important species in the human lineage such as Homo ergaster and Homo habilis. Had small brains and big teeth.

Homo sapiens started moving out of Africa and began settling every part of the globe that we can identify. They began settling in the Americas as well. 

They evolved in Africa, now worldwide

About 200,000 years ago-present

21.)were competing species of homo sapiens as well. They shared brain capacity. They competed with each other and were sophisticated tools makers as well. We find knives, spears, clothes, jewelry, cave paintings, and expressions of the creative arts.

22.)By 40000 years ago, there is enough evidence that language was a very early development of homo sapiens and became a vital part of their life. 

Mehgarh

one of the most important Neolithic (7000 BCE to c. 2500 BCE) sites in archaeology, lies on the "Kachi plain" of Balochistan, Pakistan. It is one of the earliest sites with evidence of farming (wheat and barley) and herding (cattle, sheep and goats) in South Asia."[1]

Mehrgarh is located near the Bolan Pass, to the west of the Indus River valley

o   We see a society that certainly believes in the afterlife and that you can bring it all with you. The shang dynasty lasted a good 600 years or so. It was displaced by a new power known as the Zhou. 1122-256 BCE. These guys were allies of the Shang before they displaced the shang. They are from further west and were from some contributory state of the shang. As the shang started to flounder and these new states started to arise and able to displace these towns. Most of our info of politics come from the Zhou period. We find writings about the mandate of heaven

o   ruler has divine right to rule. Difference between right of kings vs. mandate of heaven. M.O.H—a bad ruler knocks the state off balance while a good ruler keeps it in balance.

o   The titles of the kings—known as sons of heaven. The way they ruled is important. Restrictions are placed on ruler such as harmony, welfare of ruler. Skills from education are required. The scope of rulership is decentralized. Based on local rulers. Several powers exist in the Zhou period. It was ruled over a local ruler who was responsible for trade, taxes, etc. we see no hammurabi’s code. There are different legal systems under the Zhou dynasty. Just like with the shang, the Zhou were open to the rise of powers.

o   Zhou authority is weaker than the shang because they don’t even manage to monopolize bronze. There are different centers of bronze production.

o   Spread of Iron—during this period we see iron becoming important commodity for metal tools as well

1.    These guys also face another threat, responsible for undermining all of their authority from 771 BCE. This is nomadic invaders. The Zhou capital is sacked by an army that comes into the place. We see various levels where Zhou is unable to maintain authority. It is the local kingdoms and states that are in power.

2.    As a result of this, The Period of Waring States

o   Stretches from 400-220 BCE (200 or so years) there is still a Zhou king sitting in the kingdom somewhere, there is open warfare in various parts of the Zhou domain with a number of new states rising and exerting their authority in different parts of china

o   The area of the Xia control, area under the Zhou (in textbook) constantly expanding. Throughout this period, we see china itself coming under the rule of various local states after the end of the period of warring states. 

o   A town called AO had 30 feet tall walls. Walled cities are seen all over Shang domain. The states were local and waring with each other. They had need for such incredible defences

o   As a decentralized state, the walls were needed

o   Burned brick and mud brick are very important building materials in Mesopotamia, stone in Egypt. China used pounded earth. It was a very labor intensive and implied that there was a large availability of labor. Specialization of labor (who supplied the labor for these state projects).

·      Much of the culture of the pacific islands and the groups involve in it are involved in Lapita culture. (they didn’t use this name then). It refers to a beach—over in parts of new guinea area where artifacts have been found from 1500 BCE-500 BCE. About a thousand years later, there is a culture that is involved (Lapita culture). Many common elements to all of these different island people. If you look at the crops and animal husbandry, you find the domestication of pigs and chickens across the pacific islands.

·      These communities are also sea faring and therefore very open to and dependent on the oceans (particularly fishing). The kinds of agricultural goods that are common to these different islands

·      As we talk about more complex communities, there is not usually self deficiency, but dependence on trading. Large tracts of islands spread over the pacific where various items were traded like jewelry and tools

1.    Languages are closely related to other languages like Greek, Persian, latin, Scandinavian languages as well. Look closely at all these different languages to see that the connections are very close. These migrating people are known as the Arya. Aryan—derives from this word. Indo-European. They invaded northern india

1.    Rise of religious institutions becoming bigger and bigger. (Ziggurat from one of the Mesopotamia cities) Ziggurat was a monumental, and religious structure. When you have building of this size, is a religious establishment. Scribes and such are active in this kind of environment. Large, important classes of people are arising. Military classes, religious classes, and land-owning classes (wealthier than smaller farmers around them), the concentration of wealth around them became the background of the government around them. We see men who accumulate enough wealth and rule through some assembly behind them.

1.)        This is a creation of Confucius that is part of a complex system. It arose during a time when China had many competing kingdoms and Confucius was a thinker who recognized a need for a society that is better managed governmentally. It is about superior, highly educated individuals; he thought that those who had the best education would be the best equipped to rule and allow their higher morals and virtues to determine policies. He thought that having these people as the rulers would solve the problem of creating a government that makes the society just and functioning. Junzi is a term Confucius used to described his ideal human who he thought through having a higher education and virtues, would be the best potential leader of the nation. Another word for this would be superior person. Such an education system he thought would encourage sound judgments on different policies and analytical thinking. It’s about arranging the states and putting in institutions to minimize the bad. 

1.)        a way that people needed to start thinking. By personal responsibility and self-sufficiency, to be in touch with nature, one needs to have as little impact as a river might have over long periods of time. It called for people to live a righteous, basic, and simple life without disturbing nature. This called for fewer cities and unpretentious harmony for nature. It also meant no states, large kingdoms, empires, or government. The communities should be self- sufficient communities that live in harmony with each other. This was part of a philosophy called Daoism which was coined by a thinker named Laozi. It was how he approached the situation with the warring states. He didn’t put an emphasis on schools and institutions like Confucius did. He said that the Dao is like a river because you can hardly see a river moving, but over long periods of time, rivers can erode mountains, create cannons, and in the long run can be very powerful. It is about being self-sufficient and becoming simple. Confucianism was more popular because it was something people could really implement rather than Daoism which was more for the individual. Some people claimed to be both Confucius and Dao.

1.)        Rome goes from an agrarian town to a city with great walls, temples, paved streets. It becomes a more established city-state and a great competitor for Etruscan power. One great advantage it has is its location near the river. Rome was in a strong position to fill a void and rise itself as a challenger for power in 500 BCE after it starts to decline. Rise of the roman Republic began in 500 BCE. A move took place in Rome to ensure the longevity and prosperity of its elite classes. They set up an assembly of elites and influential landowners by which the hereditary aristocracy of Rome could govern itself. They were known as a Senate and members of the senate belonged to the elite class of Roman society. It was their job to govern the city and elect two consuls among them to be the heads of state. These consuls served one-term years to ensure that the members of the Senate were never overshadowed by them. The Senate and the Consuls were dominated by the elite classes which formed tensions between them and the lower classes of Plebeians who had no say in government. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague. 

1.)        The Plebeians or lower class have no say in government and we see tensions between them and the power holding elite. These tensions in Rome are similar to those seen in Athens. Revolts took place that could threaten the existence of Rome. It was important for the Patritian class to help lower classes feel invested in the state and not just subjects to it. The system that evolved is that of tribunes. The number of tribunes changed over time. It begins with ten and goes up to ten or so. The idea of the Tribune is that the Plebeians could choose their tribunes or representatives so that they could feel like they had the power to intervene when needed. The tribunes provided a voice in government for the common people, but the patricians still had the bigger voice. The Plebeians could start holding office, voting in consuls, etc. These city-states are moving towards more participatory government. 

1.)        A Patrician is a person of high birth in one of the original citizen families of Ancient Rome. In Ancient Rome there were two classes There were the plebeians, the poor people who worked on farms. There were also the patricians, the rich nobles who owned land. Everyone could vote except women and slaves. But, only patricians could become members of parliament. Votes were rigged so that the Patricians always won. A patrician was a member of one of the noble families of the ancient Roman Republic. Before the 3^rd century BCE, they had exclusive rights to the Senate. They were upper class, had inherited wealth, high or noble rank, and were aristocratic. Most of the people in the Senate were Patricians and the opposite of Patrician was Plebeian. It was extremely important for the Patricians to help the Plebeian classes feel invested in government and not just subjects to it. 

1.)        The plebeians were members of the Ancient Roman plebs, or one of the common people. They belonged to the commoners of Ancient Rome. They were poor people who worked on farms. They were the working class of Ancient Rome. They were the lower class of Ancient Rome. They were citizens, but the plebeians did not enjoy the status and rank of the higher-class Romans, namely the Patricians. Early in the Roman Republic, the plebs were not allowed to participate in religious ceremony, politics, and could not marry Patricians. In 287 BCE, the plebeians and patricians came to an accord of equality and the plebs were granted some level of citizenship, could participate in state religions, enlist in the military, and intermarry.  They rebelled because of unfair treatment and not having a say in government. Began to dominate assemblies, hold different offices, have vote in offices, etc. by the 3^rd century BCE. 

