AP World History Chapter 5: The Decline of the Classical Period

Overview: The basic themes of the three classical civilizations were expansion and integration. Integration is defined as a mixture of central political values, common cultures, and social values. !• Between 200 and 500 C.E. expansion and integration faltered !

• The decline of China, the Mediterranean, and then India signaled end of the classical period. !• The response of religious systems to political decline formed the direction of world history to come.

Expansion and Integration• Classical civilizations leave a heritage of new ideas, styles, technologies, and institutions • Thus history has seminal thinkers within a small span of time

— Socrates, Laozi, Confucius, and Buddha. • Expansion across civilizations took different forms:

1. China emphasized centralization !2. Indian Hinduism cemented its civilization !3. Mediterranean cultural expansion involved less the population—proved to be more

vulnerable to fragmentation

Expansion and Integration(continued) !•Integration had two challenges: territorial and social. •Territorial 1. China settled people in the south, promoting a common language. 2. India’s spread of the caste system into Southern India resolved its territory issue. 3. Rome combined local autonomy, expansion of citizenship to elites, and tight commercial networks. !•Social– all three classical civilizations maintained great social inequalities: between men and women and between upper and lower classes. -- most leading thinkers, Buddha being an exception, did not oppose inequalities.

Beyond the Classical Civilizations

On the borders of classical civilizations did other cultures flourish • NE Africa influenced by Mediterranean civilizations • Japan influenced by China • SE Asia influenced by trade with India and later by Hindu and Buddhist religions • Only in Americas did a civilization emerge independent of the classical civilizations •Sub-Sahara Africa had many influences. 1. By 1000 B.C.E. the kingdom of Kush flourished along the upper Nile; by 750 B.C.E. it conquered Egypt 2. Kushites had a writing system similar to Egyptian hiero- glyphics and had mastered iron

Sub-Sahara Africa !• About 300 B.C.E. Kush was defeated by a rival kingdom Axum • Axum ultimately fell to Ethiopia • Both Axum and Ethiopia had trading links with the Mediterranean ! - thus Jewish trading merchants converted some Ethiopians to Judaism; a small percentage of Ethiopians are Jewish today ! - Greek merchants also had an influence and brought Christianity to Ethiopia around 4th century C.E. and there are Ethiopian Christians today as well(although they are distinctly different from other forms of Christianity).

Subterranean, Rock hewn Ethiopian Orthodox churches

Kingdom of Kush in the Upper Nile; The Brown area indicates highlands.

Japan !• Japan was populated by migrations from the Korean peninsula over a 200,000 year span. • It had regional tribal units, each with its own god, thought to be an ancestor. • Japanese went from stone age to iron age(skipping bronze and copper tools • Chinese visitor in 297 C.E. described Japanese as law-abiding, fond of drink, experts in agriculture and fishing; and observed strict social differences indicated by tattoos • By 400 C.E. Korean scribes brought writing to the Japanese • Japan’s religion, Shintoism provided for the worship of political rulers and spirits of nature. Became a national religion around 700 C.E.

Torii – entrance to a Shinto shrine

Izumo Shrine – believed to be the oldest in Japan • believed to be built during the 8th century.

Torii at Nikko shrine

Europe !• Until about 1000 C.E., northern Europe remained one of the most backwards areas of the world • Teutonic or Celtic peoples in what is today Germany, England, and Scandinavia; and Slavic people of Eastern Europe were loosely organized into regional kingdoms • Rome had a brief influence, and there was no written language except where Latin was introduced • Scandinavians were increasing their skills as sailors; which would lead them into wider trade and pillage in the centuries after 600 C.E. • Agriculture was still combined with hunting. • Religious beliefs featured a host of gods and rituals designed to placate the forces of nature • Christianity is the major force that changes Europe

Stonehenge – Britain’s oldest national icon Approximately 5,000 years old

Americas• The Olmecs developed an early form of civilization from 800 to 400 B.C.E. • The Olmecs lacked a writing system but built massive pyramid shaped religious monuments. • Corn was the staple crop for Central American civilizations • Potato was the staple for the Incas • The development of agriculture was limited by the few domesticated Animals - dogs, turkeys, and in Central America, the guinea pig. • Olmec culture includes artistic forms in jade; religious statues that combine human and animal form; and an accurate calendar. Olmecs disappeared around 400 B.C.E. but their successors

developed a hieroglyphic alphabet and built a great city – Teotihuacan

• The Olmec culture suffered from regional wars and migrations but from its base came a fuller American civilization- the Mayans, starting about 400 C.E.

