StudySpace: Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, 2 e.

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1. Political Expansion and Cultural Diffusion
1. Alexander the Great's armies linked the Hellenistic world to many other regions.
1. Did not eradicate local culture but linked it or changed it
2. Hellenism brought worlds together
3. Did not lead to a single common culture
2. Alexander's conquests laid the foundation for state systems
1. Those systems protected and stabilized trade
2. States encouraged use of money and common language
3. Larger trade routes, such as the Silk Road, established
3. Worlds had been linked before Alexander, especially through migration, trade, and technological diffusion
1. Alexander followed preexisting paths
2. His conquests expanded and accelerated the links between world regions
3. Buddhist influence also spread with the new contacts
4. Interconnections of trade and cultural diffusion enhanced regional integration
1. New contacts and restimulated old ones
2. Long-distance caravans and sea voyages
2. The Emergence of a Cosmopolitan World
1. Conquests of Alexander the Great
1. Alexander from Macedonia, a frontier state of Greece
2. Between 334 and 323 B.C.E., commanded a mobile and technology advanced army
3. Macedonia had used gold resources and money from slave trade to build a powerful army
1. Heavily armored infantry
2. Tight phalanxes and large-scale shock cavalry
4. Alexander's father first conquered surrounding areas
5. Alexander took over and fought off the Persian Empire's invasion in 334 B.C.E.
6. Used speed and surprise to conquer new lands
7. Campaigns smashed barriers that had separated East and West
1. Alexander marries Roxana, a woman from Bactria
2. He established a capital in the East at Balkh
3. The conquests brought systems of monetary exchange and cultural ideas associated with Greek city-states
4. Money taken from Persia redistributed throughout Mediterranean city-states
2. Alexander's Successors and the Territorial Kingdoms
1. Alexander died in Babylon in 323 B.C.E. at age 33
2. His conquered lands fragmented, and his generals took over regions
1. Modeled themselves on regional rulers rather than Greek citizens
2. Brought the idea of absolute rulership to the region
3. Some women from powerful ruling families had a chance to rule, unlike in the Greek city-states
1. Berenice of Egypt (320-280 B.C.E.)
2. Cleopatra (30s B.C.E.)
4. Large territorial states emerged
1. Syria
2. Macedonia
3. Egypt
5. Middle-size kingdoms emerged
1. Pergamum in modern northwest Turkey
6. In other places, smaller state banded together to form confederations
3. Political states became bigger and more standardized
1. Expanded by integrating neighboring peoples as fellow subjects
2. Warfare continued as a larger and more complex scale
3. Parity between large states meant that the battles gained little for anyone
4. Diplomacy and treaties replaced fighting
3. Hellenistic Culture
1. Common culture included language, artistic style, and politics
1. Secular disciplines
2. Philosophical and political thinking
3. Popular entertainment
4. Public games
5. Art for art's sake
2. Throughout the conquered areas, evidence of Greek culture can be found
3. Some place resisted, whereas other embraced the spread of Hellenistic culture
1. Judea, mainly Jewish area, considered Greek ways lethal to their culture
2. Rome saw the Greek culture as a way to raise its status
3. Carthaginians helped spread the Greek ways
4. Common Language
1. Common (koine) Greek became the international language of the day
2. Benefited communication and exchange throughout the Afro-European world
5. Cosmopolitan Cities
1. Alexandria in Egypt exemplified the new city
1. Multiethnic due to in-migration
2. New urban culture emerged