1.)        Alexander the Great was born in the Kingdom of Macedon, part of Ancient Greece, in 356 BC. He was the son of King Philip II and the heir to the throne. He was given a sound education as a boy in the physical strengths and fighting skills of being a boy by his instructor Leonidas. His main scholastic teacher was Aristotle. He was an ancient Greek king, conqueror, and general. He is one of the greatest war commanders and he largely expanded the Greek empire. He became the leader of Macedon when his father was assassinated. He conquered Babylon, North Africa, and India. By the end of his life, Philip II had overcome resistance and brought all the Greek city-states under his rule. Alexander inherited the power and position Philip had held for Macedonia. His life largely deals with his expansion of Greek (Macedonian power) into Anatolia and Southward. He inherits 35000 soldiers from Philip and puts them into service to launch a war against the Persian provinces. He is able to subjugate much of Anatolia and Iona by 333 BCE. And he later subjugates Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. He establishes himself as the new emperor of Persia. We see the expansion of Greek thought and influence through the lands. 

1.)        Isis was a very important goddess in the Egyptian pantheon. The romans took this culture’s deity. In Egypt, Isis was seen as the goddess of heaven, earth, and the sea. Isis had a husband named Osiris. It became a mystery religion. It spread to rome and in some places was a rival to Christianity. The cult’s success in the Roman Empire is largely due to its impressive ritual and the hope of inmortality for its followers. The myth of the cult of iris is from the Egyptian, nonmystery stage and it says that Iris’ husband Osiris is murdered by his brother but magically resurrects or comes back to life. 

1.)        to go to heaven in the pharaonic period, you had to be Egyptian and live in Egypt. Heaven was seen as a replica of the Nile. You had to be part of this group to receive individual salvation. You would receive salvation through participation in the ceremonies in the huge temples. Religious traditions were very communal and thousands of people and hundreds of priests would get together and do these rituals that would give them salvation in the future. You don’t have to do that is you’re a Christian or a Buddhist. There is the universalism of ideas with these religions and salvation is dependent on the individual. Buddhism brought about the rise of ethics and ideas that were strictly about the individual. Many scholars held these ideas of salvation. This freed the larger community from ethnic affiliation. Religions of salvation are ideas and philosophies that think in terms of the individual relationship with the divine and universal. Downplays the idea of the religious practices and beliefs being tied to one’s particular ethnicity or homeland. Zoroastrianism is seen as a religion of salvation as the individual could achieve their salvation through good deeds and sacrifice. They talk about devotion to god and salvation coming from god if you act in a moral way. Buddhism is another religion of salvation which is based on individual salvation not class or ethnicity. You no matter what your background is or who you are could achieve salvation by living by the noble truths. Allowed people from different station of life to feel connected to the larger kinds of meanings or institutions of our being. Confucionism and Daoism also brought salvation. 

1.)        - major religions are being born and spreading such as Buddhism in Ganges. It is a large school of religious thought. You don’t have to be Indian, Chinese, etc. to be Buddhist. It is a universalist idea that embraces the individual in various ways. All about the individual and your salvation depends on you. 500 BCE-the original tenants of Buddhism are spread in this particular area of the Ganges. The lower caste likes it the most because they start to question why they are put at the bottom and try to free themselves by removing themselves from it. Commercial classes like bankers are very attracted to Buddhism. The merchant classes are growing in wealth and influence. Buddhism provides them a way to fulfill themselves spiritually while rising through the ranks of society and having a status in society that supports their wealth. There is a middle path of being engaged with the world (you can still be a banker, trader, etc.) these are not rejected by this path but you also need right action so you don’t steal, cheat, etc. you also have to reinvest your wealth. The best way to invest it is through Buddhist institutions. Merchants who are largely urban dwellers are moving away from the old verdict traditions to Buddhism. Some verdict kings and priests abandon the old verdict tradition and move on to Buddhism while others ultimately stay firmly inline with the old verdict traditions. Creates a bond between state, people, and kings. New state is massive empire in 330 BC. King allows religious tolerance but makes the state religion Buddhism. It spreads through south asia like wildfire. There are the four noble truths. Not everyone could be a master of Buddhism so an individual from each family would go and learn about it. Ordinary people could go and receive secular education. Missionaries and traders are responsible for spreading Buddhism and bringing their traditions to different places. Spread of Buddhism within south asia. South asia is not largely Buddhist. Buddhism rejects everything verdic. Verdict tradition is about class. Only the very wealthy could participate in large scale sacrifices in the verdict system. Sacrifice transforms from largely scaled events to more personal sacrifices of a few grains of rice rather than tons of animals. Buddhism says all is one and everyone is equal because they are part of this universal order. You have a class system in Hinduism. Like a jigsaw puzzle with many pieces. 

the Gupta empire was an Ancient Indian empire which existed approximately from 320 to 550 CE and covered much of the Indian Subcontinent.[1] Founded by Maharaja Sri-Gupta, the dynasty was the model of a classical civilization.[2] The peace and prosperity created under leadership of Guptas enabled the pursuit of scientific and artistic endeavors.[3] This period is called the Golden Age of India[4] and was marked by extensive inventions and discoveries in science, technology, engineering, art, dialectic, literature, logic, mathematics, astronomy, religion and philosophy that crystallized the elements of what is generally known as Hindu culture.[5] Chandragupta I, Samudragupta, and Chandragupta II were the most notable rulers of the Gupta dynasty.[6]

The high points of this cultural creativity are magnificent architectures, sculptures and paintings.[7] The Gupta period produced scholars such as Kalidasa, Aryabhata, Varahamihira, Vishnu Sharma, Vatsyayana and Prashastapada who made great advancements in many academic fields.[8][9] Science and political administration reached new heights during the Gupta era.[10] Strong trade ties also made the region an important cultural center and set the region up as a base that would influence nearby kingdoms and regions in Burma, Sri Lanka, Malay Archipelago and Indochina.[11]

1.)        The earliest available Puranas are also thought to have been written around this period. The empire gradually declined because of many factors like the substantial loss of territory and imperial authority caused by their own erstwhile feudatories and the invasion by the Hunas from Central Asia.[12] After the collapse of the Gupta Empire in the 6th century, India was again ruled by numerous regional kingdoms. A minor line of the Gupta clan continued to rule Magadha after the disintegration of the empire. These Guptas were ultimately ousted by the Vardhana king Harsha, who established an empire in the first half of the 7th century.

1.)        he was an Indian emperor and he instituted his law of oppression by administering capital punishment for even the smallest infractions. His cruel heart showed mercy to no one. He initiated an invasion and lead his military to victory but as a result witnessed hundreds of thousands of people massacred. He began to turn his attention to the welfare of his subjects and began an era of peace, teaching people to love and respect all living things. He protected animals against the unnecessary slaughter or mutilation. He treated his subjects as equals regardless of their religion, politics, or caste. He became an avid Buddhist practicioner. 

_·            rose in roughly 500 BCE. It represents a move within rome to ensured the continued longevity and prosperity of its elite classes. _{Replaced it with a set of new elites and influential landowners}

_{·            They set up an assembly by which the hereditary aristocracy of rome could govern itself and this becomes known as a Senate}

_{·            Members of the senate belonged to the elite class of roman society and it is their job to govern the city and elect two consuls among them to be the heads of state.}

_{·            We are looking at an oligarchy elite develop, republic doesn’t survive expansions. greater wealth and power brought greater social upheaval, class divisions, and other social tensions over political and other policies. rome is no longer a city-state and now rules people of different backgrounds, religions, and languages. civil wars arose in roman states and the question of whether nonromans should be allowed to participate in the Senate or have a say through tribunes arose. see the rise of imperial government. figures like Julius Caesar come into power in Rome as great military figures and coquerors  who gain some kind of popularity or infamy. he becomes dictator and deals with problems of roman empire. dictators ruled for six months in times of emergency. Caesar becomes ruler for life. he designs projects to employ the poor, extends citizenship, breaks up the elite classes. this restores the republic. the republic ends when augustus or Octavian becomes dictator in 27 BCE. by 1st century AD, the roman empire is ruled by hereditary emperors and s no longer the republic. they try to deal with governing such a large expanding empire but there were a number of conflicts like civil wars.}

_·           romans start thinking in terms of expanding out to gain greater access to trade groups and think in terms of empire, annexation of different areas, and being imperialistic. The big competitor in the western Mediterranean is the city of Carthage. _{It is rooted in Phoenician history and Phoenician expansion and represents an alternative power to the rising Romans. The role of Carthage became increasingly important with its influence in the Mediterranean and had to be defeated if rome itself would start to have a greater influence in the Mediterranean and improve its trade links to the greater world}

