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Classical Empires 3 and 4 Rome and Han China 753 B.C.E to 600 C.E. Trading Partners • Rome and the Han Chinese come to control such large territories that they were able to connect with each other to establish trading networks that conencted the enrire Eastern Hemisphere • Although, they wer only dimly aware of each other • They were both able to centralize control to a greater degree than earlier empires • Remarkably stable, and lasted for centuries Rome • Great location, both within the Italian Peninsula, and within the Mediterranean • Rome’s 7 hills and the Tiber River provided some protection of the site of the city • Mountains and mostly navigable rivers • Mild climate, and a wide variety of conditions for growing crops • Forests and metals • 75% of the peninsula is hilly, but still areas for crops A Republic of Farmers • 507-31 B.C.E. • 7 hilltop communities united and drained a central swamp—which became the Roman Forum • Status traced to land ownership and the running of successful farms. A small number of families came to control large tracts of land • The heads of these families formed the Roman Senate. • According to legend 7 kings, then in 507 B.C.E. Rome comes to be run by the Senate Not a Democracy • An assembly or male citizens where votes of the wealthy counted more than poorer citizens. Out of the assembly office holders were chosen every year. • 2 Consuls who presided over the Senate and Assembly and led military campaigns chosen annually • But the real power lay in the Senate. An advisory council, but they made policy • Their sons became assembly office holders • Men served for life in the Senate • Vacancies filled from former officials (sons) or men who were able to acquire power and the approval of the wealthy, powerful and influential Patricians v Plebeians • Periodic conflict in Rome between the elite and the majority of the population • Plebeians strike and refuse to work or fight to pressure for political concessions • One check on Patrician power were “written in stone” laws • And the creation of Tribunes, drawn from the Plebeians, who could veto the actions of the Assembly • Although elites found ways to bring Tribunes into the Assembly—most Tribunes could be bought The Family • Many generations living in the together with domestic slaves • The oldest living male, the paterfamilias, exercised absolute control over marriage, and even the lives of infants • Women had very limited freedom, the higher the class the less likely to be allowed freedom even to move around outside of the home, the legal rights of a child, unable to own property • Although some upper class women did wield considerable power through influence Patron/Client • A wealthy and powerful patron provided legal advice, physical protection, loans and representation to a client in return for their labor on his land, or their support in battle, or their own political support • The wealthy and powerful surrounded by retinues of their supports throughout the day • Inequality accepted, turned into a system of mutual benefits and obligations Deities • Of fire, of springs, the surrounding countryside • Large gods • Sacrifices performed to win or maintain the gods favor • Adopted the Greek gods, with Roman names, and their myths Expansion • 500 B.C.E., relatively unimportant • A way to gain power or maintain power at home, Consuls often pursued policies of military expansion • Continuously sought to provide buffers to protect the outposts of conquered territories • All males who owned land were expected to serve, to provide body armor, shields, spears and swords Roman Armies • Famous for their discipline, and flexible and maneuverable ranks • Formed alliances with the other cities of the Italian Peninsula to defeat some, then those alliances became protection, then control • Granted citizenship to those conquered, and extended legal, political and economic privileges • And insisted that the conquered provide soldiers for the army—creating an inexhaustible supply Punic Wars • Long wars against the Carthaginians, descendants of the seafaring trading people, the Phoenicians—264-202 B.C.E. • End with Roman victory, and the acquisition of its first non-Italian provinces—Spain, Sicily and Sardinia • Control of the Western Mediterranean Control of the Eastern Mediterranean • Hellenistic Kingdoms • Tried alliances, but Romans did not feel they were given sufficient deference • Then direct control Troubles With Administration • Officials replaced annually, usually a Senator • Responsible for collecting taxes and providing protection to the province • Little time to gain information with local populations • Some honest, but many gained great wealth from the local populations • Using