How do religions help strengthen politcal, economic, and cultural ties withing societies?
Religious and politcial authority often merged as rulers, some considered divince, use religion, along with military and legal structures, to justify their rule and esure its continuation.
How did religions promote a sense of unity?
Codifications and further developements of existing religous traditions provided a bond among the people and an ethical code to live by.
What are the characteristics and core teachings of Judais,?
The association of monotheism with Judaism was further developed with the codification of the Hebrew scriptors which also showed mesopotamian influences.
What are the characteristics and core teachings of Hinduism?
The core beliefs outline in the Sanskrit scriptures formed the basis of the verdict religions often known as Hinduism that show some influence of IndoEuropean traditions in the developement of the social and political roles of a caste system and in the importance of multiple manifestations of the Brahma to promote teachings of reincarnations.
What is a universal religion? where did universal religions exist by 600 CE?
New belief systems and cultural traditions emerged and spread, often asserting universal truths.
What are the characteristics and core teachings of Buddhism?
The core beliefs preached by the historic Buddha and recorded by his followers into sutras and other scriptures were in part a reaction to the Vedic beliefs and rituals dominant in South Asia. Buddhism changed over time as it spread throughout Asia, first through the support of the Mauryan Emperor Asoka, and then through the efforts of missionaries and merchants and the establishment of educational institutions to promote its core teachings.
What are the characteristics and core teachings of Confucianism?
Confucianism's core beliefs and writings originated in the writings and lessons of Confucius and were elabortaed by key disciple whos sought to promote social harmony by outlining proper rituals and social relationships for all people in China including the rulers.
what are the characteristics and core teachings of christianity?
The core beliefs preached by Jesus of Nazareth drew on the basic monotheism of judaism, and initially rejected Roman and Hellenistic influences.
How and where did Christianity apread by 600 CE?
Despite initial Ramon imperial hostility, Christianity spread though the efforts of missionaries and merchants through many parts of Afro-Eurasia, and eventually gained Roman imperial support by the time of the emperor Constantine.
What are the main characteristics of Greco-Roman philosophy and science?
The core ideas in Greco-Roman philosphy and science emphasized logic, empirical observation and the nature of political power and hiearchy.
How did religions affect gender roles in their respective societies?
Belief systems affected gender roles (such as Buddhism's encouragement of a monastic life and Confucianism's emphasis on filial piety).
What other religious and cultural traditions were common by 600 CE?
Other religious and cultural traditions and continued parallel to the codified, written beliefe systems in core civilizations.
How did humans' reliance on the natural world influence religion?
Shamanism and snimism continued to shape the lives of people within and outside of core civilizations, because of their daily reliance on the natural world.
How did humans relate to their deceased ancestors?
Ancestor veneration persisted in many regions (such as in Afirca, the meditteranean region, East Asia or the Andean areas).
How did art and culture develop to 600 CE?
Artistic expressions, including literature and drama, architecture, and scuplture, show distinctive cultural developments.
What literary works influenced later eras?
Literature and drama acquired distinctive forms (such as Greek tragedy or indian epics) that influenced artistic developments in neighboring regions and in later time periods (such as in Athens, Persia, or South Africa).
How did different societies' architectural styles develop?
Distinctive architectural styles can be seen in India, Greek, Mesoamerican, and Roman buildings.
What examples of syncretism reflect the Classical Era to 600 CE?
The convergence of Greco-Roman culture and Buddhist beliefs affected the development of unique sculptural developments, as seen in the Gandharan Buddhas, which exemplify a syncretism in which Hellenistic veneration for the body is combined with Buddhist symbols.
What is an "empire," and what were empires' common characteristics during the Classical Era?
As the early states and empires grew in number, size and population, they frequently competed for resources and came in conflict with one another. In quest of land, wealth, and security, some empires expanded dramatically. In doing so, they built powerful military machines and administrative institutions that were capable of organizing human activities over long distances, and they created new groups of military and political elites to manage their affairs. As these empires expanded their boundaries, they also faced the need to develop policies and procedures to govern their relations with ethnically and culturally diverse populations: sometimes to integrate them within an imperial society and sometimes to exclude them. In expanding boundaries to far, they created political, cultural and administrative difficulties that they could not manage. They also experience environmental, social and economic problems when they over-exploited their lands and subjects and permitted excessive wealth to concentrate in the hands of priviledged classes.
How did the number and size of classical empires compare to the ancient era?
The number and size of imperial societies grew dramatically by imposing political unity on areas where there had previously been competing states.
