Chapter-5
Emergence of slavery in First Civilizations; Social Structure – India vs China; Wang Mang’s reform
program; First civilization societies vs classical era; uniqueness of China; Similarity of India and China;
System of Jatis, once established; Slavery in the Roman Empire; growth of democracy in classical Athens;
women of Sparta; Chinese philosophical and religious traditions; women in classical civilizations; Athens
vs Sparta – women; women and the fall of the Han Empire; slavery in China; first and longest lasting civil
service; Peasants and merchants in China; various aspects of India’s caste system; peasant rebellions;
different various of Jati; Roman slaves; slavery and the military; “weapons of the weak”; women and
patriarchal systems; compare Spartacus Rebellion and Yellow Turban Rebellion; world population
distribution
Chapter-6
Collapse of Mayan civilization; animal domestication in the Americas; impact of African environment;
language in southern and eastern Africa; written language; cities in the Niger Valley; advantages of the
Bantu speaking peoples; compare Maya and Axum; metallurgy in the classical era; Mayan political
structure; similarities in Mesoamerican vs Andean cultures; Chaco Canyon regions vs Mississippi River
valley cultures; civilizations of the Andes; art of the Teotihuacan; point of contact Eurasia and Africa;
culture of the Meroe; decline of Meroe and rise of Axum; Christianity in Axum; relationship between
Mesoamerican and Andean civilization; village at Chavin; remains of the Moche civilization; Bantu
religion; mound-building cultures of the eastern woodlands; relations between Wari vs Tiwanaku; Bantu
settlements in Africa vs eastern North American communities; food supplies in the Americas; “gender
parallelism”; the Hopewell culture; Rufinus and faith; the Greek merchant of Cosmas