Classical Civilizations Study Guide (8000 BCE - 600 CE)

The Development of Civilization,
(8000 B.C.E. to 600 C.E.)
Classical Civilizations
Study Guide
Chapter 2 Classical Civilization: China

1. Identify the contributions of the Zhou to China’s politics and culture.

• extended territory to form “Middle Kingdom”
• between Huanghe and Yangtze rivers
• agricultural land = pop.
• made central rule hard
• feudalism & manorialism
• however, they focused on central rule
• mandate of heaven
• unified culture
• tried to make single religion
• linguistic unity
• Mandarin Chinese
• stories started being written down
• Confucius

2. How did Shi Huangdi centralize and maintain political power?

• invited nobles to live with him
• lessened chance of mutany
• officials from lower classes
• allegiance to him b/c he gave them power
• legalism
• did not let people think for themselves

3. Identify the innovations that occurred under the Qin dynasty.

• National Census
• Standardized coinage, weights
• unified road planning
• unified Chinese written script
• single language for all educated Chinese
• new irrigation
• manufacturing
• silk cloth

4. Describe the growth of the bureaucracy under the Han.

• support for Confucianism
• worshiped  Confucius as a god
• 130,000 bureaucrats
• .2% of pop
• Civil Service Tests

5. Describe the teachings and institutions of

A) Confucianism

• King Fuzi (551-478 BCE)
• political virtue & good gov.
• NOT RELIGIOUS
• traditional
• 5 Relationships
• moderation in behavior, veneration of custom and ritual, love of wisdom
• virtuous leaders = good political life
• ethics

B) Legalism

• strict control
• harsh punishments
• gov. controls economy
• free thinking

C) Daoism

• religious
• harmony
• true human understanding comes in withdrawing from the world and contemplating the life force that directs all life
• humility & frugal living

6. Describe the intellectual, artistic, and technological advancements of classical China.

• Confucianism, Daoism, Legalism
• Five Classics (Literature)
• Carefully detailed art
• precision & geometric qualities of writing
• calligraphy
• painted, bronze, pottery, jade, ivory, silk screens
• astronomy
• accurate calendar
• movement of planets
• predicted celestial movement
• seismograph
• anatomical knowledge & hygiene
• mathematics of music

7. Identify and describe the three social groups of classical China.

• Mandarins
• landowning aristocracy + educated bureaucrats
• Laboring Masses
• peasants & urban artisans
• hard manual labor
• generally worked on large estates
• Mean People
• those without meaningful skills
• performing artists & household slaves
• more brutal punishments by law from crime
• wore green scarves

8. Describe the influence of merchants and commerce on China.

• luxury items from upper class
• food exchange
• copper coins
• trade with India
• frowned upon by Confucianism

9. Describe gender relations in classical China.

• women < men
• stayed home to work
• only gained power through being mother-in-law residing in son’s house
• women must obey men, but men should be curteous to women

10. Give examples of China’s isolation.

• ethnocentrism
• no need/want to make contact with other “barbaric” cultures

LIZZY JONES
AP World History
The Development of Civilization,
(8000 B.C.E. to 600 C.E.)
Classical Civilizations
Study Guide
Chapter 3 Classical Civilization: India

1. How did geography and environment influence Indian civilization? `

• between major civilizations
• able to trade
• influenced by M.E. and Mediterranean
• Persian empires influenced art & politics
• Alexander the Great
• Hellenistic culture
• separation from rest of India
• Himilayas
• political unity difficult
• agricultural centers
• Ganges & Indus Rivers
• Deccan plateau
• trade
• seafaring

2. Describe the Maurayan political institutions.

• unified much of India
• large armies
• bureaucracy
• postal service
• autocratic
• ruler’s personal and military power

3. What is the significance of Ashoka?

• Chandragupta’s grandson
• governor of 2 provinces
• studied nature
• influenced by Hinduism & Buddhism
• converted to Buddhism
• sent out missionaries
• strong belief in dharma
• law of moral consequences
• unite & discipline the ppl under his rule
• also sponsored Hinduism
• encouraged humane behavior by officials & wanted moral welfare for ppl
• improved trade & communication
• road network w/ wells & rest stops
• extended conquests
• control of all but southern tip of Inida
• bloody

