Notes

What is an Empire:
-At one level, empires are simply states, political systems that exercise coercive power. The term, however, is normally reserved for
larger and more aggressive states, which conquer, rule, and extract resources from other states and peoples. Empires are often
associated with political or cultural oppression.

Oppression:
-Prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or control.

Why Empires May Have Been So Fascinating to Modern and Ancient Peoples:
-Because they were so big, creating a looming presence in their respective regions.
-Their armies and tax collectors were difficult to avoid.
-Because they were so violent in their conquest. All of these ancient empires cost a lot of human life.

Common Features of Empires:
-Many of these empires share common problems such as:
-Would they seek to impose the culture of imperial rule upon their citizens?
-Would they rule their conquered subjects directly or through established local authorities?
-How could they extract the wealth of an empire in the form of taxes, tribute, and labor while maintaining order in
conquered territories?

-They were so violent in their conquest. All of these ancient empires cost a lot of human life.
-They were so big, creating a looming presence in their respective regions.
-Their armies and tax collectors were difficult to avoid.
-No matter how impressive they were during their peak, they all sooner or later collapsed.
-They all brought together people of quite different traditions and religions and so stimulated the exchange of ideas, culture, and values.

Despite their violence, oppression, and exploitation, empires also imposed substantial periods of peace and security, which fostered economic and artistic development, commercial exchange and cultural mixing. In many places, they also played an important role in defining masculinity, as conquest generated a warrior culture that have particular prominence to the men who created and ruled those imperial states.

The Persian Empire:
-It was the largest and most impressive during 500 B.C.E.
-They constructed an imperial system that drew on previous examples, such as the Babylonian and Assyrian empires, but far surpassed them all in size and splendor.
-They were under the leadership of famous monarchs Darius and Cyrus.
-Persian conquests quickly reached from Egypt to India.
-The Persian Empire centered on an elaborate cult of kingship in which the monarch was secluded in a royal magnificence and could only be approached through a special ritual. When a monarch died, all the citizens were expected to shave their hair and cut their horses manes short. This was due to their god Ahura Mazda.
-Ahura Mazda was the good god in Zoroastrianism.

How The Persian and Greek Empires Compare and Contrast:
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Key Terms:
Second Wave: Mechanized, tightly synchronized, with all activities standardized; All production, education and social activities done in mass; Representative democracy and/or communist totalitarianism.

Ahura Mazda: In Zoroastrianism, the good god who rules the world.

Alexander the Great: Alexander III of Macedon, conqueror of the Persian Empire and part of northwest India.

Aryans: Indo-European pastoralists who moved into India about the time of the collapse of the Indus Valley civilization; their role in causing this collapse is still debated by historians.

Ashoka: The most famous ruler of the Mauryan empire (r. 268–232 B.C.E.), who converted to Buddhism and tried to rule peacefully and with tolerance.

Athenian democracy: A radical form of direct democracy in which much of the free male population of Athens had the franchise and officeholders were chosen by lot.

Caesar Augustus: The great-nephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar who emerged as sole ruler of the Roman state at the end of an extended period of civil war.

Cyrus (the Great): Founder of the Persian Empire (r. 557–530 B.C.E.);a ruler noted for his conquests, religious tolerance, and political moderation.

Darius I: Great king of Persia (r. 522–486 B.C.E) following the upheavals after Cyrus’s death; completed the establishment of the Persian Empire. (pron. most commonly in American English DAHR-ee-us)

Greco-Persian Wars: Two major Persian invasions of Greece, in 490 B.C.E and 480 B.C.E,in which the Persians were defeated on both land and sea.

Gupta Empire: An empire of India (320–550 C.E.). (pron. GHOOP-tuh)

Han dynasty: Dynasty that ruled China from 206 B.C.E to 220 C.E., creating a durable state based on Shihuangdi’s state-building achievement. (pron. hahn)

Hellenistic era: The period from 323 to 30 B.C.E in which Greek culture spread widely in Eurasia in the kingdoms ruled by Alexander’s political successors.

Herodotus: Greek historian known as the “father of history” (ca. 484–ca. 425 B.C.E). His Histories enunciated the Greek view of a fundamental divide between East and West, culminating in the Greco-Persian Wars of 490–480 B.C.E.
Hoplite: A heavily armed Greek infantryman. Over time, the ability to afford a hoplite panoply and to fight for the city came to define Greek citizenship.

Ionia: The territory of Greek settlements on the coast of Anatolia; the main bone of contention between the Greeks and the Persian Empire.

Mandate of Heaven: The ideological underpinning of Chinese emperors, this was the belief that a ruler held authority by command of divine force as long as he ruled morally and benevolently.

Marathon, Battle of: Athenian victory over a Persian invasion in 490 B.C.E.

Mauryan Empire: A major empire (322–185 B.C.E.) that encompassed most of India.

Olympic Games: Greek religious festival and athletic competition in honor of Zeus; founded in 776 B.C.E and celebrated every four years.

Patricians: Wealthy, privileged Romans who dominated early Roman society.

Pax Romana: The “Roman peace,” a term typically used to denote the stability and prosperity of the early Roman Empire, especially in the first and second centuries C.E.

Peloponnesian War: Great war between Athens (and allies) and Sparta (and allies), lasting from 431 to 404 B.C.E. The conflict ended in the defeat of Athens and the closing of Athens’s Golden Age.

Persepolis: The capital and greatest palace-city of the Persian Empire, destroyed by Alexander the Great. (pron. per-SEP-oh-lis)

Persian Empire: A major empire that expanded from the Iranian plateau to incorporate the Middle East from Egypt to India; flourished from around 550 to 330 B.C.

Eplebeians: Poorer, less-privileged Romans who gradually won a role in Roman politics.

Punic Wars: Three major wars between Rome and Carthage in North Africa, fought between 264 and 146 B.C.E, that culminated in Roman victory and control of the western Mediterranean.

Qin dynasty:A short-lived (221–206 B.C.E.) but highly influential Chinese dynasty that succeeded in reuniting China at the end of the Warring States period. (pron. chin)

Qin Shihuangdi: Literally “first emperor from the Qin”; Shihuangdi (r. 221–210 B.C.E.) forcibly reunited China and established a strong and repressive state. (pron. chin shee-hwang-dee)

Solon: Athenian statesman and lawmaker (fl. 594–560 B.C.E.) whose reforms led the Athenians toward democracy.

Wudi: Han emperor (r. 141–86 B.C.E.) who began the Chinese civil service system by establishing an academy to train imperial bureaucrats.

Xiongnu: Nomadic peoples to the north of the Great Wall of China who were a frequent threat to the stability of the Chinese state.

Yellow Turban Rebellion: A major Chinese peasant revolt that began in 184 C.E. and helped cause the fall of the Han dynasty.