Unit 2 Essays

1. Analyze Similarities and differences in methods of political control in TWO of the following
empires in the Classical Period.
A. Han China
B. Mauryan/Gupta India
C. Imperial Rome
Similarities:
- The class systems were very distinct and everyone knew their place. Unfortunately there was
little hope of change.
- Faced threats on the borders and dealt with the problems using the armies trying to stamp out
the barbarians.
- Both had strong male lead and women were no where near power
- Both paid for mercenaries to fight their wars and that shot them in the foot because the armies
were not as loyal as natives would be
Differences:
- Han China was based on Confucianism, which emphasized the family unit and order. In result,
society was viewed as family hierarchy (keep in mind womans secondary roles) and this made
the government with the people very close knit.
- Opposite to Rome because even though their ideology was much less centralized, they still had a
paternal families, which was less, centralize than China. Also this was a collective group focus
because rich basically controlled everything, which left the poor not as loyal to the government
because there was a lot less of a motive than religion like in china.
- Hans emperors had the mandate of heaven to follow whereas Romes emperor had glory to
achieve
- Han had regulations over salt trade whereas Rome had very few regulations on trading because
of the individuals rights
- Han ruled by Confucius, Rome by laws ands and texts

2. Analyze the Indian caste system to ONE other system of social inequality devised by early and
classical civilizations (including slavery). Must be prior to 600 C.E. (As if we know any other era
this in depth)
Indian Caste system VS (Whatever you choose)

The caste system is a social institution that was first devised in the early Indian states to separate one
group of people from another.

At the top were the Brahmin (priests, scholars, teachers)
Next were the Kshatriyas (kings/rulers, warriors)
Then the Vaishyas (agriculturalists, merchants)
After them were the Shudras (artisans, other skilled workers)
At the bottom were the Dalits or the Untouchables (peasantry [sometimes not even considered a part
of the caste system altogether])
- though not completely rigid and accommodated foreigners, however difficult to move upwards, not so
much down
- Jati (sub caste) further described the hierarchy as people saw other jobs as lower and individuals gained
recognition for their jati
- By the Gupta era, child marriage was common, putting women under the authority of older men and
encouraged them to remain devoted to family
- however, married women ruled the home.
- Other hierarchies varied because of area and evolution through time.
- Slaves occur in all these stratifications. They are conquered peoples, people captured at war, people that
had sold themselves into slavery to absolve their debts, or (as in Persia) people that participated in revolts
or resisted the initial take over. Racial slavery doesn't come until the age of exploration.
- The oppression of women also occurs, though exists in differing degrees.
Grecian States:
Spartan:
Elected Council
Citizen
Helot (peasant)
- theoretically all citizens were equal and given equal chance to be elected into the Council of Five
Hundred, but status was won by military prowess
-women had more freedoms/rights than other Grecian states
Athenian:
Government Officials
Aristocrat
Citizens
Slaves
- after Solon slavery was abolished and government offices were open to all citizens
- citizens were only adult free males
- Greek women were always under the authority of some male: father, husband, and even their own sons
- the exception being Sparta, where women were still legally subordinate, but enjoyed many allowances
(completion in athletic contests, walking alone and unveiled, fighting for the protection of the Polis)
- the husband decided on matters like where or not to abandon a new baby
- however aristocratic women often received formal education and few earned reputations for their
literature

Roman Empire:
Two Counsels (or Dictator during times of war)
Patricians
Plebeians
Slaves
- after Julius Caesar, the Counsels where replaced with an emperor
- despite the power put into the eldest male of the family; such as determining work and executing family
members as he saw fit, the wife ruled the house and played large roles in managing the family
- women often received inheritance despite it being illegal (through loop holes or inconsistent
reinforcement)
- by the first century women dealt with the financial affairs at home
- slaves counted for enough of the population that revolts were rampant, however quickly put down
- urban slaves were often freed by the age of thirty
- if slaves possessed an education or a extraordinary talent they could live comfortable lives
- slaves could earn their freedom though becoming gladiators, though not many survived long enough to
get there











3. Compare and contrast pastoral and nomadic societies with those that included cities.
Differences:
Idea of settlement and development: In a city-like society, it is more likely that development
will arrive sooner than it will to nomadic societies. The reason behind this is that nomadic and
pastoral societies will be too busy looking for food and shelter, while the Agricultural society will
have some stability in food resources, which leads to other and further development such as
specialization.
In Mesopotamia, settlement was natural and easy, since the region bore two rivers, Tigris and
Euphrates. The two rivers enabled the society to trade, wider availability of food, and
transportation was easy. However, by nomadic and pastoral societies, people are too busy
searching for food and shelter. These nomadic societies were unable to achieve the elements
that the city-area such as Mesopotamia achieved.

