1. Strayer Ch. 4 Lecture Notes
Classical Eurasian Empires
500 B.C.E. – 500 C.E.
Part II: Rome, China during Qin & Han Dynasties, India during Mauryan & Gupta Dynasties

2. Roman Empire

3. How do Imperial China & the Roman Empire Compare?
Both flourished between 200 B.C.E. & 200 C.E.
Both ruled territory roughly the same size
Both had between 50 – 60 million people under their controls
Controlled roughly half the world’s population

4. How did civilization in Rome begin?
Started as small, unimportant city-state in central Italy in 8th century B.C.E.
Overthrew king in 509 B.C.E. & established a republic
Republic – Society ruled by wealthy ruling class (patricians)

5. What was the political structure of early Rome like?
Initially ruled by two consuls advised by patrician assembly – senate
Class divisions caused conflict with poorer classes – plebeians
Conflict led to:
Development of written law code to protect plebeians
Public assemblies created to give poor a voice
Tribune created to represent plebeians & block unfavorable legislation
Citizens took great pride in freedoms & values of republic
Rule of law, rights of citizens, moral behavior – all referred to as “Ways of Ancestors”

6. How did the Roman Empire begin?
Began as an attempt in 490 B.C.E. with attempt to conquer the Italian peninsula
Took several hundred years to accomplish
Punic Wars with Carthage (264 – 146 B.C.E.)
Carthage = North African empire
Brought W. Mediterranean under control
Establish Rome as a navel power
Continued expansion conquering Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece & much of the rest of Western Europe
Reached maximum territorial extent in 200 B.C.E.
Expansion largely motivated as a way to sure up weaknesses, which then established other weaknesses

7. How did the Roman Army help expansion?
Soldiers joined to gain wealth/land
Wealthy joined to gain estates, promotions, or achieve political power
“Well-trained, well-fed, & well- rewarded.”
Skilled brutality directed towards enemies
Carthage totally destroyed, population killed or sold into slavery
Often generous towards conquered peoples
Maintain local rules
Some granted citizenship

8. How did Rome shift from Republic to Empire?
Obvious dilemma of republican government/values coexisting with huge empire
A few became very rich, masses grew poorer
Rise in power of small group of military leaders
Marius, Sulla, Pompey, Julius Caesar
Each recruited armies from poor & competed against each other
Led to civil war in 1st century B.C.E.
Julius Caesar wins, appointed dictator, then assassinated
Caesar Augustus (Octavian) granted title of Emperor in 27 B.C.E.
Official end of republic
Maintained forms of republic – senate, consuls, public assemblies to balance old with new

9. How did the Roman Empire affect the rest of Europe?
First two centuries of common era were times of security, grandeur, & prosperity for Mediterranean world
Referred to as “Pax Romana” or “Roman Peace”

10. Qin & Han China

11. How did China re-emerge?
Early Chinese civilizations of Shang/Zhou dynasties had vanished into warring states
Seven competing kingdoms
Many Chinese wanted reunification
Chinese state of Qin had achieved progress necessary for reunification around the same time as Rome
Established gov’t bureaucracy
Removed aristocracy
Adopted political philosophy of “legalism” – clear rules with harsh punishments
Equipped army with iron weapons
Large populations due to growing agriculture
Qin Shihuangdi launched military operation & reunified in 10 years – Shihuangdi = “First Emperor”

12. How did the Qin Empire affect the region?
Ruled from Korea, Mongolia, south to Vietnam
Chinese empire effectively began in 221 B.C.E. & ran to almost present day
Was established relatively quickly compared to Roman empire
Depended heavily on military force & brutality
Began construction of Great Wall of China by employing 100s of thousands
Standardized weights/measurements & written language
Brutality of Qin policies led to collapse & replacement of Han Dynasty
Replaced legalism with Confucianism – moderate

13. How did the Chinese & Roman Empires compare?
Both empires’ goals were to rule world
Both invested heavily in public works – Great Wall, aqueducts
Both sought support from god/gods
Rome worshipped deceased emperors as gods
Chinese saw emperor as “Son of Heaven” ruling with “Mandate of Heaven”
Power to govern so long as moral & benevolent
Emperor used rituals to balance heaven & earth

