Key Concept 2.1 The Development and Codification of Religious and Cultural Traditions "As states and empires increased in size and contacts between regions multiplied, religious and cultural systems were transformed. Religions and belief systems provided a bond among the people and an ethical code to live by. These shared beliefs also influenced and reinforced political, economic, and occupational stratification. Religious and political authority often merged as rulers (some of whom were considered divine) used religion, along with military and legal structures, to justify their rule and ensure its continuation. Religions and belief systems could also generate conflict, partly because beliefs and practices varied greatly within and among societies." [1]

I. Codifications and further developments of existing religious traditions provided a bond among

people and an ethical code to live by.

A. We saw previously that the Hebrews developed a monotheistic faith. As their numbers grew and they

became a more organized society, their beliefs, ceremonial laws, history, and hymns became codified into a

common body of scripture. This collection of scripture is called the Torah (or Tanakh) and corresponds with

what non-Jews call the Old Testament of the Bible. Torah prescribes detailed guidelines covering ethics,

social and civil relations, and even rules about diet and personal hygene. Taken together, the beliefs and

practices codified in the Torah formed the religion of Judaism, a monotheistic religion inexorably connected

with a specific ethnic group, the Hebrews (or Jews). Central to this religion is the belief that the Hebrews

entered into a special covenantal relation with their God through the patriarch Abraham.

These guidelines, compounded with the belief that the creator God had chosen them as a special ethnic

group, endowed the Jewish people with a well defined sense of identity. This sense of identity would follow

them as foreign empires conquered the Hebrews and led them into captivity (see map at right). As captives

of foreign empires, some cultural influence from their host civilizations was inevitable; nevertheless, even

as diasporic communities the Hebrews attempted to preserve their identity through ceremonial and

cultural traditions. This struggle to avoid assimilation helped maintain their identity but also sometimes

brought them into conflict with their host cultures.

B. Around this same time (600-500 B.C.E.) the Vedic Period in South Asia was coming to a close. In Key

Concept 1.3 we saw that as the Aryans settled down and took up agriculture the system of priestly sacrifices

outlined in the Vedas were not as relevant to their sedentary way of life. The reaction against the stale

formalism of the Vedic Period begins with the a body of writings known as the Upanishads. The name

Upanishads implies one who sits at the feet of a master; we see the shift away from the official priests to an

emphasis on wandering mystic teachers or gurus. The Upanishads have less to do with formal rituals and

focus instead on reflections about life's meaning and how man is related to the universe. Although the

influence of the Vedas would remain strong in South Asia, the Upanishads added ideas about

reincarnation, karma, and the imperishable atman that resides in every living thing. From the foundations of

the Vedas and the philosophical musings of the Upanishads arose the religion of Hinduism.

The beginnings of Hinduism are difficult to trace, but the religion originated with the polytheism that the

Aryans brought as they began invading the Indian subcontinent sometime after 2000 BCE. Aryan priests

recited hymns that told stories and taught values and were eventually written down in The Vedas, the sacred

texts of Hinduism. One famous story is The Ramayana that tells about the life and love of Prince Rama and

his wife Sita. Another epic story is The Mahabharata, which focuses on a war between cousins. Its most

famous part is called The Bhagavad Gita, which tells how one cousin, Arjuna, overcomes his hesitations to

fight his own kin. The stories embody important Hindu values that still guide modern day India.

Hinduism assumes the eternal existence of a universal spirit that guides all life on earth. A piece of the spirit

called the atman is trapped inside humans and other living creatures. The most important desire of the

atman is to be reunited with the universal spirit, and every aspect of an individual's life is governed by it.

When someone dies, their atman may be reunited, but most usually is reborn in a new body. A person's

caste membership is a clear indication of how close he or she is to the desired reunion. Some basic tenets

of Hinduism are:

Reincarnation - Atman spirits are reborn in different people after one body dies. This rebirth has no

beginning and no end, and is part of the larger universal spirit that pervades all of life.

Karma - This widely used word actually refers to the pattern of cause and effect that transcends

individual human lives. Whether or not an individual fulfills his/her duties in one life determines what

happens in the next.