_{·           Clashes between Carthage and Rome which are known as the Punic Wars}

_{·           Hannibal and his elephants trek around and come around to Italy is part of the Punic Wars. 264-146 BCE}

_{·           Long term conflict}

_{·           These wars are a defining moment for Rome and ultimately stand at the root of the roman empire. By defeating Carthage, Carthage was burned to the ground and rome established its dominance in this region. They are linked to trade routes in northern Africa}

_{·           The punic wars allowed roman empire to become major play in the region rather than just a powerful Italian force}

_{·           Contender of power in this region and beyond}

_{·           The republic itself doesn’t survive all of this expansion}

_{·           With greater wealth and power, greater social upheavel, class divisions, and other types of social tensions over political and other policies leading to other ways in which the roman constitution struggles to deal with it.} 

_{·           Year 221 BC. Mexico is expanding. In Egypt, Alexandra builds the tallest building of the time. More than 2,000 years later, in 1974, farmers find fragments of clay sculpted into human forms. They found a staggering discovery of thousands of clay warriors in the tomb of a powerful Chinese emperor. He unified 7 warring kingdoms. Nothing like these underground Terracotta warriors has ever been found. It posed the question why were they made and how? They were each 6 feet tall and would have cost a fortune only an emperor could afford. These clay statues were made on a scale like never before. They were buried out of sight and were intended to never be seen by human eyes after his death. Another royal tomb might provide clues as to why one emperor made his army out of clay. This gigantic pit was the tomb of an emperor and are reminders of the ritual killing of his entire court. He buried 186 leading people with him. Each victim was buried in the coffin with his or her number. The coffins were pre assigned to there coffins. Many were killed to help their ruler. This is the greatest sacrifice in Ancient Chinese tombs. Body counts like these in royal tombs shows there might have been a violent massacre. But there is no evidence. Some of these people were happy or at least willing to die. At that time, people believed there was another world where they could continue their world. Death was another form of life and they wanted to follow their master when he died. Some people were terrified and unwilling to die but others thought their life was un meaningful without their master. Some committed suicide and others committed murder. How did they die? Some of the skulls had traces of arsenic. This leaves one possibility: the arsenic had to be ingested by the victims voluntarily or not. They drank arsenic wine and were poisoned to death. 300 years later, the first emperor, also buried servants, entertainers, and 8,000 soldiers in his tomb (but they were all clay). The people might have believed in sacrifice but they didn’t like it and many court officials didn’t want to die. They didn’t want to be unloyal and wanted to follow what they were supposed to do. China’s kingdoms went into war after the first emperor died. Populations died by the thousands. Human life became more important. After the emperor unified china, sacrifices were rare. Pottery figurines starting replacing real humans and tombs had more and more stuff of this kind. The first emperor inherited the tradition of figurines, but made them life size and each one was different. Some say that the 8000 clay figures were all individuals. Modern technology is used to analyse the warriors. When comparing the Terracotta warriors, it showed that each had variations. There are similarities but they are very unique. It is astounding that they are so individual. It is a mystery is they were portraits of the emperor’s warriors of part of their imagination. Human size statues are harder to make than tiny statues. The emperor gave his orders to have 8,000 clay made soldiers made by the time he died that looked pleasing, different, and never to be seen after he died. (Obviously the last part was not fulfilled). Some make replicas for these warriors for a living and send it to people who are fascinated by the warriors in the first emperor’s tomb. 50,000 Terracotta warriors are made a year. Being the replica business is not easy. They have to figure out the warrior making system by trial and error. They have to first choose the right material. The typical one weighs almost 600 pounds and is 6 feet tall. It needs to be dense enough to withstand this and tough enough. the right clay is near the emperor’s tomb. This is called red clay. Finding the right clay is the first big problem in making the life size warriors. The first emperor died in 210 BC. His craftsmen finished over 700 a year. The warrior makers were sometimes killed if their work wasn’t good enough. Molding is the key to mass production. They use molds so they can produce massive amounts of warriors with slight differences. 80,000 workers worked on the Terracotta warriors. The huge labor force made the work done in about 8 years. They had to deal with extreme weather conditions.} 

was a thinker who started the philosophy of Daoism. Put emphasis on internal side

_·           Greek cities wanted to start to challenge the east. This is at the root of the challenges to Persian authority. _{So by 500 BCE, we see revolts against the Persian rue and the expulsion of the administrators to the areas of Greece that they rule}

_{·           In support of their commercial partners they see the rebels rise up here so the Persian wars date from 500 BCE on to roughly about 479 BCE. To punish the Athenians, the Perians under Darius go to attack Athens. The Athenians manage to march back from the battle of marathon and the Xerxes in 480 dispatches a massive force and the Persian army succeeds in burning down Athens. What is interesting like the movie 300 we are in the 21st century and the western cultures live on but from the Persian standpoint this shows for example the Greek uprising is a rather peripheral and unimportant development.}

_{·           Later we don’t see the great commitment to hea. We see minor battles taking place and the Persian state is occupied from the policies and moving away from the old policies to Darius.}

_{·           In Greece we see the opposite. We see the previously warring states now wanting to join together. What this does is lead to the exposure to different powers in Greece. So Athens supplies a great deal of the military force that bolsters this lead. And therefore, other policies contribute financially to uphold its alliances}

_{·           In the absence of the Persians, we start to see tensions and rivalries erupt between members of the elite itself, between the Greek states themselves and this leads to the Peloponnesian war 404 BCE. fall of the Persians under Alexander. Greek states came together to band against the Persians to prevent the Persian conquest of the whole of Greece. the Persian empire was the mightiest in the world at this time.} 

_{1.     One of Confucius’ propositions. Xiao—focused on family itself. Cultivating respectful children towards their parents and supporting elderly in their old age.}

_{·              Without these values, this period of warring states will only continue to fester and there would be no one who could get out of it}

_{·              After he laid these foundations, there were students and followers of these who followed these ideas. Each one of them focussed on different aspects of his ideas (Ren, Li, Xiao) and further expanded on them, putting more emphasis on their meanings.}

the attitude of obedience, devotion, and care toward one’s parents and elder family members that is the basis of individual moral conduct and social harmony. Xiao consists in putting the needs of parents and family elders over self, spouse, and children, deferring to parents’ judgment, and observing toward them the prescribed behavioral proprieties (li).

_·             Xiao was rooted in China’s feudal social structure, in which land was held by large clans whose internal life was structured hierarchically and patriarchally. Confucius raised xiao to a moral precept by citing it as the basis of ren (“humanity”), the cultivated love of other people that was the Confucian moral ideal. Xiao is not simple obedience but rather deference, and on occasion it even entails remonstrance or gentle admonition. He also delineated the importance of xiao for both family harmony and sociopolitical stability and facilitated its practice by reemphasizing the rites and behaviours associated with it.

The Analects

_{The Analects of Confucius are} are considered a record of the words and acts of the central Chinese thinker and philosopher Confucius and his disciples, as well as the discussions they held. Written during the Spring and Autumn Period through the Warring States Period (ca. 475 BC - 221 BC), the Analects is the representative work of Confucianism and continues to have a tremendous influence on Chinese and East Asianthought and values today. It was written approximately around 500 BCE. Most of it was written by his pupils about 30 years after his death. It was mostly about Confucius and his thought. Has greater influenced the moral values and philosophy of China. It taught the basic Confucian values including social and ritual propriety, righteousness, loyalty, etc. it all centered around the central thought of Confucius-humanity and the proper man or gentleman. For almost 2000 years, a man was not considered morally upright or enlightened if he didn’t study Confucius’ works. 

