The+Classical+Period+-+Directions,+Diversities,+and+Declines+by+500+C.E.


 * 1. Notes of the Declines of China, India, and Rome**


 * **China (Beginning most notably around 100 C.E.)** || **India (500 - 600 C.E.)** || **Rome (after Marcus Aurelius 180 B.C.E.)** ||
 * # Conquered by barbarians (Huns)
 * 1) Stagnation of intellectual activity
 * Confucianism thought, like those inspired by the **Five Classics**, became less creative
 * 1) Decentralization
 * Bureaucracy was weakened by corruption
 * Landlords gained power as serfs relied on them for protection
 * 1) Economic downturn
 * Free peasantry reduced to tenantry or serfdom due to heavy taxation and duty requirements
 * 1) Social unrest
 * **Yellow Turban Rebellion (184 C.E.)**
 * Internal conflicts within the imperial court
 * 1) Plagues that killed half the population, a result of Mediterranean Trade

Results: The Han fell to the Huns, but the culture was not destroyed or replaced; it was assimilated by the Huns. C. 600 B.C.E.the Sui dynasty took control and followed by the Tang in 618 C.E. that ushered in an era of prosperity || # Conquered by barbarians (Huns)
 * Barbarians destroyed the Guptan Empire in central India
 * 1) Introduction of the **Rajput** class
 * 2) Islamic introduction
 * Decline of sanskrit to local languages like **Hindi**
 * Took away from mathematical and scientific achievements
 * Weakened Tamil monopolization of the Indian Ocean commerce
 * 1) Regionalism prevailed || # Conquered by barbarians (Visigoths and Huns)
 * Attacked by Sassanid Empire as well
 * 1) Unjust emperors, e.g. **the Five Bad Emperors**
 * 2) Social despondency
 * 3) Praetorian Guard chose emperor
 * 4) Plagues import from Asia
 * Killed about 75% of the population
 * Decimated the Roman Centurion
 * Disloyal, mercenary army
 * Costly maintenance
 * 1) Decline of culture
 * Nobility became more frivolous
 * Scholars summarized and wrote textbooks instead of innovating
 * Believing superstition over rational inquiry
 * 1) Decline in the number of the aristocracy
 * 2) Decentralization (beginning of Feudalism)
 * Farmers looked to landlords for protection
 * Gave the lords land, labor, soldiers, and influence
 * 1) Decline of trade since estates tried to be self-sufficient

Results: Despite efforts from leaders like Diocletian (284 - 305 C.E.), who centralized the government greatly, or Constantine (312 to 337), who accepted Christianity and created Constantinople as the second capital, to stop the decline, the empire fell and fragmented into two parts. Despite the lack of social cement, Roman culture lived on in Byzantine, the succeeding empire centered around Constantinople. Some emperors, like Justinian (527 - 565 C.E.), attempted to restore the Roman empire, but were not able to maintain control of the areas. The second zone were the barbarian kingdoms. The culture of these kingdoms were crude; economy diminished and intellectual life nearly vanished.

The Sassanid Empire: To the east of Byzantine, was the Sassanid Empire. A Parthian empire had been in power since the Macedonian Hellenism and they relied on Persian institutions. A Persian rebellion in 227 established the Sassanid Empire to continue Persian traditions, such as**Zoroastrianism.** The Sassanid Empire acted as a bridge between the East and the Mediterranean, but it was conquered by Muslims. ||