Dharma - Duties called dharma are attached to each caste position. For example, a warrior's

dharma is to fight honorably, and a wife's duty is to serve her husband faithfully. Even the lowliest caste has

dharma attached to it. If one fulfills this dharma, the reward is for the atman to be reborn into a higher caste.

Only the atman of a member of the highest caste (originally the priests) has the opportunity to be reunited

with the universal spirit.

The universal spirit is represented by Brahman, a god that takes many different shapes. Two of Brahman's

forms are Vishnu the Creator, and Shiva the Destroyer. Hinduism is very difficult to categorize as either

polytheistic or monotheistic because of the central belief in the universal spirit. Do each of Brahman's forms

represent a different god, or are they all the same? Brahman's forms almost certainly represent different

Aryan gods from the religion's early days, but Hinduism eventually unites them all in the belief in Brahman.

II. New belief systems and cultural traditions emerged and spread, often asserting universal truths.

A. A new major world religion began in this time period as an offshoot of Hinduism. Buddhism began in

India in the Ganges River area during the 6th century BCE. Its founder was Siddhartha Guatama, who later

became known as the Buddha, or the "Enlightened One." Siddhartha was the son of a wealthy Hindu prince

who grew up with many advantages in life. However, as a young man he did not find answers to the

meaning of life in Hinduism, so he left home to become an ascetic, or wandering holy man. His

Enlightenment came while sitting under a tree in a Deerfield, and the revelations of that day form the basic

tenets of Buddhism:

The Four Noble Truths - 1) All of life is suffering; 2) Suffering is caused by false desires for things

that do not bring satisfaction; 3) Suffering may be relieved by removing the desire; 4) Desire may be

removed by following the Eightfold Path.

The Eightfold Path to Enlightenment - The ultimate goal is to follow the path to nirvana, or a state

of contentment that occurs when the individual's soul unites with the universal spirit. The eight steps must be

achieved one by one, starting with a change in thoughts and intentions, followed by changes in life style and

actions, that prelude a higher thought process through meditation. Eventually, a "breakthrough" occurs when

nirvana is achieved that gives the person a whole new understanding of life.

Note that Hinduism supported the continuation of the caste system in India, since castes were an outer

reflection of inner purity. For example, placement in a lower caste happened because a person did not fulfill

his/her dharma in a previous life. Higher status was a "reward" for good behavior in the past. Although

Buddhism, like Hinduism, emphasizes the soul's yearning for understandings on a higher plane, it generally

supported the notion that anyone of any social position could follow the Eightfold Path successfully.

Buddhists believed that changes in thought processes and life styles brought enlightenment, not the powers

of one's caste. Although the Buddha actively spread the new beliefs during his long lifetime, the new religion

faced oppression after his death from Hindus who saw it as a threat to the basic social and religious

structure that held India together. Buddhism probably survived only because the Mauryan emperor Ashoka

converted to it and promoted its practice. However, in the long run, Buddhism did much better in areas

where it spread through cultural diffusion, such as Southeast Asia, China, and Japan.

B. Three important belief systems (Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism) emerged in China during the

Warring States Period (403-221 BCE) between the Zhou and Han Dynasties. Although the period was

politically chaotic, it hosted a cultural flowering that left a permanent mark on Chinese history.

Confucius contemplated why China had fallen into chaos, and concluded that the Mandate of Heaven had

been lost because of poor behavior of not only the Chinese emperor, but all his subjects as well. His plan for

reestablishing Chinese society profoundly affected the course of Chinese history and eventually spread to

many other areas of Asia as well. He emphasized the importance of harmony, order, and obedience and

believed that if five basic relationships were sound, all of society would be, too:

Emperor/subject - the emperor has the responsibility to take care of his subjects, and subjects must

obey the emperor

Father/son - the father takes care of the son, and the son obeys the father

Older brother/younger brother - the older brother takes care of the younger brother, who in turn

obeys him

Husband/wife - the husband takes care of the wife, who in turn obeys him

Friend/friend -The only relationship that does not assume inequality should be characterized by

mutual care and obedience.