_{·              The roman empire and Christianity have not the best relationship}

_{·              One persecutor is the emperor Diocletian.}

_{·              During his time, Christians became a fairly substantial community. He dealed with them by trying to shoot down the vast diversity of communities and try to create a more centralized view of roman culture}

_{·              He persecuted manachies, Christians—confiscated land and killed bishops.}

_{·              During his reign we see much of the kind of animosity that we associate with the roman empires relationship}

_{·              These persecutions don’t help the emperor and doesn’t lessen the growth of Christianity as a religion of salvation}

_{·              We see that Christianity poses an interesting challenge and opportunity for the roman empire.}

_{·              The respective of ethnicity, class, etc.}

_{·              Christianity presents itself in a way that later emperor can see as a tool by which the roman empire itself can bring about unity to all its different communities. The institutionalization of Christianity as a roman religion comes under the emperor Constantine who follows closely on the heels of Diocletian himself. Constantine is noted as the first Christian emperor.}

_{·              It is not clear when adopted Christianity or if he ultimately gave up ecumenical traditions in the empire. But his mum was Christian. He issued the Edict of Milan in 313 CE. He halted diocletians persecutions of Christians. Religious toleration was his stated policy}

_{·              We see a change of attitudes that allows Christianity to flourish in rome itself}

_{·              Penalties for practicing Christianity were lifted}

_{·              Scholars debate whether he ultimately adopted Christianity as his own creed and when he adopted it as his own creed.}

_{·              But this is when we see the catholic church taking shape beyond the formal setting we saw so far}

_{·              Once he moved towards Christianity himself in one way or another he became a major patron of Christian building, financing building and priviledges for clergy, promoted Christians to high position. The saint peter’s basilica is one example of his buildings}

_{·              He didn’t patronize Christianity alone. Still had gods like Diana and Hercules which contrains no Christian religion at all.}

_{·              He tries to balance the states’ role in different religions}

_{·              At the same time, we see that Constantine was Pontifex Maximus. He was elevated to the great pope or Pontifex Maximus of Christianity}

_{·              The roman state is involved on the doctrines of Christianity}

_{·              They didn’t want religious controversy or diversity, but wanted a unified religion with no divisions within the empire}

_{·              Constantine acted as a judge in the various disputes that arose about Christianity itself.}

_{·              There are schools of thought for Christianity}

_{·              In various places one of the big problems is the people that stepped away from their church to save themselves from persecution}

_{·              Movements named after different leaders who lead them such as Donatism. These kinds of schools of thought debated what we do with these people and the church leaders who turned away from the church after persecution from the state.}

_{·              The donasts that were centered in north said that those who turned away from christianity during times of persecution should not be forgiven or allowed to enter back into the church}

_{·              Constantine himself entered the debated as the pope of different churches}

_{·              The popes decided what is the right Christian way to act.}

_{·              Their persecution in a very harsh way}

_{·              Another good example rooted in Constantine’s own time is the debate surrounding the council of Nicaea in 325 CE}

_{·              This was about a debate centered around a group of Christian called Aryans—centered around a ruler named Arius. The debate was a crucial theologian one which centered on God and Jesus as Christ and what did this mean? Was jesus as holy as God or as the son of God, a creation in time?}

_{·              The followers said Jesus was one of the creations of time and that God existed on a higher platform than Jesus did. These people looked at the gospels to determine their answers. Jesus’ divinity is lower than God the Father}

_{·              The council of Nicaea debates this issue and they find that the followers of Arius are also heretics. They are heavily persecuted and wiped out by state sanctioned religion.}

_{·              All the variety in Christianity is settled down to a more centralized orthodox religion}

_{·              It moves toward contemporary Christianity}

_{·              Basic figures behind the rise of a more codified Christianity}

_{·              Emperor Theodecius in 380 CE produces theodecian code. He writes that the state itself is in a codified fashion speaks about which doctrines are the orthodox doctrines of Christianity. It leaves out the writings of not only Arianism, but also the other bishops (Byzantian, Allapo, etc) we see many different strains of thought in Christianity not receiving official sanction}

_{·              Once the state backs a particular side in a debate, it receives the financial backing of the state and has the military backing of the state}

_{·              The other sides are not merely left out of the financial support of the state, they are also harshly persecuted by the state. The rise of a centralized kind of church came about}

_{·              Patriarch of Rome, Constantinople,}

_{·              Patriarch of Rome was seen as the highest and first.}

_{·              Following from this, we see a number of ecumenical councils being held. The nestorians emphasize between the humanity of Jesus. They say when Mary gave birth to Jesus, she didn’t give birth to God but to Jesus. They say the divinity of Jesus is of a lesser divinity or rank than the father.}

_{·              Others say that Mary is the god bearer or the mother of God. Debate on if Jesus is part human, all god, or all human.}

_{·              What this means for the lay follower or society if we speak as God partially on earth in Jesus, or wholly on earth as Jesus, etc}

_{·              Once the council puts out its final reading, it becomes one the eastern Assyrian churches. Many historian ideas survive in those churches}

_{Another major break came in the council of Calsidon. Didn’t argue about the equality or divinity of Jesus but argued that the divine nature of nature is far greater than the human nature of Jesus and that Jesus had two natures and is both fully God and fully human. The persepective that is arising is a middle part between those emphasizing the humanity of Jesus and those emphasizing the divinity of Jesus. Say He is equally human and divine}

_{·            He didn’t patronize Christianity alone. Still had gods like Diana and Hercules which contrains no Christian religion at all.}

_{·            He tries to balance the states’ role in different religions}

_{·            At the same time, we see that Constantine was Pontifex Maximus. He was elevated to the great pope or Pontifex Maximus of Christianity}

_{·            The roman state is involved on the doctrines of Christianity}

_{·            They didn’t want religious controversy or diversity, but wanted a unified religion with no divisions within the empire}

_{·            Constantine acted as a judge in the various disputes that arose about Christianity itself.}

_{·            There are schools of thought for Christianity}

_{·            In various places one of the big problems is the people that stepped away from their church to save themselves from persecution}

_{·            Movements named after different leaders who lead them such as Donatism. These kinds of schools of thought debated what we do with these people and the church leaders who turned away from the church after persecution from the state.}

_{·            The donasts that were centered in north said that those who turned away from christianity during times of persecution should not be forgiven or allowed to enter back into the church}

_{·            Constantine himself entered the debated as the pope of different churches}

_{·            The popes decided what is the right Christian way to act.}

_{·            Their persecution in a very harsh way}

_{·            Minoans in 2000-1000 BCE built a center called Crete. It is sometimes considered part of Europe. Up to this point, all we said about Europe is that it is part of the process of agricultural societies, agrarian societies. Indoeuropean migrations brought people from central Asia to Britain and Spain and settled into here. Both of these aspects of our history apply to what is going on. Minoan society is ultimately not an urban society like in Egypt}

_{·            We see the rise of an agrarian culture with palaces. We don’t see the rise of a big city-state. Instead, we see the concentration of agrarian wealth and large palaces that act as centers of culture and commerce. The Minoans also build store houses and begin levying taxes and move towards the urbanization we see elsewhere.}

_{·            The develop the linear A script which allow them to begin expressing different types of ideas and keep records}

_{·            We start to see Crete becoming a very important center for trade. Ultimately, this meant that Minoan society came into contact and was influenced by the more ancient societies that we talked about so far. This is reflected in the types of ships and boats that the Minoans built. They sailed to Greece and to the North and basically traded wool for textiles and other manufactured goods from the regions they came into contact with}

_{·            By 1600 the Minoans established settlements in different parts}

_{·            These facilitate the production and import of Crete copper ores and tin which tells us that it is a bronze age society. We are talking about a bronze age society and its basic economic foundations being both commercial, trade based, and agrarian.}

_{·            By 1700-1600 BCE scholars tell us that Crete societies experienced a number of setbacks like earthquakes (and other natural disasters).}

_{·            1628 BCE, massive tidal waves that undermine much of the foundations of Minoan society and its effects along the Eastern Mediterranean. This could have been the well known city Atlantis}

_{·            the rise and fall of different cultures in different places.}

_{·            By 1600 BCE, Minoan starts to rebuild in various ways. New complexes arise as well. While these environmental pressures retarded the culture, we see it recover over time and the new complexes become more luxurious than older ones. We see plumbing being established}

_{·            1450 BCE, the wealth of Minoan society started to attract invaders from the North. They start to invade Crete and from here we start to see the eventual decline of Minoan society and 1100 BCE is when Minoan society comes under the rule of nonCretens}

_{·            the important of Minoan society lingers on in terms of its writing system, trade networks, influences that flew from outside into this regions with people from the North coming into contact with the Minoans. These flows northwards, particularly those in nearby Greece.}

_{·            By about 2200 BCE, those different routes of migration bring IndoEuropean speaking people (pasteuralist tribes) move into this region and settle down. As the Minoans from Crete begins to expand, these new settlers learn about writing, agriculture, so on. We see how Greek society starts to develop}

_{·            The first instance of this is the Myceneans—1500-800 BCE. They adopt a linear script from Crete which they take to make their own language. They create linear B to further their own  language.}

_{·            Communities start to build massive stone dwellings that become the cornerstones of Mycenean societies which are named after Mycenea. From around 1500-800 BCE, Mycenean expands their society and overthrow Minoan society as well. They took over Crete themselves and what tied them more firmly to Crete. They also overthrow other parts. We see Mycenea become a more and more important center for trade. Myceneans are crucial for understanding the growth of classical Greek or Hellenic culture. It is under the myceneans that the famous and legendary war between the Greeks and the Trojans takes place which the poet Homer writes about in the Illiad. It tells us about a great deal of warfare entering in this region. The various communities, trade networks, and settlements that have arisen are in competition with each other}

_{·            That competition ultimately is the undoing of Mycenean society. It makes it impossible to maintain stable governments. Agrarian production suffers and Myceneans populations falls into ruin and people abandon the settlements that had grown up. Many flee as far as Cyprus}

