english for tom
yaser-
historytraditionsencounters6to10.docxChapter 6: Early Societies in the Americas and Oceania
It is thought that the first wave of human migrants into the Americas took place about 13,000 B.C.E. over a land bridge between present day Siberia and Alaska. This is known as the Bering land bridge among historians today, who also speculate that some of these migrants could have made it to the Americas by watercraft, sailing or drifting, with the currents. Hunting and gathering was the way of life for these early migrants, but around 8,000 B.C.E. evidence suggests that they began to settle down into agricultural lifestyles and communities. This involved the crops of beans, squashes, peppers, avocados, and gourds. Definitive evidence exists that settled villages based on agricultural pursuits was throughout the Americas by 3,000 B.C.E. Large ceremonial centers arose toward the end of this millennium which involved monumental pyramids, temples, and palaces that were constructed at the order of the ruling elites and priests.
The first real civilization in Mesoamerica has been recognized as the Olmecs or the ‘Rubber People,’ who appeared along the present day Gulf of Mexico near the modern Mexican city of Veracruz. The Olmecs are thought to have emerged here as an organized civilization around 1200 B.C.E. In addition to constructing ceremonial centers, the Olmecs also developed these elaborate drainage systems and irrigation systems that remain visible today. The Olmec ceremonial centers feature temples, pyramids, altars, tombs of rulers, and stone sculptures. One of the most distinctive constructions of the Olmecs were the colossal human heads sculpted from basalt rock with the largest standing almost ten feet tall and weighing 20 tons. The Olmecs were also fabulous tool builders as well as gifted masons based on the evidence. One of the central mysteries is the disappearance of the Olmecs and why they deliberately destroyed their ceremonial centers due to internal divisions or civil war among facitions. By 400 B.C.E., the Olmecs vanished but many of the emerging Mesoamerican societies adopted their traditions and belief systems in some respects. The most fascinating of these were the Maya whom arose in what is present day, southern Mexico and Guatemala, around the 300 B.C.E.
The peak of Maya culture and civilization is established to be from 300 to 900 C.E. when more than eighty large ceremonial centers were constructed that featured palaces, temples, and pyramids, and they remain visible and standing to this day. One of the most impressive architectural structures is the Temple of the Giant Jaguar which rose to about a height of 154 feet in the center of the civilization in a city called Tikal. The population is thought to have been as high as 40,000 at one time. However, there were many other smaller cities that also had elaborate ceremonial centers such as Palenque and Chichen Itza. The Maya civilization has recently been uncovered to be defined and shaped by warfare and prestige gained on the battlefields. The Maya civilization began to rapidly decline by 800 C.E. as people left the cities and migrated elsewhere, and the experts think a variety of problems plagued and caused this decline among Maya. Civil conflict and the invasions from outsiders probably propelled this civilization’s rapid decline. Maya did generate some incredible achievements for its time and place. Building on its Olmec predecessors, the Maya were able to devise a sophisticated calendar and writing system. It must be noted also that the Maya developed the concept of zero and can be considered very advanced astronomers and mathematicians for this time period.
Another set of heirs of the Olmec were the Teotihuacans who lived in the highlands of Mexico which is near the present day Mexico City. The city center, Teotihuacan, was about 31 miles northeast of modern Mexico City, which was one of the most sophisticated Mesoamerican places of this time period dated around 100 C.E. The city’s two monuments, the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon, were dominant in the skyline and this city became the home of some two hundred thousand people with scores of temples, residences, small apartments, and huge marketplaces between 400 and 600 C.E. Evidence indicates that the Teotihuacan were a civilization with a deep religious tradition as well as numerous cultivators, artisans, and merchants. The priests were prestigious and highly ranked members of this society because they kept the calendar system and were responsible for indicating when the people should plant and harvest.
In present day South America, one of the early civilizations that emerged here was the Andean society in the area where the current states of Peru and Bolivia exist. It is thought this area came under cultivation between 2500 and 2000 B.C.E. One of the most notable developments in the early civilization of this region was the Chavin cult which emerged around 1000 B.C.E. Although little information is available about this cult group, the emphasis was on agricultural success by promoting fertility rituals. Stone carvings have survived that represent such deities as jaguars, hawks, eagles, and snakes. The Oceania societies emerged as far back as 60,000 years ago and the migrations continued throughout the millenniums to spread across from New Guinea and Australia to the islands in the Pacific Ocean.
