The Classical Period: Directions, Diversities, and Declines by 500

C.E.

Chapter 5

Stearns: World Civilizations

Basic Themes Expansion and Integration

All classical civilizations involved territorial expansion and related efforts to integrate new territories

Outside the Eurasian Network

Significant civilizations developed in the Americas and Africa outside the immediate classical orbit

Nomadic societies played a vital role, particularly in central Asia, in linking and occasionally disrupting classical civilizations

Basic Themes Decline and Fall of Classical Empires

A combination of internal weakness and invasion led to important changes, first in China, then in India

Decline in Rome was more complex, involving a mix of internal and external factors

The eastern and western portions of the empire developed differently after the fall of Rome

The New Religious Map

The period of classical decline saw the rapid expansion of Buddhism and Christianity

Religious change had wider cultural, social, and political implications

Expansion and Integration

Shintoism – Japanese religion that provided for worship of political rulers and spirits of nature. This was the basis for the worship of the Japanese emperor as a religious figure. Rice god major diety.

Tori Gate

entrance to a

Shinto Shrine

By 600 C.E. Japan was ready for elaborate contact with

China

Animism: a belief in the existence of many spirits and

demons which are found in the natural world.

Olmec: Central

American’s first

civilization 800-400

BCE. Developed

agriculture, accurate

calendars. Powerful

influence on later

civilizations in the

Americas.

Teotihuacan: Followed the Olmec. Built the first great city in the

Americas and developed the first alphabet -400 BCE -400 CE

Outside the Eurasian Network

Beyond the Classical Civilizations

•Axum and Ethiopia: Axum defeated Kush around 300 BCE. Ethiopia in turn defeated Axum. Both these African kingdoms had active contacts with the eastern Mediterranean world even after Rome fell.

•The activities of Jewish merchants brought some conversions to Judaism in Ethiopians

•Christianity spread to Ethiopia from Greek-speaking merchants

Mayan Pyramid

Maya – 300 – 900 CE –

Classic culture

emerging in southern

Mexico and Central

America contemporary

with Teotihuacan;

extended over broad

region; featured

monumental

architecture, written

language, calendrical

and mathematical

systems, and highly

developed religion.

•The Polynesians reached Fiji and Samoa by 1000 BCE, they

spread their civilization to Hawaii 400 CE, by traveling in large

outrigger canoes.

•Highly stratified caste system under powerful local kings

Decline and Fall of Classical Empires

Decline in China and IndiaChina India

Social unrest,

overtaxed peasants

Decline in India not as

strong as in China

Huns attacked and

Epidemics weakened

central government

Huns destroyed Gupta

Empire

The Era of Division

followed with no leading

dynasty

For several centuries no

indigenous empire in India

China revived, first

under Sui dynasty and

later with the Tang.

Hinduism gained ground

as Buddhism was

unappealing to warrior

caste

Yellow Turbans – During the decline of classical China, the

Yellow Turbans were a Daoist group that promised a golden age

that was to be brought about by divine magic

Decline and Fall of Rome•Population declined

•Leadership faltered

•Economy flagged, tax collection became more difficult

•Despondency pervaded much of citizenry

•The fall of Rome shattered unities and reduced the level of

civilization itself

•Emperors Diocletian and Constantine slowed the spiral of

decay

•Germanic tribes invaded in the 400s, little power or will to

resist.

•Empire survived in the east as the Byzantine Empire

The New Religious Map

The New Religious Map• Classical civilizations declined – world’s major

religions Buddhism and Christianity flourished, to be followed by the introduction of Islam.

• People sought solace in the spiritual world as their temporal world was collapsing.

• Christianity became widespread in the West.

• Buddhism grew in China and the East

• Islam surfaced and became a dynamic force in the areas in between.

The New Religious Map With Hinduism, Islam shared some commonalities;

intense devotion, piety, and hope for a better life after this one.

Each responded to political instability and to poverty. Each often took on features of local cultures, in a process called “syncretism.”

Syncretism: The blending of cultures. Syncretism connects

most strongly with religions; for example, Christianity’s

adaptation of some of the features of the Roman religion.

Hinduism Buddhism Daoism

Changed little

in its major

tenets

Altered as it

traveled beyond

India to China,

Korea, Japan,

and Vietnam

Reacted to

Buddhism by

organizing its

beliefs

Stayed in India

mostly – some

followers in

Indonesia (the

island of Bali)

Buddha became

more of a savior

figure.

Women in China

- drawn to more

meaningful life

Developed a

clear hold on the

peasant

population of

east Asia

(China)

Christianity

•Missionary activity even more than Buddhism

•Jesus preached compassion with great

conviction and charisma, but had few followers

in his lifetime

•Spiritual equality and afterlife replaced

unsatisfying traditional polytheistic religion of the

Romans

•Appealed to women, who were offered

leadership opportunities in convents and who

were encouraged to worship together with men,

which was unlike the practices in many faiths of

the time.

•Jesus of Nazareth - Jewish teacher who preached reforms in

Judaism. His followers believed him to be the Messiah, the savior

sent by God to redeem humanity.

•Paul – Early Christian leader who saw the faith in a different light.

Instead of a reform of Judaism, Paul helped turn the faith into a

new religion that welcomed non-Jews.

•Pope – Meaning papa or father; bishop of Rome and head of

Roman Catholic church.

•Augustine: One of the greatest Christian theologians. Bishop of

Alexandria, Egypt.

•Coptic Christianity: Largest branch of African Christianity,

centered in Egypt.

Islam: Monotheistic religion in which the supreme being is

Allah and the chief prophet and founder I Mohammad;

developed in the Arabian peninsula in the 7th century C.E.

The World Around 500 CE

The major themes in world history

1. Responses to the collapse of the classical

empires

2. Reaction to new religions that developed

3. Increased skill in agriculture the development of

early civilizations prepared parts of Europe,

Africa, Asia and the Americas for future changes.

Global Connections:• Each classical civilization radiated trade

• Decline of classical authority meant overland routes, like the Silk Route, became more precarious; sea lanes were used, especially in the Indian Ocean

• Missionaries and nomadic raiders took advantage of more porous borders