What were the most influential of the classical era empires?
A. Southwest Asia: Persian Empires (such as Achaemenid, Parthian or Sassanid)B. East Asia: Qin and Han dynastiesC. South Asia: Maurya and Gupta EmpiresD. Meditteranean region: Phoenician and Greek colonization, Hellenistic and Roman EmpiresE. Mesoamerica: Teotihuacan, Maya city statesf. Andean South America: Moche
What techniqes did Classical empires create to administer their territories?
Empires and states developed new techniques of imperial administration based, in part, on the success of earlier political forms.
What new political methods were created in order to rule the larger empires in the Classical Era?
In order to organize their subjects the rulers created administrative institutions including centralized governments, elaborate legal systems, and bureaucracies (such as in CHina, Persia, Rome or South Asia).
How did imperial governments let their population know that the government was "in charge?
Imperial governments projected military power over larger areas using a variety of techniques including: dipomacy; developing supply lines; building forifications, defensive walls, and roads; and drawing new groups of military officers and soldiers from the local populations or conquered peoples.
What role did trade play in creating and maintaining empires?
Much of the success of empires rested on their promotion of trade and economic integration by building and maintaining roads and issuing currencies.
What unique social and economic characteristics existed in empires?
Imperial societies displayed unique social and economic dimensions.
What function did imperal cities perform?
Cities served as centers of trade, public performance of religious rituals, and political administration for states and empires (such as Persepolis, Chang'an, Pataliputra, Athens, Carthage, Rome, Alexandria, Constantinople, or teotihuacan.)
What social classes and occupations were common in empires?
The social structures of all empieres displayed hierarchies that included cultivators, laborers, slaves, artisans, merchants, elites, and caste groups.
What labor systems provided the workers for Classical Empires?
Imperial societies relied on a range of labor systems to maintain the production of food and provide rewards for the loyalty of the elites including corvee, slavery, rents and tributes, peasent communities and family and household production.
Describe the gender and family structures of Classical Era empires.
Patriarchy continued to shape gender and family relations in all imperial societies of this period.
What caused the Classical Empires to decline, collapse, or transform into something else?
The Roman, Han, Mauryan, and Gupta empires created political, cultural, and administrative difficulties that they could not manage, which eventually led to their decline, collapse and transformation into successor empires or states.
What were the environmental and social weaknesses of Classical Empires?
Through excessive mobilization of resources, imperial government caused environmental damage ( such as deforestation, desertification, soil erosion or silted rivers) and generated social tensions and economic difficulties by concentrating too much wealth in the hands of elites.
What external weaknesses contributed to the end of Classical Empires?
External problems resulted from security issues along their frontiers, including the threat of invasions (such as between Northern China and Xiongnu; Gupta and the White Huns; or among Romans, Parthians, Sasanids, Kushan).
How did Classical era trade compare to Ancient era networks?
With the organization of large-scale empires, the volume of long-distance trade increased dramatically.
What forces contributed to the change between the two eras?
Much of this trade resulted from the demand for raw materials and luxury goods.
What was commonly traded along these trade networks?
Land and water routes linked many regions of the Eastern Hemisphere, while somewhat later separate networks connected the peoples and societies of the Americas. Exchanges of people, technology, religious and cultural beliefs, food crops, domesticated animals and disease pathogens developed alongside the trade in goods across far-flung networks of communication and exchange.
how did trade and communication networks develop by 600 CE?
Land and water routes created transregional trade, communication and exchange networks in the Eastern Hemisphere, while somewhat later separate networks connected the peoples and societies of the Americas.
What technologies enabled long-distance over-land and maritime trade?
New technologies (such as yokes, saddles or stirrups) permitted the use of domesticated pack animals (such as horses, oxen, llamas or camels) to transport goods across longer routes.
Besides the physical goods, what intangibles also traveled along trade networks?
Alongside the trade in goods, exchanges in people, technology, religious and cultural beliefs, food crops, domesticated animals and disease pathogens developed across far-flung networks of communication and exchange.
What crops spread along Classical Era trade networks
A spread of crops, including sugar, rice, and cotton from south Asia to the Middle East encouraged changes in farming and irrigation techniques (such as the development of the qanat system).
What effects did disease have on Classical Empires?
The spread of disease pathogens diminished urban populations and contributed to the decline of some empires (such as Rome or China)
How did religions spread along the trade networks, and how did the trade networks affect the religions?
Religious and cultural traditions were transformed as they spread including Chinese culture, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism.