Chapter 6 Study Guide
What classical era traditions have been
changed since 1750?
•
•
•
•
Slavery
Monarchies
Women’s rights
Treatment of untouchables thanks to Gandhi
How would you describe the social hierarchy of
classical China? (officials, landlords, peasants,
merchants)
• Emperor’s officials
– Mostly from rich families
• Emperors didn’t like this
• Then, landlords
– Most wealth in China was based on land ownership
• Then, peasants
– Biggest part of society
• Some were sort of comfortable
• Some could barely survive
• Last was merchants
– Viewed as shameful for making profit from selling the work of
others
• pp. 238-242
What’s unique about China’s civil
service system?
• Gov decides who is ‘elite’
– Civil service workers in the capital and in the
provinces
• Comes from early Chinese emperors wanting
control of the provinces
• Meritocracy because of the Civil Service Exam
Characterize Wudi’s Civil Service
System.
•
•
•
•
Imperial academy to train officials
Written tests to choose officials
Lasted into the 20th century
Favored the rich because they
– Were close to the capital where tests were given
– Rich enough to get tutors for the tests
• Some commoners could move up (social
mobility)
Landlords/Scholar Gentry
• Scholar gentry – smart and rich
• Got land by buying out peasants’ land
• Caused problems with the emperor/officials
– Refused to pay taxes
– Could mount their own armies
• They didn’t like much the Wang Mang fellow
What reforms were instituted under
Emperor Wang Mang?
• Didn’t like huge estates b/c they skipped out on taxes and
could raise armies stronger than the imperial army
• Took large private estates and divided them up among the
landless.
• Made government loans were available to peasant families.
• Limits were placed on the amount of land a family might
own.
• He ended private slavery.
• Maybe he is the first communist???
• He was – of course – assassinated.
• p. 240
Explain the Yellow Turban Rebellion
• Provoked by floods and epidemics
• Daoist revolution leading to a “Great Peace”
– Probably involved a water buffalo
• Revolts almost killed the economy
• Led to the overthrow of the Han
How did the scholar gentry view the
peasants?
• Peasants were the solid productive backbone
of the country, and their hard work and
endurance in the face of difficulties were
worthy of praise.
• P. 240
How did the scholar gentry view
merchants?
•
•
•
•
Saw them as cheaters and greedy
Placed below peasants in social hierarchy
Couldn’t hold public office
Forced to make loans to government
Quiz 6.1 A
1. What term was used for the landowners in
China? It means smart and rich.
2. Which class was viewed as lower than
peasants in China?
3. Which leader instated land reforms that took
land from the rich and gave it to everyone?
Quiz 6.1 B
1. Name one class that was higher than
merchants in China.
2. Which emperor started the imperial academy
to train students for the civil service exam?
3. Which rebellion came after floods and was
meant to bring a “Great Peace” to China?
What are the origins of classical India’s
caste system?
• Caste means “race” or “purity of blood”
• Started from encounters of Aryans (lighter
skin) and Dravidians (natives) (darker skin)
• Aryans were wealthier and controlled the
Dravidians b/c of their race and their jobs
• p. 243
How was Indian society divided?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Everyone was born into four classes (varna).
Stayed there for life.
Top – priests
2nd – warriors and rulers
3rd – commoners and farmers
4th – Peasants
– In very low positions
– Served the higher castes
– Couldn’t take part in Hindu rituals
• Top 3 are Aryan (pure, twice-born)
• Bottom 2 are Dravidians
• The lowest class was the Untouchables—these people did the work
considered most unclean and polluting, such as cremating corpses, dealing
with the skin of dead animals, and serving as executioners.
– Considered outside of the caste system
• pp. 243-244
#UntouchableProbz
• Unclean, shouldn’t be touched
– Handled dead ppl, animals, waste
• Can’t use same wells
• Wooden clappers to warn others of their
approach
How did India’s caste system differ
from China’s class system?
• India was based on religion (dharma)
– “It is better to do one’s own duty badly than another’s well”
• China was based on social standing
• China’s system was more broad
–
–
–
–
Scholar-gentry (smart rich ppl)
Landlords
Peasants
Merchants
• India’s system was broken up into thousands of Jati
• India had a lesser chance of social mobility (moving up in society)
• p. 246
What is one reason that India seldom
experienced an empire that encompassed the
entire subcontinent?
• Caste was a local phenomenon
• It was different in each part of India
• It wasn’t set up for a large national
government
• p. 246
What’s the difference between Varna
and Jati?