 * Notes throughout the Chapter:**


 * 1) **Expansion and Integration**
 * Social Cement
 * During 550 - 400 B.C.E., thinkers throughout the world had rose (Confucius, Laozi, Buddha, and Socrates) to provide a cultural identities
 * 1) China
 * Confucianism had promoted political centralization and thus produced the bureaucracy
 * Daoism eventually adopted dogmas to promoted loyalty to the emperor
 * 1) India
 * Remained more localized with regionalism held together by Hinduism
 * 1) Rome
 * Involved primarily the aristocrats contributing the establishment of separate empires/kingdoms after its fall
 * Integration
 * Involved two main issues: territorial and social
 * All civilizations and thinkers, besides Buddha, advocated the necessity of social stratification
 * 1) China
 * Settling the south with northerners, promoting the use of Mandarin Chinese, standardization of measurements, bureaucracy, regulation of silk trade, etc.
 * Confucianism virtues
 * 1) India
 * Spread of the caste system, adherence to Hinduism
 * Hinduism
 * 1) Rome
 * Localism, extension of citizenship, rigid interdependence between agriculture and viticulture regions
 * Tenantry and local administration
 * 1) **Beyond the Classical Civilizations**
 * __//These developments were not ESSENTIAL to the Classical period, but it is in the grand spectrum//__
 * Indian merchants spread civilization throughout southeast Asia. Regional kingdoms had developed in Indonesia because of the Indian expenditures.
 * **Kush** (1000 B.C.E. to 300 B.C.E) / **Axum** (300 B.C.E - ?) / **Ethiopia**
 * Established by 1000 B.C.E. and coexisted with Egyptians, had a written language like hieroglyphics, mastered iron metallurgy, conquered Egypt by 750 B.C.E., powerful monarchy with a divine king
 * Axum and Ethiopia traded with the Greek and Romans and thus exposed to Judaism and Christianity
 * Possibly had little impact on the sub-Saharan history -- e.g. possible spread of **divine kingship,** spread of iron metalworking, no spread of their written language
 * ** Ghana and other west African kingdoms **
 * Created the foundation for future kingships
 * **Japan**
 * Elaborate contact with Chinese culture
 * 200 C.E. -- Migrations from the Korean peninsula had stopped and Japan established intricate agricultural systems
 * Regional political system -- local tribe leaders and ancestral patron god
 * 400 C.E. -- imported Korean scribes (thus written language)
 * National religion of **Shintoism** -- polytheism and divine kingship
 * Northern Europe and Eastern Europe-- Teutonic/Celtic and Slavic peoples
 * Regional kingdoms, some conquered by Romans
 * No written languages
 * Primitive agriculture, hunting was still necessary
 * Scandinavians developed maritime abilities
 * Polytheistic
 * **Isolated development**
 * **Central America (Olmec, Inca, Toltec, Aztec, Mayan, etc.)**
 * Central American culture that relied on corn as a staple crop
 * Introduced religious and artistic forms (Nazca lines, the Mayan doomsday theory, Quetzalcoatl, step pyramids, etc.)
 * Developed hieroglyphic alphabet
 * Never discovered the wheel or iron metallurgy
 * Unable to rival Mediterranean development because of the lack of **synergism**
 * 1) **The New Religious Map**
 * **__// A WORLD RELIGION IS A FAITH THAT LASTS THROUGHOUT TIME AND CULTURES //__**
 * Christianity and Buddhism, which stressed an afterlife, gained prominence as social despondency grew in decaying classical civilizations (200 - 600 C.E.)
 * Islam arrives on the scene c. 600 B.C.E. and becomes one of the synergistic forces in world history
 * 1) __﻿Buddhism__
 * Doctrines of **bodhisattva** -- achievement of nirvana through meditation and helping others (monks and monasteries)
 * Bodhisattvas were like gurus, people who provided guidance to enlighten people
 * Conversion from a religion of ethics to a religion of salvation
 * **Mahayana/Zen Buddhism** -- "The Greater Vehicle" -- The Chinese version of Buddhism that further idolizes Buddha as a god; spread to Korea and Japan
 * Mahayana opposed Buddhism iconoclasm; created religious statues
 * More effective organization with priesthood, temples, creed, and rituals
 * Inspired new artistic forms in China and Japan
 * Pagoda architecture
 * Supported equality (or weakened patriarchy) but **syncretism** greatly weakened that belief; instead, provided women with a purpose
 * Opposed by Confucian leaders who thought Buddhist beliefs were frivolous and deterred loyalty to the emperor
 * Attacked and driven out by imperialists
 * Daoism reacted to Buddhism by reforming their organization and emphasizing benefits through magic
 * Outside of China (Japan, Korea, Vietnam, SE Asia) Buddhism had a greater impact
 * 1) __Christianity__
 * Promoted salvation and the necessity of guidance from saints, but focused more on the hierarchy
 * Promoted widespread missions
 * Lack of tolerance
 * Syncretism from Judaism, theologians like Augustine who integrated Christianity with philosophy, and polytheistic beliefs All Saint's Day, Hallow's Eve, Christmas, Christ's birth)
 * Championed by the four disciples and a convert named **Paul,** whose letters helped created the hierarchy
 * **Benedictine Rule** guided monasteries -- little different a Buddhist monastery or gurus
 * __Monasteries helped preserve classical and Christian texts__
 * No major schism between the loyalty of the mass and monks/saints/clergy
 * Divided into the Eastern Orthodox and Western Catholic
 * **Placed the state below faith**, opposed slavery, brought new respect to disciplined fields (undermined aristocratic ethics)