MMW Pages 70-81 Notes

Harappan Society o Named after Harrappa, one of two chief cities, developed in the Indus o Two problems we don’t know about Harappan, hard to excavate and no one to decipher

written records o Foundations of Harappan Society

The Indus Rivr

Like the Nile the indus draws its waters from rain and melting snow in towering mountains(from Hindu Kush and Himarlayas-world’s highest peaks

Indus deposits burden of rich soil in lowlands like Nile

Sowed wheat and barley, meat from herds of cattle, indus first domesticated chickens

Pakistan and Northern India- larger than Egypt and Mesopotamia Political Organization

Harappa and Mohenjo-daro big cities but not sure if they were political centers, no evidence of any political organization

Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro

Has city walls, a fortified citadel, and granary o Suggest that they served as centers of political authority and

where collected taxes

Both had marketplaces, temples, public buildings, broad streets

Mohenjo-Daro had large pools maybe for religious or ritual purposes

These two cities influenced other cities Specilized Labor and Trade

Pottery, tools and decorative items were traded domestically and in foreign

o Harappan Society and Culture- rich society Social Distinctions

Rulers wielded great authority from citadels

Peasants in jaro lied in one-room tenements in barrackslike

Found a bronze figurine of a dancing girl Fertility Cults

Strong concern for fertility

Recognized a mother goddess and a horned fertility god Harappan Decline

Ecological degradation was a major cause of decline o Deforestation led to erosion of topsoil and also to reduced

amounts of rainfall-became a desert

Periodic flooding also weakened this

Harappan beliefs did not die with them

The Indo-European Migrations and Early Aryan India o Nomadic and pastoral peoples speaking Indo-european languages-Aryans o Aryans and India

The Early Aryans

Kept sheeps and goats, horses, and cattles, heavily a pastoral economy

Aryans weren’t really hindus, ate beef

The Vedas

Their sacred language, Sanskrit

Vedas- the earliest and most important of which is the Rig Veda, a collection of 1,028 hymns addressed to Aryan gods

These represent a priestly perspective on affairs The Vedic Age

Aryans clashed with Dravidians- Aryans wrecked irrigation systems, etc

The Vedas identify Indra, the Aryan war god and military hero, as the one who ravaged citadels and smashed dams

The Aryans didn’t have a central govt. so they formed hundreds of chiefdoms organized around herding communities and agriculture, most chiefdoms had a raja, a king

Aryan Migrations in India

Aryan groups settled in Punjab- began to cultivate rice

Migrated to the Ganges river valley as well Changing Political Organizations

Councils of elders won recognition as the rincipal sources of poltical authority

o Directed affair of small republics

Chiefdoms developed into regional kingdoms o Origins of the Caste System

The Aryan socil structure rested on sharp hereditary distinction sbetween individuals and groups according to their occupations and roles in society

Caste- social class of hereditary and unchangeable status Caste ad Varna

Varna use to refer to major social classes, Varna means color in Sanskrit

Diistintcions arose from complexion Aryans- wheat colored Dravidians- darker skinned

Social Distinctions in the Late Vedic Age

Four main varnas- Brahmins(priests), Kshatriyas(warriors and aristocrats), vaishyas(cultivators, articans, and merchants), and shudras(landless peasants and serfs). And untouchables-people who performed dirty tasks

Rig Veda says varnas came from gods Subcastes and Jati

Occupation determined a person’s jati. People working at the same time in agiven area belonged to the same subcaste, untouchables belonged to jati

Elaborate rules dictated forms of address and specific behavior appropriate for communication between members of different castes and subcastes

Caste and Social Mobility

Could move up and down social ladder o Happened as a group with jatis

o The Development of Patriarchal Society Men dominated Aryan societies, priests, warriors, and tribal chiefs were men Women did not get educated or learn vedas

o The Lawbook of Manu Manu, founder of the human race according to indian mythology This dealt with proper moral behavior and social relationships The author advised men to treat women with honor and respect

o Sati Women voluntarily threw herself on the funeral pyre of her deceased husband