Chapter 7: The Empires of Persia
The empires of Persia have to be placed into the context of being influenced by nearby Mesopotamia. The four ruling dynasties have to be noted that shaped and crafted what would become the Persian culture and people. These were the Achaemenids (558-330 B.C.E.), the Seleucids (323-83 B.C.E.), the Parthians (247-224 C.E.), and the Sasanids (224-651 224-651 C.E.). These were ruling dynasties that sustained an imperial ruling tradition in Persia that continued for centuries. The original Persians spoke Indo-European tongues and they were distant cousins to the Aryans because of migrating long before from India. They were ruled over by nearby Mesopotamia and for times were under the ruling authority of the Babylonians and Assyrians. Teaming up with the Medes, these Persians soon developed into a militaristic society and emerged first as an imperial dynasty under Cyrus the Achaemid in the sixth century B.C.E.
Being from a mountainous region of southwestern Persia, now modern day Iran, Cyrus first crushed his Median counterpart and embarked on the unifying of the first Persian empire also known as the Achaemenid empire. Cyrus then began to expand outwards as he conquered the powerful kingdom of Lydia in Anatolia in 546 B.C.E., then targeted modern day Afghanistan in Central Asia, and then overran Babylonia, and then stretched out all the way to the borders of Egypt by 539 B.C.E. Cyrus was killed in 530 B.C.E. before carrying out his plans to conquer Europe. One of his most notable successors was Darius who reigned from 521 to 486 B.C.E. He extended the Persian empire both east and west, but was also superbly skilled in the administrative areas. Since the vast empire had so many diverse peoples who spoke so many different languages, Darius made sure to construct a sophisticated network of communications and tax collectors to administer all the territories. Darius also had the foresight to centralize his administration. He undertook construction of a new capital city at Persepolis. He had structures built that include huge reception halls, huge royal residences, and a state of the art treasury building. Darius was able to also put together a very skilled, talented set of ministers, diplomats, scribes, accountants, and bureaucratic officers who were able to strengthen the administrative operations of the empire. Darius also divided the empire into twenty three districts for administrative and taxation purposes. Local officials were recruited to help the Persian administrator executives. One of the other innovative efforts of Darius was to have a large number of imperial spies to keep their eyes and ears on the whole empire. Darius was also able to develop an extensive road system and had a postal service established that served almost all of the districts of the empire. These roads created linkages between Persia, India, Syria, Egypt, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia.
The problems for the Persian Empire began with Darius’s successor, Xerxes, who began to conquer and control lands under a more aggressive ruling ideology and set of policies. The people of Egypt and Mesopotamia, as well as the Greeks, who were unwilling to accept this unilateral takeover and conquest of their rich, ancient cultural centers. For over 150 years, the Persians and Greeks battled it out as the tensions were first started by Xerxes tough-love policies. The culmination of this conflict was when Alexander of Macedon embarked on a successful takeover and conquest of Persia with an army of forty thousand in 334 B.C.E. The empire of the Achaemids dissolved a few years later because of their total defeat at the hands of Alexander the Great. To take advantage of the prestige of the Achaemids, Alexander the Great presented himself as the rightful successor. He died in 323 B.C.E. but left this legacy for the Seleucids, Parthians, and Sasanids to employ this effective structure of imperial administration left behind by the Achaemids.
The contributions of the Persian culture cannot be underestimated and one of the most important has to be the effective bureaucratic system established to rule over such a vast number of different peoples and territories. In order to be successful, these Persian administrators had to become an educated elite or intelligentsia of that ancient period to handle the duties and responsibilities. These educated bureaucrats replaced the old warrior elite and became the new elite for centuries. These high ranking bureaucrats shared power side by side with the warriors and clan leaders as well as the imperial ruling dynasties. The Persians also established into mass circulation the use of coins which were first started in the Anatolian kingdom of Lydia around 640 B.C.E. This was a much simpler way for merchants to exchange goods and products. This led to the expansive growth of markets and marketplaces throughout the Persian Empire. Another incredible contribution was the religion of Zoroastrianism which introduced the doctrines of good and evil, and the good God and evil Devil. The founder of this religion, Zarathustra, asserted that humans could enjoy the material world and its fruits but had to be honest with each other. His basic teaching was good words, good thoughts, and good deeds are necessary to be graced and blessed by the good God, Ahura Mazda, and prevent oneself from falling under the influence of the hostile or destructive spirit known as Angra Mainyu.
