Transcript Rome and Han China 753 BCE

World History:
The Earth and its Peoples
Chapter 5
An Age of Empires:
Rome and Han China
753 B.C.E. - 330 C.E.
Objectives
• Explain how the Roman and Han Empires came
into being.
• Be able to describe the sources of their stability or
instability.
• Discuss the benefits and liabilities that these
empires bring to the rulers and their subjects
Rome and Han China
Common Characteristics
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largest empires world had seen
greater central control than earlier empires
greater cultural impact
remarkable stability
Rome’s Mediterranean Empire
Crossroads
• Italian peninsula
• Europe and Africa
Natural Resources
• ample, arable land
– volcanic soil
• timber and minerals
• navigable rivers
Support of a large population
A Republic of Farmers
Inhabitation by 1000 BCE
– Romulus 753 BCE
• Seven Hills
– original Latins
– Etruscans immigrants 700 BCE
• Economy
– agriculture and land
• Politics
– “Council of Elders”
– seven kings of Rome
• 753 - 507 BCE
A Republic of Farmers
• Roman Republic - 507-31 BCE
– ruled by assemblies of wealthy
male citizens
• Roman Senate
– real center of power; made laws
– served for life
– consuls
Society
• multi-generational family
– paterfamilias
• oldest-living male
• hierarchical
– patron/client relationship
– mutual benefits and obligations
A Republic of Farmers
Women
• child in eyes of the law
• more freedom than Greeks
• influence over husbands / son
Religion
• polytheistic
– numina - invisible shapeless
forces controlling nature
– pax deorum
• peace with the gods
– diffusion with Greek gods
Roman Expansion
Early Roman Republic - 500 BC
• Rome as ‘city-state’
– aggression or self-defense?
• friction
– pastoral tribes / agriculturalists
– Romans serves as ‘protectors’
• Roman loyalty - 290 BCE
– privileges of citizenship to
conquered
– military service
• Carthage Wars - 264-202 BC
– control of western
Mediterranean Sea
Punic Wars: Rome - Carthage
Roman Expansion
Eastern Mediterranean
• Hellenistic (200-30 BCE)
– Egypt and Greece
Interior
• Gaul (59-51 BCE)
– Celts
– Gaius Julius Caesar
Administration
• considerable autonomy to
cooperative local elites
– provincial governor from Senate
• inadequate and corrupt
Caesar
Caesar’s Empire
The Failure of the Republic
Forces
• military service for farmers
– decline of independent farms
• unemployment
– decline in soldiers
• mercenaries
• war wealth of upper classes
– rise in latifundia; cash crops
• slave labor
– loss of food supply
• Civil War - 88 BCE - 31 BCE
– allegiance to generals, not state
The Failure of the Republic
Octavian - 63 - 14 BCE
– ends civil wars by 31 BCE
– military dictator
• offensive to defensive
– Augustus
• Roman Principate
– “first among equals”
• equites
– wealthy merchants / landowners
– civil service
• Good Emperors
– line of succession
An Urban Empire
Pax Romana
– “Roman peace”
– safety and stability
Importance of trade
– support for emperor & govt
– rich interior provinces
• Gaul and Egypt
Romanization
– spread of Latin language /
Roman ways
• citizenship
– Before 212 CE: military service
– After 212 CE: all free males
Rome: 14 - 117 C.E.
The Rise of Christianity
Judea
– Jewish homeland
– Roman control by 6 CE
• Jesus
– personal faith and spirituality
• Paul - (45 - 58 C.E.)
– Jesus as Messiah (“anointed
one”
– benefits of citizenship to preach
Disloyalty to Rome
– refusal to worship emperor
Spread of Christianity
Roman Technology
Aqueducts
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road system
water conduits using gravity
arches
domes
• concrete
“Third-century crisis”
– 235 - 284 C.E.
– frequent change of rulers
• coin devaluation
– permeable frontiers
• loss of trade revenues
– exodus from city to country
Aqueducts
Roman Transformation
Diocletian (284 - 305 C.E.)
– government regulation
• prices and vocations
Constantine (306 - 337 C.E)
– reunites entire empire
– conversion to Christianity
– Rome to Byzantium
• Constantinople
Diocletian’s Empire
Origins of Imperial China,
221 BCE - 220 CE
Warring-States Period
• 1st empire under Qin
– Shi Huangdi (221-206 BCE)
• Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 CE)
Resources
• agriculture
– free peasant taxes
• human labor
– public works projects
– military service
Hierarchy, Obedience, & Belief
Family
– all generations; ancestors
• Values
– Confucianism
– obedience and proper conduct
• Women
– three submissions
• parents, husband, son
– live with husband’s family
• Nature
– nature spirits
– feng shui
Qin Dynasty
Qin - 221 - 206 B.C.E.
– Imperial Age
• Shi Huangdi
– “First Emperor”
– totalitarianism
• primogeniture
– outlawed sole land inheritance
– abolished slavery
• standardization
– coins, law code, writing
– roads, canals, walls
– unification of civilization
The Long Reign of the Han
Han - 206 BCE - 220 CE
– replaces Qin
• Legalism reform
– Confucianism social order
– Mandate of Heaven
• Chang’an
– capital of Early Han
• model of urban planning
• alignment with gentry
– class below aristocrats
• efficient and responsive
– Confucian guide to government
• civil service
• Daoism
– popular among commoners
Han Dynasty
Technology and Trade
Metallurgy
– poured versus pounded
• Military
– crossbow and cavalry
• watermill
– grindstone
• horse collar
Trade
– silk as leading export
Fall of Han
– reform failure; corruption
– nomad attacks; hungry peasants