(CHAPTER 07)

1. Cyrus the Great

1. Cyrus the Great reigned 558-530 B.C.

2. Came from mountans of s.w. Iran, was dubbed Cyrus the Shepherd

3. Very tough, smart leader; killed in battle

4. Issued declaration promising not to harm Babylonia after conquering it

5. Issued the bias Cyrus Cylinder be made (spoke of all his benevolent rulings and actions)

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2. Cyrus's Conquests

1. Became king of Perisian tribes (558 B.C.)

2. Overthrew his Median overlord in only three years (553 B.C.)

3. Conquered modern-day Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan(546-539 B.C.)

4. Took Babylon (539 B.C.) & was immediately recognized as lord

5. It is said he would have tried for Egypt, but was killed protecting a n.e. frontier from  nomaic raiders and was placed by his soldiers in a simple tomb he's constructed for himself before his death

6. Cyrus's son Cambyses(reigned 530-522 B.C.) took over Egypt and gained wealth for Persia in his stead

(CHAPTER 07)

3. Darius

1. Darius was a younger kinsman of Cyrus (reigned 521-486 B.C.) and extended empire east and west

2. Darius eventually had a kingdom stretching from Indus River in eat, to Aedean Sea in west, from Armenia in north to first cataract of the Nile in south (3,000 km)

3. Captured n. Indian kingdome of Gandhara; Thrace; Macedonia; w. coast of Black Sea in s.e. Europe

4. More imp. as admin. than conqueror: an empire that size needed very meticulous, careful governing

5. Established lines of communication among the varying religious, ethnic, language groups and cultures that flourished and continued to effect s.w. Asia long after the empire was gone

(CHAPTER 07)

4. Persepolis

1.  Darius began to centrilize his administration

2. Began building a capital by the city of Pasargadae, called Persepolis

3. Was the nerve center of the Persian empire

4. Was intended as an example of Persia's magnificence as much as it was for administration

(CHAPTER 07)

5. Achaemenid Administration: The Satrapies

1. Government depended on very precarious balance b/w central initiative and local administration

2. Achaemenid very gaudy in their official titles (The Great King, King of Kings- which was Alexander the Great's claim to fame, King of Countries, etc.)

3. Like Mesopotamia, appointed governors as agents for the central administration and oversaw the affairs in various regions

4. Darius divided realm into 23 satrapies (administration and taxation districts governed by satraps)

5. Achaemenids tried not to push direct rule on subjects: most satraps were Persian, but local officials were recruited for administrative posts under the satrapies

(CHAPTER 07)

6. Taxes, Coins, and Laws

1. Darius regulated tax levies and standardized laws (Cyrus and Cambyses had only accepted periodic tributes from cities)

2. Did not constitute a reliable enough income for rulers w/ large beaurocracies and armies that needed financing

3. These tribute payments were then replaced w/ formal tax levies

4. Each satrapy had to pay a set amount of silver, and sometimes horses and slaves, annually for the imperial court

5. Issued coins to make payment of taxes easier, and ended up bolstering trade throughtout the empire

6. Did not give all of land one set of laws because of the many diff. beliefs of his peoples, but did appoint others to bring some of those laws closer to the ideals of the empire as a whole

(Chapter 07)

7. Roads and Communications

1. To better communication, Achaemenid emperors built roads

2. Persian Royal Road was made of stone and was 2575 km going from the Aegan Sea to Iran, through Mesopotamia along the Tigris

3. Took 90 days to travel this road

4. Many inns, wells, guards posted along this road for the many caravans that traveled together

5. Complex postal system developed

6. 111 postal stations w/ distance of 40-50 km b/w them along the Royal Road, and all kept fresh supply of horses, which allowed messages to go from one end of the road to another in just a week (praised by Herodotus)

7. Improved routes b/w Mesopotamia and Egypt as well

(CHAPTER 07)

8. The Achaemenid Commonwealth

1. Roads and administrative machinery allowed the Achaemenids to govern the big empire and extend Perisan influences through their territories

2. Political stability allowed for big constructions, the quanats, which led to better agricultural revenue

3. Iron metallurgy spread until iron tools became the norm

4. Persian ethnicities and groups kept thir cultural identity but enjoyed what came with being a part of the Persian commonwealth

