The Classical Period: Directions,
Diversities, and Declines by 500
C.E.
Chapter 5
Stearns: World Civilizations
Basic Themes
 Expansion and Integration
 All classical civilizations involved territorial expansion
and related efforts to integrate new territories
 Outside the Eurasian Network
 Significant civilizations developed in the Americas and
Africa outside the immediate classical orbit
 Nomadic societies played a vital role, particularly in
central Asia, in linking and occasionally disrupting
classical civilizations
Basic Themes
 Decline and Fall of Classical Empires
 A combination of internal weakness and invasion led to important
changes, first in China, then in India
 Decline in Rome was more complex, involving a mix of internal and
external factors
 The eastern and western portions of the empire developed
differently after the fall of Rome
 The New Religious Map
 The period of classical decline saw the rapid expansion of
Buddhism and Christianity
 Religious change had wider cultural, social, and political
implications
Expansion and Integration
Shintoism – Japanese religion that provided for worship of
political rulers and spirits of nature. This was the basis for the
worship of the Japanese emperor as a religious figure. Rice
god major diety.
Tori Gate
entrance to a
Shinto Shrine
By 600 C.E. Japan was ready for elaborate contact with
China
Animism: a belief in the existence of many spirits and
demons which are found in the natural world.
Olmec: Central
American’s first
civilization 800-400
BCE. Developed
agriculture, accurate
calendars. Powerful
influence on later
civilizations in the
Americas.
Teotihuacan: Followed the Olmec. Built the first great city in the
Americas and developed the first alphabet -400 BCE -400 CE
Outside the Eurasian Network
Beyond the Classical Civilizations
•Axum and Ethiopia: Axum defeated Kush
around 300 BCE. Ethiopia in turn defeated
Axum. Both these African kingdoms had active
contacts with the eastern Mediterranean world
even after Rome fell.
•The activities of Jewish merchants brought
some conversions to Judaism in Ethiopians
•Christianity spread to Ethiopia from Greekspeaking merchants
Maya – 300 – 900 CE –
Classic culture
emerging in southern
Mexico and Central
America contemporary
with Teotihuacan;
extended over broad
region; featured
monumental
architecture, written
language, calendrical
and mathematical
systems, and highly
developed religion.
Mayan Pyramid
•The Polynesians reached Fiji and Samoa by 1000 BCE, they
spread their civilization to Hawaii 400 CE, by traveling in large
outrigger canoes.
•Highly stratified caste system under powerful local kings
Decline and Fall of Classical
Empires
Decline in China and India
China
Social unrest,
overtaxed peasants
Huns attacked and
Epidemics weakened
central government
The Era of Division
followed with no leading
dynasty
China revived, first
under Sui dynasty and
later with the Tang.
India
Decline in India not as
strong as in China
Huns destroyed Gupta
Empire
For several centuries no
indigenous empire in India
Hinduism gained ground
as Buddhism was
unappealing to warrior
caste
Yellow Turbans – During the decline of classical China, the
Yellow Turbans were a Daoist group that promised a golden age
that was to be brought about by divine magic
Decline and Fall of Rome
•Population declined
•Leadership faltered
•Economy flagged, tax collection became more difficult
•Despondency pervaded much of citizenry
•The fall of Rome shattered unities and reduced the level of
civilization itself
•Emperors Diocletian and Constantine slowed the spiral of
decay
•Germanic tribes invaded in the 400s, little power or will to
resist.
•Empire survived in the east as the Byzantine Empire
The New Religious Map
The New Religious Map
• Classical civilizations declined – world’s major
religions Buddhism and Christianity flourished, to be
followed by the introduction of Islam.
• People sought solace in the spiritual world as their
temporal world was collapsing.
• Christianity became widespread in the West.
• Buddhism grew in China and the East
• Islam surfaced and became a dynamic force in the
areas in between.
The New Religious Map
 With Hinduism, Islam shared some commonalities;
intense devotion, piety, and hope for a better life after
this one.
 Each responded to political instability and to poverty.
Each often took on features of local cultures, in a
process called “syncretism.”
Syncretism: The blending of cultures. Syncretism connects
most strongly with religions; for example, Christianity’s
adaptation of some of the features of the Roman religion.
Hinduism
Changed little
in its major
tenets
Buddhism
Altered as it
traveled beyond
India to China,
Korea, Japan,
and Vietnam
Stayed in India Buddha became
mostly – some more of a savior
followers in
figure.
Indonesia (the Women in China
island of Bali)
- drawn to more
meaningful life
Daoism
Reacted to
Buddhism by
organizing its
beliefs
Developed a
clear hold on the
peasant
population of
east Asia
(China)
Christianity
•Missionary activity even more than Buddhism
•Jesus preached compassion with great
conviction and charisma, but had few followers
in his lifetime
•Spiritual equality and afterlife replaced
unsatisfying traditional polytheistic religion of the
Romans
•Appealed to women, who were offered
leadership opportunities in convents and who
were encouraged to worship together with men,
which was unlike the practices in many faiths of
the time.
•Jesus of Nazareth - Jewish teacher who preached reforms in
Judaism. His followers believed him to be the Messiah, the savior
sent by God to redeem humanity.
•Paul – Early Christian leader who saw the faith in a different light.
Instead of a reform of Judaism, Paul helped turn the faith into a
new religion that welcomed non-Jews.
•Pope – Meaning papa or father; bishop of Rome and head of
Roman Catholic church.
•Augustine: One of the greatest Christian theologians. Bishop of
Alexandria, Egypt.
•Coptic Christianity: Largest branch of African Christianity,
centered in Egypt.
Islam: Monotheistic religion in which the supreme being is
Allah and the chief prophet and founder I Mohammad;
developed in the Arabian peninsula in the 7th century C.E.
The World Around 500 CE
The major themes in world history
1. Responses to the collapse of the classical
empires
2. Reaction to new religions that developed
3. Increased skill in agriculture the development of
early civilizations prepared parts of Europe,
Africa, Asia and the Americas for future changes.
Global Connections:
• Each classical civilization radiated trade
• Decline of classical authority meant overland routes,
like the Silk Route, became more precarious; sea lanes
were used, especially in the Indian Ocean
• Missionaries and nomadic raiders took advantage of
more porous borders