Effects of Muslim Conquests in Seventh Century
 Muslim armies unified the Arabs on the Arabian Peninsula
 Muslim armies expanded into North Africa and parts of Southwest Asia
 Muslim armies weakened the Byzantine and Persian Empires
Similarities – Islam and Christianity
 With Judaism, Abrahamic religions
 Influenced by Judaism
 Accept Abraham and Moses as prophets
 Monotheistic and ethical religions
 Belief in a single omnipotent deity
Status of Merchants in Confucianism
 Low status
 Viewed as greedy and unproductive
 Violated filial piety by traveling far from parents
 Considered social parasites feeding on the productivity of others
Similarities – Ancient Civilizations in Mesopotamia and Egypt
 Developed near rivers
 Agrarian
 Complex societies with cities, specialization, surplus, and writing
 Architectural monuments and polytheistic
Facts about the Chinese Civil Service Examination System
 Open to all men in theory
 But favored wealthy men as tutors for examination preparation were expensive
 However, a talented peasant might be supported by his village
 Provided a modest measure of social mobility
 A meritocracy: placing talented scholar-gentry as government officials
 Based on Confucianism and Chinese history
 Encouraged education that looked to the past rather than to the future and change
 Not a progressive education rather conservative
Symbols of Buddhism
 The wheel symbolizes the auspiciousness of the turning of the precious wheel of
Buddha’s doctrines
 The golden fish symbolizes the auspiciousness of all living beings in a state of
fearlessness without danger of drowning in the ocean of sufferings
 The lotus flower symbolises the complete purification of the defilements of the body,
speech and mind, and the full blossoming of wholesome deeds in blissful liberation
 The endless knot represents the union of wisdom and method and at the time of
enlightenment, the complete union of wisdom and great compassion
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The conch symbolises the deep, far-reaching and melodious sound of the Dharma
teachings which awakens practitioners from the deep slumber of ignorance and
urges them to accomplish their own and others’ welfare
Characteristics of Patriarchal Societies
 Men are accorded superior status
 Male dominance
 Women are viewed as weak and inferior and must be protected by men
 Women are lowly
 Sons are favored
Direct Democracy in Athens
 Citizen vote and participate in all governmental decision-making
 Only free men born in Athens were citizens
 Women, slaves, and foreigners were not citizens
 A Direct Democracy is a form of government in which all laws are created by a
general vote of society
 All male citizens in ancient Athens had the right to attend the assembly, where they
could meet in the open to discuss and cast votes
Mongols and the Silk Roads
 The Mongols conquered a vast empire stretching from the Pacific coast to the Black
Sea
 They conquered the lands of the Silk Roads
 The Mongols provided peace and security on the trade routes of their empire
 This time of peace and stability in the Mongol Empire is known as the Pax Mongolia
or Pax Mongolica
 As the Mongols increased security on the Silk Roads, bandit activity decreased as
did the number of tolls and taxes merchants paid
 Thus, trade flourished as the Mongols reestablished the importance of the Silk
Roads and increased during the Pax Mongolia
Trans-Saharan Trade and Muslim Merchants
 Trans-Saharan Trade routes connected North Africa and West Africa
 The West African Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai flourished as a result the
kingdoms’ ability to control the trade
 Islam entered West Africa along the Trans-Saharan trade routes as North Africans
brought goods and their religious beliefs into the West African kingdoms
 Muslim merchants dominated the trade routes
 North African salt was exchanged for West African gold as well as other goods
 Many West Africans converted to Islam
 The West African king of Mali, Mansa Musa, made a famous pilgrimage to Mecca
Mongol’s Unsuccessful Attempts to Conquer Japan
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The Mongols were skilled warriors on horseback and exceptionally talented
warriors on land, however, the sea posed new challenges
The Mongols twice attempted to conquer Japan but failed
Stormy weather and kamikaze or divine winds prevented their conquest
Facts about Indian Ocean Trade
 Indian Ocean commerce flourished and was conducted by a mixture of Asian,
Middle Eastern, and East African merchants
 Indian Ocean trade connected Southeast Asia, South China, India, Arabia and East
Africa in commercial activity
 In East Africa, Swahili city-states flourished as a result of Indian Ocean Trade
 Indian Ocean Trade even flourished in 1000 to 1450 but flourished even earlier
 Zheng He, the great Chinese explorer from the Ming Dynasty, traveled along the
Indian Ocean trade routes all the way to East Africa and brought a giraffe back to
the Beijing Zoo
 Calicut in India was the pepper capital of the world
 Monsoons winds, blowing predictably for half of the year in one direction and then
in the other direction for the other half of the year, were used by navigators in the
Indian Ocean basin
 India was the fulcrum of the trade route
Geometric Art and Islamic Civilization
 In general, geometric art is preferred in Islam