Cultures:
Mesopotamia, more specifically the Sumerian civilization, was able to develop the cuneiform
writing system, which enabled the further development of religious customs and laws. Also,
through development of religion (Polytheistic), the Sumerians were able to
build ziggurats, which were temples that were built to appease their gods. Through these
cultural developments we see throughout the societies, it is evident that agricultural societies
are able to produce such things just because they have free time!

Similarities:
Survivalist: One thing that is common to all society is the idea of defending and attacking. These
fundamental and basic ideas have existed since the very beginning of human history. The early
humans carried stone tools for hunting and attacking. Same goes for both agricultural and
nomadic societies. Agricultural societies, despite its centralization and developments, will face
hardships, nomadic invasion and other hazards. As for the Nomads, it is natural for them to
carry weapons and tools, since their reliance of food partially depends on who has better
hunting tools. The Han Chinese was also known to have tools for defending their lands, since the
Hans were able to fend off the Huns in their attempt to invade into the Han China. Another
historical example is the Western Roman Empire and the Germanic peoples. One of the reasons
for the fall of Roman Empire was by its inability to defend against the Germanic people and
Huns, which shows that Germanic nomadic peoples also held weaponry tools. These historical
evidences proves that the idea of tools and weaponry have existed in both Agricultural and
Nomadic societies. Through the Huns and Hans, we have noticed that Hans, the agricultural
society was able to fend off the Huns, so that proves that Agricultural societies has weapons,
and also through Roman empire and the Germanic tribes and the fall of Roman, we also learn
that Germanic and nomadic tribes also holds weapons through their victory against the Romans.






4. Analyze early trading systems to 600ce in TWO of the following regions. (If I were you, I
would hope and pray that this is not the one you get.)
a. Mesopotamia
b. East Asia
c. The Americas
d. Mediterranean Basin

Mesopotamia: Mesopotamia was low on natural resources and they needed to trade for many
of their day-to-day items. Some of the things they traded were Grain, Oils, and textiles, and
return, they got timber, wine, and precious metals and stones. Some merchants worked locally
and just strapped their goods on their back or carried them in a sack, They wood often trade
small amounts of grain, meat, fish, and precious stones. Others traveled from some parts of
Mesopotamia to completely different regions such as Babylonia, Assyria, and Sumeria. They also
had different means of transport for different types of goods. For example, they would carry
precious stones on foot or by donkey, and they shipped larger loads of items such as grain by
ship.
Trading by Water: The Mesopotamians more often traded by sea then by land. Some of their
sea-ways of transport were rafts, coracles, river boats, and gulf boats. Rafts were just wooden
platforms with inflated animal skins below them. They were meant to travel downstream.
Coracles were little boats made of animals skins covered in Bitumen, a natural tar-like
substance. This made these round boats waterproof. River boats also carried goods
downstream. They were made of reeds lashed together with rope and covered with Bitumen.
They mostly carried Grain, logs, bricks, wool, beer, wine, and reeds. Gulf boats were meant to
transport goods from southern Mesopotamia to the gulf. These boats were stronger and
tougher than river boats. They carried barley, stone, wood, pearls, carnelian, copper, ivory,
textiles, and reeds.
Trading By Land: By land, there were only a few possibilities: On foot, by donkey, or by Cart. On
foot, you could transport small amounts of just about anything if it was in small quantities
(except extremely bulky items such as bricks and long pieces of timber). By donkey was the most
common form of transportation. You could trade goods such as textiles, precious metals, wine,
grain, Lapiz Lazuli, and other valuable stones. Finally, Cart is the last method I am going to write
about. They were made of local timber and held together by bronze or maybe copper nails. They
carried metal, fish, textiles, oils, bricks, and grain.
East Asia: The Silk Road was created during the Han dynasty in 22. BCE. A plethora of large
empires, civilizations, and cultures that have existed on the Asian continent were influenced by
the Silk Road, which connected China, India, the Middle East and Europe. Hinduism and
Buddhism, which both began in India, were important influences on South and East Asia.
Christianity, Nestorianism in particular, came to China via the Silk Road. While it had a significant
presence in the Central Asia, it did not gain any significance in China and East Asia until modern
missionaries from Europe and North America arrived in the 19th century. On the contrary, the
Silk Road passed Chinese products and inventions to the Western regions, including paper:
papermaking originated in China and is considered one of Four Great Inventions. It gained
notoriety in the Middle East after the Battle of Talas between the Arabs and the Chinese Tang
Dynasty in 751.
The Silk Road was also a pathway for intruders, namely the Turkic-Mongol peoples of Central
Asia. One of the main concerns of the foreign affairs of the Chinese dynasties was how to defeat
these "nomadic barbarians". The Great Wall, begun in the 2nd century BC by the Qin dynasty,
was one such attempt to deter invasions from the nomadic groups of Central Asia.