• Varna is the four main castes
• Jati is sub-castes within a varna
– Ranking within a varna
– Must be same jati to marry, eat with others
– Diff rules for diff jatis
• Covering women, eating meat
What are the three functions of caste?
• Substitute for a government as what makes
society work. (glue)
– B/c it has caste, India rarely has a centralized gov
• It offered a distinct and socially recognized place
for almost everyone. (even immigrants)
• Facilitated the exploitation of the poor by the
wealthy and powerful.
– Ppl should be ashamed of being born poor.
– They will be good this life and not revolt so they can
be better of in the next life.
• p. 246
Quiz 6.2 A
1. What kind of caste was more specific than
Varna? It was comprised of thousands of subcastes.
2. Which ancient civilization was India’s
compared to in the reading regarding its
social structure?
3. How could one raise their caste in their
current life? (w/o dying)
Quiz 6.2 B
1. What kind of caste was more broad than Jati?
It was comprised of four main levels.
2. Which ancient civilization was India’s
compared to in the reading regarding its
social structure?
3. Name one social function of caste. What
purpose did caste serve in India?
What does one scholar suggest as a
model for enslaving people?
• Domesticating animals
– Stronger than ppl
– More of them than ppl
• Other reasons?
• Wars led to having captured peoples that could
become slaves.
• Women were probably the first slaves.
– Then became concubines (personal prostitutes)
• Patriarchal societies showed that sometimes women
were ‘owned’ by men.
• p. 247
How did Greco-Roman slavery differ
from that of other classical
civilizations?
• Greco-Roman society depended more on slaves than
did other classical civilizations. Around 33% in
Athens/33% to 40% in Rome.
• Less than 1% in China.
• Minor in India too. Rules to protect slaves.
• There were more slaves in the Greco-Roman world
than in other classical civilizations.
• Slaves could do any job. Even high-up positions.
• Even the poor owned slaves.
• The only thing they couldn’t do is serve in the military.
• pp. 249-251
How did people become slaves?
•
•
•
•
POWs
Reproduction
Piracy
Orphans
What are some other aspects of
slavery?
•
•
•
•
In “virtually all” civilizations in history
Not race based.
Not challenged, even by Christians.
In Rome, slaves did all of the work except military
service.
• Couldn’t marry
• If a slave killed a master, all of the master’s slaves
were killed
• Manumission (freeing slaves) was common
How did slaves rebel and revolt?
• Mass suicide
• “Weapons of the weak” – theft, sabotage,
poor work
• Rebellion
– Spartacus 73BCE in Rome
– 120,000 slaves revolted for two years
– Finally crushed and crucified 6,000 slaves along
the Appian Way
– Never something as large until 1790s in Haiti
Quiz 6.3 A
1. What happened to many of the slaves who
revolted with Spartacus?
2. Sometimes, slaves would use ________ of
the weak. Describe by Strayer as small-scale
theft, sabotage, pretending illness or working
poorly.
3. In which of the following could a slave be a
doctor?
1. Rome, China or India
Quiz 6.3 B
1. What is one way (other than being a prisoner
of war) that one could become a slave?
2. Which had more slaves:
1. Rome, China or India
3. Which religion in Rome actually supported
slavery?
How does class impact patriarchy?
• Higher class = more restrictions
– Stuck in home, managed servants
– Can’t work
• Lower class = less restrctions
– Can work
– But life was much harder
Han Chinese Patriarchy
• “Men go out, women stay in”
• 3 Obediences of Women
– Father
– Husband
– Son
• Women (wives) move into their mother-inlaw’s home
Following the collapse of the Han Dynasty in the third
century, what were the signs of a weakening
patriarchy? Did patriarchy end in China?
• Nomads from the north took over some cities and their
women were more free.
• Tang Dynasty (600s-900s) let women inherit property.
• Empress Wu – first and only woman Chinese ruler.
– Changed character for “man” to “human being”
• The move from Confucianism to Daoism and Buddhism
saw women priests and nuns.
– “Dao” becomes “mother”
• This didn’t end patriarchy, but changed it for the
betterment of women in some regards.
How did the patriarchies of Athens and
Sparta differ from each other?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Athens
Women restricted from public life
Must have guardian in court
Must stay in home, husband is public figure
15-year-old girls married 30-year-old men
Land passed through males
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Sparta
No public role, like Athens
Revered as creators of great warriors
Sporting events to make their bodies strong
Married men their own age
Women were the authority in the household
pp. 255-259
Aristotle couldn’t get a girlfriend
• Women were infertile males
• A “receptacle” for the male seed of life
• Just like domesticated animals
How did Spartan society solve the problem of a
permanent threat from the helots?