 As only God is the creator, Muslims prefer that art not be an imitation of God’s
creation but rather based on patterns and beautiful geometric designs
 Geometric designs prevent idolatry
Mosque
 An Islamic house of worship
 Geometric patterns and designs are used to decorate a mosque
Beliefs of Islam
 An Abrahamic religion; influenced by Judaism and Christianity
 Accepts Abraham and Moses as well as the Jewish prophets
 Muhammad is the founder of Islam
 Muhammad is considered the “Seal of the Prophets” or the last prophet
 The Five Pillars of the Faith are:
- One God [Monotheism]
- Prayer five times a day facing the holy city of Mecca
- Alms or charity to the poor
- Fasting during the month of Ramadan
- Hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca
Similarities – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
 Monotheism
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Ethical and moral religions
Influenced by Judaism
Recognize the existence of Adam and of Moses
Abrahamic religions
Belief in a single omnipotent deity
Facts about Neolithic Revolution
 People learned to farm and domesticate animals
 Effects include:
- Permanent settlements
- Population increases
- Reliable food source
- Epidemic diseases due to proximity to domesticated animals
- Class Divisions
- Patriarchy
- Slavery
Facts about the Kingdom of Kush
 An ancient civilization in Africa
 It is often referred to as Nubia and had close ties to Ancient Egypt
 Like the Egyptians, the Kushites built pyramids at burial sites, worshiped Egyptian
gods, and mummified the dead
 Yes, cultural diffusion but selective borrowing
 Two of the most important resources of Ancient Kush were gold and iron
 Women played an important role and could be leaders in Kush
Indian and Chinese Influences on Southeast Asia
 Southeast Asia is located between India and China
 Southeast Asia was part of the Indian Ocean trade network
 Cultural diffusion from India and China influenced Southeast Asia
 The French even called their colony in Southeast Asia “Indochina”
 Present-day nations in the region include Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar
[Burma], Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand
Islamic Architecture in Córdoba, Spain
 Beautiful mosques [houses of Islamic worship]
 Geometric designs and patterns
 Domes and arches
Extent of Mongol Empire
 The Mongols conquered China, Russia, and Persia
 The Mongols conquered a vast empire stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the
Black Sea
 However, the Mongols never conquered Japan because severe storms aided the
experienced Japanese naval forces
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The Mongols conquered the length and breadth of the Silk Roads
Trade flourished on the Silk Roads as did the spread of disease such as the Black
Death or Bubonic Plague
Facts about the Bantu Migration
 The Bantu were agriculturalists originally from West Africa
 They migrated throughout sub-Saharan Africa as their population increased and
they required more lands
 These migrations occurred from approximately 1000 B.C.E. to 1000 C.E.
 The Bantu spread iron, agriculture, and their language throughout sub-Saharan
Africa
 The Bantu provided a common linguistic root for the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa
as many sub-Saharan African languages are derived from Bantu
 The Bantu also spread banana cultivation which entered Africa from Southeast Asia
Similarities Regarding Women – Buddhism and Christianity
 Buddhism and Roman Catholic Christianity provided alternatives to marriage for
women
 Women could become nuns in monastic orders
 In monastic orders, women had some degree of autonomy within their convents
 Yet nuns were subordinate to monks
Mandate of Heaven
 The Mandate of Heaven was a Chinese belief that the emperor was given the right
to rule or the Mandate of Heaven by the gods
 As long as the emperor ruled wisely and justly, he kept the mandate
 If, however, he ruled poorly, he lost the mandate and the people were allowed to
overthrow the dynasty
 Thus, the Mandate of Heaven justified rebellion
 The people would know if the emperor lost the mandate if there were floods,
epidemics, famine, or warfare
Facts about the Phoenicians
 The Phoenicians were a seafaring people from present-day Lebanon
 The Phoenicians were traders
 However, they are most remembered for creating the world's first alphabet
 In an alphabet, each letter represents a sound
 Thus, when we teach children to read by introducing them to the sounds of letters,
we call that method of instruction “Phonics” after the Phoenicians
 The Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet and we get our alphabet from the
Greeks [alpha and beta are the first two letters of the Greek alphabet]
Similarities – Collapse of Roman and Han
 Both empires collapsed due to invaders, high taxes, and corrupt rulers
 Invasions, however, dealt the primary blow
Byzantine Influence on Slavic Peoples and Russia
 Slavs are Eastern Europeans
 The Byzantine monks, Cyril and Methodius, brought the Orthodox Christian faith
to the Slavs and in particular, the peoples of Russia
 Thus, the Byzantines spread Orthodox Christianity to Russia and created an
alphabet (the Cyrillic alphabet) for the Russian language in order for the Bible to be
written in Russian
 The Byzantines also introduced the idea of a Caesar or Czar (Tsar) to the Russian
