Robert W. Strayer
Ways of the World:
A Brief Global History
First Edition
CHAPTER 4
Eurasian Empires
500 B.C.E.–500 C.E.
Copyright © 2009 by Bedford/St. Martin’s
Continuities
▪Monarchs continued to rule most of the new
civilizations.
▪Men continued to dominate women.
▪A sharp divide between the elite and everyone else
persisted almost everywhere
▪The practice of slavery continued.
Changes
▪Population grew more rapidly than ever before during this
period.
▪States and empires expanded, growing in size, dwarfing in size
the city-states of Mesopotamia and the Egypt of the pharaohs.
▪The rise and fall of empires had a dramatic effect on large
populations inasmuch as that civilizations dissolved—for
example the Mayans or Roman Empire.
▪New philosophical and religious systems provided the moral
and spiritual framework within which people sought to order
their lives and define their relationships to the mysteries of life
and death.
▪China was the primary source of technological changes that
included piston bellows, the draw-loom, silk-handling
machinery, the wheelbarrows, a better harness for draft
animals, the crossbow, iron casting, the iron chain suspension
bridge, gunpowder, firearms, the magnetic compass, paper,
printing, and porcelain. India pioneered the crystallization of
sugar and techniques for the manufacture of cotton textiles.
Roman technological achievements were apparent in
construction and civil engineering—the building of roads,
bridges, aqueducts, and fortifications—and in the art of
glassblowing.
▪The emergence of a widespread and dense network of
communication and exchange that connected many of the
world’s peoples to one another, especially through longdistance trade routes.
Empires and Civilizations in Collision: The
Persians and the Greeks
The Persian Empire
The Greeks
Collision: The Greco-Persian Wars
Collision: Alexander and the Hellenistic
Era
Comparing Empires: Roman and Chinese
Rome: From City-State to Empire
China: From Warring States to Empire
Consolidating the Roman and Chinese
Empires
The Collapse of Empires
Intermittent Empire: The Case of India
Part II: The Classical Era in World History, 500 B.C.E.–500
C.E.
Chapter 4: Eurasian Empires, 500 B.C.E.–500 C.E.
iClicker
Questions
Comparison: The classical empires formed between
500 b.c.e. and 500 c.e. differed from earlier First
Civilizations in all EXCEPT which of the following ways?
a. Classical empires were in general larger than First Civilizations.
b. Classical empires possessed professionally organized armies,
which allowed them to rule in part through coercion of
conquered peoples.
c. Classical empires were rarely ruled by monarchs.
d. Classical empires in general possessed more elaborate means
of administering the empire than First Civilizations.
Change: Few classical empires
a. were formed through conquest.
b. used coercion to extract resources from conquered
peoples.
c. sought to rule their subjects separately, making little
effort to tie the empire together as a single entity.
d. were ruled by a single monarch.
Comparison: Which of the following is a reason
why classical empires did not prosper to the same
extent in India as elsewhere?
a. The chronic economic underdevelopment of India
b. India’s lack of cultural diversity
c. The lack of political leaders intent on conquest
d. The social structure of India
Discussion Starter: The accomplishments of which of
the following classical empires most impressed you?
a. Han China
b. Persia
c. Rome
d. Greece
Discussion Starter: Do you believe that
democracy as practiced at the height of the
classical period in Athens
a. was not a democracy at all?
b. was not a democracy but provided an important step
toward democracy?
c. was a democracy, just not in a form that would be
acceptable the United States today?
d. was a democracy?
Discussion Starter: On the whole, did classical
empires do more good or more harm?
a. Classical empires did more good than harm.
b. Classical empires did more harm than good.
Answer Key for Chapter 4
1. Answer is B
2. Answer is C
3. Answer is D