Afro Eurasia 2nd Whap Test

Question 1

Annals of Ashurbanipal

Answer 1

The Annals of Ashurbanipal were a form of Assyrian propaganda that promoted the power of the emperor Ashurbanipal and the glory of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Annals were historical texts that were arranged chronologically. Annals generally depicted the king’s military campaigns and achievements, and they were often buried alongside the emperor, so only the eyes of the god Ashur could see the annals. Annals illustrate how advances in writing promoted organization in states. The Annals of Ashurbanipal, however, were unique in that they were written in first person, and included indirect discourse, flashbacks, and vivid imagery. The annals of Ashurbanipal were significant because they illustrate the AP Theme of State Building, since they illustrate the Assyrian Empire’s imperial glory, and the theme of Cultural Development, because the Annals of Ashurbanipal marked the use of writing to promote nations.

Question 2

Land Under the Yoke of Ashur

Answer 2

The Neo-Assyrian Empire was divided into two main parts: The land of Ashur, which was Assyria proper, and in which the state’s nobles and administrators, and rulers lived; and the Land under the Yoke of Ashur. Distinct from Assyria proper, The Land under the Yoke of Ashur was inhabited mainly by foreign individuals who were conquered by the Assyrian Empire. The individuals who lived in the Land under the Yoke of Ashur were forced to labor under the Neo-Assyrian empire and pay tribute to the emperor, who used the tribute as revenue for his lavish palace. The forced Assyrianization entailed by the Land under the Yoke of Ashur substantiates the AP theme of State Building, since it was the efforts of the forced laborers living in the Land under the Yoke of Ashur that enabled the expansion of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

Question 3

Mandate of Heaven

Answer 3

In the Early Zhou Dynasty, the Mandate of Heaven was the ideology that provided a religious basis for the rule of the Zhou King. The Mandate served as a religious contract between the Emperor and the Supreme God that entitled the Emperor to rule as long as he upheld the heavens’ principles of harmony and honor. However, if the emperor failed to meet the expectations of the Supreme god, his mandate would be lost. The Zhou Dynasty used this ideology to justify their takeover of power from the Shang dynasty, contending that the Shang kings were evil, and so the Zhou Dynasty were entitled to take the Shang dynasty’s place. As the Mandate of Heaven became more frequently used as a political tool, it serves to illustrate the AP Theme of Cultural Development, specifically development of new beliefs and ideologies. In the case of the Zhou Dynasty, the beliefs were used to justify the dynasty’s power.

Question 4

China’s royal calendar

Answer 4

The Chinese Royal Calendar was a calendar devised by the Shang dynasty that the Zhou dynasty refined and perfected. The calendar was based upon an accurate knowledge of the stars and astronomy. calendar precisely calculated the length of a lunar month to be 29.53 days and a solar year to be 365.25 days long. To make up for the discrepancy between the length of twelve lunar months and one solar year, the Zhou dynasty inserted “leap months.” Even the calendar gained a cosmological purpose, because scribes believed that the reigns of kings lasted along sixty-year cycles, and they believed that this was indicative of the interaction between heaven and earth. The Chinese Royal calendar supports the AP Theme of Cultural development, both from an ideological/belief standpoint and from a science and technology standpoint, because the Chinese royal calendar was both a scientific breakthrough and an ideological development.

Question 5

Shi

Answer 5

Under the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the Shi were knights. However, under the Qin empire, the Shi became beaurocrats under the ruler. Confucius viewed the Shi as junzi “gentlemen,” or scholar nobles. He considered such men superior men, and believed that they were entitled to be partners of the rulers in state affairs. Such officials were paid in grain, and received awards of gold and silver from the emperor. Occasionally, the emperor granted them titles and seals of office. The Shi illustrate the AP Theme of empire building, because the Shi worked with the ruler for the betterment of the Empire. The Shi Also illustrate the AP Theme of Cultural development, because the Shi were a focal point of Confucian philosophy.

Question 6

Tiglath Pileser III

Answer 6

Tiglath Pileser III was the name of a reform-minded Assyrian ruler who reorganized the Assyrian state to centralize power and expand imperialism and consolidation of the Empire. He took away nobles’ rights and replaced hereditary governers with appointed officials. He reinstated military campaigns and deportations and destruction as his armies conquered other societies. Pileser III’s reforms consolidated even more land into the Land of Ashur proper. Despite lowering tribute requirements, such incorporation did not affect the empire’s programs of forced Assyrianization. Tiglath Pileser III illustrates the AP Theme of Empire Building, because Pileser III’s reforms were specifically directed towards expansion of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

Question 7

Forced migration

Answer 7

Forced migration was a policy of the Neo-Assyrian Empire that enforced its imperial ideology. Forced deportations enabled the Assyrians to intimidate their enemies. The Empire used colonies of deported conquered peoples who protected and extended imperial holdings. Eventually, the Empire assigned different ethnicities to specialized functions. The Empire also used deported individuals to comprise a vast labor force that helped with agricultural work and building projects. The agricultural workers were mostly conquered peoples. The Assyrian Empire’s forced migrations best illustrate the AP theme of Empire Building, because the entire purpose of the Assyrian Empire’s forced deportation policy was to feed the empire’s vast labor force.