4. Why is the Gupta period often called a golden age of Indian history?

• India’s greatest period of political stability
• uniform law codes
• sponsored general services
• road building
• patrons of cultural activity
• universities
• art
• literature
• promoted Sanskrit language

5. Describe the caste system.

• made to establish relationship between Aryan conquerors & indigenous people
• live together w/o complete integration of cultures
• promoted tolerance
• led to no slavery, only discrimination
• marriage/services/dining between castes forbidden
• varnas
• Brahmins
• priests
• Kshatriyas
• rulers & warriors
• used to be highest
• Vaisyas
• traders & farmers
• Sudras
• common laborers
• untouchables
• “inappropriate” jobs
• touching them was defiling
• jatis
• subclasses

6. Explain the beliefs of Hinduism.

• Aryan religion mixed with Indian beliefs
• able to adapt to fill the different needs of various groups
• tolerant
• coexisting with several offshoot religions
• dharma
• moral path
• artha
• political & economical goals
• karma
• worldly pleasures
• divine force that every soul is a part of
• unification with this force may take several lifetimes
• reincarnation
• good life = higher caste
• many good lives = end of worldy suffering “moksha”
• yoga

7. Explain the beliefs of Buddhism.

• reincarnation
• no caste
• worldly desires = suffering
• by detaching self from worldly desires, obtain nirvana
• self control

8. Describe gender relations in classical India.

• dominance of men
• wife should worship husband as god
• technology = women’s rights
• women need to be reincarnated as a man to advance in caste
• arranged marriage
• emphasis on loving relations & sexual pleasure
• man’s wife is truest friend
• goddess contribute to women’s status

9. Describe classical Indian intellectual achievements.

• religions/philosophies
• numbering
• literature

10. How did India influence South East Asia and China?

• dominated waters/trade
• married into local royal families
• temples/art found in other countries
• spread of buddhism

The Development of Civilization,
(8000 B.C.E. to 600 C.E.)
Classical Civilizations
Study Guide
Chapter 4 Classical Civilization in the Mediterranean: Greece and Rome

1. How did geography influence Greek civilization?

• islands
• spread of Middle Eastern & African cultures
• mountains
• divided Greece geographically
• city-states
• promoted trade & cultural diffusion

2. How were Sparta and Athens different?

• Sparta
• strong military aristocracy
• dominance over slave population
• Athens
• diverse commercial state
• lots of slaves
• artistic & intellectual leadership

3. What was the impact of Alexander the Great?

• expansion of Macedonian Empire
• Hellenistic period
• Greek art & culture merged w/ Middle Eastern forms
• trade flourished
• scientific centers established

4. What was the most widely preferred political framework in the Classical Mediterranean?

• aristocratic rule ***MOST PREFERRED*
• power by emperors and officials
• established guidelines
• checked executive power
• “rule of the best”
• local city-states have some rule *LOCALISM*
• political responsibility
• intense preoccupation with politics
• participation
• frequent discussions
• “state of the people”
• participation in military
• tyranny
• democracy
• Athens
• decisions made by general assemblies of citizens
• “direct democracy”
• met every 10 days
• “in the hands of many and not of the few” (Pericles)

5. How did Rome try to reconcile Greek political experience and aristocratic rule?

• democracy
• citizens gathered in assemblies to elect magistrates
• Senate
• aristocrats that held most executive offices in Roman state
• Greek ideal of public service
• public speaking & arguments for good of ppl
• Consuls
• 2 shared primary executive power
• crisis = dictator
• ***APPROPRIATE POLITICAL ETHICS, DUTIES OF CITIZENS, IMPORTANCE OF INCORRUPTIBLE SERVICE, KEY POLITICAL SKILLS (such as speaking)***