Confucius also defined the "superior man" - one who exhibits ren (kindness), li (sense of propriety), and Xiao

(filial piety, or loyalty to the family). Confucianism accepted and endorsed inequality as an important part of

an ordered society. It confirmed the power of the emperor, but held him responsible for his people, and it

reinforced the patriarchal family structure that was already in place in China. Because Confucianism focused

on social order and political organization, it is generally seen as a philosophy rather than a religion.

Religions are more likely to emphasize spiritual topics, not society and politics.

C. The founder of Daoism is believed to have been Laozi, a spiritualist who probably lived in the 4th century

BCE. The religion centers on the Dao (sometimes referred to as the "Way" or "Path"), the original force of

the cosmos that is an eternal and unchanging principle that governs all the workings of the world. The Dao is

passive - not active, good nor bad - but it just is. It cannot be changed, so humans must learn to live with it.

According to Daoism, human strivings have brought the world to chaos because they resist the Dao. A chief

characteristic is wuwei, or a disengagement from the affairs of the world, including government. The less

government, the better. Live simply, in harmony with nature. Daoism encourages introspection, development

of inner contentment, and no ambition to change the Dao.

Both Confucianism and Daoism encourage self knowledge and acceptance of the ways things are.

However, Confucianism is activist and extroverted, and Daoism is reflective and introspective. The same

individual may believe in the importance of both belief systems, unlike many people in western societies who

think that a person may only adhere to one belief system or another.

D. Christianity grew directly out of Judaism, with its founder Jesus of Nazareth born and raised as a Jew in

the area just east of the Mediterranean Sea. During his lifetime, the area was controlled by Rome as a

province in the empire. Christianity originated partly from a long-standing Jewish belief in the coming of a

Messiah, or a leader who would restore the Jewish kingdom to its former glory days. Jesus' followers saw

him as the Messiah who would cleanse the Jewish religion of its rigid and haughty priests and assure life

after death to all that followed Christian precepts. In this way, its appeal to ordinary people may be

compared to that of Buddhism, as it struggled to emerge from the Hindu caste system. Christianity's broad

appeal of the masses, as well as deliberate conversion efforts by its early apostles, meant that the religion

grew steadily and eventually became the religion with the most followers in the modern world.

Jesus was a prophet and teacher whose followers came to believe that he was the son of God. He

advocated a moral code based on love, charity, and humility. His disciples predicted a final judgment day

when God would reward the righteous with immortality and condemn sinners to eternal hell. Jesus was

arrested and executed by Roman officials because he aroused suspicions among Jewish leaders, and he

was seen by many as a dangerous rebel rouser. After his death, his apostles spread the faith. Especially

important was Paul, a Jew who was familiar with Greco-Roman culture. He explained Christian principles in

ways that Greeks and Romans understood, and he established churches all over the eastern end of the

Mediterranean, and even as far away as Rome.

Christianity grew steadily in the Roman Empire, but not without clashes with Roman authorities. Eventually

in the 4th century CE, the Emperor Constantine was converted to Christianity and established a new capital

in the eastern city of Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople. As a result, the religion grew west and

north from Rome, and also east from Constantinople, greatly extending its reach.

By the end of the classical era, these major belief systems had expanded to many areas of the world, and

with the fall of empires in the late classical era, came to be major forces in shaping world history. One major

religion - Islam - remained to be established in the 7th century as part of the next great period that extended

from 600 to 1450 CE.

E. Hellenism is the culture of ancient Greece as spread across the ancient world by Alexander of

Macedonia (the Great). Alexander’s father, Phillip of Macedonia, sent his son to Greece where he was a

student of Aristotle. There he learned the Hellenistic culture. Although there was much religion in Athens,

there was generally no religious caste or priestly order to decide what the official version of any body of

knowledge was.

As a result, Athens placed a higher premium on individual inquiry than any of the other classical civilizations.

Because they believed the world to be rational and symmetrical, the Greeks stressed logic and systematic

thinking; western philosophy was born. They were curious about the nature of the world and were not

hindered in their attempt to formulate theories about it. The Greeks never did establish a veritable science;

they placed too much emphasis on theories without ever subjecting those theories to physical experiments.