5. Cyrus and Darius both practiced political tolerance, as they both portrayed themselves not as Persians, but as Babylonian rulers in Mesopotamia representing Marduk, the main deity; Darius incredibly well-liked by the Jews b/c he allowed them to leave Babylon and even rebuilt a temple that was destroyed

6. Xerxes, Darius's son, did not adhere to this unwritten rule of tolerence and the empire began to fall apart because of the strain this put on the peoples

7. Xerxes managed to crush the rebellions for a little while, but...

(CHAPTER O7)

9. The Persian Wars

1. Achaemenids had difficulty controlling the ethnic Greeks and this brought about the fall of the great empire

2. Ethnic Greeks were populous in many cities of Anatolia and kept close ties to others in the Greek peninsula

3. Conquered by Cyrus, and from the beginning felt oppressed, calling the governers "tyrants" and rebelled, killing/banishing the governors and sparking the Persian Wars

4. Conflict increased when the Greece peninsula offered aide to ethnic Greeks, and though Darius put a stop to the rebellion, but this led to the destructive effort of controlling the Greece peninsula

5. Not a lot of supplies + hostile environment = few victories and finally they paced up and went home in defeat, even when Xerxes tried again some ten years later

6. 150 years of small attacks on each other commenced, but no big battles b/c of the relatively small and not united Greek cities, and the focus the Achaemenid empire was giving their own rebellions at home

(CHAPTER 07)

10. Alexander of Macedon (Alexander the Great; the King of Kings, etc.)

1 . Stand-off b/w Greek peninsula and Persia ended when Alexander the Great rose to power and conquered the empire

2. Army was full of strictly-disciplined Macedonians who carried superior weaponry and had more sophisticated military tactics than the army who heavily outnumbered them, and had little issue conquering the empire

3. Decided the matter of who the empire belonged to at the battle of Guagamela

4. Marched Persepolis and confiscated the immense wealth stored there, and it just so happened to burn down

5. Was a fair ruler, and did not portray himself a new ruler, but a succesor of the Achaemenid rulers, so got on well with the empire

6. After death fairly after he conquered the Persian empire, most lands kept the mostly Achaemenid administrative structure that Alexander the Great kept intact

(CHAPTER 07)

11. The Seleucids

1. Empired divided into three parts after death of Alexander, and the best went to Seleucus, whom was the commander of an elite corps of guards in Alexander's army

2. Kept the administrative structure

3. Founded new cities, attracted Greeks to them

4. These cities greatly increased trade

5. B/c they were foreigners, the Seleucids faced opposition from native Persians and often satraps rebelled against them

6. Eventually lost a lot of the empire, but managed to rule at least a part of it until the Romans took over

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12. Parthians

1. Parthians became powerful lords of an empire in Iran and extened to wealthy Mesopotamia

2. Retained cutomes and traditions of the nomads from the steppes of central Asia, so did not have a centralized government, but politically were organized w/ a federation who met in councils and together  determined a policy for the allied groups

3. SKilled warriors due to their constant defense against nomadic invaders further east

4. After turning to agriculture, found that feeding horses alfalfa during the winter months made them stronger and bigger than the horses and ponies of the steppe, so allowed them to outfit themself in armors of metal because the horses could support the weight

(CHAPTER 07)

13. Parthian Conquests

1. The Parthians tore themselves away from the Seleucids as early as the third century

2. Parthian satrap revolted against the Selecuid overlord in 238 B.C. and his succesors gradually gained footholds

3. Mithradates I changed state into mighty empire, enforcing his hold on Iran and extended to Mesopotamia

(CHAPTER 07)

14. Parthian Government

1. Portrayed themselves as the enemies of the Seleucids and the restorative rulers of Persia

2. Parthians followed Achaemenid structure of government, (goverened through satraps, administration & taxation) and built a capital on the Euphrates River, called Ctesiphon

3. Still retained own customs/traditions, w/ not a centralized gov. like the Seleucids but investing power in their clan leaders, who often served as sataps, and worked to build independent power to rebel with, but had little to no sucess

4. Parthians ruled for three centuries until Rome came: was not in danger of falling to Rome, but the repeated taking of their capital city added to the the rising rebellions was a catalyst to the empire's weakening, until the rebellions became too powerful

(CHAPTER 07)