5. Compare and contrast the political, social and economic structures in two of the following in two of
the following early civilizations.
a. Mesopotamia
b. Egypt
c. South Asia
d. East Asia
e. Andean Americas
The development of two great early civilizations in the Middle East and
North Africa encourages a first effort at comparative analysis. Because of
different geography, different degrees of exposure to outside invasion and
influence, and different prior beliefs, Egypt and Mesopotamia were in contrast
to one another in many ways. Egypt emphasized strong central authority, while
Mesopotamian politics shifted more frequently over a substructure of regional
city-states. Mesopotamian art focused on less monumental structures, while
embracing a pronounced literary element that Egyptian art lacked.
These cultural differences can be explained partly by geography:
Mesopotamians lacked access to the great stones that Egyptians could import
for their monuments. The differences also owed something to different
politics, for Egyptian ability to organize masses of laborers followed from
its centralized government structures and strong bureaucracy. The differences
owed something, finally, to different beliefs, for the Mesopotamians lacked
the Egyptian concern for preparations for the afterlife, which so motivated
the great tombs and pyramids that have made Egypt and some of the pharaohs
live on in human memory.
Both societies traded extensively, but there was a difference in economic
tone. Mesopotamia was more productive of technological improvements, because
their environment was more difficult to manage than the Nile valley. Trade
contacts were more extensive, and the Mesopotamians gave attention to a
merchant class and commercial law.
Social differences were less obvious because it is difficult to obtain
information on daily life for early civilizations. It is probable, though,
that the status of women was greater in Egypt than in Mesopotamia (where
women's position seems to have deteriorated after Sumer). Egyptians paid great
respect to women at least in the upper classes, in part because marriage
alliances were vital to the preservation and stability of the monarchy. Also,
Egyptian religion included more pronounced deference to goddesses as sources
of creativity.
Comparisons in politics, culture, economics, and society suggest
civilizations that varied substantially because of largely separate origins
and environments. The distinction in overall tone was striking, with Egypt
being more stable and cheerful than Mesopotamia not only in beliefs about gods
and the afterlife but in the colorful and lively pictures the Egyptians
emphasized in their decorative art. Also striking was the distinction in
internal history, with Egyptian civilization far less marked by disruption
than its Mesopotamian counterpart.





6. Analyze why the collapse of empire was more severe in western Europe than it was in the eastern
Mediterranean or in China.
Rome Part A
o Political power is not the only glue that holds a civilization together
o No religious unity, Christianity became official religion during 4th Century C.E., too late to be a
unifying force
o Political and military power failed
o Migration of Huns caused pressure on Rome to move out as they expanded
o When one trade route weakened, all of them were affected; diseases spread, people were
killed....UNSAFE!
o Money used to build churches could have been used to maintain the Roman Empire
o Death Rates increased in the wealthy class because water was being transported through lead
pipes
o Unable to keep political grasp amongst vast land; disputes between large land owners and
peasants
o Rise of Islam in areas close to Rome created tension and a new movement of religiously driven
and bound forces that would eventually become a dominant power in parts of Europe, the
Middle East and Asia
o Monetary Trouble was also a contributing factor; the central Roman state collapsed because the
migrants forcibly stripped it of the tax base which it had used to fund its armies
Byzantine - Part B
o The Roman Empire split into two sections, the Western empire and the Eastern Empire.
o The western half (Rome) fell to Germanic Invasions and also a lot of internal problems and
external pressures.
o The eastern empire was on the Mediterranean Sea so it had strong ties with trade.
o In the Mediterranean, imperial rule lasted.
o Justinian, a ruler of Byzantine, made strong laws which were a long term success.
o Byzantine also had a strong central government.
o Was the only civilization of the classical age that lasted and was the continuation of the Eastern
Roman Empire.
o Replaced Latin with Greek.
o Byzantine lasted until the fifteenth century.
Han Dynasty - Part C
o Han China fell because of nomads/trying to protect long borders, government/aristocratic
corruption, and the fall of other empires (because trade ended, too).
o Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism had become a part of Chinese identity.
o When Han China fell, the people were connected by Confucian, Buddhist and Daoist values.
o However, with the fall of Han, Confucianism lost much of it's credibility; many people turned
towards Daoism and Buddhism instead.
o The fall had a less impact because the philosophies went beyond China's politics/rulers.
o Chinese civilization continued to reassert power after 135 years of chaos.
Analysis/Similarities and Differences/Significance/Impact/Relevance/Etc.
o Both China and Byzantine survived during this time period because of a strong religious
background.
o Christianity was too late to help the Roman Empire.
o Overall, the influence of nomadic peoples affected the political control of Rome and Han China,
which eventually led to their falls. The cost was too expensive for the both of them to keep up
with. They also fell with a disrupted trade network, which was a main source of income.
o No money = no taxes, and no taxes = no funds for the militaries