Unit 1 Review Sheet
8000B.C.E. to 600 B.C.E.
Name of Philosophy: Hellenism
 Followers are Called: Hellenists, “Greeks,” Western (modern)
 Founder: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
 Place of Origin: ancient Greece
Key Writings:
 Plato’s Dialogues, The Republic
 Aristotle’s treatises
Famous Teachers & Followers: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Greek dramatists (Sophocles, Aeschylus,
Euripides), Alexander the Great, medieval Muslim scholars
Connections to Other Events & Cultures: Romans, entire Mediterranean world of classical times, India, Persia
Core Beliefs & Practices:
 rationalism—the world is logical
 Humanism—human life is good, humans can & should control their world
Influence in Today’s World:
 Underpinnings of modern science & logic
 Experimental method
 Provided the roots for medieval Islam’s scientific achievements
 And later for Europe’s Renaissance & Enlightenment
 Also influenced Judaism & early Christianity
Name of Philosophy: Legalism
 Followers are Called: Legalists
 Founder: Lord Shang
 Place of Origin: China, 3rd-2nd centuries BCE (transition from Warring States to Qin Dynasty)
Key Writings: The Book of Lord Shang
Famous Teachers & Followers: Shang Yang (Lord Shang), Han Feizi
Core Beliefs & Practices:
 Belief in clear, strict laws & a tough, practical approach to governing
 Unified China under Qin Dynasty
Influence in Today’s World:
 Ancestor of “unlimited power” governments—fascism, absolute monarchy, etc.
 Realpolitik—practical politics
Political Definitions
Paleolithic Government
1. stateless societies
2. tribal governments by strongest, best hunter, best provider, or an elder
3. women often could sit in councils, offer advice, and sometimes lead
Neolithic Government and Nomadic Councils
1. tribal councils dominated by males, largest land owner, owner of most animals (in herding societies)
2. city-state – one city controls the land around it
3. nomadic societies often had two classes: aristocratic and commoners; rulers from a royal clan/family
Ancient and Classical Governments
1. General types of government
a. monarchy: rule by king; either elected or inherited
b. aristocracy: rule by nobles born to the position
c. oligarchy: rule by a few, often the wealthy; sometimes merchants
d. democracy: rule by popular vote
i. direct democracy – every eligible voter votes
ii. republic – eligible voters elect representatives to make the legislative decisions
e. theocracy: rule by a god-king (such as a pharaoh) or rule through a priestly class with
religious laws dominating
f. gerontocracy: rule by the elderly (common to East Asia)
2. Empires
a. tribute empire – a large conquest state which allows local rule, autonomy if taxes and tribute
are paid
b. dynastic rule – a form of monarchy where the ruler is chosen from a specific family
c. centralized rule – the head of state makes all decisions and rules through a bureaucracy or
aristocracy
3. Caste government
a. birth castes determine social class and leadership role
b. most often associated with South Asia, but common in Andean Americas and Mayan citystates
4. Bureaucracy
a. Rule by specialists trained and educated to rule
b. Bureaucrats can also be military leaders, aristocratic leaders, or from the priestly class
8000 – 600 CE
East Asia
Western Europe
Eastern Europe
Demographic Shifts
Consider the Following: Disease, immigration – push/pull factors, attractive regions,
infant mortality rates, life expectancy, diet, colonization, scientific advancements, war,
forced servitude, urbanization
1. Shang dynasty = Hwang He – infanticide.
2. Zhou Dynasty = feudal system.
3. Qin: iron weapons
4. Han = paper, sundials, ox-plow.
5. Han Collapse: internal
1. Mediterranean
2. Greece = city-states, have slaves, Persian War, Peloponnesian War.
3. Roman Republic: geography: protected from northern invasion by land (Alps),
conflict: Punic Wars – defeat in 3rd one open Mediterranean to Rome.
4. Roman Empire: initially empire expands, large landowners use slaves, cities
overcrowded = displaced small farms.
5. Reliance on slavery = tech fall behind.
6. Science: Pythagoras, Hippocrates: Father of medicine.
7. Movement of Huns/Germans – Great Age of Migrations.
8. Huns to Mongolia.
9. Germans = along Roman frontier.
10. Germanic peoples = defeat Rome.
11. Rome Collapse = internal + external.
South Asia
1. India: millet & barley.
2. Indus Civ.
3. India tech: pi, zero, Arabic # system.
4. Aryan Invaders = base class on race.
5. Hinduism = caste system.
6. Indus Collapse: external.
Latin America
1. Maize, beans, squash.
2. Mesoamerica + Andean South America = slavery.
Middle East
Africa
1. Mesopotamia
1. East Africa = 1st to migrate = search for food. 2. Green Sahara = dries up, seeds to
forests.