_{·            1100-800 BCE we see the rise of a new period in the history of people who speak Greek or some form of Greek}

_{o    We discovered the Persians, rise of the Greeks, and Alexander of Macedons. We draw from this the relationship between empire and trade networks and how they connect west asia and the entire Mediterranean region together.}

_{o    In all of these spaces, we have the rise of what is generally called religions of salvation. Such religions are found in your book}

_{o    They talk about devotion to a god and salvation coming from the god if you act in a moral way}

_{o    Empire and trade}

_{South Asia}

_{o    Moving further East, 1500-500 BCE is called as the Vedic Era because the Vedas were written during this time}

_{o    There were no major empires at all that we talked about in South Asia but now they are arising}

_{o    Once upon a time, in a place called Kapilavastu in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains inSouth Asia, it was a small vedic kingdom. One day the king and queen learned that they were going to have a child. As was the custom, they sent out for an astrologer who gives a reader to determine what the child will be like and what his fate is. He tells his parents that they will have a son who will be the greatest people who ever was, but if he experiences the world around him he will abandon his duties as a prince and leave the kingdom. His parents make sure he stays in the precincts where he was born. They do so by spoiling him in the precincts of the palace so he will be way too happy to want to go out and see the world so he can do his duty as future king. He grows up and has a great time not concerned with anything at all. Deep inside he has a longing to go out and see the world because he realizes he is living in a wonderful palace, but thinks seeing the world would be even more amazing. When he is in his twenties, he convinces one of his servants to help him sneak out of the palace one night. The servant warns that he will get rid of him if he does as he wishes. The servant sneaks him out one night and he goes out into the town. He is used to having a very luxurious life but when he goes out into the world he sees a life of toil, work, study, illnesses, death, pain, etc. all things that go with having a normal life. He is shaken by this because he has not experienced it before. All he sees is people suffering. This troubles him to the point that one day he sneaks out of the palace and never comes back. He is on a quest to find out why people suffer and how they could overcome that suffering, and alleviate the pain of ordinary life. The astrologer’s reading comes true and the prince rejects the palace life altogether and goes out on a quest to see what the world is all about. He encounters all kinds of different people who are dealing with suffering in their different ways. One group he meets has an insight on human condition. They tell him that there is so much suffering in the world because every is predetermined and nothing is in out control. It has all been set by the gods and we have to live by the lot we are given. He probes and questions them to explain their philosophical outlooks. He is left unsatisfied because it leaves no room for change. He abandons them and continues his quest. He meets a group in a town who are having a good time. They are laughing and hoot and not caring about the suffering in the world around them. He asks them what is suffering and how we alleviate it. They tell him that suffering is caused by people who are projecting things and trying to understand the world through mere speculation (such as priests who pretend that they are gods). These people and their ideas are the problem because they do not have the capacity to know anything at all. Everything is mere speculation other than what our senses tell us. As soon as we break free from all this, we realize that life short and we better enjoy ourselves as much as we can. He probes their way of seeing as well but he is still left dissatisfied; he thinks there is something more. He moves on from them as well. He encounters a bunch of other groups until he wanders into the depths of the forest where he finds renounces—people who have rejected the world of social living altogether. He asks them how to alleviate suffering. They say the world we live in is an illusion and they don’t really exist. The more we are tied to it, the more we suffer. We remove ourselves as far as we can from the illusion. By moving away to the forest, they break away from this illusion to end their connection to that world. They say that we are nothing more than spirits. He likes this idea the most and sticks with it the longest. He sits down and starts meditating. He feels that if he moves, eats, or drinks might bring bad karma. If you do nothing until you die, you will not hurt anything. He meditates and fasts and over time becomes emaciated nothing like the old prince remains. Suddenly he has an epiphany and says “this is all a bunch of crap.” He is sitting there wasting away and still doesn’t have any answers. All he did was run away from it and remove himself from it which only achieved his own demise. He rises to his feet and walks to the nearest village and begs for food. He sits under a tree and starts meditating when he finally achieves understanding of suffering and how to elude it. He understands the four noble truths:}

_{1.       The world is suffering. There is nothing else in the world}

_{2.       Suffering is caused by desire: desire for things, advancement, luxury, marriage, kids, a glass of water, etc.}

_{3.       If you want to get rid of suffering, you have to get rid of desire}

_{4.       You live right to get rid of desire. This means your thoughts have to have good intentions behind them as do your actions, interactions, etc. this can be done by teaching them the four noble truths or helping them}

_{o    This is the Buddha’s ideas-or the noble one. He went from spoiled prince to enlightened. Enlightenment=understand world as it is. He thinks of the middle path-don’t go to any extremes. One side the whole world is illusion and the other says do nothing. The Buddhists say the right way is the middle way: don’t be materialist or extreme spiritualist. Know that there is a complementary material and spiritual world.}

_{o    They are the first to take it up (rather than the peasants or untouchables). The merchants latch onto this idea. The merchants find this appealing because the merchants are pretty down low before the axial age when trade is going up as well as the contact of between places and urbanization. All these are increasing. The merchant classes are growing in wealth, influence, etc. but they still belong to the low ranks of society. Buddhism provides them a way to fulfill themselves spiritually while rising through the ranks of society and having a status in society that supports their wealth.} 

_{o    rise of ideas and ethics that are all about YOU. Your salvation is dependent on you the individual. Many scholars hold these ideas of salvation. This freed the larger community from ethnic affiliation. Some scholars follow the idea that this era can be referred to as an axial age. This means that ultimately, we are now moving into a new phase in world history.}

_{o    REVOLUTIONARY THINKING IN INDIA AND CHINA}

_{o    key axial age thinkers have}  having had a profound influence on future philosophies and religions, and identified characteristics common to each area from which those thinkers emerged

_{·            In many respects, the elites of Spartan societies became more and more tyrannical. Interesting contrast in the city state of Athens.}

_{·            While Spartans tried to create order through military discipline, in Athens we see population growth create tensions between elite and everyone else in society. What we see in Athens as opposed to order in Spartans is the consideration of various communities in Athenian city state. We see the concept of citizenship arising. This begins with nothing more than the idea that adult free males who dominate Athenian society and play a role in public affairs are the pillars in Athenian society and are the makeup of it. Foreigners, slaves, and women were excluded from participation of government and being citizens}

_{·            They begin opening up government to all cities and allow participation in government}

_{·            By 600 century BCE, it was large enough and people were happy enough for change to be in the offing. War became a prospect for accommodating growth, population, and demands for people. Many in the Polis suffered decades of civil war between themselves and less priviledged people. In Athens we see a figure named Solon. He wanted to find ways for mediating between the different classes of society to avoid class conflict in different ways. He argued that aristocrats should be allowed to keep their lands and hold onto their property. Solon argued that the best way to go is to allow them to keep their lands but cancel debts and liberate those enslaved by debt. We touch on an aspect f society called slavery. The largest source of slaves in any of those societies are those captured by war and sold into slavery by being in debt.  Pericles—443 B.C.E to 429 B.C.E}

_{·            This guy had a great deal of influence in government. And basically expanded government to include hundreds of commoners in various positions throughout the state. Under his leadership we see the support for various building programs that provided employment to thousands of construction workers, and the rise of Athens to a stature that keeps it alive in our minds, as a center of civility, a center of institutions that we even visit today (such as Akropolis) As the city prospered, so did its influence in the region. We see not only Athenian, but other Greek city-states setting up their own colonies in the Mediterranean as shown on the first map here. At least 400 or so such outposts of various Greek city-states between 800 and 400 BCE}

_{·            That the greek city-states went up through the rivers and the heartlands and to Africa as well. We see this developed into trade and wealth. This yields the greatest benefits. The kind of trade…the kind of network isn’t represented as a large Greek empire like the Persian empire. Some of these are not growing the same. In Athens government compared to here they don’t say we will set up trading posts here and there, think about the Pacific Islands. People who are looking for social mobility and looking to set up a new community. This explains why we do not see the empirial integration but instead the cultural}

_{·            This is the scenario at 400 BCE the time of Pericles. We can start talking about the wars with the Persians. Greek cities had grown to a point where they want to start to challenge the east. All of this is at the root of the challenges to Persian authority}

_{·            So by 500 BCE, we see revolts against the Persian rue and the expulsion of the administrators to the areas of Greece that they rule}

_{·            In support of their commercial partners they see the rebels rise up here so the Persian wars date from 500 BCE on to roughly about 479 BCE. To punish the Athenians, the Perians under Darius go to attack Athens. The Athenians manage to march back from the battle of marathon and the Xerxes in 480 dispatches a massive force and the Persian army succeeds in burning down Athens. What is interesting like the movie 300 we are in the 21st century and the western cultures live on but from the Persian standpoint this shows for example the Greek uprising is a rather peripheral and unimportant development.}

