Chapter 3

An empire:

1. empires are political systems with coercive power

2. more typical: larger, more aggressive states

a. conquer other states

b. use their resources

c. usually include multiple peoples and cultures under a single political system

3. no clear line between empires and small multiethnic states

D. Eurasian/North African empires of the period

1. Persian Empire

2. Greek empire of Alexander the Great

3. Roman Empire

4. Chinese empire (Qin and Han dynasties) 5. India (Mauryan and Gupta empires)

Importance of Empires

1. size was imposing
2. blood and violence of conquest
3. satisfaction in witnessing the fall of the
4. mighty when they collapse
5. contrast to non imperial civilizations
6. empires were important

a. majority of humans before twentieth century lived in empires

b. stimulated exchange of ideas, cultures, and values

c. peace and security encouraged development, commerce, and cultural mixing

Empires and Civilizations in Collision: The Persians and the Greeks

A. Second Wave civilizations did not usually encounter each other directly

1. Mediterranean world and Middle East were the important exceptions

a. Persians and Greeks were neighbors

b. very important cultural encounter

B. The Persian Empire

1. in 500 B.C.E., it was the largest and most impressive empire
• Persians were Indo-Europeans, homeland on the Iranian plateau
• imperial system drew on Mesopotamian prototypes
• much larger and more splendid
• Cyrus (r. 557–530 B.C.E.) and Darius (r. 522–486 B.C.E.) expanded empire from Egypt to India
• diverse empire with population of around 35 to 50 million people
2. elaborate cult of kingship
• absolute monarchy
• willing to crush rebellious regions or officials

The Greeks

1. classical Greece emerged 750 B.C.E., flourished for about 400 years

2. distinctiveness of Hellenistic civilization

a. population of Greece and the Aegean basin was 2 million to 3 million people

b. geography of mountains, valleys encouraged development of hundreds of city-states and small settlements

c. shared common language and common gods

4. between 750 and 500 B.C.E., colonization around Mediterranean basin and Black Sea

5. most distinctive feature: popular participation in political life of city-states

• equality of all citizens before the law
• active regular participation in politics by some of the population
• extent of citizenship varied depending on time and city
  
  It is interesting to see how the Classical greeks influenced the society and the way people thought and expressed themselves. There were three philosophers in Classical Greek. There was Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Socrates writings expressed a rational and humanistic way of thinking that helped a Greek cultural tradition that spread widely past Greek ways. His philosophies was a style of questioning and a civil explanation of nature and human life. The way he taught was by a constant flow of questioning the logic and assumptions of his students thinking. After the Classical Era it was the Modern Era which begins with renaissance rebirth of classical Greek Humanism. Greek Humanism was seen in philosophy and art. The art was precise and realistic with the human body. Greek mythology explores human qualities, flaws, humans, non humans, gods and creatures.