Question 8

Bronze making

Answer 8

Zhou metalworking used for ritual and ceremonial items. Very labor intensive, used the labor of Shangs. The bronze was an example of continuity from the Shang dynasty going onwards to the Zhou, showing conflict.

Question 9

Iron working

Answer 9

Technological breakthroughs in smelting techniques allowed the production of iron to expand, creating cheaper, more lethal weaponry, which further accelerated the shift of power to local authorities. Because of the new iron advances, massed infantries bearing iron lances became central to warfare as large forces allowed states to fight several battles simultaneously.

Question 10

Kong Fuzi

Answer 10

Otherwise known as Confucius: The most important of the “hundred masters” of the era was Confucius. The Analects—compiled by his students after his death—collects Confucius’s ethical teachings and cultural ideals. Confucius set forth a new moral framework stressing rituals, responsibility and loyalty to the family, and the perfection of moral character to become a “superior man”—a status available to a man of any background. Government should be directed by such men, in which case coercive laws and punishments would not be needed to sustain order. He supported social hierarchy but a hierarchy based on education and moral cultivation rather than birth.

Question 11

Laozi

Answer 11

At the same time, Daoism emerged, scorning Confucian emphasis on rituals and hierarchy. Daoism stressed living according to the natural order of things and embraced spontaneity and passive acceptance of the world. This was to promote peace.

Question 12

Legalism

Answer 12

Legalism, or statism was one of the new ideas created during the time of the Hundred Masters. It was developed by Han Fei and Xunzi, and was focused on the concept that human nature was primarily evil. Instead the government should set a rigid code of laws, placed in public spaces for all to read, that applied to everyone no matter what their social class was, and harsh, public, capital punishments were given to those who broke the laws. However, there were also lavish public ceremonies to reward those who did good deeds.

Question 13

Olmec Heads

Answer 13

four colossal heads carved from stone, left in a field of monuments in an Olmec site. These figures likely represented kings and famous athletes. The heads were significant because they clearly show that the Olmec people were artistic, and like their Mediterranean counterparts, they often based their art on figures of fame or authority.

Question 14

Olmec Cosmology

Answer 14

Olmec cosmology believed that the supernatural pervaded the natural world, which led them to explore the natural world to learn about the gods and their desires. Olmec particularly focused on astronomical and calendrical issues that related to the seasons and rainfall.

Question 15

Shang Yang

Answer 15

Shang Yang of the Qin dynasty enhanced the power and size of the central government by extending the authority to the hinderland and used districts. He also introduced a harsh criminal penal code. People who achieved things in war were appointed by him.

Question 16

The Grand Canal.

Answer 16

The Grand Canal was a 1000 mile long canal that linked the Yellow river with the Yangzi river. The Grand Canal promoted integration of many states’ economy. It connected the port cities of southern China to farther inland. It, like all the other projects at this time, was caused by the hard labor of peasants who were stuck in dept to their lords.

Question 17

The Superior Man

Answer 17

Confucius set forth a new moral framework stressing rituals, responsibility and loyalty to the family, and the perfection of moral character to become a “superior man”—a status available to a man of any background. Government should be directed by such men, in which case coercive laws and punishments would not be needed to sustain order. He supported social hierarchy but a hierarchy based on education and moral cultivation rather than birth.

Question 18

The Warring States Period

Answer 18

In China, new leaders and thinkers did not challenge cultural orthodoxy, but rather looked to the past as a golden age that would show them how to govern complex states. While the Eastern Zhou dynasty (770–481 BCE), also called the Spring and Autumn period, saw fierce fighting among territorial states, the Warring States period (403–221 BCE) saw a multistate system that produced revolutionary developments in agriculture, politics, and society.

Question 19

Trans-saharan trade routes

Answer 19

They traded spices and many other things including textiles and cultures and ideologies.