people
 So, while the Byzantine Empire has collapsed, it lives somewhat in Russia
Characteristics of Most Early Civilizations
 A civilization is a complex society
 It has cities and specialization or the performance of different jobs
 It has urban centers and growing populations
 It has a writing system; however, some civilizations in the Americas lacked writing
systems but still qualify as civilizations in the complexity of their organization and
city living
Roman and Han and Silk Roads
 The Silk Roads were established during the Han Dynasty
 These trade routes connected the Han Dynasty and the eastern Mediterranean coast
 Thus, Romans received luxury goods from China via the Silk Roads
 The Silk Roads trading network was a conduit for cultural diffusion
 The Silk Roads flourished whenever powerful empires protected the routes like the
T’ang, Song, and Yuan dynasties as well as, of course, the Han
Beliefs of Confucius
 Confucius lived during the Zhou Dynasty in the period known as the “Age of
Warring States”
 In this time of chaos and disorder, Confucius sought to restore peace and harmony
 He came to believe that when people act according to their stations in life, there is
order and when there is order, there is peace
 He spoke of Five Relationships (Emperor-Subject, Father-Son, Husband-Wife,
Elder Brother-Younger Brother, and Friend and Friend)
 In a relationship, there is a superior and an inferior
 When the superior acts like a superior and rules benevolently by providing for the
inferior and guiding the inferior and the inferior obeys the superior, there is peace
and harmony in society
 Confucius also believed that men were pretty much alike but that education them
better men
 Patriarchy was definitely a feature of Confucianism as a woman is always an
inferior according to the Five Relationships
Facts about the Italian Renaissance
 The Renaissance began in the Italian city-states
 Wealth from trade allowed wealthy families to sponsor artists
 The Renaissance was a time of creativity in the arts
 It was a cultural movement
 During the Renaissance, art was realistic with perspective in drawing and
painting
 New ideas like humanism and secularism developed
 Humanism is the belief in the inherent worth and dignity of every individual
 Secularism is a non-religious perspective
 The Renaissance began around 1350
 Machiavelli wrote The Prince during the Renaissance; it was a book about how
rulers must maintain power not by being loved but feared and it encouraged the
idea that ends justified the means or that to keep power, a ruler must rule by
any means necessary
Comparison: Indian Caste System and the Confucian Social Hierarchy
 The Hindu caste system is a fixed social class system
 A Hindu is born into his caste and remains in his caste a lifetime
 Rebirth is determined by the individual’s previous karma or deeds and dharma or
adherence to the rules of his caste
 The highest caste is the Brahmins or priests
 The Confucian Social Hierarchy valued educated men or scholar gentry
 In the Confucian Social Hierarchy, any man may take the examination for
government service
 As such, in the Confucian Social Hierarchy, there is limited social mobility
 And therein lies the difference
Reasons for Sunni and Shi’a Split
 Muhammad died unexpectedly and before picking a successor
 Thus, disagreement over leadership succession issues arose
 Sunni Muslims believe that any pious Muslim man can lead the Islamic umma or
community
 Shi’a believe that leadership of the community should be through ʿAli, the Prophet's
son-in-law
 ʿAli was the fourth of the Righteously Guided caliphs and was assassinated
Last Prophet According to Islam
 According to Islam, Muhammad is the last prophet
 There will be no other prophets after Muhammad according to Islam
 Muhammad, therefore, is the “Seal of the Prophets”
The Umma in Islam
 Umma is the Arabic word for the Islamic community
 Membership in the Umma is based on belief not birth
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Umma means the “community of the faithful”
Facts about the Status of Women in Islam
 In the eyes of Allah, women and men are equal
 In Islam, women have an equal chance of entering Heaven as men do
 Female infanticide (the killing of female infants) is forbidden
 Women can sue for divorce
 Women can inherit property; however, daughters inherit half of what sons inherit
 Women can testify in court; however, a woman's testimony in court only counts as
half of a man’s testimony
 A woman can only marry one husband whereas a man can marry up to four wives
 Women can engage in business ventures
Dates of the Classical Period and Date of the Fall of Rome Specifically
 The Classical Period is generally dated from around 500 B.C.E. to 500 C.E.
 Usually, the fall of Rome is the date to mark the end of the classical period
 Rome fell in 476 C.E. or around 500 C.E.
 Sometimes it is dated at around 600 B.C.E. to 600 C.E.
 Again, the end date coincides with the fall of the Gupta Empire
 The Gupta Empire fell around 550 C.E. or close to 600 C.E.
 The Classical Civilizations are the Mauryan, Gupta, Han, Greek, and Romans and
yes, Mayas
 The Mayas collapsed around 900 C.E.
 So, what is correct – ending around 500 or 600 or even 900
 So, it seems that what is determining the end date is how the historian feels about
the fall of the western Roman Empire – is this the defining date or not?