In other words, they would hold to a hypothesis about the physical world if no logical argument could be

found to contradict it; they would never test the hypothesis experimentally. They came up with half of the

scientific method.

This culture placed a high regard on symmetry, proportion, and the pursuit of the ideal. Greek statues do not

so much depict an individual person as they do celebrate an ideal. (See an excellent video on this HERE.)

Most all Greek statues have identical proportions (the height six times the length of the foot; hence our

modern measurements). The Parthenon is a model of symmetry and proportionality. For more about the

nature of Greek Architecture click HERE.

As these elements of Greek culture became more cosmopolitan with the expanding empire of Alexander the

Greek, the resulting culture was called Hellenism. Alexander purposefully attempted to spread this culture

(after defeating Persia he ordered ten thousand of his troops to remain in Persia and marry Persian women

in order to establish Greek families there.) Hellenism influenced India for a short time as well. But when

cultural contact with India ceased, the Greek influence soon disappeared.

III. Belief systems generally reinforced existing social structures while also offering new roles and status to some men and women. For example, Confucianism emphasized filial piety, and some Buddhists and Christians practiced a monastic life.

In the previous time period, the surpluses created by agricultural production first led to social and gender

inequalities which in turn were reinforced by laws and codes. Belief systems too affected gender roles in

society, and each of the major world religions that was codified during this period had an impact on gender

relations. Hinduism, Confucianism and Christianity all encouraged patriarchy (although at differing levels of

severity.) The Hindu Laws of Manu taught that a woman is not independent of 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; by leaving them she would make both (her own and her husband's) families contemptible.

She must always be cheerful, clever in (the management of her) household affairs, careful in cleaning her

utensils, and economical in expenditure.

--Laws of Manu

The writings of St. Paul in the New Testament of the Christian Bible also reinforced patriarchy, but hold up a

husband's obligation to love his wife "as Christ loves the church."

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

Confucianism teaches a heirarchal family structure and endows the husband with authority over the wife.

But like Christianity, this is a soft patriarchy with reciprocal obligations for the hustband, namely that he show

respect and be a model of proper behavior in the family. The deep respect for parents and ancestors,

called filial piety, was also a central tenent of Confucianism.

In its original form Buddhism was unique in this regard. It rejected the caste system on which social

inequality was based and taught that both genders had equal access to enlightenment. Thus it was a rare

exception to the wide practice of patriarchy in the ancient world. As it spread into east Asia, however,

Buddhism absorbed many cultural values of China. In many areas Confucian patriarchy remained the

dominant family model.

Some followers of Buddhism and Christianity had tendencies toward asceticism, an extreme rejection of the

materialistic values of the world, its luxuries, anything extravagant or unnecessary, and all sexual pleasure.

Such people avoided all material things except the bare necessities and simplest food. In their attempt to

separate themselves from the sensual temptations of the world, some Buddhists and Christians

developed monasticism, the lifestyle of living as monks in a monastery. Christian monks lived without

worldly goods and worked to feed the poor and care for orphans and widows. Buddhist monks purged

themselves of desire and aided the weak or poor while striving to attain enlightenment. Although the reality

of monasticism could be quite different--the lust for power and wealth can infect every human institution--

ideally, monasteries gave opportunities for both men and women to provide charitable services to the less

fortunate.

IV. Other religious and cultural traditions, including shamanism, animism, and ancestor veneration,

persisted.

A. As the foundations were being laid for what would become the major world religions, other less codified

beliefs thrived. Some of these beliefs were not religions per se, but rather orientations and practices

concerned with spiritual things. Shamanism, for example, is not a religion, but a set of practices geared

toward manipulating the natural world through rites and ceremonies performed by a shaman, an individual

thought to have connections with the supernatural forces of the universe.

Closely related to Shamanism is Animism which holds that objects in the material world are inhabited by

spirits. In actuality, animism does not generally make a distinction between the physical and spiritual realms.

The practice of animism varies widely in different parts of the world.