Religion in the Vedic Age o Aryan Religion

Aryan Gods

Indra-war god. He also had a domestic dimension, the Aryans associated him with the weather and the coming of rain to water

They also recognized the sky, the moon, fire, health, disease, dawn, and the underworld

They believed that the god Varuna presided over the ksy from his heavenly palace, where he oversaw the behabior of mortals

Ritual Sacrifices

Involved dozens sometimes hundreds of animals o They sought to gets gods support through this

Spirituality

Believed souls could experience transmigration and reincarnation

Beginning 800 bc many thoughtful individuals went to forests of the ganges valley where they live as hermits and relected on the relationships between humans the world and the gods.

MMW Pages 81-85

The Blending of Aryan and Dravidian Values o The Upanishads

(a sitting in front of)- refers to th practice of disciples gathering before a sage for discussion of religious issues

Most disciples men o Brahman, The Universal Soul

Taught that appearances are deceiving Thought that each person participates in a larger cosmic order and forms a small

part of a universal soul known as brahman

Brahman is an neternal, unchanging, permanent foundation for all things that exist

Authors of Upanishads believed that soul was born many times, but main goal for soul was to escape cycle of birth and rebirth and enter into Brahman

o Teachings of the Upanishads Samsara- upon death individual souls go temporarily to the world of the fathers

and then return to earth in new incarnations Karma- accounted for specific incarnations that souls experienced

Brhadaranyaka Upanishad- a man of good acts will become good and vice versa

Moksha- characterized as a deep, dreamless sleep that came with permanent liberation from physical incarnation

Way to get here was asceticism and meditation o Religion and Vedic Society

Doctrines of Samsara and karma reinforced the vedic social order They advocated honesty, self-contro, charity, and mercy Respected animals so vegetarians

MMW Notes Pages 168-183

The fortunes of Empire in Classical India o The Mauryan Dynasty and the Temporary Unification of India

520 BCE Persian emperor Darius conquered northwestern Indian and made the kingdom of Ghandhara in N. Punjab

Establishment of Achaemenid authority introduced Persian techniques Kingdom of Magadha

Located in ganges plain,

Started to expand into neighboring states, gained control of commerce with this

Chandragupta Maurya

First state to bring a centralized and unified govt. to most of the india

Started by taking Magadha

Conquered greek state in Bactria

By 4th century BCE he had india from indus to ganges (Northwestern) Chandragupta’s Govt.

Kautalya was an advisor and his advice survive in Arthashastra, a manual offering detailed instructions on the uses of power and principles of gov

o Ministering the empire, collecting taxes, maintaining order Ashoka Maurya

grandSon of Chandragupta Added southern india to empire

Ashoka was grandson, he conquered Kalinga to control trade

Ruled through a Bureaucracy, built capital at Pataliputra where a central administration developed policies for the whole empire

Had a central treasury which checked if taxes were collected

Buddhist

Expanded agriculture by building irrigation systems, built roads, Decline of the Mauryan Empire

Suffered from acute financial and economic difficulties o The emergence of Regional Kingdoms and The Revival of Empire

Bactrian Rule in Northwestern India

Regional kingdoms developed after mauryan empire fell

Northwestern india fell under the rule of Greek-Speaking conquerors from Bactria- they went as far south as Gujarat

o They linked commericial centers from china and Mediterranean basin

The Kushan Empire

Put an end to bactrian empire,

Served as cultural intermediaries because they kept trade safe between countries

Ghandhara style was important for the early development of Buddhist art

Gupta Dynasty

Guptas based their state in Magadha

Empire rose by Chandra Gupta in 320 BCE

The guptas left local govt. and administration and even the making of basic policy in the hands of their allies in the various regions of the empire

Science and Mathematics

Indian physicians developed techniques of plastic surgery and astronomers determined earth was a sphere