3. Plantains, beans, squash.
4. Egypt = Nile River.
Applies to all:
Major
Themes/Turning 1. Ice Age = big game gone & usable land.
2. Alter skin color & Race type
Points
3. Environ = more suitable for growing crops so settle down.
4. Diet better
5. 3 classical empires: pep live closely now & settle next to rivers.
6. Milder conditions, warmer temps, higher ocean levels.
7. Foraging vs. Pastoral societies
8. Foraging = disease, famine, natural disasters, no permanent shelters, limit on how
much land can feed
9. Pastoral: domesticate animals, mountain regions, insufficient rainfall, and small scale
agri.
10. Migratory vs. slash and burn.
11. Irrigation
12. Fermentation of alcoholic beverages.
13. Create cities
14. Land = reconfigured to fit needs of humans – divert water, clear land for farming,
roads built, build monuments.
15. Religious diffusion.
KEY HISTORICAL FIGURES
1 = 8000 BCE-600 CE
Name
Period
Mohenjo-Daro
1
Aristotle
1
Description
The was not the name of a person, but rather was one of the two
great cities on the Indus River established by the Harappan
civilization which demonstrated the first city planning in world
history. .
The rediscovery in western Europe of the ideas of this Greek
philosopher kept alive through Arab translations and Byzantine
Greek texts, allowed for Latin translations that contributed to the
development of universities and the rise of Christian scholastic
thinkers.
Ashoka
1
Siddhartha Gautama
1
Akhenaton
1
Justinian
1
Zarathustra
1
Chandragupta
Maurya
1
Confucius
1
Constantine
1
Cyrus
1
Octavian
1
Mani
1
As the last great ruler of India’s Mauryan Dynasty, he experienced a
change of heart after his bloody campaign against the kingdom of
Kalinga which led him to embrace nonviolence and convert to
Buddhism of which he encourage the spread both in and out of
India.
His search for the cause of human suffering led him to Enlightenment
when he discovered what he called the Four Noble Truths and the
Eightfold Path, which became the cornerstones of Buddhism spread
by his followers.
This Egyptian pharaoh championed Aten as the one and only god,
leading to one of the first cases of monotheistic worship in world
history, though it did not survive since priests restored the old ways
after his death to avoid the wrath of the gods.
One of the first rulers of the Byzantine Empire, he tried to reconquer
the western Roman Empire and codified Roman law both
demonstrating the influence of Rome on the Byzantine Empire and
helping to maintain Rome’s influence throughout European law in
the future.
Though little is known about his life, he is credited with founding
Zoroastrianism, a religion based on a great battle between the forces
of good and evil that was embraced by the Persian Empire and that
historians consider to have been very influential on future
developments in Judaism and Christianity.
He established the first centralized empire in India which though
shortlived, brought about an era of economic prosperity and longdistance trade that helped contribute to the evolution of popular
Hinduism and rise of new religions such as Jainism and Buddhism.
This philosopher developed principles to address the political and
social disorder of the late Zhou dynasty and believed that individuals
that were well educated and moral should fill governmental
positions, an idea that survived in Chinese government for thousands
of years.
This emperor of the late Roman Empire issued the Edict of Milan
allowing for religious freedom, most notably for Christians, and he
moved the capital from Rome to the east after reuniting a divided
empire.
He became the king of the Persian tribes before liberating Persia and
building the Achaemenid Empire which would stretch from the Nile
in Egypt to the Indus River in northwestern India to become the
largest empire the world had ever seen at that time.
The Roman Senate bestowed on him the name “Augustus,” marking
the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of the Roman
Empire as well as the Pax Romana, an era of peace and prosperity
resulting from his reforms which expanded the loyalty of Roman
citizens and subjects alike.
At a time of unprecedented cross-cultural exchange along the Silk
Roads, this man from Mesopotamia responded to what he saw as a
need for a prophet for all of humanity by creating a new religion to
connect all peoples by drawing from Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and
Christianity.