14. How did the Chinese & Roman Empires compare?
Both absorbed foreign religious traditions
Christianity – Rome
“Pax Romana” allowed for safe travel of followers on roads
Flourished in large lower class
After centuries of persecution, adopted Christianity in 4th century C.E. to bind empire together
Buddhism – China
Ignored by Han rulers
Collapse of Han dynasty in 200 C.E. caused loss of stable society
People sought comfort in Buddhism
Sui dynasty gave state support in 581 C.E.
Different in relationship to governed peoples
Romans were always small minority
Chinese had much larger ethnic population throughout empire

15. How did the Chinese & Roman Empires compare?
Both worked to assimilate conquered peoples into empire
Chinese encouraged adoption of language, culture, & intermarriage
Rome offered citizenship to conquered people who served empire
Citizenship = right to hold office, serve in legions, legal status
Role of language differed in each
Chinese characters (which represented words or ideas) could not be transferred easily to other languages
Roman language of Latin gave rise to modern languages of Spanish, Italian, French, & Portuguese
Government bureaucracy was much more elaborate in China than in Roman Empire
China even had schools to train government officials
Rome relied more on regional authorities and army

16. Why do empires falls? Han dynasty ended in 220 C.E.
Traditional date for the fall of western Roman Empire in 476 C.E.; eastern half survived as Byzantine Empire
Common factors:
Excessive size, over taxation, too expensive for available resources
No great technological breakthrough to enlarge resources
Tax evasion by large landowning families
Tax burden fell heavily to the poor
Rivalry between elite factions created instability
Epidemic disease
Threat from nomadic or semi-agricultural peoples on frontier

17. Why did Han China specifically collapse?
Peasant revolt protesting unfair tax practices called Yellow Turban Rebellion
Tension between emperor’s loyalists & government officials
“Barbarian” peoples on borders were increasingly problematic
Emperor no longer strong enough to keep them out

18. Why specifically did Rome collapse?
Germanic peoples to the north became increasingly problematic
Rivalries led to assassinations and short-lived emperors

19. What are the effects of imperial collapse?
Decline of urban life
Population decline
Reduction of international trade
Vast insecurity

20. How did the Roman & Han Chinese collapses affect life after?
Most important difference between collapse of Han & Roman empires: what happened next?
China – about 350 years of disorder, then creation of a similar imperial state (Sui, Tang, & Song dynasties)
Europe – no large-scale imperial system has even been successfully established in Western Europe since the Romans

21. Imperial India

22. How did the Indian Empire develop?
The idea of empire was much less prominent in India than in Persia, the Mediterranean, or China
Fall of Indus Valley civilization in B.C.E…
Creation of new civilization along Ganges River…
Establishment in Northern India of classic civilization of South Asia by 600 B.C.E.
Enormous political ethnic, cultural, & linguistic diversity
Indian civilization as a whole shaped by political fragmentation & cultural diversity
Identity provided by distinctive religious tradition (Hinduism) & social organization (caste system)

23. What was the Mauryan political structure like?

24. What came after the Mauryan Empire?
Gupta Empire (320 – 550 C.E.) and other short-lived empires followed

25. Why did India have difficulty maintaining an empire?
States failed to command loyalty
Great cultural diversity
Frequent invasions from Central Asia
Caste system encouraged local authorities
Indian trade flourished despite lack of unity
Merchants & artisan patronized public buildings & festivals
Hinduism & Buddhism spread through much of Asia
Indian mathematics & astronomy flourished

26. Who was the Mauryan Empire?
326 – 184 B.C.E.
Stimulated by Persian & Greek influence/invasion of northwest
Ruled all but southern tip of India
Population of around 50 million
Large military & civilian bureaucracy
State-operated industries
Ashoka (r. 268 – 232 B.C.E.) is best- known emperor, thanks to edicts
Mauryan Empire broke apart after Ashoka’s death