_{·            Later we don’t see the great commitment to hea. We see minor battles taking place and the Persian state is occupied from the policies and moving away from the old policies to Darius.}

_{·            In Greece we see the opposite. We see the previously warring states now wanting to join together. What this does is lead to the exposure to different powers in Greece. So Athens supplies a great deal of the military force that bolsters this lead. And therefore, other policies contribute financially to uphold its alliances}

_{·            In the absence of the Persians, we start to see tensions and rivalries erupt between members of the elite itself, between the Greek states themselves and this leads to the Peloponnesian war 404 BCE}

_{·            In Greece and various outposts we see a division into two camps: of Athens and Sparta. And ultimately the fortunes of war favoured one side over the other. So a see-saw between the two in the region, and by 404 BCE the Spartans force the Athenians to surrender.}

_{·            But this arouses new jealousy, and during the decades that follow Polis and Greek city-states would rise and fall. During these Peloponnesian wars, this weakens the power of the various Greek states and allow for the lands—known as Macedonia to develop into a challenge of all the warring Greek states}

_{·              Delphi, Sparta, Athens, etc. are the first true cities in how we have been defining cities so far. They had large commercial centers, specialized labor, government that levied taxes. These are city-states like in Mesopotamia.}

_{·              The polis took on a variety of forms of government. The two main ones in the earliest stages were small monarchies (kingdoms) and others ruled by generals or tyrants. The word tyrant is part of our contemporary speak. We are not referring to the means by which someone came to power. It tells us that one set of states rises to power}

_{·              If we take these two divisions, we see two states in particular that are examples of all this : one is Sparta.}

_{·              Sparta is in the southern end of Greece. It is not like 300. Spartan society is best described as a military state. People associated with Sparta fell into two categories: the ruling elites and the helots. The helots are the productive classes including those brought into the orbit of Sparta through military expansion}

_{·              Helot refers to servants of the state. We are not talking about slaves (or free people). They are agriculturalists that are tied to the land. What they grow is important to city-states like Sparta. Spartan government made sure people didn’t leave the land. Sparta itself was supplied with food}

_{·              The Helots outpopulated Spartans. They maintained a disciplined military force to assert their power and direct resources in the region. Spartans were citizens equal to each other. Spartans observed an extraordinary obstere society. The word Spartan means well disciplined and value bells and whistles of luxurious society. They didn’t wear jewelry or wear nice clothes as we would think of luxury. They didn’t use precious metals for currency. Instead they used iron bars as currency. Spartan society was not defined by your wealth or social status but instead by your discipline and military talent. All boys from Spartan societies left their home at the age of 7 and lived in barracks and underwent rigorous training. Various kinds of physical exercise and martial training were imparted for the Spartan boys. Physical exercise was promoted among girls so they could be fit and healthy and raise healthy children. Young Spartan women married but ultimately didn’t live with their husbands. At age 30, men would leave the barracks and live with their family. This defined when men and women lived together as husband and wife}

_{·              Spartan society loses much of its rigor when aristocratic societies grow out by accumulating wealth and acquire luxurious lifestyles, food, and dress. Spartan societies start to crumble in different ways}

_{·              In many respects, the elites of Spartan societies became more and more tyrannical. Interesting contrast in the city state of Athens.}

_{·              While Spartans tried to create order through military discipline, in Athens we see population growth create tensions between elite and everyone else in society. What we see in Athens as opposed to order in Spartans is the consideration of various communities in Athenian city state. We see the concept of citizenship arising. This begins with nothing more than the idea that adult free males who dominate Athenian society and play a role in public affairs are the pillars in Athenian society and are the makeup of it. Foreigners, slaves, and women were excluded from participation of government and being citizens}

·     _{We see the borders that are depicted on this map. The nile valley and eastward into the indus valley. With the rise of the third ruler, Darius, the Achaeminid Empire became the largest and most powerful state that our history has encountered so far. Darius as opposed to Cyrus is not merely important as simply a conquerer but as a ruler who consolidated the state. He brought in diverse cultures and lands under his rulership. He faced questions like how to improve communications over this large place, enforce lands over this diverse land, and make it centralized. Standardized taxation policy, use of coins, different legal dictates, etc=model for government that worked very well for the Achaeminid and had later influence for over places. This government was very successful. The influence of very Persian norms is found in different regions such as Macedonian Empire. All of this stands out as one of the features we have to credit the Acheaminid empire as pioneering. Within 250 years, this entire infrastructure starts to decline and new states start to arise to displace the Achaeminids.} By darius’ successor, Xerxes 486-465 BCE, in some respects we see fractures start to arise. Local regions that are ultimately major sources of revenue for the state break out into sporadic rebellions. Regions like the Nile and Tigris Euphrates which were one powerful also start to question the rule of the Achaeminids and think of their own reassertion of power.

·     Various developments in Greece and Macedonia start to take place that make new imperial powers able to arise. As a response to this, Xerxes retreated from toleration and flaunted the Persian identity of Achaeminid state. The converse would ultimately have been the result of this. People with their own relgions, cultures began to resent Xerxes. He suppressed resentment, but when he dies we see a period of decline and end to Achaeminid state. It is overthrown by the rise of Alexander.

_{·            In support of their commercial partners they see the rebels rise up here so the Persian wars date from 500 BCE on to roughly about 479 BCE. To punish the Athenians, the Perians under Darius go to attack Athens. The Athenians manage to march back from the battle of marathon and the Xerxes in 480 dispatches a massive force and the Persian army succeeds in burning down Athens. What is interesting like the movie 300 we are in the 21st century and the western cultures live on but from the Persian standpoint this shows for example the Greek uprising is a rather peripheral and unimportant development.}

_{·            Later we don’t see the great commitment to hea. We see minor battles taking place and the Persian state is occupied from the policies and moving away from the old policies to Darius.}

_{·           One of the first and most obvious moves made by Darius was to divide the empire into administrative provinces called satrapies. With each satrapie having tax collecter, administrators, bureaucrats who could oversee local powers}

_{·           Vast network of spies or secret service that kept an eye on the appointed officers in this state. The secret service keeps an eye on the officers who oversee the satrapies. Darius had a workable solution to governing such a vast territory. This state is on a scale we hadn’t seen yet in history. All of this is innovation taking place.}

_{·           Darius is credited with backing up the administrative organization of the state with economic organization. Under Darius, we see evolution of well organized system of taxation. Figure out what is due in a very regulized standardized way. Taxes were imposed widely from province to province and were to be paid in silver. Tributes came in various forms. Putting every into one commodity lead to a more standardized and reliable source of revenue. This taxation policy helped it along. Darius also implemented a system of coinage or money. He took inspiration from Lydia and starting issuing or minting standardized coinage throughout his rule to help trade and payment of taxes}

_{·           Integration of this state. Unlike Hammurabi who instituted a unified code for all of his territories, Darius set our legal experts to find out how to unify the decentralized local legal system}

_{·           The laws of the state represented one level of legal rights and obligations. Local laws continued to be framed and play a role in each of the provinces.}

_{·           Standardized taxation policy, use of coins, different legal dictates, etc=model for government that worked very well for the Achaeminid and had later influence for over places. This government was very successful. The influence of very Persian norms is found in different regions such as Macedonian Empire. All of this stands out as one of the features we have to credit the Acheaminid empire as pioneering}

_{·           Roads and communication networks tied all these lands. Expansion of road networks such as the Persian Royal roads. As a function of this kind of development, extensions of that road into Babylon and into the Indus valley, we can ultimately see that the entire state and its economy was enhanced in various ways particularly through integration.}

_{·           It took about 90 days to travel the length of this road and it became one of the major trade routes. Investments were put in to make sure there were various stops for traders such as inns or stables to replenish themselves and their supplies}

_{·           The roads were very well policed so the threat of bandits was lessened}

_{·           This all enhanced trade in the long run}

_{·           These road networks were used for vehicle for communication. There was a postal service  that took carriers one week to get from one side to another. One week is an amazingly short period for these distances and represents an innovation that wasn’t seen in earlier times}

_{·           The U.S. postal service is a standard for its own. We aren’t just talking about regional influence but long term influence in this new classical or axial context.}

_{·           Within 250 years, this entire infrastructure starts to decline and new states start to arise to displace the Achaeminids.}

_{·           Iran itself and all of Mesopotamia come under the sway of new imperial forces in the region in particular the Greeks.}

_{·           This empire hinged on balancing imperial wants with the diversity and despairant nature of those being ruled. From the indus valley to Egypt to Greece made up many different linguistic, social, economic groups all being governed under one state. This meant that the legal system under Darius allowed for local custom to prevail and was very important for the state. With the state investing in roads, communication, infrastructure, the state depended on the fruits of the economy like a well taxation system that didn’t make the people want to rebel. There is a well knit type of state}