the same administration as when Rome was a little city-state The End of the Republic • Great wealth generated by Rome’s conquests which ended up in the hands of the already wealthy and powerful • Small farms replaced by latifundia, large estates owned by the wealthy and powerful • Raised crops for profit, Rome comes to depend on expensive imported wheat • Landless headed for the cities, where they became poor and hungry or remained in the countryside where they became laborers with restricted rights • Will play a part in the political instability of the late Republic Gaius Marius 157-86 B.C.E. • From a client family, “a new man,” but talented, rose through the ranks to Tribune, then Consul and General • Took landless poor into the legions, prior to this you had to own land • Promised farms at the end of their service • Devoted, of course to Marius, and helped in his election to Consul • And this begins ambitious individuals who commanded armies loyal more to them, than to Rome 88-31 B.C.E. Sulla, Pompey, Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, and then Octavian aka Caesar Augustus • The city of Rome conquered over and over, opponents executed by the victors Caesar Augustus 63 B.C.E. to 14 C.E. • Julius Caesar’s nephew and heir eliminated all rivals and refashioned Rome’s governance • The Principate • He maintained the offices, honors and privileges of Rome’s elites but took all of the power • Claimed he was “first among equals” • Manipulated all segments of Roman society, not terribly clear to his contemporaries that he had consolidated power • Ruled 45 years • Conquered Egypt, parts of the Middle East, parts of Central Europe • Allied himself with the merchants and landowners of wealth, but not of the Senate social class • Chose from them a new, paid, civil service to run the Empire • They were more honest, more efficient Emperor not really hereditary • 4 members of his family followed as emperor, but never really seen as a hereditary position • After mid-first century other families had members who were emperors • In theory, confirmed by the Senate • In fact, chosen by the armies • New mechanism of the second century becomes the emperor adopts a son chosen for his competence • Also, they sometimes insist on being seen as gods and objects of cults of devotion, to enlist the support of the people Roman Law • Laws passed during the Republic • A profession developed whose task was to analyze the laws and determine the underlying principles • To apply those principles to new and evolving conditions • Legal experts, sometimes consulted by officials or those needing something from the law • During the Principate new laws were codified and studied and interpreted • Judges came to have the right of Judicial Review, to overturn, or ignore, an “unjust” law An Urban Empire • 80% still lived in the countryside and worked as agricultural laborers • But administration came through the towns and cities • Numerous towns had thousands of inhabitants, a few had hundreds of thousands of inhabitants • The Roman elites lived in elegant townhouses in the hills built around atria, and owned villas in the countryside • The poor lived in low-lying slums • The reversal of concentration of wealth in the hands of few instituted by Marius, was reversed during the Principate Pax Romana • Almost 2 centuries of great peace and trade, and the wealth trade brought for some 0-200 • Commerce greatly enhanced by the peace and stability guaranteed by Roman armies • Wealth generated by glass, metalwork, pottery and other finely crafted materials • Taxes collected, funneled through Rome, then paid as wages to the armies of the frontier, where border areas were made prosperous Christianity • During this period of peace and prosperity, Jesus born and develops a following • Perhaps in response to the deep unhappiness of the Jewish people of Judea to the Roman conquest in 6 C.E. • And their perennial Jewish concerns about conquest and the need for reforms • Spread of his teachings after his death from some segments of the Jewish community to the diverse world of the Eastern Roman Empire Paul of Tarsus • A Jew from Tarsus, in present day Turkey, who converts and travels throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, makes it his business to spread Christianity to the non-Jewish population, between 45-58 C.E. • Let’s go of many aspects of traditional Jewish practice • Revolts in Judea 66-73, end in an absolute destruction of Jerusalem and the scattering of the Jewish people • And the end of this destruction, the once Jewish, Christian community of Jerusalem, replaced by non-Jewish Christians • Slow, but steady, growth of Christianity in the Roman Empire • First converts tended to be woman, slaves the urban poor • Very slowly, a