Both Shamanism and Animism were primarily found outside the areas in which religious traditions were

being codified, However, elements of both could be found in major civilizations, particularly among those

who did not learn to read.

B. Another belief system that existed outside the official codified religions of core civilizations was ancestor

worship. In many cultures there is a profound sense of respect given to the elderly. Their many years of life

have endowed them with wisdom which they model and transmit to those less experienced. The movement

from this practice to the veneration of dead ancestors is only natural given the belief that their spirits live on

after death.

The practice of ancestor worship, like that of shamanism and animism, varied widely across locations but

largely focused on receiving advice from the ancestors about everyday practical matters. In China the

ancestors communicated with the living through oracle bones. This process was relatively simple. Possible

answers to important questions were written on large bones or turtle plastrons. The cracks that ran through

these answers when heat was applied to the bone provided advice from the ancestors, providing they were

properly interpreted by a shaman or specially gifted person.

The use of oracle bones had several important results. First of all, they raised the importance of having a

written script and having people who could read and write. Secondly, the thousands of oracle bones that

survive today (see picture on the left) provide imporant information about early Chinese civilization. The

entire dynastic succession of the Shang Dynasty, China's river valley civilization, can be constructed through

information found on extant oracle bones.

V. Artistic expressions, including literature and drama, architecture, and sculpture, show distinctive

cultural developments.

A. As major religions solidified and matured during this classical age, so did forms of artistic expression.

Literary traditions continued to be codified. Some areas developed distinctive forms of art, such as drama.

Indeed, for the gift of theater we owe a debt to the ancient Greeks. Today's spectator based activities, from

modern Broadway shows, to stadium sports, to religious services, illustrate the influence of Greek theater.

Theater was born out of the religious festivals of the Greek god Dionysus. The worship of Dionysus, which

involved erratic, intoxicated dancing under the influence of wine, seems to have been influenced by Central

Asian shamanism. The festivals became so sensational that they later drew spectators, and the participants-

-soon to be called actors--began consciously performing for their audiences. The performances evolved into

dramatic recreations of historical situations, comedic portrayals of the human condition, satires of current

politicians, and explorations of the tragedies of fate.

Theatrical competitions--probably created to bring cultural unity to the city-states of ancient Greece--

reinforced this form of art across the region of Attica (a region of Greece that included Athens.) Even when

the cult of Dionysus was made illegal, this form of art continued and produced many well known actors and

playwrights. Amphitheaters across the Greco-Roman world attest to the popularity of drama.

B. As literature and other forms of artistic expression were forming, architectural styles were being codified.

The Greeks produced distinctive forms of architecture which reflected their values of symmetry, rationalism,

and proportionality (See activity on Greek Architecture HERE.)

Classical Indian architecture reflected the religious and cultural values of Hindu society. The plan of the

temple was representative of the order of the cosmos. Although the entire temple is a sacred place, not all

rooms are afforded the same level of reverence. The temple complex usually has a courtyard or anteroom

though which worshipers first enter. Then, as one enters the temple itself, there are small congregational

rooms. Finally,the center, or "womb chamber", is almost always a square and houses the image or

representation of the god. This main chamber is the holiest place in the temple and requires quiet reverence

and prayer. Thus the temple design reflects spacial hierarchies similar to the hierarchies of the Hindu caste

system.

C. There were key interactions during the classical age between societies and these contacts brought

significant cultural exchanges. Many of these occurred on the trade routes between civilizations, as seen

in Key Concept 2.3 Emergence of Transregional Networks of Communication and Exchange. But invasion

also brought cultures in contact and blended important styles and beliefs. After Alexander the

Great invaded and then withdrew from Central Asia, Greek and Buddhist cultures blended into a unique

mixture. In the Hellenistic kingdoms Alexander established in present day Afghanistan and Pakistan (such

as Bactria), this hybrid culture can be seen clearly.

