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Chapter 4 Tradition and Common Elements of the Great Eurasian Empires (800 BCE to 400 CE) The Early Persian Empire 1600 BCE – 559 BCE • • The Medes and the Persians played key roles in the formation of the early Persian empire (in the area of modern-day Iran) beginning as early as 1600 BCE. By 559 BCE, Cyrus the Great united the Medes and the Persians under one kingdom. The Achaemenid Empire 559 BCE – 300 BCE • • • • Mary Evans Picture Library/Edwin Wallace/Everett Collection The Achaemenid Empire included the kingdom of Lydia in Anatolia and several Greek colonies along the Mediterranean coast, and later added Phoenicia, Arabia, modern-day Afghanistan, and northwestern India, and Egypt. Cyrus the Great (see image) was regarded as a tolerant and kind ruler, especially among Jews. Darius the Great built a palace complex at Persepolis that served as the empire’s administrative center. Iron technology allowed the empire to effectively arm soldiers, make durable agricultural tools, and build a network of roads, including the 1600mile Persian Royal Road. Zoroastrianism Getty Images/ Photos.com/Thinkstock • Most Persians adopted the monotheistic religion of Zoroastrianism, whose followers worship the supreme god Ahura Mazda. • Zoroastrians believe that human beings have free will to choose the path of good (represented by Ahura Mazda) or the path of evil (represented by the lord of evil spirit, Angra Mainyu). • Zoroastrians believe that the spiritual battle between these two will end with the emergence of a savior and a peaceful world full of joy and free from misery. Alexander the Great and the Conquest of Persia 333 BCE – 323 BCE • • • Alexander defeated the Persian army of Darius III in 333 BCE, after which he marched into Egypt and crowned himself pharaoh. He defeated Darius III in battle again in 331 BCE, and his army burned Persepolis to the ground. Alexander’s conquests continued in eastern Persia and India, but his soldiers distrusted him, and upon his death from illness in 323 BCE feuding generals split the empire into three separate kingdoms: the Antigonid, Seleucid, and Ptolemaic Dynasties. Early Romans 753 BCE – 509 BCE • • • The Romans originated in the central Italian peninsula, where mixed groups of Etruscans, Latins, and other Indo-European speaking people had settled over hundreds of years. The Romans borrowed liberally from the civilizations that surrounded them; they adopted the calendar, togas, alphabet, and gladiator contests from the Etruscans; and art, architecture, gods, and goddesses from the Greeks. Seven kings, called the Tarquins, ruled Rome from 753 BCE to 509 BCE. The Roman Republic: 509 BCE – 44 BCE Mary Evans Picture Library/Everett Collection • After deposing the last Tarquin in 509 BCE, the Romans established a republic that vested authority in two elected consuls. • The consuls consulted a Senate made up of approximately 300 patricians. • Early in the 5th century BCE the Senate was forced to recognize a Plebeian Assembly. • The Romans also developed a sophisticated judicial system that considered defendants to be innocent until proven guilty. The Punic Wars 264 BCE – 146 BCE Photos.com/Thinkstock • Rome built its first navy to fight the first Punic War, in which they defeated the Carthaginians and conquered Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica. • In the second Punic War, Rome defeated the Carthaginian commander Hannibal (see image) and forced Carthage to relinquish her military and pay a hefty indemnity. • Carthage completely collapsed in the third Punic War when Rome burned the city and enslaved its inhabitants. From Republic to Dictatorship 146 BCE – 60 BCE • • • • Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY In the hundred years after the Punic Wars, rapid Roman expansion led to an increasing gap between rich and poor. The brothers Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus sought to remedy the emerging tensions through programs of land reform to benefit the masses. Tiberius was murdered in 133 BCE and Gaius committed suicide in 121 BCE. Corruption led to decline of the republic from within, resulting in three military commanders – Pompey, Crassus, and Julius Caesar – forming an extralegal troika called the First Triumvirate in 60 BCE. Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire • • • • Photos.com/Thinkstock Caesar returned to Rome in 49 BCE to face Pompey, his chief rival. He defeated Pompey and took over the Senate, appointing himself consul, tribune, chief priest, censor, and dictator for life. Caesar was assassinated in 44 BCE. His death triggered a civil war, until his nephew and adopted son Octavian prevailed and ruled as an emperor for the next 45 years Octavian controlled and institutionalized the army, created Rome’s first true bureaucracy. He also reformed the Senate, and rebuilt Rome. Pax-Romana (Roman Peace) 27 BCE – 180 CE • • • iStockphoto/Thinkstock For 180 years after Octavian (Augustus Caesar) assumed power, Rome was ruled by emperors who expanded the empire and built more than 50,000 miles of paved roads to unite it. Commerce flourished, and the prosperity sponsored major building projects, such as bridges, aqueducts (see image), and public coliseums, while the Latin language and Hellenistic culture spread Roman ideas throughout the empire. Roman poets, including Virgil (70 – 19 BCE), Ovid (43 BCE – 17 CE), and Horace (65 BCE – 8 CE), had profound impact during their own times and on the future of Western culture. Roman Religion iStockphoto/Thinkstock • Traditional Roman religion was polytheistic and focused on gods associated with natural or human forces. • Early in the 1st century CE a monotheistic religion called Christianity, based on the teachings of a Palestinian Jew named Jesus, became popular in Rome. • Roman authorities executed Jesus in 30 BCE, but his disciples, worked to spread his message and ultimately succeeded in making Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. Decline, Division, and Collapse of the Roman Empire 80 CE – 476 CE • • • • Rome’s increasing size and expense, political instability, a lack of technological progress, reliance on slave labor, and a growing gap between rich and poor contributed to its decline. Beginning in 293 CE, the empire was gradually divided into eastern and western halves, a process that began when Constantine the Great moved the capital from Rome to Byzantium. Northern European tribes invaded the weakened Roman empire and caused its collapse. The eastern half survived for another 1,000 years as the Byzantine Empire. The Qin and Han Dynasties 221 BCE – 210 BCE and 206 BCE – 220 CE • • • Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY Qin Shihuangdi, the first emperor to unify China, was a strong ruler who created a military state to centralize power, quash artistic and intellectual expression, standardize the Chinese language, construct thousands of miles of roads, and, completed the 3,700-mile Great Wall of China. The Han Dynasty brought China into an era of creativity and innovation. Han Wudi (reigned 141 BCE – 87 BCE) expanded the empire’s reach by annexing northern Vietnam, southern Manchuria, Korea, and the nomadic Xiongnu people northwest of China and infusing each with Chinese culture. The Silk Road • The Silk Road was almost 4,000 miles long and the first major intercontinental highway to link East and West. • Merchants used the road to transport ceramics, silk, wine, and olive oil. • Missionaries, ideas, inventions, and diseases were also transported via the Silk Road.