3. Art needed to appeal to a broad audience
1. Plays began to have common plots and stock characters
4. Residents of cities thought of themselves as cosmopolitans (citizens of the universe) rather than just of one polis
5. Rulers took on a personality that set them apart from regular citizens
6. A cult of the self became part of the Hellenistic world
6. Philosophy and Religion
1. Individuals expressed their concern with self in many ways
2. Different philosophers promoted new ideas
1. Some emphasized nature, but others rejected old ways, such as traditional social status
1. Stoicism
3. Religion was also transformed through colonialization
1. The cult of Isis was revived from the pharoanic days
2. New religious beliefs and rituals were practiced
7. Hellenism and the Elites
1. Elite began to embrace Hellenism for status reasons
2. Romans borrowed from the Greeks, especially historical writing
8. Jewish Resistance to Hellenism
1. Jews had a long history of resistance against foreign rule
2. Although some Jews, especially elites, embraced Greek culture, others resisted
3. Rebellion occurred when Syrian overlords tried to forbid Jewish practices
9. Roman Hellenism and the Beginnings of the Roman Empire
1. City-state along Tiber River unites Italy
2. Rome became large territorial state
3. Adoption of Greek culture seen as "civilized"
4. Some elites resisted acceptance of Greek ways
1. Cato the Elder kept old ways while embracing new ones
10. Carthage, "Queen of the West"
1. Carthage adopted Hellenism on economic grounds
2. Trade expanded to southern France and West Africa
3. Carthaginians also known by Romans as Punic
4. Temples and public buildings reveal a hybrid nature of Hellenistic with Punic culture
11. Economic Changes and Mediterranean Unity: Plantation Slavery and Money-Based Economies
1. Unprecedented wealth in the Mediterranean world led to the establishment of large plantations worked by slaves
1. Slaves were either kidnapped or people conquered in warfare
2. Plantations devoted to producing surplus crops
3. Displaced free peasants to the already crowded cities
4. Slave uprisings between 135 and 70 B.C.E.
1. Eunus, a religious seer
2. Spartacus
2. Use of money for trade became widespread from Gaul to North Africa
1. Many different places began to coin their own money
3. Some areas on the fringes of the Mediterranean world sold their own people into slavery for money to purchase desirable commodities
3. Converging Influences in Central and South Asia
1. Influences from the Mauryan Empire (321-184 B.C.E.)
1. Alexander's occupation of the Indus Valley led to the rise of the Mauryan Empire
2. Chandragupta Maurya led the Magadha kingdom to control much of the North part of the peninsula
3. Mauryan Empire became first large-scale empire in South Asia and a model for later empires
1. Chandragupta ruled 321-297 B.C.E.
2. Used elephants in battle
4. Seleucid kingdom and Mauryan Empire reached a diplomatic agreement through trade and marriage
5. Mauryan Empire reached its height during reign of Asoka (Chandragupta's grandson)
1. Dynasty's last campaign against Kalinga
2. Terrible loss of life (100,000 soldiers killed; 150,000 people displaced)
3. Asoka issued an edict renouncing his brutal ways
6. Asoka's Buddhism influenced his rule
1. Built stupas (Buddhist dome monuments)
2. Ruled according to the dharma
3. Issued edicts and decrees in various languages including Greek
4. Art created during his rule showed the blending of Greek, Persian and Indian cultures
2. The Seleucid Empire and Greek Influences
1. A large number of Alexander's eastern outposts became major Greek cities.
2. Seleucus Nikator (312-281 B.C.E.) took over the eastern conquests of Alexander and expanded them, including Mesopotamia, Syria, and Persia