Avenue of the Dead

Teotihuacan

Pyramid of the Sun

Pyramid of the Moon

Americas

The Central American and Andes civilizations had a disadvantage from developing in isolation from other cultures !• they did not have the wheel • they had no capacity to work iron • yet, they were more developed than Europe during the same time period

Polynesia• By giant outrigger canoes, Polynesians reached Samoa and Fiji by 1000 B.C.E.; Hawaii by 400 C.E.

Central Asia• Herding peoples were links in the trade routes between Asia and Europe • Herding peoples(Huns) invaded classical civilizations, bringing an end to the period of history.

Mesoamerican and Andean Civilizations

Decline in China and India• Between 200 and 600 C.E. - all three classical

civilizations collapsed entirely or in part. • All suffered outside invasion by groups from

Central Asia(Huns). • By about 100 C.E., the Han Dynasty was in serious

decline. – Confucian intellectual activity lessened – Bureaucrats became more corrupt – Local landlords took more control, putting more

demands on the peasantry. – Many peasants lost their farms and had to sell their

children

Daoists lead a revolt• Usually not involved in political affairs, the Daoist

leaders, called the Yellow Turbans, promised a golden age that was to be brought about by divine magic.

• The Yellow Turbans criticized the weakness of the emperor and the corruption of the bureaucracy.

• As many as 30,000 students demonstrated against the government.

• The movement failed; Chinese prosperity and population continued to decline.

• The imperial court was mired in intrigue and civil war.

Decline of Han China• The weak Han government could not hold back the

invading nomads from the north. • Along with war, epidemics killed up to half the population. • The devastation resulted in three centuries of chaos in

China. • It was during this time of disunity that the religion

Buddhism spread in China - one of the only cases in which China imported a major idea from outside its borders until the 20th century.

• HOWEVER, Chinese institutions were too strong to kill. The bureaucracy declined, but not disappear. Confucian values remained among the upper classes.

• Nomadic invaders, having nothing better by way of government or culture, adopted Chinese methods.

Decline in India• The decline in India was less drastic than the decline in

China. • The Gupta emperors could not control the regional princes;

the invading Huns integrated into the warrior caste of Hinduism - forming a new group of regional princes collectively called the “Rajput”

• Hun princes had no use for Buddhist principles - Hinduism grew with more of a zeal for emotionalism in religious ritual.

• Islamic warriors invaded northern India during the 7th century, winning some converts in northwest India.

• Hindu leaders, in reaction to the introduction of a new religion, strengthened their emphasis on religious devotion

• Hindu texts were written in vernacular(local) languages; the ancient language of Sanskrit declined.

• Finally, Arab merchants took control of trade in the Indian Ocean - further reducing Indian commercial dynamism.

Decline and Fall in Rome

• The Roman Empire exhibited many symptoms of decay after 180 C.E.

• Rome’s decline and destruction was more devastating than the other classical civilizations.

• A common epithet found on Roman tombstones: “I was not, I was, I am not, I have no more desires,” suggesting an increasing despondency over the futility of life.

Decline and Fall of Rome(2)• Weak and sadistic emperors • The army used more foreigners(Germanic)

to fill its ranks and the army interfered in the selection of emperors.

• A series of plagues swept over the empire brought about by international trade. Diseases, such as measles, came from southern Asia into the Mediterranean region where the people had no resistance.

• As a result, the population of Rome went from over 1 million to 250,000

Decline and Fall of Rome(3)• Disease led to a declining population • A declining population led to less production • Less production led to less tax revenues • Less tax revenues led to less army • Less army led to more Germanic tribes

Decline and Fall of Rome(4)• Rome’s upper classes were more about pleasure and partying

than WORK • People lost their imagination and skills, accomplishments

were down. • Upper class people had less children • Moral and political decay became pervasive in Roman

society, rooting from a corrupt society that lived an unproductive lifestyle with superficial values.

• So, while the quality of imperial rule declined, and life got more precarious, more and more peasants/farmers gave up their farms to large landlords in exchange for security, foreshadowing the manorial system of Europe during the Middle Ages.

• Large estates shifted power away from the emperor to large landowners.