Chapter 8: The Unification of China
The Period of the Warring States in China took place in the later centuries of the Zhou dynasty between 402 and 221 B.C.E. In this period of social and political confusion, there were schools of thought that flowered including Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism. These schools of thought would have deep influence on Chinese political and cultural life and traditions. The school of thought known as Confucianism emerged with the thinking and teachings of an individual educator named Confucius. He stressed morality at its most fundamental level and required everyone from family members to politicians to exercise moral standards and moral values. In a real sense, Confucius was responsible for motivating the formation of an early modernistic bureaucratic structure in China by promoting the development of ‘superior individuals’ or junzi who took a broad interest in public affairs and did not permit their personal interests to interfere with their judgments. His pupils put together a book titled The Analects which would spawn this school of thought known as Confucianism. In sum, Confucius taught that superior individuals would generate superior government by having a high sense of moral integrity and a sense of fair judgment. The most important qualities he promoted were an attitude of kindness and benevolence towards other humans (ren), a sense of propriety and deference towards elders and superiors (li), and filial piety which basically was children respecting their parents (xiao). Within the context of these qualities, moral, exceptional individuals could exercise fair judgments and lead by example.
Another school of thought, Daoism, arose in opposition and critical to the Confucian way of living by emphasizing interior reflection and internal contemplation on the natural principles that governed the world. By focusing on understanding these natural principles, humans could learn to live in harmony with these principles. The legendary founding figure of Daoism was a wise man named Laozi. He was considered the source for a book titled Classic of the Way and of Virtue. The central concept of Daoism was upholding Dao or the Way, which was in reference to the way of nature or the way of the cosmos. The believers of Daoism held that the cosmos contained an eternal, unchanging principle that governs all the workings of the world. Dao does nothing, but accomplishes everything. By following the Dao, people would turn inwards and remove themselves from the conflicts, ambitions, and activism of the larger political world and social world. By removing oneself from this world, and turning inward into the underlying, eternal principle of the cosmos and nature, the individual could be in harmony with the cosmos and learn how to live more simply in turn with this greater force of harmony. Daoism called for a simpler framework of government and that meant a move away from the expansive kingdoms and empires. The chief principle to be used was wuwei which called for disengagement from the competitive experiences and active involvement in the affairs of the world.
The third school of thought that emerged in China during the Period of the Warring states was legalism. It was a practical, efficient approach to politics and statecraft. The legalists devoted their full attention to governing only the state and they sought to expand political power and legal power by any means possible. Legalism emerged first in the western China region in the thinking of the chief minister of the duke of the Qin who ruled there around 390 B,C.E. His name was Shang Yang. His thought and those supporting this school of thought was contained in a book titled The Book of Lord Shang. His main promoter of legalist thought was Han Feizi, an adviser in the court of the Qin, who lived between 280 to 233 B.C.E. He reasoned that the strength of the state was grounded in the forces of the military and agricultural pursuits. This is why Legalists were known for channeling manpower into military service and farming rather than careers as merchants, scholars, educators, philosophers, poets, and artists. Strict laws of the state were the foundation of the Legalist viewpoint. Clear expectations were framed in these strict laws and those who violated them faced punishment. The Legalists also stressed collective responsibility of the families and communities, and that individuals must report violations on each other, and that failing to do so meant a collective punishment would be used against all in the family or the community.
These schools of thought are necessary to understand the unification of China under the Qin in the fourth and third centuries B.C.E. using the legalist doctrines, and then the flowering of ancient Chinese civilization and culture under the Han starting in 206 B.C.E. and lasting for the next five hundred years by emphasizing Confucianism over Legalism. In fact, many of the centralization principles of Qin and legalism were retained, but the Han dynastic rulers sought to create an educational system throughout China based on Confucian thought. Under the greatest of the Han dynastic rulers, Han Wudi, the Confucian school of thought became official imperial ideology. Wudi was also known for aggressive foreign expansion and imperialist ambition to expand the Chinese empire. Some of the achievements of the Han included the rapid expansion of the iron industry, the flowering of the textile industry based on the high demand for Chinese silk in India, Persia, and Mesopotamia, and the invention of paper. All of these improved Chinese economic life and the Han dynastic rule was the longest of all ancient Chinese dynasties lasting over five hundred years.