3. Greek soldiers settled in the conquered lands
1. Took local wives
2. Brought Greek ways to the local populations
3. Greek language and writing
4. Descendants grew up bilingual
3. The Kingdom of Bactria and the Yavanna Kings
1. Hellenistic influences increased in later regimes
2. Bactrian kingdom was a bridge between South Asia and the Greek world of the Mediterranean
1. Sent elephants to the Greek armies in the west
2. Greek art and coins showed fascination with elephants
3. Greek king Demetrius invaded India 200 B.C.E.
1. His generals extended the empire
2. Known as the Yavana kings
4. Material culture of the ancient city of Samarkand shows Greek influences
1. Administrative center
2. Greek architecture and art
3. Elite read poetry and philosophy
4. Worshiped Greek deities, Zoroastrian gods, and gods of Mesopotamia
5. Asian cities combined Asia culture with Greek culture
1. Temples showed cultural assimilation with foreign gods, wearing Greek garb
2. Greeks brought olives and vineyards
3. Coins had Greek inscriptions
4. Nomadic Influences of Parthians, Sakas, and Kushans
1. Invasions into central Asia weakened Hellenic influence
1. Parthians invaded in Iran in 130 B.C.E.
1. Became enemies of the Romans for 400 years
2. Greek commentators tell about the Parthians
3. Eastern frontier of Rome continued to trade even during war times
2. Nomadic people from Mongolia and Central Asia into India
1. Took over for the disintegrating empires of Alexander and Asoka
2. Abandoned equestrian, nomadic culture
3. Blended Greek and Buddhist religions
3. The Xiongnu, a tribal confederacy, emerged in east Asian steppe lands
1. Pushed the Saka tribes into southwest India
2. Parthians also entered Indus Valley
3. Lacked a writing system but imitated rulers who had drawn on Greek culture
4. The Yuezhi-Kushans most dynamic group to migrate
1. Unified all the tribes in the region
2. Established the Kushan dynasty
3. Played critical role in the formation of the Silk Road
4. Illiterate but adopted Greek as their official language
5. The Kushan rulers kept alive the influences of Hellenism in Afghanistan and northwestern India
1. Coins, weights, and measures at markets all based on Greek standards
6. Nomadic group continued to set themselves apart from locals through their dress and their equestrian skills
1. Horses became the most prestigious status symbol of the ruling elite
2. Began to consume exotic goods from the East
7. Successful rule of the Kushans stabilized the trade routes through Central Asia
4. The Transformation of Buddhism
1. India as a Spiritual Crossroads
1. India became a melting pot of ideas and institutions
2. Hellenism, nomadism, and Arab seafaring culture transformed India's Buddhism
3. Kushan rulers established a model of supporting and embracing local religions
1. Gave money to build shrines and to the monasteries
2. Buddhism changed as India's growing prosperity led to wealth in the monastic complexes
1. Buddhist monasteries open to the public as places of worship
2. The New Buddhism: The Mahayana School
1. New influences led to a new Buddhist school of theology, Mahayana
2. Ended debate over Buddha's status
3. Mahayana school said that Buddha was a deity
4. Religious tenants of Mahayana Buddhism more appealing to the average person
1. Bodhisattvas prepared the way and helped others reach "Buddha-lands"
2. Afterlife much more appealing
5. Mahayana (Great Vehicle) view was that it could help all individuals from a life of suffering into a happy existence
1. Avolokiteshvara (a bodhisattva) said he would stay and help guide those traveled in caravans or navigate ships
6. New ideas of Buddhism appeared in literature
1. Asvaghosa wrote a biography of Buddha with new fictive information, which became widely read
3. Cultural Integration
1. First-century B.C.E. texts showed colorful images of Buddha that were later used in creating art depicting the Buddha
2. Stupas and shrines, as well as sculpture showed the Buddha
3. The various depictions of Buddha reflected the local culture
1. Gandharan Buddhist art shows strong Greek and Roman artistic influences
4. Art shared common elements of giving the Buddha and bodhisattvas realistic human form
5. Buddhist art depicted a society of diverse populations
6. Long-distance and regional trade contributed to the transformation of Buddhism
1. Traders brought incense and jewels that went to the bodhisattvas and stupas
2. Monastic organizations treated traders well
5. The Formation of the Silk Road
1. Silk Road follows earlier trade routes established between China and Central Asia
1. New route expanded trade from Central Asia to Mediterranean
2. Traders traveled specific segments of the route
3. Waterways also become a way for long-distance trade
1. Better maritime technology allowed sailors to move away from coasts and trade across the Indian Ocean
2. Expansion of commerce and contacts between the Mediterranean and South Asia encouraged even more trade
