CLASSICAL CIVILIZATIONS



Classical Civilizations: Chapter 4, 6 and 7

[World Religion: Chapter 5]

I. Ancient Greece

A. Geographic Setting: What is the geography of Greece?

B. Rise of the Civilization: cultural diffusion

1. Early civilizations: Minoans and Mycenaeans (cultural diffusion – writing and other skills) and influence of Phoenicians

2. Geography: How did geography affect the rise of city-states and their economic and political activity?

3. State-building: the rise of the polis - comparison of Athens and Sparta

- government systems: democracy – direct democracy – autocracy – tyranny

1. What impact did classical Greece have on the development of modern political systems?

- achievements: art, architecture, philosophy, science

1. what elements of Greek culture do we see in American society and other societies today?

- social classes: the status of women, slaves, etc.

- How did Spartan society solve the problem of a permanent threat from the helots?

4. Persian and Peloponnesian Wars: causes and effects of each

C. Expansion: Alexander the Great

1. Why is Alexander the Great considered such an important figure in world history?

2. What immediate and lasting role did he play in the spread of Greek culture in the ancient world?

3. How did his huge empire develop after he died and why?

D. Achievements: Development of the Hellenistic Culture: cultural Diffusion

1. basic achievements in astronomy, philosophy, science and mathematics

II. The Roman Republic and the Roman Empire

A. Geographic Setting: How did geography impact the development of Rome?

B. Cultural Diffusion (from Etruscans to Greeks): what concepts and features resulted from cultural diffusion?

C. Statebuilding:

1. Early Government: how did the government operate? How did it differ from Athenian democracy?

2. Expansion: Punic Wars and Conquest of Macedonia and Greece

3. Reforms and Triumvirates: Gracchi, the Generals and First and Second Triumvirates

4. Julius Caesar: rise to power, accomplishments, and fall

5. Establishment of the Roman Empire

a. How did the Republic become an empire?

b. Values and ideals of the Roman Empire (over time)

c. How did they solve the issue of succession?

d. Discuss the basic features of the Pax-Romana and Caesar Augustus

e. What impact did the good emperors have on the development of the Empire?

f. Social structure: plebeians v. patricians, development of proletariat, role of women, slavery, etc.

g. Extension of Greek culture: Philosophy, architectural developments, and literature

D. Culture: How did Christianity develop within the Roman Empire?

E. Decline: How did Rome Fall? (Causes, Barbarians, split of the Empire)

III. China: The Qin and Han Dynasties

A. Geographic setting: how did geography affect the development of these dynasties?

B. Zhou Dynasty: (1046–256 BC)

1. How did early Zhou compare with late-Zhou China?

2. Why did late Zhou China spawn humanism in China? What philosophies arose during late Zhou?

C. Qin Dynasty (221 B.C. – 206 B.C.)

1. How did Shi Huangdi develop a centralized government?

2. What was Legalism and what were the pros and cons of using this philosophy for Shi Huangdi?

3. What were some of the important achievements and innovations of the Qin dynasty?

D. The Han Dynasty (206 B.C. – 220 A.D.)

1. How did the empire begin?

2. Describe the social structure of China during the Han dynasty? How were women treated?

3. What was the structure of government? How did the Han dynasty unify China again?

4. Why did Wudi integrate philosophies of late Zhou into the Han socio-political structure?

5. Why did the merchants oppose Wudi’s monopoly system?

6. What lands did the empire conquer and how did the leaders treat the conquered people?

7. The impact of Wu-ti on the development of the empire

8. What were the achievements under the Hand dynasty?

9. The impact of the silk road on the development of the empire

10. COMPARE AND CONTRAST the Han Dynasty with the Roman Empire

a. cultural diffusion: impacts

Question to Consider:

➢ Why can the Chinese government be considered, in part, a “meritocracy”?

➢ What are the positive and negative aspects of this system?