_{·              The example in Persia is Zoroastrianism. Its founder is a figure of some obscurity whose name is Zarathustra 500 BCE. Ultimately, his teachings became known as the religion of Zoroastrianism. Today, it is not widely known. It is not a religion that has the wide knowledge that Christianity, Judaism, etc has. It is one of the foundational religions for religions we know today. He was a person who existed and there are early stories that confirm this but we know little about his background. It is unclear when he lived. He might have come from an aristocratic family. His family had some kinds of ties to the religious life of Persia. He and others like him were dissatisfied with the religious ideas that dominated during this period. Close ties between ethnicity, homeland, and religious practice. In Egypt, the gods of Egypt were the gods of Egypt. The visions of afterlife were tied to Egypt itself. Heaven was a reflection of Egyptian geography and cycles of time. We see similar kinds of topographic religious practice. As pasteuralists they had their local gods which were tied to local tribes. We see various rituals tied to the different places which they lived and all of this were tied to sacrificial practice.}

_{·              Zarathustra forwarded the idea of a more universal divinity that was ultimately not tied to place or people. In ancient Persian it was known as Ahura Maza. He didn’t think Ahura Maza was the only force that existed. He thought of a dualist religion (not monotheistc). Alongside Ahura Maza is a representation of ultimately what is bad in this world with a hostile spirit known as Angra Mainyu. It is known as dualistic because there is a good creative force and a bad destructive force.}

_{·              All of this ultimately sounds familiar to us (the idea of evil, afterlife defined by heaven and hell). Zoroastrianism is thought of a religion of salvation and the fact that you the individual can achieve your salvation through good deeds and sacrifice.}

_{·              Most of the ideas that Zarathrustra put forward were from the Gathas—the book for Zoroastrianism. All of this gives us some sense of ultimately the influence that Zoroastrianism would have on later traditions.}

_{·              The ideas are echoed in various other traditions. The echo is not always a reflection of zoroastrianist influence on others. Similar ideas arise in response to the social conditions from the Axial and}

_{Classical age.}

_{·              Don’t have to be too familiar of Zoroastrianism—you are hearing ideas that are connected to the idea that the world is interdependent and has a larger scope of humanity}

_{·              Cosmopolitan ideas and society.}

_o    birth name for the founder of Buddhism. _{This is the Buddha’s ideas-or the noble one. He went from spoiled prince to enlightened. Enlightenment=understand world as it is. He thinks of the middle path-don’t go to any extremes. One side the whole world is illusion and the other says do nothing. The Buddhists say the right way is the middle way: don’t be materialist or extreme spiritualist. Know that there is a complementary material and spiritual world.} 

_{·              By darius’ successor, Xerxes 486-465 BCE, in some respects we see fractures start to arise. Local regions that are ultimately major sources of revenue for the state break out into sporadic rebellions. Regions like the Nile and Tigris Euphrates which were one powerful also start to question the rule of the Achaeminids and think of their own reassertion of power.}

_{·              Various developments in Greece and Macedonia start to take place that make new imperial powers able to arise. As a response to this, Xerxes retreated from toleration and flaunted the Persian identity of Achaeminid state. The converse would ultimately have been the result of this. People with their own relgions, cultures began to resent Xerxes. He suppressed resentment, but when he dies we see a period of decline and end to Achaeminid state. It is overthrown by the rise of Alexander.}

_{[image]                                  One example of this is religions. Most of the religions we have in the world today such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhist that include billions of adherence are born and spread in this period. Have to look at who people are in contact with. The israelites are in contact with Egyptian and Mesopotamians. Societies like Mesopotamia, Egypt, and surrounding areas have an impact on the Isaelites.}

o   _{During this era, we are not just talking about large religons of today arising but this is the time when all of the Greek philosophers lived (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle). This is the time where most of the Hebrew prophets lived. In Iran, two religions arise. This is the time when Buddhism, Hinduism, and other large schools of religious thought arise. All of these different thinkers from the Mediteranean to China arise. Jesus is alive in this period too. All these different philosophers, social thinker (confusious), religious leaders etc. exist now.} Hinduism deals with a big question. Buddhism argues that all is one and everyone is equal because they are part of this universal order. In Hinduism, you have a class system. They need to reconcile this idea. How is everything one and multiple parts. They say all is one and everything else are the pieces. It is like a jigsaw puzzle. 

_{people from ancient indian culture. the mauryan empire represents the first great flowering of Indian civilization not to be equaled until the coming of the Gupta dynasty.}A giant empire was created in the Indian Subcontinent, which become enormously wealthy through trade. After the Mauryan Empire, India was the largest economy on earth and controlled 33.4% of the world's wealth, and would continue to do so for another 1,100 years. Although the empire started out through wars and conquest, during Ashoka's rule peace was so abundant that there was no standing army in India other than civil police. Advancements in numerous fields of study should also be noted.

_{·              Christianity presents itself in a way that later emperor can see as a tool by which the roman empire itself can bring about unity to all its different communities. The institutionalization of Christianity as a roman religion comes under the emperor Constantine who follows closely on the heels of Diocletian himself. Constantine is noted as the first Christian emperor.}

_{·               Clashes between Carthage and Rome which are known as the Punic Wars}

_{·               Hannibal and his elephants trek around and come around to Italy is part of the Punic Wars. 264-146 BCE}

_{·               Long term conflict}

_{·               These wars are a defining moment for Rome and ultimately stand at the root of the roman empire. By defeating Carthage, Carthage was burned to the ground and rome established its dominance in this region. They are linked to trade routes in northern Africa}

_{·               The punic wars allowed roman empire to become major play in the region rather than just a powerful Italian force}

_{·               One is very short lived. The first emperor of China develops the Qin}

_{·                dynasty. This is one of the states managing by force to bring the other states under its boot and unify them in a very systematic and military way and establish a tradition of imperial rule when the first ruler declared himself emperor of China in 221 BCE. His name is Shuangdhi. He is emperor of Qin. He managed to lay waste to all the other kingdoms and establish himself as the prime ruler of China. He had to set about the task of disarming regional armies and establish a highly centralized state where all the appointments flows from the executives from its various ministries. He uses this highly centralized apparatus to put into place a network of roads, destroyed forts, drafted laborers to build the Great Wall of China. This had a negative affect on the Qin Dynasty. The highly centralized nature of the state and the laborers, lead to resistance.}

_{·               There was a big campaign against the Qin Dynasty. The Emperor responded during his reign by burning books, executing hundreds of scholars. He is not one of the people who uses the philosophies we talked about to strengthen his states. He tries to suppress it.}

_{china’s most famous philosopher.} He lived in Ancient China during the Zhou Dynasty.

Confucius was a government official, and during his lifetime (he lived from 551 to 479 B.C. ) he saw growing disorder and chaos in the system.

Perhaps due to the turmoil and injustices he saw, he set himself to develop a new moral code based on respect, honesty, education, kindness and strong family bonds.

His teachings later became the basis for religious and moral life throughout China.

The Five Virtues of Confucius

Confucius believed that a good government was the basis for a peaceful and happy society. And the basis for a good government was good officials.

In order to become a “good official” a person had to master the following Five Virtues:

Confucius believed that strong family values and relationships were key to a stable society.

“To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must cultivate our personal life; and to cultivate our personal life, we must first set our hearts right"

Mutual respect and family loyalty were central to Confucius teachings.

This extended to the living as well as the deceased. Paying respect to the ancestors has become an important Chinese tradition.

He also stressed the importance of seniority: The old educate the young, and the young respect the old.

“Let the prince be a prince, the minister a minister, the father a father, and the son a son”

On Knowledge and Education

Confucius was a member of the upper class, but he believed education and knowledge belonged to anyone who had the desire to learn. He opened a school in his home, and legend has it, some of his poorer students lived with him.

He insisted on honesty, hard work, and teaching by example. He taught through conversation, by asking questions and expecting his pupils to find their own answers.

He wanted to prepare his students for public service, to develop compassion and respect for others.

"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance"

_{61.) Li—above}

_{62.) Ren---above}

_{63.) Daodejing—is the Laozi}

the Avestan name for a divinity of the Old Iranian religion who was proclaimed the uncreated God by Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism. Ahura Mazda is described as the highest deity of worship in Zoroastrianism, along with being the first and most frequently invoked deity in the Yasna. The word Ahura means light and Mazda means wisdom. Thus Ahura Mazda is the lord of light and wisdom. Ahura Mazda is the creator and upholder of Arta (truth). Ahura Mazda is an omniscient, and an omnipotent god, who would eventually destroy evil. Ahura Mazda's counterpart is Angra Mainyu, the "evil spirit" and the creator of evil who will be destroyed before frashokereti (the destruction of evil).