Chapter 9: State, Society, and the Quest for Salvation in India
The unification of India actually was motivated by its takeover by Persian conqueror Darrius in 520 B.C.E. which introduced the Persian methods of governing and administering to the Indians. Almost two centuries later, Alexander the Great ambitiously came into India for conquest and takeover but only remained a brief period, yet he did destroy the ruling state in northwestern India to leave a political power vacuum. Rising to fill the vacuum was an imperialist mover named Chandragupta Maurya who laid the foundations for the Mauryan empire. He established his ruling dynasty over the northern part of the subcontinent of India by 321 B.C.E. His success was framed in a booklet titled Arthashastra. It revealed the empire’s uses of power and principles of government. It included an array of methods to administer the empire, oversee trade and agriculture, collect taxes, maintain order, conduct foreign relations, and wage war. It resulted in the construction of a large, efficient administrative system. His son succeeded him in 297 B.C.E. and added most of the southern part of India to the empire. The golden age of the Maurya empire was under the reign of Maurya’s grandson, Ashoka. In addition to consolidating political and administrative control over the subcontinent itself, Ashoka also improved the agricultural production and system by building irrigation systems. Trade was expanded by the building of a vast system of roads. The empire went into decline after Ashoka’s death in 232 B.C.E. and disappeared by 189 B.C.E.
India did not fall into anarchy but divided mainly into regional kingdoms with the northwestern area falling under the rule of the Greek speaking Bactria, the heirs of Alexander the Great. The Bactria were responsible for pushing cross-cultural interaction and exchange across northern India with the region of Gandhara flourishing as the central crossroads of this brief rule of the Bactria. In the late second century B.C.E., a sequence of nomadic conquerors swept in to end the rule of the Bactria with the most successful being the Kushans. Most of northern India and much of Central Asia was ruled by the Kushans under Kanishka, who pushed for ever-greater trade throughout the vast area which included modern day Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the central part of the Ganges valley. This is when the legendary silk road network emerged between Persia and China. This was replaced by the Gupta empire in 320 C.E. under the ambitious ruler Chandra Gupta. Unifying most of the Indian subcontinent like the Maurya before them, the Gupta ruling dynasty was distinctive by focusing on local government and administration rather than centralized rule. The Gupta dynasty was known for the flowering of education, especially in sciences and mathematics, such as astronomers determining the Earth was a sphere and the Indian doctors mastered the art of plastic surgery. Indian mathematics became the forerunner of advanced mathematics that were evolved by the Persians and Arabs. The Indian mathematicians calculated the value of Pi and also figured out the length of the solar year as 365 days. These Indian mathematicians were also able to carry out advanced algebra and anticipate the invention of calculus during the late fourth century and early fifth century C.E.
The Indian caste system became an important influence on families and communities in greater India during this period which placed women in a subordinate role to men, and also defined class status based by birth. Patriarchy dominance became systematic by the Gupta dynasty as evident by the fact that child marriage was common and widespread. Young girls were arranged in marriages with guys in their twenties and then entered their husband households when reaching puberty. The four castes or classes of people were the Brahmin or priests, the warriors and aristocrats, the peasants and merchants, and the serfs. The caste system was solidified and entrenched as the growth of India’s economy went forward. Even with the emergence of the crafts and trade merchants did not change the caste system as they became members of sub-castes. These guilds were divided into occupation and they were soon given the responsibility of maintaining order in Indian society. Known as jati, they organized courts, disciplined guild members, resolved differences, and regulated local community affairs. The individuals who did go by the rules were ostracized from their communities, and these outcastes soon became the butchers, leather tanners, or undertakers, who were ascribed with the lowest caste status of the Untouchables.
During the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.E., a whole range of new religions and philosophies came to India to exist side by side with ancient Indian religion. These new religions and new philosophies were brought into India by the new social classes whose interests were distinctive from ancient ways and ancient beliefs. These newest religions and philosophies included the atheistic Charvaka sect, the Buddhists, Jains, and newer version of Hindus. The Jains were especially popular in northern India around 540 B.C.E. with the presence of Mahavira who taught that everything in the Universe possessed a soul. The goal of human beings was then to purify themselves to allow release of their souls from the imprisonment of the restraints of bad karma accumulated over lifetimes and attain a state of bliss. The Jain doctrines were so tough that only monks could follow them. Jains also rejected the caste system completely. Buddhism was founded by an individual named Siddhartha Gautama born around 563 B.C.E. The core of his teachings were the Four Noble Truths which teaches that all life involves suffering, that desire is the cause of this suffering, that eliminating desires brings an end to such suffering, and liberation of consciousness can then result in a blissful state called Nirvana. At this same time, Hindus transformed their ancient religion into a popular religion of salvation for ordinary people.
Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society – the Greek Phase
Unlike some of the other classical civilizations, Greece was defined by being made up of independent city-states, and that they were distinctive from each other in politics, culture, and traditions, while also interacting with each other as well as peoples from different societies. It can be marked that the Greeks built their societies from the influences of the Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Phoenicians, and others active in the region. In sum, classical Greek civilization evolved from a series of city-states that began emerging around the ninth century B.C.E. All of these Greek city-states also were influenced by the Minoan and Mycenaean societies that existed in this region and greatly defined Mediterranean commerce and politics in ancient times.
After these ancient societies passed, the city-state or polis became the central unit of government in Greece in general. The city-states were essentially begun as fortified sites where people could live under the protection of their walled communities and military protectors. Over time, they took on increasingly urban qualities and their populations increased. These polis took on a variety of forms. Some fell into the hands of generals while others fell into the hands of ambitious politicians. One of them was Sparta, which arise in the fertile region known as Peloponnesus, and became militant in organization and character. Spartans were focused on developing a military state because of a sizable population of helots whom were at the service of the Spartan state. The helots were not slaves but were also not free as they mainly worked in agricultural labor and provided the food for the Spartans. The distinctive character of Sparta was not only its militant character but also its rejection of economic and social distinctions. These Spartans observed a lifestyle without any jewelry, or private wealth at a grand scale. The status of people was based on their military talent, discipline, and talent in the battlefield.
In contrast, in the polis of Athens the people chose to establish a government structure based on democratic principles. The principal beneficiaries of Athens polis were aristocratic landowners who controlled the Athenian government. Solon came to the rescue of Athens when less privileged classes were threatening to plunge the city-state into violence and chaos in the early sixth century B.C.E. Solon resolved the tensions by allowing the aristocrats to keep their lands but the less privileged classes were freed from past debts, and opened up governing circles and mechanisms to the common people. These reforms transformed Athens into a more democratic state with the high tide of this development being under Pericles between 461 B.C.E. and 429 B.C.E. Under his reforms and public work programs, Athens entered a golden age where it featured a vibrant community of scientists, poets, philosophers, dramatists, artists, and architects. The Greeks were distinctive from other colonizers by focusing on trade and commerce by sea around the Mediterranean basin. Greek merchants brought wealth and their views to different areas like southern Italy, southern France, the Crimean peninsula, and southern Russia.
The Persian Wars between 500 and 479 B.C.E. pitted the Greek city-states against the Persian empire, which under the leadership of Darius failed against the distant Greeks but his son, Xerxes, was able to avenge the loss by sending one hundred thousand troops arriving on a thousand ships. Athens was burned down but the great victory was short lived as the Greeks retaliated at Plataea which forced the Persians to retreat to Anatolia. After the Persian threat diminished, the Greek city-states attempted to ally with each other to stop any future threat. Athens became a dominant force in this Delian League which soon aroused the jealousy of Spara and that resulted in the Peloponnesian War between 431 and 404 B.C.E. This caused the larger Greek world to choose between Athens and Sparta, who eventually forced Athens into unconditional surrender. This created conditions for further chaos, disorder, and violence among the Greek city-states. Athens lost its status as the moral and intellectual center of the Greeks but was now seen as the seat of an arrogant, insensitive power mongering people. This also resulted in the sweeping in of Philip of Macedon in 338 B.C.E. to take over the larger Greek world of city-states, and then intended to launch an invasion of Persia. Philip was assassinated, however, in 336 B.C.E. as he prepared for this invasion which was then taken on by his son, Alexander, who became known as Alexander the Great. Inheriting a veteran, well-equipped force of about forty-eight thousand, Alexander launched this invasion and then went on a conquest spree that included Ionia, Anatolia, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and parts of India. He died unexpectedly in 323 B.C.E. To administer this vast empire, Alexander the Great used Persian administrators.
