Chapter 5 Notes

1. 5.3

1.1. The causes of the expansion of Rome: the rise of Rome brought the final phase of the classical Mediterranean history. It also expanded Mediterranean civilization to the west. Rome started as a local monarchy in central Italy and it drove monarchy out and started more elaborate political institutions. The new roman republic extended its influence out to the Italian peninsula. It spread during the Punic wars and fought between Rome and Carthage to establish it's dominance in the west Mediterranean. Julius Caesar became the ruler as Rome was unstable, ending the traditional institutions of Rome. Augustus Caesar gained power after Caesar's assassination and established basic structures of roman empire. Rome was less centralized than the Han. People invading from the North caused Rome's fall.

2. 5.4

2.1. Politics were a large part of Mediterranean civilizations. Upper class Greeks and Romans participated actively in politics.There was not a developed distinctive set of political institutions like China. There was diversity in political forms.Tyranny was preferred over monarchy. Greece was the closest to a democracy because major decisions were made out of assemblies and all could participate.There were lower class citizens who were eager for government jobs. The most common form of government was aristocratic assemblies. In Rome all citizens could gather in periodic assemblies. They had a senate composed mostly of aristocrats. The Roman republic established the Twelve tables, an early book of law.

3. 5.5

3.1. There was no central religion but Christianity was rising up. Greek-Roman common religion had to do with spirits of nature and a series of gods and goddesses who regulated human life. Zeus and Jupiter were the leaders and there was Apollo (sun god), Neptune (ocean god), Mars (war god), and Venus (human love and beauty). This led to many upper class citizens being dissatisfied for there was no basis for ethical thought. Greek and Roman philosophers stressed the importance of moderation and balance in human behavior. Stoics emphasized inner moral independence. Socrates urged rational reflection of moral decisions and was killed for corrupting young Athenians.

4. While Persia developed,Greece was forming in West. There was a quick rise in more complex societies due to more city states. They used city wide government, so each one had its own gov. The peninsula that Greece was located on was divided by mountains, so one large government would have been hard to work. The 2 leading city states were Sparta and Athens. Sparta was a strong military aristocracy dominating a slave population. Athens was a more diverse commercial state, it was artistic and valued intellectual leadership. These 2 city states, along with others, came together to stop a Persian invasion in 500 BC. A war arose with Athens and Sparta, diminishing both of them. Sparta won, but was diminished none the less. Peloponnese war, like this, are fought along with other allies. Philip of Macedonia won the crucial battle in 338 BC. The Hellenistic period is when Greece's culture merged with others in the Middle East.

5. 5.1

5.1. Persia invaded Greece because several of their city states revolted against Persian rule. After the fall of the fall of Egyptian and Hittiteempires in the middle east, smaller states took over the area. New powers stepped in: the Assyrians and the Persians. Cyrus the Great emerged by 550 BC. He established a massive Persian empire

5.1.1. Had a major set of roads, used the first postal service, new religions came with Persia - Zoroastrianism - revised the religion of the Sumerians to only have one god, god over spirit of evil, personal moral choice on choosing one side or the other, kings expanded Persia to the middle east, unable to conquer Greece

5.2. Characteristics of persian politics:

5.2.1. Tolerance, was a host of different languages and cultures that were tolerated by rulers, authoritarian, Darius: established a substantial bureaucracy and tax collection

6. 5.2

7. 5.6

7.1. How the social structures of the classical Mediterranean and Classical china compared: Political and formal culture were the cities jobs, they were only important to a minority of the population. Most Greeks and Romans were farmers. Persia and Greece relied heavily on agriculture. Military aristocracy derived for conquering invaders, strong merchant class, and slavery. Rome pushed south to acquire grain fields because they couldn't grow it on their terrain. They practiced commercial agriculture, which is to grow it almost entirely to sell it. Slavery was a huge part of their cultures. Neither Rome nor Greece was that interested in innovations in technology and agriculture. Tight family structure was important, with the man as the head of the household. Women had more power in upper class families. Rome dealt with lots of air pollution from burning wood and the accumulation of garbage.