hierarchy develops with bitter ideological divides Technology and Transformation • The Romans enforced safety on their roads and on the sea lanes that criss cross the Mediterranean • And build toads to support trade • They knew good transportation made trade possible, which made the empire rich • Also, they took the supply of water seriously to their cities—knowing it was necessary for the health of the cities Third Century Crisis • 235 to 284 • 20 emperors, only one died of natural causes • With the political instability, Rome struggled to defend itself, especially to the north • Much of Rome’s Empire was protected by mountains, deserts, seas…but the Danube river was an uneasy border • Germanic people begin to raid south of the border • For the first time in centuries, Roman cities begin to build walls around their cities More Trouble • Conflicts created trouble for trade, lessening taxes • Armies came to demand cash in return for loyalty • Corruption led to hoarding and stealing taxes rather than using to run the empire • Barter increasingly became the means to run the economy—fewer taxes collected • Populations increasing shifted to the countryside • Landless poor worked for food and protection • This marks the beginning of the middle ages Diocletian • Becomes emperor in 284, a commoner who rose through the ranks of the army • Set price controls, insisted that people in professions trained their sons to take their place • Which led to people believing the government was the enemy • Conflict again after his death Constantine • First Christian emperor rules 312-337 • Issues the Edict of Milan ending the persecution of Christians and guaranteeing freedom of religion to Christians, and others • In 324 he moved the capital to Byzantium, named it Constantinople • Away from the increasing chaotic western portion of the empire • Rome will be overrun and sacked at least twice, once in 409, once in 476. The last Roman Emperor in the west abdicates in 476 • But the Eastern half continues for almost a thousand years, in various forms—1453 Ottomans Shi Huangdi • Period of Warring States at the end of the Zhou Dynasty (1045-221 B.C.E.) • The State of Qin began to consolidate, then take over the neighbors • Put into effect strict Legalist policies • Eliminated rival centers of power • Eliminated primogeniture to split up big estates and diminish the power of some families • Officials watched carefully to discourage corruption • A code of law, a single system of coinage, axle lengths for carts, standardized writing, weights and measures • Book-burning The Border • Extended by Shi Huangdi • The wall extended and made continuous, to solidify those holdings • This more aggressive approach led the nomadic people of the borders to unite and create the Xiongnu Confederacy • Which made the border a problem for China most of the time • To make roads, the wall, to protect the border, Shi Huangdi needed tons of labor—massive uprisings after his death • What about that tomb? 10,000 Generations? • How about one. But still China was united, with a strong centralized ruler. The very idea of China begins with Qin The Han • The Zhou too soft, the Qin too hard, the Han just right • In 202 B.C.E. Liu Bang was able to end the civil wars that broke out after Qin’s death • From a modest background, he was proud of his peasanty manners • Made themselves popular with the people by denouncing Qin • But kept many of his ideas and institutions, with modifications Repair the Damage • The early Han rulers were frugal, given the economic hardships of the centuries that preceded them • Worked to keep taxes low and support agriculture • Stored grain for hard times • Gave out large land grants to supporters, and reabsorbed with death or rebellions • But a steady supply of lands to grant as rewards for loyalty • Followed a policy of appeasement for the Xiongnu to avoid expensive war Han Expansion • Later Han rulers expanded the empire, and did engage in expensive wars with the Xiongnu • Government monopolies on some goods to fund expensive wars • The adoption of Confucianism as a unifying principle of social order • Officials chosen by essay exams about Confucian texts • Competent, ethical, educated • And will be critical of poor rulers as the dynasty continues Traditional Family Values • Dead ancestors retained an interest in the living • Eldest male had total authority over the household and the extended family that lived under one roof • The hierarchy of the family mirrored the hierarchy of the empire—obedience and an understanding of what was proper in all relationships the center of ethical conduct Chang’an • In western Xi’an province • Thought to be quite a place, of palace complexes, multistory homes, and various entertainments • A very urban world