How did religions help strengthen political, economic, and cultural ties within societies?
It provided a bond among the people and an ethical code to live by. Religion also made kings out as divine, usually.
How did religions promote a sense of unity?
It provided a bond among the people and an ethical code to live by.
What are the characteristics and core teachings of Judaism?
The main belief is of monotheism, of one god.
What are the characteristics and core teachings of Hinduism?
The development of the social and political roles of a caste system and in the importance of multiple manifestations of Brahma to promote teachings about reincarnation.
What is a "universal religion?" Where did universal religions exist by 600 CE?
Universal religions spread easily and often assert "universal truths." Areas that they existed in were India, China, and Rome, among many.
What are the characteristics and core teachings of Buddhism?
No distinction between social classes.
How and where did Buddhism spread by 600 CE?
Support by the Mauryan Emperor Asoka, and then missions to other parts of Asia.
What are the characteristics and teachings of Confucianism?
Promoting social harmony by outlining proper rituals and social relationships for all people in China including rulers.
What are the characteristics and core teachings of Daoism?
A balance between humans and nature.
What are the characteristics and core teachings of Christianity?
The core teachings drew on the basic monotheism of Judaism and morality.
How and where did Christianity spread by 600 CE?
It spread through missionaries towards many parts of Afro-Eurasia.
What are the main characteristics of Greco-Roman philosophy and science?
Logic, empirical observation and the nature of political power and hierarchy.
How did religions affect gender roles in their respective societies?
Encouraged social order through males or equal roles between males and females.
What other religious and cultural traditions were common by 600 CE?
Shamanism, animism, and ancestor veneration.
How did humans' reliance on the natural world influence religion?
They feared or exalted nature, because it was the difference between life or death daily.
How did humans relate to their deceased ancestors?
Ancestors were revered by almost all societies.
How did art and culture develop to 600 CE?
It developed into distinctive differences in literary works, drama, architecture, and sculpture.
What literary works influenced later eras?
Greek tragedy and Indian epics are examples of early influences.
How did different societies' architectural styles develop?
Tradition affected the shape and looks of architecture.
What examples of syncretism reflect the Classical Era to 600 CE?
The convergence of cultures and beliefs affected the development of unique sculptural, architectural, and literary works.
What is an "empire", and what ere empires' common characteristics during the Classical Era?
An empire is a large area of land ruled by an emperor or a form of administration. Common characteristics were powerful military, good economics, and great administrative systems.
How did the number and size of Classical empires compare to the Ancient Era?
They 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?
Some of the most influential of the Classical Era empires were the Persian Empires, Qin and Han Dynasites, Maura and Gupta Empires, Hellenistic and Roman empires, and Phoenican and Greek colonization.
What techniques did Classical empires create to administer their territories?
Centralized governments, elaborate legal systems, and bureaucracies.
What new political methods were created in order to rule the larger empires in the Classical Era?
The emperor was in complete control.
How did imperial governments let their population know that the government was "in charge?
Projecting military power using a variety of technique.
What role did trade play in creating and maintaining empires?
Allowed it to build and maintain roads and issue currencies.
What unique social and economic characteristics existed in empires?
Hierarchies, labor systems, gender roles, and family relations.
What function did imperial cities perform?
Cities served as centers of trade, public performance of religious rituals, and political administration.
What social classes and occupations were common in empires?
Cultivators, laborers, slaves, artisans, merchants, elites, and other variations of caste groups.
What labor systems provided the workers for Classical Empires?
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 Classical Empires to decline, collapse, or transform into something else?
Excessive use of resources, corruption, too large for itself, and external threats.
What were the enviromental and social weaknesses of Classical Empires?
Deforestation, desertification, soil erosion, silted rivers, and too much money in the hand of elites.
What external weaknesses contributed to the end of Classical Empires?
Threat of invasion.
How did Classical era trade networks compare to Ancient era networks?
The volume of long distance trade increased dramatically.
What forces contributed to the changes between the two eras?
Demand for raw materials and luxury goods and better land and water routes.
What was commonly traded along these trade networks?
Food crops and luxury goods such as silk and spice.
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 seperate networks connected the peoples and societies of the Americas.
What technologies enabled long-distance overland and maritime trade?
Yokes, saddles, stirrups, domesticated pack animals, and manipulation of monsoon winds.
Besides the physical goods, what intangibles also traveled along trade networks?
Ideals, beliefs, customs, and disease.
What crops spread along Classical Era trade networks?
Sugar, rice, and cotton.
What effects did diseases have on Classical empires?
Diminished urban populations.
How did religions spread along trade networks, and how did the trade networks affect the religions?
People traveled, bringing their religion with them. The trade networks subjected the religion to other beliefs and customs, as well.