2nd Six Weeks Flashcards
Roman Civilization: Political
- Introduced lots of concepts; Civil Law: Twelve Tables (Flexible as Rome expanded)
- Belief in “natural law”, “universal law”; Based on Greek Stoicism; Refined by Cicero
- Several democratic concepts
- All persons equal before the law; No one above the law
- Accused guaranteed protection; Innocent until proven guilty
- Ideas about: Contracts, Private property
- Several political theories: Separation of Powers, Checks and Balances, Social Contract, Popular Sovereignty
Roman Civilization: Economic
- Some commerce and trade, economy based on farming
- Used slave labor; Established “latifunda”, or plantation system
- Employed “tax farming”
- Demanded tribute from conquered provinces
Roman Civilization: Religion
- Great diversity; Romans were polytheistic; A pantheon of gods; Freedom of religion- with limits
- Roman Empire; Birthplace of Christianity; Began as splinter sect of Judaism
- Pharasees; Sadducees: urged cooperation w/Rome; Zealots: advocated overthrowing Roman rule/force Romans out of Judea; Essenes: waiting for a messiah/Slow to take root/often persecuted (began with Nero)
- By 30 A.D., Jesus of Nazareth; hailed as the messiah; began preaching a simple message: Love God and one another King of God is near; After his crucifixion, Peter- began to create the Church/Paul- spread the word defined doctrine
- 200 A.D., 10% of empire was Christian
- 4th century: Emperor Constantine converted; signed an edict to allow tolerance; created a sense of community
- Emperor Theodosius; made it official religion of the Empire!
- Christianity was now legitimate; grew rapidly (an “easy” religion)
Roman Civilization: Society
- Class divisions based on wealth (huge gap between rich and poor)
- Family the dominant unit (headed by paterfamilias)
- Women more rights than in Greece; could own, inherit, sell property, were not so segregated (girls marry at 12, guys at 14)
- Education: stressed loyalty and obedience
- Most towns had schools
- Teachers: “litterators” and “calculators”
- Poor kids rarely got an education
- Kids of rich got Greek tutors
Roman Civilization: Intellectual
- Several scientific contributions
- Lucretius: On the Nature of Things; Concept: “survival of the fittest”
- Galen: medical knowledge (used until 16th c)
- Pliny: a 37 volume natural history; died by suffocation watching the eruption of Vesuvius
- Ptolemy: heliocentric theory (until 16th c)
- Philosophy: borrowed a lot from the Greeks
- Epicurian ideas were very popular
- Stoicism: advocated duty and obedience
- Plutarch: taught the power of positive thinking
- Marcus Aurelius: (one of the good emperors) was a philosopher-emperor; taught the value of duty and virtue
Roman Civilization: The Arts
-In architecture,
much copied from the Greeks (realism, secular)
-Great builders: roads (250,000 miles), temples, aqueducts; Rome used 50 gallons/day/citizen
-Introduced concrete; Built great arches and domes
-Pantheon, Coliseum, Circus Maximus (housed 250,000)
-Language: Latin- the root of many of our words
-Literature: Greek models; Glorified Rome
-Cicero: Orations; Extolled traditional Roman virtues
-Virgil: Aenid (about the Trojan war)
-Horace: odes
-Ovid mythology
-Livy: encyclopedias
-Plutarch: Parallel Lives
(compared Greece and Rome)
-Historians like Tacitus and Polybius
Classical Era
Historians have labeled the years c. 600 BCE to c. 600 CE the Classical Era. During this period classical empires such as the Greek and Roman civilizations in the Mediterranean region, the Han Dynasty in East Asia, and the Maurya and Gupta empires in South Asia rose in political, social, and economic power, and then fell. Other important classical civilizations of this era include the Persians in Central Asia and the Mayans in Mesoamerica.
Hinduism
The earliest known organized religion, with written codes of the faith and a class of religious leaders (priests), Hinduism was centered in South Asia. Its beliefs were influenced by Indo-European groups who migrated into the region from western areas near the Caspian Sea. Hindu teachings supported the caste system that greatly influenced the political and social structure of South Asia.
Buddhism
A “reform” of Hinduism was begun by Prince Siddhartha Gautama c. 500 BCE, who became the Buddha (“Enlightened One”). Unlike Hinduism, Buddhism supported spiritual equality and missionary activity. Buddhism spread far from its origins in South Asia into Southeast and East Asia along trade routes.
Confucianism
Based on the teachings of Kong Fuzi (Confucius) in China, c. 500 BCE. He established clearly defined codes of behavior, and gender and family duties. Confucius’s teachings were a philosophy, not a religion dedicated to a deity. Over time, however, Neo-Confucianism emerged, which included aspects of Buddhism and Daoism, and promised eternal reward for faithfulness to Confucius’s teachings.
Christianity
Like Buddhism was to Hinduism, Christianity was a reform of an existing religion, Judaism. Jesus taught eternal salvation through the belief that he was the Jewish Messiah, sent by God to save humanity from eternal punishment. Jesus named his disciple Peter as his first successor; this act represents one political difference with Islam’s hierarchy. Over time, missionaries spread Jesus’ gospel (“good news”) throughout the Roman Empire and beyond. Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam spread globally and are the religions with the most followers today.
Han Empire
East Asia’s Han Empire existed around the same time as the Roman Empire. In fact, they traded with each other. The Han was one of the largest empires of the classical era and, in terms of technology, was far ahead of other civilizations of the same era.
Mandate of Heaven
The Mandate of Heaven reflected the belief that the emperor in China would stay in power as long as the heavens were satisfied with his rule. If the emperor’s family line (a dynasty) died out or was overthrown, it was a sign that the emperor had lost his mandate. Although many dynasties rose and fell in China over the centuries, the Mandate of Heaven was a continuity that added stability to society.
Chinese Examination System
The Chinese examination system was a political feature of Chinese empires beginning with the Han dynasty and lasting until the early twentieth century. Scholar-bureaucrats took state-sponsored exams in order to become government scribes and serve in other capacities to help emperors run the affairs of state. In this system, it was possible - but rare - for even low-born citizens to rise to political prominence.
Mediterranean Civilizations
“Mediterranean Civilizations” is a term used in AP World History to describe the classical Greek and Roman civilizations. The Romans borrowed so much of their political, social, and economic culture from the Greeks that, from a global perspective, historians find it convenient to combine the two.