•
•
•
•
Always be ready for war.
Boys trained at age 7 to age 30.
Every man was expected to be a warrior.
p. 257
List the changes and continuities of
the classical era.
• Changes
• Greece took down the much larger Persian
empire.
• Rome took the entire Mediterranean.
• Buddhism and Christianity evolved out of
Judaism and Hinduism.
• Very strong and solid empires eventually fell.
Continuities
• China’s scholar-gentry class kept power
through the dynasties until today.
• The caste system stayed strong.
• Slavery stayed strong and would until the
1800s.
• Patriarchy is the oldest and most fundamental
aspect of all civilizations.
What were the roles of belief systems in affecting
gender roles?
• Hinduism – a woman is never independent
from men at any point in her life.
• In childhood a female must be subject to her
father, in youth to her husband, when her lord
is dead to her sons; a woman must never be
independent. She must not seek to separate
herself from her father, husband, or sons-Laws of Manu
What were the roles of belief systems in affecting
gender roles?
• Christianity – women are subordinate to men,
but should be respected
• Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to
the Lord. For the husband is the head of the
wife, as Christ also is the head of the church. . .
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also
loved the church and gave Himself up for her. -Ephesians 5:22,25
What were the roles of belief systems in affecting
gender roles?
• Confucianism – similar to Christianity, where
the man is in charge, but there is a reciprocal
(circular) respect
• Also, FILLAL PIETY
– (parents/family/ancestors are holy)
– Central tenet of Confucianism
– Ultimately, the man/husband/dad is in charge and
no one would ever question it
What were the roles of belief systems in affecting
gender roles?
• Buddhism – rejected the caste system and the
social hierarchies that came before it
– Women could become nuns
• Monasticism (join monasteries)
– Also in Catholicism
– Did not have to connect themselves to men
– Both genders could become enlightened equally
– Women lose a lot of this standing when Buddhism
moves into China
Quiz 6.4 A
1. Which Greek city-state was less patriarchal?
2. What item was given to Chinese girls to play
with?
3. At the end of the chapter, who was Solomon
arguing with?
Quiz 6.4 B
1. Which Greek city-state was more patriarchal?
2. What is the name of the only female
emperor in Chinese history?
3. Which Greek philosopher thought women
were terrible? He called them “receptacles”.
2.3 The Emergence of Interregional
Networks of Communication and Exchange
• MUST KNOW THIS FOR THE TEST!
• Why does trade grow in this 600 BCE to 600
CE period?
– Demand for raw and foreign materials
– Land and water routes made it easier
Land and water routes were the basis
for interregional (across regions) trade
• Silk roads
• Sea roads
• Sand roads
SILK
SAND
SEA
Silk Roads
•
•
•
•
First of the three
From Han China to Rome
Lots of different roads
Traded luxury goods/foreign goods
– Stuff you couldn’t get nearby
– Stuff you can carry on foot or by horse
• Pretty safe
– Protected 600 BCE to 600 CE by Han China
– After, protected by the Mongols
• Not a direct point A to point B trade
– More of a relay where traders traded with other traders, not the
end customer
Sand Roads (Trans-Sahara)
• Came second (around 200 CE)
– Couldn’t happen until the camel saddle was invented
• Traded staple items like salt
• Gold was another major thing traded
– Both gold and salt were abundant in parts of Africa
• Mostly a long-distance “point A to point B”
system
– Unlike the relay system on the Silk Roads
Sea Roads (Indian Ocean)
• Last of the three
– Came with the rise of Islam in the 600s CE
• Traded large items by boat
– Like lumber, metals, spices
• Traded along numerous points on the Indian
Ocean
– Sort of a mix between the relay system of the Silk
Roads and the “point a/b” system on the Sand
Roads
Major things traded on these routes
• Crops
– Cotton from India to all over
– Rice from Vietnam to China
– Sugarcane from Indonesia into Asia and Europe
• Ideas
– Shaduf – long pole with bucket on end
• Used for irrigation
• Came from ancient Egypt, spread across Afro-Eurasia
• Led to much better crops
Major things traded on these routes
• Religions
– Islam (Sand Roads)
– Hinduism and Islam (Sea Roads)
– Christianity and Buddhism (Silk Roads)
• Diseases
– Smallpox caught by the Roman army in Mesopotamia
killed 10% of the entire population
– Horses often carried the diseases
– One of many causes for the fall of Rome
• Weakened the army, agricultural work force, less tax payers
– Smallpox had impacts on Han China