6. Why did Roman emperors attack Christianity?

• Christians’ refusal to place the state first in devotion

7. Explain the religious ideas of classical Greece and Rome.

• rise of Christianity
• influence of Roman Empire helped spread
• ***Greco-Roman religion***
• nature spirits elaborate gods
• gods regulated human life
• different names, same gods
• Creator/Father
• Zeus/Jupiter
• rituals had political importance
• good health, harvest, etc.
• symbolic stories
• gods had human-like qualities
• passions & weaknesses
• What could gods do for/reveal about humankind rather than movement of people towards godly state
• lacked spiritual passion
• no basis for ethical thought

8. Explain the philosophical and artistic achievements of Greece and Rome.

• Philosophy
• importance of moderation & balance
• inner moral balace
• discipline of body & personal bravery
• ethical systems established separate from religious systems
• Socrates
• rational inquiry (skeptical questioning)
• Plato
• human reason = True, Good, and Beautiful
• Art
• architecture
• high arches
• columns
• Doric
• Ionic
• Corinthian
• brightly painted
• Roman domes
• massive size shows Rome’s power
• sculpture
• Phidias
• human forms
• heroic-realistic form
• religious inspiration
• realistic human qualities
• drama
• comedy & tragedy
• people easily ensnared in situations of powerful emotion and uncontrollable consequences
• Sophocles
• Oedipus
• literature
• Homer
• Illiad & Odyssey
• Vergil
• poet

9. Describe the social divisions, gender relationships, and inequalities in the Greco-Roman world.

• merchants were just under highest class
• popular use of slaves
• farmers = poor
• father in control
• punished wife as he saw fit
• women
• important in farming & artisan families
• power & influence in high class families
• by law, inferior
• divorce by adultery
• women lose 1/3 of property
• special garment

10. How did Rome unify its vast empire and diverse peoples?

• trade
• tolerance

Chapter 5 Classical Period: Directions, Diversities, and Declines By 500 C.E.
1. Describe the connections between Egypt, Kush, Axum, and Ethiopia.

• Kush
• writing derived from Egyptian hieroglyphics
• conquered Egypt around 750 BCE
• Axum
• defeated Kush by 300 BCE
• like Ethiopia, had active contacts w/ Mediterranean world
• Ethiopia
• after Axum
• like Axum, had active contacts w/ Mediterranean world

2. How did sub-Saharan Africa, north of the rainforest, transform during this period?

• knowledge of iron-working spread
• strong ceremonial kingship/”divine kingship”
• Kushite writing did NOT spread
• expansion of agriculture
• villages emerged
• regional kingdoms
• Ghana

3. Describe the rise of civilization in the Americas.

• Olmecs
• 800 - 400 BCE
• no writing
• massive, pyramid-shaped religious monuments
• corn, potatoes
• turkeys, dogs, guinea pigs
• use of jade
• statues blend human & animal images
• accurate calendars
• Maya
• Teotihuacan
• first great city
• center for trade & worship
• hieroglyphic alphabet
• developed in isolation
• Inca
• developed in isolation

4. Describe the reasons for the decline and fall of classical

A) China

• outside invasion by nomadic tribes
• Confucian intellectual activity creative
• gov control
• bureaucrats corrupted
• landlords take rule
• new taxes for peasants
• lost farms & became day-laborers
• sell children
• social unrest
• Daoists revolt
• change of popular religion
• attacked weaknesses of emperor & bureaucracy
• population & prosperity

B) India

• outside invasion by Huns
• warrior caste of India
• form new ruling group of regional princes/ “Rajput”
• controlled small states
• military
• Gupta emperors could not control local princes
• Islam
• strengthen Hindu devotion
• distracted achievements in other fields

5. What endured the fall of their classical civilizations?

• China
• bureaucracy
• Confucian values & style of life
• India
• prosperity
• Buddhism
• Hinduism
• caste system

6. Describe the reasons for the fall of the Roman civilization.

• pop
• difficulty recruiting effective armies
• tax collection difficult
• economy failing
• brutal emperors
• political confusion = weak rule
• plagues
• new knowledge not being generated
• HIGH CLASS SOUGHT PLEASURE = LESS CHILDREN, LESS KNOWLEDGE, SUPERFICIAL VALUES, UNPRODUCTIVE LIFESTYLE