Note the Greco-Roman influences in this Buddhist Artwork from Central Asia: the clothing, the wine drinking,

and the musical instruments are all elements of Greco-Roman culture that merged with the Buddhist

civilization of Central Asia . This syncretism began in the Hellenistic kingdom of Bactria and diffused south to

other people, such as the Kushans. However, as contact between the Greek world and Central Asia

declined, the influence of Greco-Roman culture began to wane. Much of it did not survive the coming of

Islam to this region in subsequent centuries.

Key Concept 2.2 The Development of States and Empires

In the pre-classical age (8000 B.C.E. to 600 B.C.E.) the first states developed in core civilizations. Then, powerful cities imposed their rule on surrounding areas through conquest and the first empires were born. In the classical age (600 B.C.E. to 600 C.E.) empires grew on a massive scale through territorial conquest with large armies. The growing scale of these empires, along with their increased ethnic and cultural diversity, required more sophisticated methods of governance. They served as major hubs of transregional networks of trade, and they diffused culture, religion, technologies and disease. As empires acquired massive wealth, the unequal distribution of this wealth across social classes placed enormous pressure on the political and social order. Eventually, all of the classical civilizations could not deal with the problems created by their own internal or external crises. In most cases, the belief systems spawned in these empires left enduring cultural footprints even as the empires' political structures disintegrated.

I. The number and size of key states and empires grew dramatically by imposing political

unity on areas where previously there had been competing states.

You must know the location of all the following key states and empires for this time period.

Persian Empire

Qin and Han Empire

Mauryan and Gupta Empires

Mediterranean region (Phoenicia, Greek city-states, Hellenistic and Roman Empires)

Mayan civilization

Moche

To see these on maps go to Maps of Classical Civilizations.

There is more complexity in these empires than the above maps show. The Roman Empire,

under Diocletian, was divided into several administrative zones, which led to the establishment of a western

Latin empire and an eastern Greek portion (see map on the right). The later would continue as

the Byzantine Empire for another thousand years after the western side fell in 476 C.E..

The Persian Empire is even more complex as it went through several permutations. The first Persian Empire

was the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE) which reached its height under Cyrus the Great. At its peak it

encompassed present day Iraq and Iran, Syria, Israel, Anatolia, parts of Egypt, the Arabian peninsula, much

of Central Asia, and Macedonia to the north of classical Greece. The antagonism between the Persians and

Greek civilization would provoke the wrath of Alexander the Great, whose conquest of Persia ended the

Achaemenid Empire.

Much smaller than its predecessor was the Parthian Empire (247 BCE–224 CE). The Partians were the

arch rivals of the Roman Empire and defeated them in Rome's early attempts at eastward expansion. This

conflict evoked the most famous political propaganda in Roman history, the Augustus of Prima Porta (on the

left). Brazened on the breastplate of Augustus is the Parthian general returning the battle standards lost to

the Romans in earlier defeats, a great diplomatic triumph for Caesar Augustus.

The last of the Persian Empires was the Sassanid Empire, or Neo-Persian Empire (224–651 CE). The

collapse of the Sassanid Empire in 651 C.E. was one of the primary factors in the rapid spread of Islam in

the next unit of study. One result of these Persian Empires was the diffusion of religious ideas associated

with Zoarastrianism.

II. Empires and states developed new techniques of imperial administration based, in part, on the

success of earlier political forms.

A. Empires are large and diverse. As they expanded duing the classical age, ruling them became more

difficult. Governments had to implement methods to project power over large areas, something that

presented a challenge in the age before modern transportation and communication. Drawing from the

successes of earlier civilizations, empires in the classical age were able to centralize their power and rule

over vast domains.

A centralized government is one in which most decisions for the entire state are made by one executive

power. This usually involves one leader, or a small group of individuals, having authority over all regions of a

state from a single location, such as a capital city. Although all states are necessarily centralized to some

degree, some governments can lean more toward decentralization. A decentralized government allows

more control and decision making to be made at the level of local provinces or counties. An illustration would

be a school in which the administration allows teachers to create many of the rules and procedures for their

own classrooms, as opposed to a more centralized system in which an administrator micro-manages every

aspect of the classroom from an administrative office. Examples of centralized states in the classical age are

Han China, Mauryan India, and the Byzantine Empire. More decentralized states were Gupta India and the

Zhou Dynasty of China.