Mathematics was most important, they made 0

They calculated value of pi

And length of solar year Gupta Decline

The nomadic White Huns invaded

Regional governors usurped the imperial rights and powers, gupta declined

Economic Developmment and Social Distinctions o Agricultural surpluses encouraged emergence of towns, the growth of trade, and further

development of the caste system o Cleared forests o Towns and Trade

Towns and Manufacturing

Some towns provided manufactured goods, pots textiles iron tools

Saddalaputta owned 500 workshops of pottery distributed to the ganges valley

Long Distance Trade

Political foundation in places enabling merchants to deal with their counterparts in lands

Indians went to Persia and Mediterranean basin also to china o Exported cotton, armoatics, black pepper, pearls, and gems o Imported horses and bullion and silk

Trade in the Indian Ocean Basin

Sailed to Indonesia where they exchanged pearls, cotton, and black peppers for spices and exotic local products

o Family Life and the Caste System Gender Relations

Patriarchal families

Women were largely subordinate to men

Mahabharata and Ramayana portray this

Child marriages

Women devoted themselves to family matters Social Order

Trade and industries encouraged development of caste system Castes and Guilds

Individuals working in the same craft or trade usually joined to form a guild, a coporate body that supervised prices and wages in a given industry and provided welfare of members and their families

Guilds functioned as subcastes known as jati, based on occupation

Guilds intermarried Wealth and Social Order

Members of vaishya and shudra had the obligation to work as directed by the higher castes, trade brought wealth to vaishyas and sometimes shudras to became wealthier and more influential than their Brahmin and Kshatriya contemporaries

Religioons of Salvation in Classical India o Charvakas had materialistic view, that human beings came from dust no gods o Jainism and the Challenge to the Established Cultural Order

Vardhamana Mahavira

Jainism- this teacher turned to this religion in late 6th century

Jainist doctrine came from Upanishads, they believe that everything in the universe posess a soul

o Only by purification of selfish behavior could the souls gain release from their imprisonment

Jainist Ethics o Purified by ahimsa, nonviolence

Vegetarian, swept floors to avoid invisible insects

Appeal of Jainism o No class distinctions o However very hard to observe

o Early Buddhism Siddhartha Gautama

Came from a Kshatriya family like mahavira

He decided to take up an ascetic, wandering life like the monk to understand suffering

Gautama’s Search for Enlightenment

Sat in meditation for 49 days until he found out what suffering was o he became Buddha after this, the enlightened one

The Buddha and His Followers

Gave sermon to his religion, named Turning of the Wheel of the Law Buddhist Doctrine: The Dharma

Four Noble Truths- teaches that all life involves suffering, that desire is the cause of suffering; that elimination of desire brings an end to suffering; and that a disciplined life conducted in accordance with the Noble Eightfold path brings the elimination of desire

o Leave luxury o Includes right belief, resolve, speech, behavior, occupation,

effort, contemplation, meditation

Nirvana- a state of perfect spiritual independence

Dharma- doctrine of Buddhists Appeal to Buddhism

Did not recognize social distinctions

Used regular language not Sanskrit

Stupas- shrines housing relics of Buddha Ashoka’s Support

Official patronage fromm mauryan dynasty

He may have followed bcuz he was saddened by death of kalingans

He sponsored it and followed it very well in his empire

o Mahayana Buddhism Attracted low class people A truly righteous existence involved considerable sacrifice: giving up personal

property, forsaking the search for social standing, and resolutely detaching oneself from the charms of family and the world

Development of Buddhism

Started to consider Buddha as god, made people closer to Buddhism

Bodhisattvas- were individuals who had reached spiritual perfection and merited the reward of nirvana, but who intentionally delayed their entry into nirvana to help others struggling

The Spread of Mahayana Buddhism

Mahayana lenient doctrine of Buddhism than Theravada Buddhism. o Means greater vehicle

Nalanda

Monasteries became education institutions

At Nalanda, it was possible to study not only Buddhism but also the Vedas, Hindu philosophy, logic, mathematics, astrology, and medicine

o The Emergence of Popular Hinduism This addressed the interests and met the needs of ordinary people The Epics

The two great books illustrate development of Hindu values

Mahabharata- bloody civil war for the control of northern india between two groups of cousins

o Had a poem for the god Vishnu, the preserver of the world who intervened frequently on behalf of virtuous individuals