15. The Sasanids

1. Came from Persia, took over the weakened empire, claimed direct descendence from the Achaemenid rulers

2. Got the empire almost to another height

3. From Ctesiphon, the Sasanid provided strong rule from Parthia to Mesopotamia and also rebuilt system of administation

3. Merchants traded very actively w/ east and west and introduced many things to Iran (rice, sugarcane, citrus fruits, eggplant, cotton that came over trade routes from India and China)

(CHAPTER 07)

16. Imperial Bureaucrats

1. Development of the empire in beginning brought complexity to Persian society

2. Imperial administration required new class of people- educated bureaucrats who eneded up undermining the position of the old warrior elite class

3. Bureaucrats did not directly challenge the class, but still ended up in a high class of Persian society due to the crucial role they played in running the empire, day-to-day

4. In later Achaemenid rulers' time and the Seleucids' time, many Persian cities were home to administrators, tax collectors, record keepers, etc, and even translators!

5. Eventually came to share power w/ the warrior and priest classes

(CHAPTER 07)

17. Free Classes

1. Most of Persian society was the free poepl- the merchants, artisans, craftsmen, and low-ranking civil servants who did not have the privileges of the upper classes

2. Priests/priestesses and servants who took care of the temple communities where they lived where the main urban residents

3. Free classes participated in religious observances, and got some of the income from the church from their agriculture

4. Free classes in the rural areas were peasants w/ their own land and those who worked as laborers and tenants on others' land

5. Could move and marry as they wished, and this meant they could go to the cities for better opportunities or join the military

(CHAPTER 07)

18. Slaves

1. Large class of slaves in cities and countryside

2. Became a slave if a P-O-W, by either being a part of a military unit, or if they resisted advancement of the empire and/or rebelled against the imperial authorities

3. If you were someone who could not satisfy their debts, you either sold your wife, your children, and/or yourself into slavery

4. Became property when became a slave; could not marry/move at will, thought families usually stayed together

5. Most slaves worked in houses of/ for the wealthy, but some worked on lands in the countryside

6. State-owned slaves responsible for roads, irrigation systems, city walls, palaces, etc.

7. Temple comminities owned slaves who worked for the priests

8. Notorious slave named Gimillu who worked in a temple community was sticky-fingered and took most money he could get, but was saved mulitple times from the law because he was held in high esteem and was even allowed administrative responsibilities

(CHAPTER 08)

19. Confucius

1. Kong Fuzi, "Master Philosopher Kong" by his disciples

2. Came from aristocratic family in Lu state and wanted to become a powerful minister in the Lu court

3. He was a very stubborn, strong-willed man though and would not conform to state beliefs that clashed with his own

4. Left Lu state in search of a better position but wandered w/o luck for 10 years, coming back to Lu and dying 5 years later

(CHAPTER 08)

20. Confucius Ideas

1. Did not become a powerful minister, but postumously became powerful anyway

2. In his travels, attracted disciples due to his philosphical thought and stances, which some put into a book called the Analects

3. His philosophies were moral, ethical, and political in character

4. He did not address certain philosophical questions because it would not help or benefit the state at present time

5. Did not address religious questions, believing it was beyond "mortal human intelligence"

6. Best way for good government would be to full official positions with well-educated, conscientious people

*Conscientious- (of a person) wishing to do what is right, especially to do one's work or duty well and thoroughly*

7. Confucius focused on junzi- "superior individuals"

8. Because Confucius and disciples went over Zhou literature in the absence of educational system (b/c he believed they gave excellent insight into human nature), Zhou texts became core of Chinese education

 9. More important than proper education for the government was strong moral intergrity and wise/fair judgements

(CHAPTER 08)

22. Confucian Values

1. Ren- an attitude of kindness and benevolence; sense of humantiy

2. Individuals who had ren were courteous, respectful, diligent, loyal

3.Ren is a characteristic of which the government desperately needed

4. Li- sense of propriety; behaving appropritely

5. Li means you should treat all other people with courtesy, and show special reverence for elders and/or superiors (the Golden Rule)

6. Xiao- filial piety; children are to respect their parents, look after their parents, support them in old age, and revere them along with the other ancestors after they die

7. Confucius believed people who had these three characteristics were likely to gain influence in society and would have not only the power of self control, but that of leading by setting an example