Each of these models of government has its own pattern of strengths and weaknesses. Although

decentralized governments put people more in touch with the powers that govern them, they often find it

difficult to unite for the common good in times of crises. Centralized states can be efficient, but require some

apparatus to project power and hold distance provinces together. They can also can be the target of blame

when people become discontented.

Centralized Governments: Case Studies

EAST ASIA

After the fall of the Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC–256 BC) China fell into a period of chaos known as the Period

of the Warring States. Although a time of conflict and strife, this period was one of the most fruitful in terms

of intellectual output. In the quest to understand how China could have fallen into a period of instability, great

thinkers pondered questions such as "What is the best form of governance?" and, related to that question,

"What is the nature of man?" The differing answers to these questions formed the basis

of Confucianism, Legalism, and Daoism. See more about these Chinese Belief Systems from Key

Concept 2.1.

The Period of Warring States ended when the warrior Qin Shi Huang centralized power and destroyed

regional opposition. Although it lasted only 14 years, the Qin Dynasty set in place many important aspects

of Chinese civilization.

One of the most important things the Qin did was create a bureaucracy. Bureaucrats are employees of the

state whose position in society, unlike nobles or aristocrats, does not rest on an independent source of

wealth. Members of the bureaucracy only had positions and power as granted by the emperor. Generally

speaking, the bureaucrat's high status and wealth is based on his obedience to his superior. Land owning

aristocrats, on the other hand, have large estates and personal fortunes to fall back on; they have a vested

interest in influencing the government in their personal favor. Aristocrats also tend to make decisions based

on what is best for their location, thus becoming a decentralizing force. By assigning bureaucrats to regions,

the Qin bypassed the powerful aristocracy and governed through those whose position depended on loyal

obedience to the state. Additionally, the practice of Legalism reinforced the bonds of obligation between

bureaucrat and superior. In this manner, the bureaucracy became a tool of centralization for China and

placed the entire empire under the leadership of the Qin emperor.

In order to bring unity to China, the Qin also built roads and bridges, constructed defensive walls,

standardized units of weight and measurement, created a standard currency, and made one common form

of Chinese writing. The harsh Legalism of the Qin allowed it to do much during its short reign of 14 years,

but this same strict political philosophy also generated much resentment among the common people. As

soon as the emperor died, the people revolted and slaughtered many of the remaining Qin officials.

Unlike previous eras, Chinese civilization did not regress into chaos for long. The Han dynasty came to

power and ruled China for about 400 years, roughly 200 B.C.E. to 200 C.E. The ability of the Han to

maintain a strong central government over such a vast area was greatly facilitated by the Qin reforms under

Legalism.

Under the leadership of emperor Han Wudi, the Han Dynasty is responsible for some very important

innovations that would have a lasting effect on China: the official adoption of Confucianism and the rise of

the civil service examinations.

The Han adopted Confucianism because it was the most organized educational network from which they

could draw people for the bureaucracy. To make certain new recruits were educated well, they began testing

them through a rigorous system of civil service examinations; to be in the Han bureaucracy, one had to

demonstrate a mastery of Confucian ideas on these tests. One effect of this was that the Han bureaucracy

was filled with people profoundly influenced by Confucian thought. They were taught to model good behavior

for those under them and to respect and submit to those in authority over them. Thus Confucianism not only

became deeply embedded in Chinese culture, it also came to re-enforce the political bureaucracy by

advocating obedience and benevolent rule. A synthesis was forged between China's political structure and a

belief system.

SOUTH ASIA

The classical age of India’s history was comprised of two important dynasties, the Mauryan and the Gupta.

The rise of the Mauryan Dynasty was precipitated by the invasion of Alexander of Macedonia in 327 B.C.

Although Alexander left no lasting impression on India, he did clear out several small Aryan states and

create the power vacuum which allowed Chandragupta Mauryan to establish his namesake dynasty.