Ramayana- a love and adventure story involving the trials faced by the legendary prince Rama and his wife Sita.

o Ideal Hindu couple o Rama an incarnation of Vishnu o Rama saves Sita from demon king of Ceylon, Ravan

MMW Notes Page 86-105

Political Organization in Early China o Yellow River and Yangzi River valleys

Regional states Xia, Zhou, Shang dynasties, put most of china under their control o Early Agricultural Society and Xia Dynasty

The Yellow River

Has nickname China’s sorrow; tried to limit flood damage

No need to build irrigation systems bcuz of rain Yangshao Society and Banpo Village

5000-3000BCE Yangshao, included Banpo, found pottery and tools The Xia Dynasty

First to try to organize public life in china

Sage-King Yu, with the organization of effective flood-control projects, helped to recognize authorities

Had palace type strucures and modest houses o Shang Dynasty

1766-1122 BCE Bronze Metallury and Horse Drawn Chariots

Southwest Asia brought these to china

Shang monopolized the production of bronze in the Yellow river valley by controlling access to copper and tin ores

Made them more powerful than Xia

Were a military machine Shang Political Organization

Authority rested on a vast network of walled towns whose local rulers recognized the authority of the Shang Kings

Advisors, ministers, craftsmen, and metalsmiths had agricultural surplus and helped shape policy or spread influence throughout state

The Shang Capital at Ao

Has a huge city wall- required 10000 workers The Shang Capital at Yin

Had royal palaces and homes, many tombs similar to Egyptian tombs

People joined Shang King in death- like 300- wives, servants The Tomb of Lady Fu Hao

Wife of Shang king Wu Ding, tomb contained many weapons, bronze objects,

Beyond the Yellow River Valley o Zhou Dynasty

Unlike Mesopotamia, shang rulers ruled by proclamation or decree, trusting their military forces and political allies to enforce their will

Rise of the Zhou

Many towns shifted loyalties to Zhou bcuz last ruler was a fool The Mandate of Heaven

The Zhou theory of politics rested on the assumption that earthly events were closely related to heavenly affairs

Son of heaven was allowed to govern, ruler served as link between heaven as earth

Political Organization

Zhou rulers relied on a decentralized administration: they entrusted power to subordinates who in return owed allegiance to the central gov

Weakening of the Zhou

Subordinates established their own bases of ppower o Made armies and bureaucracies

Iron Metallurgy

Zhou couldn’t get iron, subordinates did tho

771BCe nomads invaded

Last centuries of Zhou known as Period of Warring States 403-221 bce

Society and Family in Ancient China o The Social Order

Ruling Elites

Nobles families and royal family had highest position, lived in palatial compounds

Possession of bronze set them apart Specialized Labor

People who worked exclusively for the privileged classes enjoyed a reasonably comfortable existence; manufacturers of silk benefited socially bcuz of their importance to the ruling elites

Merchants and Trade

Trade networks linked china with lands to the west and south Peasants

Owned no land and provided agriculture military

Relied on wooden diging sticks, and spades with bone or stone tips Slaves

Enemy warriors captured during battles between many competing states of ancient china

Cleared new fields or building of city walls o Family and Patriarchy

Veneration of Ancestors

Spirits of their ancestor passed into another realm of existence from which they had power to support families

Buried things along with the dead

Patriarchal head organized rites bcuz no religion Patriarchal Society

Respected women

Elder men in charge of Chinese society Women’s Influence

Fu Hao supervised her estate and presided over sacrificial ceremonies that were usually the responsibility of men who were heads of their households

o Served as general in military

Matrilineal character was lost gradually

Early Chinese Writing and Cultural Development o Tian- (heaven) the agent responsible for bestowing and removing the mandate of

heaven on rulers

o Did not believe in a supreme deity o Writing came into extensive use in Shang dynasty o Oracle Bones and Early Chinese Writing

Shang royal court kept records on strips of bamboo or silk Wrote on Oracle Bones

Used by fortune tellers in china

Oracle bones had questions about the state itself Early Chinese Writing

Used pictograph like Egyptians first form o Thought and Literature in Ancient China