➢ How would you describe the social hierarchy of classical China? (describe role and status of each class: officials, landlords, peasants, merchants)

➢ In what ways did the expression of Chinese patriarchy change over time, and why did it change in the first place?

➢ Following the collapse of the Han Dynasty in the third century, what were the signs of a weakening patriarchy? To what extent did patriarchy end in China?

IV. India: The Mauryan and The Gupta Empires

A. Geographic Setting: How did geography impact the development of these empires?

B. Mauryan Empire

1. Why is the Mauryan Empire considered the first empire in India?

2. Development of Buddhism

a. How did it begin?

b. Basic beliefs?

c. How did it spread?

3. Rulers of the Empire

a. Chandragupta

b. Asoka: achievements

1. How did he rule differently than Chandragupta?

C. The Gupta Empire (320-550 A.D.)

1. How was India united under the Guptas?

2. What were the basic features of the empire?

a. political system

b. religion: conflict with Muslims?

c. social structure: caste system

1. What are the three functions of caste?

2. How did India’s caste system differ from China’s class system?

3. What is the difference between varna and jati as expressions of classical India’s caste system?

4. How did the inequalities of slavery differ from those of caste? (Think status, work, rights, and opportunities.)

d. achievements

1. math

2. medicine

3. literature

4. religion

3. Why was maintaining an Empire in India a greater challenge than it had been in China?

4. How did the inequalities of slavery differ from those of caste? (Think status, work, rights, and opportunities.

Questions to Consider:

➢ What forces caused the rise and fall of classical civilizations?

➢ Do you think that American civilization is in a state of decline?

VOCABULARY: Classical Civilizations

Ancient Greece

Phoenician

colony

alphabet

cultural diffusion

cultural assimilation

acculturation

Mediterranean

Crete

Minoan civilization

Mycenaeans

“Dark Ages”

Homer

Trojan War

Herodotus

polis

citizen

democracy

majority

plurality

“tyranny of the majority”

oligarchy

monarchy

tyranny/tyrant

aristocracy

hoplite

helot

slavery

phalanx

Athens

Sparta

The Assembly

juries

ostracism

Sparta

Council of Elders

Assembly of Equals

Persian War

Delian League

Athenian Empire

Pericles

golden age

classical art

tragedy

comedy

philosopher

Parthenon

acropolis

Athena

Aeschylus

Thucydides

Sophocles

Socrates

Socratic method

Plato

Aristotle

The Republic

syllogism

Roman Republic

republic

gravitas

pater familias

toga

patrician

plebeian

legion

century

Italy

Rome

Romulus

Palatine Hill

Alps

Tiber River

Latins

Etruscans

The Forum

consul

veto

senate

assembly

dictator

mercenary

SPQR

Twelve Tables

Carthage

Punic Wars

Hannibal

proletariat

gladiator

tribune

triumvirate

civil war

Spartacus

Cleopatra

Mark Antony

Cicero

Pax Romana

aqueduct

civil service

succession

Colosseum

Pax Romana

Augustus

the Julian Emperors

the Good Emperors

Epicurianism

Stoicism

satire

villa

Livy

Virgil

Aenid

Tacitus

The Pantheon

inflation

Commodus

Diocletian

Constantine

Edict of Milan

Constantinople

Germanic peoples

Huns

Alaric

Attila

Leo I

China: Qin and Han Dynasties

emperor

Ch’in

Shi Huang-ti

the Great Wall

Han

Wu-ti

the Five Classics

the Analects

the Great Silk Road

standardized measurements

canal

E. India: Mauryan and Gupta Empires

NIRVANA

four noble truths

eight fold path

edict

stupa

Sidhartha Guatama

Buddhism

patriarchal

joint family

Chandragupta Maurya

Ashoka

minaret

Taj Mahal

Chanrda Gupta

Gupta Dynasty

inoculation

rasa

suttee

sultan

Rajputs

Turks

arabic numberals

decimal system

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