Definition of a Serf
 A serf is a person bound to the Lord’s land
 A serf is not property but is not free to leave or work as he pleases
 Serfdom is a form of coerced labor as is slavery
 A serf, however, has more rights than a slave
 A serf is an “agricultural laborer tied to an estate with rights including military
protection, heritable ownership of a plot of land, and owing obligations to share
crop yields each season with his or her lord”
Alternatives to Marriage for Medieval Women
 In the European Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church was the only Christian
Church and a very powerful and wealthy institution
 Monasticism exists in the Roman Catholic Church
 Women could enter convents as nuns
 Being a nun was an alternative to marriage
Facts about the Medieval Catholic Church
 The only Christian Church in Western Europe during the Middle Ages
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The largest landowner as lords often bestowed land titles upon the church
A very wealthy institution as the Church collected tithes or church taxes
Unified Western Europeans in a time of political fragmentation with a common
church
Possessed the greatest unified organizational capacity across the largest land area in
Western Europe in the centuries immediately following the fall of the Roman
Empire
Provided alternatives to marriage for women – becoming nuns
Monasticism – monks and nuns
Latin was the language of the Roman Catholic Church
Hierarchical organization with a Pope, Cardinals, Bishops, Priests and Monks
An intermediary between God and the people
Capital of the Byzantine Empire
 Constantinople
 Located between Europe and Asia
 Very defensible with water on three sides
 Not on the map today
 Renamed Istanbul when conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1453
Facts about Siddhartha Gautama
 An Indian prince
 Raised a Hindu
 Came to discover the existence of suffering
 Went in search of the causation and cessation of suffering
 Became enlightened or a Buddha
 Formulated the Four Noble Truths
- Life has suffering
- Desire causes suffering
- Suffering can end
- Follow the Noble Eightfold Path [Right Speech, Right Meditation, etc.] or the
path to end suffering
 Nirvana: the end of suffering
 No caste system
 Monasticism for men and women: monks and nuns
 Two major sects today: Theravada and Mahayana
 Mahayana Buddhists believe in Bodhisattvas or beings who have attained
Enlightenment but remain on Earth to bring others to the end of suffering
Differences – Buddhism and Hinduism
 Buddhists do not accept the caste system
 Buddhists have monastic orders and allow women and men to become nuns and
monks
 However, both Buddhists and Hindus believe in reincarnation and karma
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Buddhists use the term “Dharma” to refer to the teachings of the Buddha as
opposed to the Hindu concept of Dharma as pertaining to the rules of caste
Hindu Doctrine of Dharma and Caste
 The Hindu concept of dharma fostered the formation of rigid social and economic
groups
 Dharma essentially refers to the rules of caste
 Therefore, each caste has its own rules and regulations to follow thereby separating
Hindus into different groups
 Of course, caste is a fixed class system in that a person is born into his caste and
remains in his caste throughout his lifetime
 Dharma reinforces caste by stating that each caste has its own set of rules
 Only samsara or rebirth can free a person from his caste status
Status of Women in Ancient Greece
 Ancient Greece was patriarchal
 Men were superior to women and women were subordinate to men
 As such, women were inferior to men in both social and political affairs
 Of course, patriarchal norms differed throughout Greece
 In Sparta, there was patriarchy but women had more rights
 In Athens, women were really oppressed
Definition of Diffusion
 As in cultural diffusion
 Cultural diffusion is the exchange of cultural ideas and objects
 Buddhism in China is an example of diffusion
 Buddhism originated in India but spread to China
 The spread of foods, trade goods, concepts, norms, practices, and inventions among
different peoples
Facts about Hammurabi’s Law Code
 One of the earliest written law codes
 Hammurabi was a king of Babylon
 Babylon existed in Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
 Hammurabi’s Law Code had class divisions
 Punishments varied according to the individual’s class
 Thus, for a peasant, it was an “eye for an eye”
 But for a nobleman, it might be “an eye for a fine”
 However, harsh punishments nonetheless were frequently found in the Code of
Hammurabi
“Out of Africa” Thesis
 Proposes that modern humans emerged in Africa
 Thus, all humans have African ancestors
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Proposes that humans first evolved in Africa and then some populations migrated to
other lands and populated all of the habitable lands of Earth
Birthplace of Humanity
 Most scholars today believe that early humans originated in Africa, then migrated
to other continents
 Just ask Mary Leakey, the famous anthropologist who worked in East Africa, and
found evidence of early humans in East Africa
Value of Literature for Historians
 Literature is not factual but it reveals the beliefs, values, and customs of the cultures
that produced those works of literature
 A historian of ancient Greece would probably find Athenian dramas to be most
useful as a source of information about Greek religious beliefs and moral values
 Stories reveal the cultural beliefs of people