8. The flexibility of Confucius beliefs has contributed to it's lonegevity

(CHAPTER 08)

23. Mencius

1. Principal spokesman for the Confucius philosophy

2. During the Period of the Warring States, he goes throughout China, talking w/ rulers and offering advice

3. Believed that human nature is good, and argues for policies that allow it to influence society as a whole

4. A lot of emphasis on ren

5. This means that rulers would levy light taxes, avoid wars, support education, encourage harmony, cooperation

6. Critics call him naive, saying his policies would rarely succeed in a real world where human nature is different

7. Once again, his ideas gain more momentum after his death

(CHAPTER 08)

24. Xunzi

1. Very educated like Confucius and Mencius, but this guy actually spends years as a government administrator, so he has experience on his side

2. Human beings selfishly go after what they want

3. Strong social discipline only way to bring order to society

4. Xunzi emphasizes li

5. Standards of conduct that would set limits on pursuit of interests and punish people who neglect their obligations

6. It was possible to improve human beings and make society orderly

(CHAPTER 08)

25. Laozi and the Daodejing

1. Like Confucianism, came about because of the violence of the late Zhou dynasty

2. Pointless to spend time on problems that couldn't be fixed, and so were highly critical of the Confucianists

3. Introspection- learn how to live in harmony with the world

4. Over time would bring harmony to society, as people stopped wasting their energy on pointless problems

5. Laozi founder of Daoism; several people were probably involved in the making of the Daodejing, which is the book of Daoist beliefs

6. The most imp. Daoist book after Daodejing is the Zhuangzi, named after it's author, which also gave a viewpoint of Daoism

(CHAPTER 08)

26. The Dao

1. Dao- "the way of nature"

2. Dao is the original force of nature

3. Negative terms used to describe it- does nothing, is everything; soft and yielding but eventually erodes even the hardest rock; cavities of wheels and a pot, it is this that makes these tools useful

4. Human striving brought the world about to chaos

5. Solution? Live as simply as possible, and become one in harmony with nature

(CHAPTER 08)

27. The Doctrine of Wuwei

1. Imp. moral value- wuwei: disengagement from the world

2. No advanced education (it "concentrated on abstrusive trivialities) and from personal striving (which meant you have a lot of concern for the "tedious affairs of the world")

3. Live simply, and with nature

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28. Political Implications of Daoism

1. The less government, the better. ~Wuwei

2. Self sufficient communities with no need or want to conquer anything of to trade with neighbors

3. Daoism's "stay-out-of-it" attitude   is a balance to Confucius' ideals of "go-fix-it"

4. Neither philosophy requires observance only to it, so some people in government would observe Confucius ideals at work then at home reflect on self and human nature, etc. (Confucian by day, Daoist by night)

(CHAPTER 08)

29. Shang Yang

1. Legalism- harsh punishments, no room for error

2. No care for morals, ethics, etc.

3. No care for principles, places of humans in nature, etc.

4. Only cared for the upholding and expansion of the state

5. Shang Yang was imp. to the doctrine of Legalism, as chief minister to the duke of the Qin state in western China

6. The Book of Lord Shang contains his policies, with most likely excerpts from other ministers as well

7. Clever and efficient as an administrator, but was feared because of his power and ruthlessness

8.When his patron, the duke of Qin, Yang was tortured and executed by his court enemies, and his family killed

(CHAPTER 08)

30. Han Feizi

1. Most systematic of Legalist theorist, and was a student of the Confucius' scholar, Xunzi

2. Took views on legalist ideas from political thinkers all over China and put them in a book of argued essays on statecraft

3. Also served as advisor at Qin court, and was poisoned by other men

(CHAPTER 08)

31. Legalist Doctrine

1. Foundation of state is in agriculture and armed forces, so Legalists tried to put as many people away from being artisans, merchants, entrepreneurs, scholars, educators, etc., and into agriculture and the military so they would directly help the state further build

2. Harness energies by strict laws - Legalist

3. Confucius believed in setting an example from the junzi, and others taking it upon themselves to follow in their footsteps

4. Even small crimes had extremely harsh punishments- no one would do a big crime this way

5. Collective responsibility before the law, family could be punished w/o commiting the crime if someone in it does it, or they do not report infractions, etc.

6. Not very popular, but did put a stop to the Warring States period of China