Global Trade/Interactions
Consider the Following: Major players, dominant vs. dominated regions, how goods
traded, technological innovations, what was traded (disease, ideology, religion,
materials), role of merchants, currency, routes, cultural exchange
East Asia
8000 – 600 CE
China: silk cloth; roads constructed; Han-Silk Road trading increased; Iron Age;
modernized army (iron weapons, etc.); paper, accurate sun dials/calendars, use of
metals, ox-drawn plow.
Western Europe
Internal trade mostly; trade &cultural diffusion by boat; wine and olive products for
grain in Greece; barter system replaced w/ money system; Hellenism; roman culture
spread; rds. connected to silk rd.
Eastern Europe
not much contact with the outside world; traded very little
South Asia
Indian Ocean Trade; Mauryans: promoted trade; rds. connected w/ Silk Rd.;
Buddhist missionaries sent out; Guptas: “Arabic” # system, inoculation of smallpox,
sterilization during surgery, astronomy.
Latin America
Didn’t trade much yet.
Middle East
Great traders in Mesopotamia; traded with Egypt some; Silk Road Trade; transSaharan trade; adopted Sumerian beliefs;
Africa
East Africa linked to Southern China through Indian Ocean Trade; Trans-Saharan
Trade: use of camel/camel saddle; exchange of salt and palm oil; N. Africa supplied
Rome with olives, wheat, and wild animals; Egyptian culture spread.
Silk Road; Iron Age
Major
Themes/Turning
Points
Economic/Labor Definitions
(*Note: Until Modern and Contemporary periods, almost all labor was unfree to a greater or lesser degree)
Agricultural labor
1. subsistence farming: low technology, primitive, all able people work
2. peasants: small, free agricultural labor, primitive, all able people work; herders is the same, but they
raise animals
3. farmers: commercial agriculture of their own land using paid seasonal labor
4. caste labor: word decided by birth into a caste; in India, sudra are sharecroppers, tenant farmers,
paid day laborers*
5. serfs: agricultural labor bound to the land with duties to the landowner/aristocrat; cannot leave
without permission*
6. field slaves: agricultural slaves*
7. plantations: slaves, serfs producing commodities for export; including, grain, sugar, cotton, tobacco,
coffee, cattle*
8. sharecroppers: agricultural workers who work someone else’s land and keep a portion of the
produce; they do not own land*
9. tenant farmers: agricultural workers who pay to farm someone else’s land (rent)*
10. migratory labor: paid wage labor moving seasonally to pick farm produce*
11. collective agriculture: state, society or tribe owns land; land worked by all members*
12. commercial ranching/farming: herding or farming with the intent of selling the products; profitoriented; used of technology
Urban Commercial Labor
1. artisans: hand-make artifacts to sell
2. merchants: buy and sell commodities/goods
3. guilds: organizations that regulate: urban wages, prices of commodities, licensing of craftsmen
4. managerial classes (after 1450) specialists in finances and business organization
5. service labor: wage earning labor but produces a service, but not a product
Industrial Labor
1. proletariat: early urban day laborers; page wage earners*
2. putting-out or cottage industry: industrial labor done at home*
3. factory labor: workers involved in centralized, mechanized labor; paid a wage
4. unions: worker organizations that argue for workers rights and protections
5. migratory labor: labor that is paid a wage; move seasonally to work in service or industrial jobs*
Professional classes
1. aristocracy – titled nobility
2. state professionals: bureaucrats, military, diplomats; education, trained for a profession; includes
university graduates
3. managerial classes: specialists in technologically advanced work
4. clergy
Religion
8000 – 600 CE
Consider the Following: Polytheism (pantheon) vs. monotheism, enumerated laws, relation to state
(theocracy), gender roles, missionaries, major ideologies, schisms, syncretism, economic interests,
persecution of minority religions
East Asia
Ancestor worship (China, Japan)
Spirits of nature (China)
Confucianism, Daoism, Legalism.
women treated as subservient (food binding)
Western Europe
Polytheism- many gods
Animism- believe in animals
Monotheism- single god
Christianity, Judaism
Animism
Christianity- monotheism
Judaism- monotheism
Animism
Spirits of nature
Caste system- through Hinduism
Codified laws
Eastern Europe
South Asia
Latin America
Animism
Polytheism
Middle East
Polytheistic
Major
Themes/Turning
Points
Nation-states- need for organized religion
Something to hold them together.
Islam- Arabs held by religion