Ahura Mazda first appeared in the Achaemenid period under Darius I's Behistun Inscription. Until Artaxerxes II, Ahura Mazda was worshiped and invoked alone. With Artaxerxes II, Ahura Mazda was invoked in a triad, with Mithra and Apam Napat. In the Achaemenid period, there are no representations of Ahura Mazda other than the custom for every emperor to have an empty chariot drawn by white horses, to invite Ahura Mazda to accompany the Persian army on battles. Images of Ahura Mazda began in the Parthian period, but were stopped and replaced with stone carved figures in the Sassanid period.

(mem'fis) [key], ancient city of Egypt, capital of the Old Kingdom (c.3100–c.2258 B.C.), at the apex of the Nile delta and 12 mi (18 km) from Cairo. It was reputedly founded by Menes, the first king of united Egypt. Its god was Ptah. The temple of Ptah, the palace of Apries, and two huge statues of Ramses II are among the most important monuments found at the site. The necropolis of Sakkara, near Memphis, was a favorite burial place for pharaohs of the Old Kingdom. A line of pyramids begins near the necropolis, extending for 20 mi (32 km) to Giza. Memphis remained important during the long dominance by Thebes and became the seat of the Persian satraps (525 B.C.). Second only to Alexandria under the Ptolemies and under Rome, it finally declined with the founding of nearby Fustat by the Arabs, and its ruins were largely removed for building in the new city and, later, in Cairo.

The area now called Nubia extends along the Nile from the South of Aswan to the town of Dabba, near the Fourth cataract, linking Egypt - i.e. the northern part of the Nile valley - to the Sudan in the South. The name Nubia is first mentioned in Strabo'sGeographica; the Greek author is believed to have visited Egypt c. 29 BC.

The etymology of the name Nubia is uncertain, but some researchers believe it is derived from the Ancient Egyptian nbu, meaning gold, referring to the gold mines for which Nubia was famous. The name does not appear in Ancient Egyptian texts. They refer to Nubia generally as Ta-Seti, meaning "Land of the Bow", a clear reference to the weapon favoured by the Nubians.

was was an ancient city of Sumer and later Babylonia, situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates river, on the ancient dry former channel of the Euphrates River.

Uruk is eponymous of the Uruk period, the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia (ca. 4300-3100 BC). In addition to being one of the first cities, Uruk was the main force of urbanization during the Uruk Period. This period saw a shift from small, agricultural villages to a larger urban center with a full-time bureaucracy, military, and stratified society. Although other settlements coexisted with Uruk they were generally about 10 hectares while Uruk was significantly larger and more complex. The Uruk period culture exported by Sumerian traders and colonists had an effect on all surrounding peoples, who gradually evolved their own comparable, competing economies and cultures. At its height c 2900 BCE, Uruk probably had 50,000–80,000 residents living in 6 square km of walled area; the largest city in the world at the time. 

The Babylonian civilization, which endured from the 18th until the 6th century BC, was, like the Sumerian that preceded it, urban in character, although based on agriculture rather than industry. The country consisted of a dozen or so cities, surrounded by villages and hamlets. At the head of the political structure was the king, a more or less absolute monarch who exercised legislative and judicial as well as executive powers. Under him was a group of appointed governors and administrators. Mayors and councils of city elders were in charge of local administration.

King of Babylonia 1792-1750 BCE.

Estimates on the emergence of the state of Babylonia corresponds with the rise of Hammurabi, even if he was actually the 6th king in his dynasty.

[image]Other time reconstructions make his governance 1728-1686 BCE.

The Zhou Dynasty late 10th century BC to late 9th century BC - 256 BC) followed the Shang (Yin) Dynasty and preceded the Qin Dynasty in China. The Zhou dynasty lasted longer than any other in Chinese history, and the use of iron was introduced to China during this time.

In the Chinese historical tradition, the rulers of the Zhou displaced the Yin and legitimized their rule by invoking the Mandate of Heaven, the notion that the ruler (the "son of heaven") governed by divine right but that his dethronement would prove that he had lost the mandate. The Mandate of Heaven established the Zhou's assumed divine ancestor, the Tian-Huang-Shangdi, above the Shang's divine ancestor, the Shangdi. The doctrine explained and justified the demise of the Xia and Shang and at the same time supported the legitimacy of present and future rulers. The Zhou dynasty was founded by the Ji family and had its capital at Hao (near the present-day city of Xi'an). Sharing the language and culture of the Shang (Yin), the early Zhou rulers, through conquest and colonization, gradually sinicized, that is, extended Shang (Yin) culture through much of China Proper north of the Yangtze River.

Bantu is used as a general label for 300-600 ethnic groups in Africa of speakers of Bantu languages, distributed from Cameroon east across Central Africa and Eastern Africa to Southern Africa. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility,^[1] though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages.

The Bantu family is fragmented into hundreds of individual groups, none of them larger than a few million people (the largest being the Zulu with some 10 million). The Bantu language Swahili with its merely 5-10 million native speakers is of super-regional importance as tens of millions fluently command it as a second language.

Jewish history is the history of the Jews, their religion and culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions and cultures. Since Jewish history is over 4000 years long and includes hundreds of different populations, any treatment can only be provided in broad strokes. 

For the first two periods the history of the Jews is mainly that of the Fertile Crescent. It begins among those people who occupied the area lying between the Nile, Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. Surrounded by ancient seats of culture in Egypt and Babylonia, by the deserts of Arabia, and by the highlands of Asia Minor, the land of Canaan (roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan and Lebanon) was a meeting place of civilizations. The land was traversed by old-established trade routes and possessed important harbors on the Gulf of Akaba and on the Mediterranean coast, the latter exposing it to the influence of other cultures of the Fertile Crescent.

According to Hindu tradition, the Vedas are apauruṣeya "not of human agency" are supposed to have been directly revealed, and thus are called śruti ("what is heard"). The four Saṃhitās are metrical (with the exception of prose commentary interspersed in the Black Yajurveda). The term saṃhitā literally means "composition, compilation". The individual verses contained in these compilations are known as mantras. Some selected Vedic mantras are still recited at prayers, religious functions and other auspicious occasions in contemporary Hinduism.

Mayan history starts in the Yucatan around 2600 B.C., Mayan history rose to prominence around A.D. 250 in present-day southern Mexico, Guatemala, western Honduras, El Salvador, and northern Belize.

Building on the inherited inventions and ideas of earlier civilizations such as the Olmec, the Maya developed astronomy, calendrical systems and hieroglyphic writing. The Maya were noted as well for elaborate and highly decorated ceremonial architecture, including temple-pyramids, palaces and observatories, all built without metal tools. Mayan history shows that they were also skilled farmers, clearing large sections of tropical rain forest and, where groundwater was scarce, building sizeable underground reservoirs for the storage of rainwater. The Maya were equally skilled as weavers and potters, and cleared routes through jungles and swamps to foster extensive trade networks with distant peoples.

Assyria is located in north Mesopotamia and spans four countries: In Syria it extends west to the Euphrates river; in Turkey it extends north to Harran, Edessa, Diyarbakir, and Lake Van; in Iran it extends east to Lake Urmi, and in Iraq it extends to about 100 miles south of Kirkuk. This is the Assyrian heartland, from which so much of the ancient Near East came to be controlled.

A journey in spring from Baghdad, the capital of modern Iraq and within the Area of Ancient Babylonia, to Mosul [Nineveh], which is near several old Assyrian capitals, takes the traveler into what is manifestly a different country. In the region of Baghdad and southwards the predominant vegetation is palm trees. . .The terrain is flat to the horizon, and for most of the year its sun-parched earth is arid and dead wherever irrigation ditches do not reach. Approaching Mosul [Nineveh] the traveler finds a striking change. The flat terrain gives way to undulating plains, in spring green with pasturage or cereal crop and gay and scented with flowers and clover. The rolling plains are cut with wadis, aflow after spring rains, with higher ranges of hills on the horizon. The traveler has reached Assyria.

Iron Age,  final technological and cultural stage in the Stone–Bronze–Iron-Age sequence. The date of the full Iron Age, in which this metal for the most part replaced bronze in implements and weapons, varied geographically, beginning in the Middle East and southeastern Europe about 1200 bce but in China not until about 600 bce. Although in the Middle East iron had limited use as a scarce and precious metal as early as 3000 bce, there is no indication that people at that time recognized its superior qualities over those of bronze.

Varna history dates back to a long time of more than 10000 years, when the early signs of civilization in Varna and its surrounding areas were seen for the first time. The mesolite and flint objects left by the early inhabitants in Varna are about 12000 years old. Excavations in the Varna necropolises have revealed remnants of older civilizations.

Varna became a flourishing trade center after the establishment of the Eastern Roman Empire in the city. The city was named Varna by the Slavs who settled towards the end of the 6^th and beginning of the 7^thcentury in the Balkan Peninsula.

Varna met with a decline during the years of Byzantine domination approximately from 1018 to 1187. During the Ottoman domination in the eighteenth century the town of Varna adopted an oriental look.