Zhou dynasty produced books of poetry, history, manuals of divination and ritual, and essays

o Zhou Literature Served as textbooks in Chinese schools Book of Changes, which was a manual instructing diviners in the art of

foretelling the future Book of History, a collection of docs that justified the Zhou state and called for

subjects to obey overlords Book of Rites/Etiquettes taught polite behavior

o Books of Songs 600 BCE some of the poems had political implications bcuz they recorded

illustrious deeds of heroic figures Many of them are about life love family

o Destruction og Early Chinese Literature Qin brought all of China under centralized rule, the emperor ordered the

destruction o all writings

Ancient China and The Larger World o Chinese cultivators and Nomadic Peoples Of Central Asia

Steppe Nomads

These domesticated horses, cattle, sheep, goats, and yaks Nomadic Society

Did little farming

Herded animals, they were intermediaries in trade networks

Zhou state almost crumbled bcyz of nomadic pressure o The Southern Expansion of Chinese Society

The Yangzi Valley

Supports more agriculture than yellow river

Had to make irrigation system no floods The State of Chu

Communicated with Zhou

Located in Yangzi

MMW Notes 148-155

In search of Political and Social Order o Confucius and His School

Confucius

Kong Fuzi- address political and social order (Master Philosopher Kong) Confucian Ideas

Compiled his sayings in a book called the Analects

Confucius belived that the best way to promote good govt. was to fill official positions with individuals who were both educated and conscientious.

Junzi- superior individuals, took a broad view of public affairs and did not allow personal interest to influence judgments

Examined Book of Songs, History and Rites Confucian Values

Ren- an attitude of kindness and benevolence or a sense of humanity o These people who possessed this were respectful, diligent, and

loyal

Li- a sense of propriety, which called for individuals to behave in conventionally appropriate fashion, they should treat all other human beings with courtesy, while showing special respect and deference to elder

Xiao- filial piety, which reflected the high significance of family in Chinese society

o Respect parents Mencius

Principal spokesman of Confucian schools

Advised political leaders to levy light taxes, avoid wars, support education, follow ren basically

Xunzi

Xunzi emphasized li.

Advocated the establishment of clear, well-publicized standards of conduct that would set limits on the pursuit of individual interest and punish those who neglected their obligations to the larger society

o Daoism Laozi and Daodejing

Founded Daoism Laozi

Daodejing(Classic of the Way and of Virtue) o Basic exposition of Daoist beliefs traditionally ascribed to Laozi

Zhuangzi also important book- provided well-reasoned collection of Daoist views

The Dao

The way of nature

Dao- figures as the force of the cosmos, an eternal and unchanging principle that governs all the workings of the world

The Doctrine of Wuwei

Trait- disengagement from the competitive exertions and active involvement in affairs of the world

The less govt. the better Political Implications of Daoism

Served as a counterbalance to the activism and extroversion of the Confucian tradition

o Legalism Devoted attention exclusively to the states Shang Yang

Chief minister to the duke of the Qin state

The book of Lord Shang has his policies Han Feizi

Most systematic

Advisor in Qin Legalist Doctrine

Foundations of a state’s strength were agriculture and armed forces

Faith in laws

Had strict laws on the littlest of crimes, amputation for littering

Brought about an end to the warring state period

MMW Notes Pages 156-159

Unification of China o The Qin Dynasty

The Kingdom of Qin

Granted land rights to individual cultivators weakening the economic position of hereditary aristocratic classs

o This allowed qin to establish a centralized bureaucratic rule throughout the state

Built an army with most effective iron weapons The First Emperor

221 BCE king of qin proclaimed himself emperor o Qin SHihuangdi

Dynasty ended 207 BCE

Governed from Xianyang

He divided remainder of china into administrative provinces and districts, disarmed regional armies, destroyed fortresses that might be points of rebellion, built roads and defensive walls –precursor to Great Wall of China