7. Describe the impact of Rome’s fall on

A) Middle East

• formation of Byzantine Empire
• attempt to unify Mediterranean world again
• Sassanid empire
• preservation of Persian culture

B) North Africa

• regional kingdoms
• Augustine
• African Christianity
• Islam
• Arab empire

C) Italy, Spain, and northern Europe

• crude, regional Germanic kingdoms developed
• cities shrank
• trade disappeared
• no sophisticated culture

8. How did migrations threaten classic empires and civilizations?

• tore down long-lasting cultures

9. How and why did Christianity and Buddhism spread during the late classical period?

• plagues = new interest in belief systems
• provide solace amid rising death rates
• political instability = religious surge
• Christianity
• problems in Mediterranean world
• Buddhism
• problems in China

10. How did Buddhism change during this period, especially as it entered China?

• monks
• bodhisattvas
• saints
• ethics  salvation
• “Mahayana” Buddhism / The Greater Vehicle
• Buddha = divine savior
• organization w/ priests, temples, creeds, rituals
• women had souls
• Buddhism = meaningful life for women
• afterlife

11. How did Christianity develop during this period?









Vocab

1. Syncretism

• the mixing of two religions
• Christianity & Greco-Roman Religion
• Greco-Roman World
• Aryan Invaders & Hinduism
• India

2. Coptic Christianity

• Africa
• developed in Ethiopia
• trade
• Classical Era
• mix of African tribal beliefs with Christianity

3. Mahayana Buddhism

• China
• fat buddha
• Buddha = god/savior
• monks
• Classical Era

4. Theravada Buddhism

• East Asian form
• Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia
• skinny Buddha
• values self deprivation
• Classical Era

5. Legalism

• China
• Qin Dynasty
• strict laws ensure moral behavior

6. Zoroastrianism

• Persian Empire
• material existence = battle between good & evil

7. Filial Piety

• belief of Confucianism
• son father
• Han Dynasty
• China

8. Mandarin

• Han Dynasty
• high class of China
• scholars

9. Jatis

• subclasses of Hinduism
• India

10. Vedas

• Aryan hymns
• oral written in sacred books
• 6th century BCE

11. Stupas

• stone shrines
• housed bones/hair/personal possessions **RELICS** of Buddha
• preserved Buddhist architectural forms

12. Ashoka

• grandson of Chandragupta Maurya
• Mauryan Dynasty
• conquered Indian subcontinent
• spread of Buddhism

13. Upanishads

• later books of the Vedas
• sophisticated/philosophical ideas
• Brahmins & religious authority

14. Rajputs

• regional princes
• Hun Invasion
• manorialism/feudalism

15. Twelve Tables

• Rome’s first code of law
• 450 BCE
• restrained upper classes from bending rules

16. Hellenistic

• Greece
• time of great cultural achievement/revolution
• Alexandar the Great
• spread of Greece influence

17. Direct Democracy

• Greece
• people vote directly on laws rather than representatives
• 5th century

18. Republic

• Rome
• 1st century
• representatives
• reconcile Greek politics
• FAIL

19. Patrician

• large land owners
• Rome

20. Plebian

• low class peasants

21. Silk Routes

• trade routes
• connect China, ME, Mediteranean World
• cultural diffusion

22. Olmecs

• 1200 BCE
• Mexico
• featured irrigated agriculture, urbanism, elaborate religion, beginnings of calenrical and writing systems

23. Teotihuacan

• controlled Mayan cities
• Mexico
• population of 200,000
• urban center with important religious functions

24. Maya

• southern Mexico & Central America
• monumental architecture
• religion
• human sacrifice
• written language
• calender
• math systems

25. Yellow Turbans

• Chinese Daoists
• revolt in 184 CE
• golden age brought about my divine magic

26. Huns

• nomadic people from Asia
• cause of Classical invasions

27. Parthians

• took control of Mediteranean World
• after Rome’s fall
• mostly Persian
• ended in 227 CE

28. Sassanids



29. Bodhistavas



30. Monasticism



Identify Who? What? Where? When?