Question 20

Caravan City

Answer 20

The growth in trade led to a new type of commercial hub: the caravan city. Vast trading groups assembled at strategic locations before beginning arduous journeys. An important number of caravan cities emerged at the northern end of a route through the Arabian desert. The most important examples of caravan cities included Petra and Palmyra founded by the Nabateans and the Romans. Caravans cities were vital for long distance trade as many goods were controlled by these caravan cities and they were important for travelers to stop at before beginning their long journeys.

Question 21

Coinage

Answer 21

he growing circulation of money facilitated trade and commerce, and many kingdoms and cities began to mint their own coinage, even borderland peoples such as the Gauls. Borderland chieftains sold their own people into slavery to obtain new commodities. Coinage used both Greek and local iconography and languages.

Question 22

The Fan Family

Answer 22

the fan family is an example of the exchange of power from agrarian farmers to merchants and traders. The Fan family was a family of merchants, and due to their highly successful business, the became local magnates (wealthy and powerful people). The family is significant because they are a prime example of the huge changes in the economic system, possibly becoming symbols of the newfound power of the merchant in the world of the Silk Road.

Question 23

dhows

Answer 23

Dhows were large ships with sails to capture winds. In addition to the approved sails, Arab sailors took advantage of the new navigational techniques of celestial bearings as well as better knowledge of wind currents to venture into the Indian Ocean.

Question 24

periplus

Answer 24

Arab sailors took advantage of the new navigational techniques of celestial bearings and large dhow ships with sails to capture the winds as well as better knowledge of wind currents to venture into the Indian Ocean. Sea captains recorded maritime information in books called periplus

Question 25

Petra

Answer 25

At the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula Yemen gained prosperity due to its role linking together land routes with sea routes that traversed the Red and Arabian seas and due to its frankincense and myrrh trade. Nabataen herders in the Sinai Desert and northwest Arabian Peninsula transported the spices to the Mediterranean. They built their capital—a rock city called Petra—with many Greek influences.

Question 26

Palmyra

Answer 26

When Petra declined during the Roman era, Palmyra emerged as the most important caravan city at the western end of the Silk Road. Administered by an oligarchy of local tribal chieftains, Palmyra maintained considerable autonomy even under formal Roman control. Roman citizens relied upon Palmyra to obtain luxury items, especially Chinese silks. With profits from the trade, the people of Palmyra built a marble city in the desert. Palmyra not only provided supplies and financing to caravans, but also hosted self-contained trading communities.

Question 27

Kushan Empire

Answer 27

The most powerful of the northern nomadic groups to migrate into the Indian subcontinent were the Yuezhi-Kushans, who gained control over a large and diverse territory and played a critical role in the formation of the Silk Road. The Kushans adopted Greek as their official language, and the Kushan rulers kept Hellenistic influences alive in Afghanistan and northwestern India. These new nomadic groups did not undermine local culture or the Hellenic heritage, but they did enhance the equestrian culture in South Asia. Horses became the most prestigious status symbol of the ruling elite. The Kushans stabilized the trading routes that became one of the major segments of the Silk Road.

Question 28

Mahayana Buddhism

Answer 28

The convergence of numerous beliefs from the Persian, Hellenistic and Mesopotamian cultures all contributed into forming a new sect of Buddhism- Mahayana Buddhism. They believed Buddha was a god, as opposed to just a philosopher, uniting the people under his moral code. Also, they believed that those who could not let go of pleasures could still make it to heaven making it much more appealing to the common people. This was a huge reason why Buddhism was considered a universal religion

Question 29

Compare the urban centers that developed between 1000BCE to 300 BCE in two of the following regions: East Asia, Americas, Africa. What similar or different relationships were there between urban centers and their surrounding regions.

Answer 29

The urban centers in the Americas and Africa offered unique cultural, economic, and social experiences for its inhabitants, which affected the territorial growth and the cultural unity of the regions.

Question 30

Explain examples of land and maritime trade routes active in the period 350BCE to 250CE. What goods were moving along these routes? How did these evolve over the period?

Answer 30

During the 1st century BCE, land and maritime trade routes, especially the Silk Road, carried various goods that eventually created a “New Middle Ground” that severely altered the political geography of Afro-Eurasia over the time period.

Question 31

Describe the development of new political ideas in the schools of the Hundred Masters. What were these new ideas hoping to achieve? Why?

Answer 31

The Hundred Masters were formed out of the turmoil that was The Warring States period, with philosophers attempting to re examine religious, political, and social structures in an attempt to change the systems that had created that awful period war.

Question 32

Compare the roles and social expectations of women in Neo‐Assyria and China in the first millennium BCE. What factors contributed to the strengthening of these social norms?

Answer 32

Throughout Ancient Neo-Assyria and China during the first millennium, there were many different ways in which the social expectations of women impacted the daily lives of the people that lived there.