1. Traders on camels or in ships brought commodities to market
2. Trade strengthened ongoing political and intellectual and spiritual shift
3. Long-distance exchanges altered the political geography of Afro-Eurasia
1. Long-standing empires like Egypt gave way to borderland regions, which formed their own empires through the commerce of trade
2. "Middle East" became the commercial middle ground between East and west
3. East Asia became connected to the west via central and South Asia
1. Silk, from the Greek and Roman name for the people of northwest China
4. Nomads, Frontiers, and Trade Routes
1. Long-distance trade routes developed from the ways of horse-riding nomads
2. Their constant movement exposed them to a greater variety of microbes and made them more immune than sedentary people
3. Steppe nomads were skillful archers on horseback
4. Served as cultural mediators to bring disparate Afro-Eurasian world together
5. Xiongnu nomads became powerful in China with their knowledge of metal technology and weapons
5. Early Overland Trade and Caravan Cities
1. Trade routes moved south and west
2. Caravan cities developed
1. Formed in strategic locations
2. Centers of Hellenistic culture
3. Many emerged at the northern end of a route that led through Arabia
1. Yemen-green at the end of the desert
1. Major gathering spot for spice traders
2. Sabaeans of Arabia became very wealthy from spice trade, especially frankincense and myrrh
3. Nabataeans were traders
1. Made money in water and food trade to travelers
4. Many Greek influences including an amphitheater carved out of the rock
5. Flourished until Romans took over
4. Nabataeans built a rock city called Petra as a trading post
6. The Western End of the Silk Road: Palmyra
1. With Petra's decline, Palmyra became the most important caravan city at the western end of the Silk Road
2. Roman citizens relied on Palmyra traders to get luxury goods
3. Local tribal chiefs had a good deal of local autonomy
1. Semitic dialect for daily life, Greek for business and administration
2. Textiles important to the trade, especially silks and cashmere wool
4. Money from trade went to build an impressive marble city in the desert.
1. Afterlife apparently very important to Palmyrans
1. Cemetery as big as the residential area
2. Hosted self-contained trading communities-fonduqs
7. Reaching China along the Silk Road
1. Silk in all its forms helped China grow rich and gain an upper hand in diplomacy
2. Trade in silk increased as the demand for the material increased
3. Around 300 B.C.E., China increasingly produced commercial crops
1. Merchants formed influential family lineages and guilds
4. Power shifted from agrarian elites into urban financiers and traders
1. Merchants expanded silk trade across Silk Road and South China Sea
2. Tollgates and customhouses appeared, but government also sought to facilitate trade and used military ships to help merchants
5. Silk was only one of many commodities that went west
6. No major ports developed in China that compared with places such as Palmyra
7. Chinese people and the Chinese state remained little affected by Hellenism and Mahayana Buddhism
1. Looked inward and laid foundations for Han Empire
8. The Spread of Buddhism along the Trade Routes
1. Monks spread religion along the same trade routes that goods traveled
1. Buddhism the most expansionist religion of the time
2. Monks from Kushan Empire spread Buddhism all the way to China
1. Buddhists texts translated into Chinese
3. Acceptance of Buddhism was slow and took several centuries
2. Buddhism did less well spreading to the West
1. Zoroastrian followers impeded the spread of Buddhism
9. Taking to the Seas: Commerce on the Red Sea and Indian Ocean
1. Land routes were tried and true, but had risks of robbers and limits in what could be carried
2. Arabs took risks and began to trade more by sea routes
1. Arab seafarers used the Indian Ocean to forge links between East Africa, Mediterranean, India, and Asia
2. Alexandria became a transit point for trade between East and West
3. Used new navigational techniques
1. Celestial bearings
2. Large ships (dhows)
3. Understood seasonal winds
4. Maritime knowledge reduced costs and multiplied the ports of call
3. Some historians argue that there were two silk roads: one by land and one by sea
6. Conclusion
1. Alexander's campaigns had a powerful effect on Afro-Eurasia, transforming its culture, governments, and economies
2. The Greek language and other aspects of Greek culture had long-lasting effects throughout South and Central Asia
3. Indigenous people embraced some aspects of the Greek culture and merged them with their own, especially in the case of religion
4. Influenced by nomads, invaders, and traders, India became a melting pot of ideals and cultures
5. Buddhism was transformed into a new, more accepted version
6. Commercial trade routes expanded with the trade of silks and spices on land and sea

 

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