The Burning of the Books

Daoists, Confucians, and others launches campaign against empire which made Qin execute and burn the books of philosophy

o Some people hid books or rewrote them Qin Centralization

Standardized laws, currencies, weights, and measures Standardized Scripts

Qin mandated the use of a common script, people spoke many languages but wrote in one

o Enabled people to talk to others from other linguistic backgrounds

Tomb of the First Emperor

Rare and expensive grave goods accompanied him, along with slaves, concubines, and craftsmen

Had traps rigged to fire at intruders

Entire army of life-size pottery figures to guard the emperor in death o The Early Han Dynasty

Liu Bang

Commander that restord order to china and established himself at the head of a new dynasty in 206 bce

Han longest and most influential dynasty

They consolidated the tradition of centralized imperial rule that the qin dynasty had pioneered

Former Han ruled at Chang’an

Later Han moved capital to Luoyang Early Han Polices

He allotted large landholdings to members of imperial family so they would provide a reliable network of support

He divided the empire into administrative districts governed by officials

Did not trust family later on bcuz he didn’t receive support from them The Martial Emperor, Han Wudi

Imperial throne for 54 years 141-87 bce

Pursued administrative centralization and imperial expansion Han Centralization

Relied on Legalist principles-Han Wudi

He levied taxes on agriculture, trade, and craft industries to finance machinery of govt. c

MMW Notes 65-67, 106-111, 116-125

Bantu Migrations and Early Agricultural Societies of Sub-Saharan Africa o The Dynamics of Bantu Expansion

The Bantu

Bantu language spoken in western Africa- Niger Congo

Means persons or people

Lived in clan based villages led by chiefs who conducted religious rituals and represented their villages

Bantu Migrations

Spreaded south into west African forests

Agricultural surpluses allowed them to increase more rapidly Iron and Migration

Migrations quickened when iron tools and weapons were made o Early Agricultural Societies of Sub-Saharan Africa

Kushite herders pushed into east Africa o Spread of Agricultur

Cultivators went to east and south Africa o Religious Beliefs

Monotheistic religious beliefs by 5000 bce Sudanic peoples recognized a single, impersonal divine force

Nyamba who created the world and established principles that would govern it

Early Societies of Mesoamerica o The Olmecs

Early Agriculture in Mesoamerica

Cultivated food and domesticated dogs and turkeys Ceremonial Centers

Centers with monumental pyramids, temples, and palaces arose alongside the agricultural villages

Olmecs: The Rubber People

Gulf of Mexcio coast- nerve center for Olmec society

Constructed drainage systems

Influenced other civilizations in area Olmec Society

Authoritarian, had an Olmec elite and subjects Trade in Jade and Obsidian

Made decorative stuff from jade which they impoprted o The Heirs of the Olmecs: The Mayas

The Maya

Near southern mexico

Built teples

Teotihuacan in central mecixo Tikal

Maya political center

Organized themselves into small city kingdoms

Early Societies of South America

Early Andean Society and the Chavin Cult o Peru and Bolivia o Did not stay in contact with Mesoamerica o Early Agriculture in South America

Beans peanuts potatoes Cotton

o The Chavin Cult Cult arose when maize became an important crop

o Early Cities Ceremonial centers rather than cities

Early Andean States Mohica o Political and Economic Integration of the Andean Valleys

Conquerors unifed separate valleys o The Mohica State

Mochica painting survives on pottery

Had everyday life, gods, deities Early Societies of Ocenia

Early Societies in Australia and New guinea o Hunter gatherers

Small, mobile communities Planted foods

o Austronesian Peoples Seafaring people from southeast asia

o Early Agriculture in New Guinea Yams, taro, pigs, chickens,

The Peopling of the Pacific Islands o Didn’t have sailing technology to sail farther than solomons and Bismarck o Austronesian migrations to Polynesia

Exploratory voyages o Austronesian Migrations to Micronesia and Madagascar o The Lapita Peoples

First to sail out into pacific Raised pigs and chickens Pottery was valuable

o Chiefly Political Org Trade networks fell bcuz could provide for self Hierarchical chiefdoms where son received power next