Under Mauryan rule much of the Indian subcontinent was united for the first time under one central

government. They were able to rule such a large area by using a well organized bureaucracy. Chandragupta

maintained his bureaucracy with a systematic use of spying, brutality and intimidation. The most important

ruler of the Mauryan dynasty was Ashoka. He retained the bureaucracy created by this grandfather

Chandragupta, but imposed a system of law across his empire known as the Edicts of Ashoka. These rules

brought cohesion and legal consistency across the empire, as the Code of Hammurabi did for the

Babylonians. Thus Ashoka relied on both a bureaucracy and a codified legal system to centralize his rule.

Under Ashoka's rule the empire expanded and the bureaucracy became more organized. He created central

organizations to ensure that his edicts and policies were carried out across his empire. An important event

during Ashoka’s rule was his conversion to Buddhism, a change that moderated the harsh precedents set by

his grandfather. Ashoka today is remembered as one of ancient India's most influential and benevolent

leaders.

When Ashoka died the Mauryan empire soon crumbled. After a period of disorder and regional kingdoms,

the Gupta Dynasty emerged and once again united India under a single government. The Gupta empire

never grew to the size of the Mauryan. The organization of their empire was considerably different as well.

Ashoka used the bureaucracy to manage most details of the empire. The Gutpas, on the other hand, let

most decisions and policy making up to local leaders. They also preferred to negotiate or intermarry with

local rulers to keep the peace. Although they ruled over a smaller area than the Mauryans, the Gupta era

was the greatest period of political stability in classical India. However, this lack of centralized rule came with

an eventual price. The various regions of India had their own distinctions and were never integrated into the

whole as they were under Ashoka. In fact, the Gupta empire would break along these regional divisions as

the empire was threatened by internal corruption and nomadic invaders. After the fall of the Gupta dynasty,

the Indian subcontinent would remain fragmented into regions for over 1500 years. Thus the pattern of rule

in classical India alternated between large but decentralized empires and networks of disjointed regional

kingdoms.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE

The diversity of east and south Asian empires did not compare with that of Rome. At its peak, the Roman

Empire included areas as diverse as Egypt, Spain, Britain, Palestine, and the Caucasus Mountain region. As

its territory expanded it grew from a monarchy, to a Republic, and finally became an Empire. Although its

political innovations were impressive, Rome's greatest legacy was its system of law through which they

forged a way to incorporate diverse cultures into a single political state without stripping localities of their

individual identities.

The first laws implemented in Rome were the Twelve Tables. These laws were produced early in Roman

history (449 BCE) in order to relieve tensions between the upper classes (the patricians) and the common

classes (the plebeians) of citizens. The plebeians used their position as Rome's labor force as leverage to

get the patricians to create these laws. The Twelve Tables, which guaranteed procedural equality and

consistency in courts of law, was the first major concession won by the plebeians on their road to political

equality and republican government.

Roman laws became more complex as the empire grew. The genius of Rome's response to the increased

diversity of an expanding empire was the division of law into two types, jus gentium and jus civile. Jus

gentium, or law of all nations, refers to universal principles that are true of all people. These are fundamental

to being human and all societies have some version of them. They embody principles such as: harm done to

another person without cause is wrong, and false dealing or fraud is wrong. The Romans thought these

basic precepts were universal to all people; without them different cultures could not even engage in trade.

Because they are universal, a foreigner in Rome could be charged for breaking one of these principles even

if that person did not see them written down. Ignorance can never be an excuse for violating jus gentium. By

the second century C.E. the jus gentium was called Natural Law.

After recognizing the general principles (jus gentium) that make society possible, the Romans realized that

these general principles do not look the same within different societies; specific cultural norms and practices

vary widely across civilizations. Thus the Romans came up with the idea of jus civile, or civil law. This

codified system of law is what the jus gentium looks like inside a specific culture. They differ from place to

place, but always manifest the general principles common to all people. For example, in all cultures it is

wrong to cheat in trade. But in one civilization it may be more disruptive to cheat someone from one's own

clan or tribe, so the punishment would be more severe in that case. In another civilization it might be worse

to cheat someone from an higher social class than someone from one's own class. In both cultures cheating

is wrong, but the written law concerning this principle looks different in both places. In short, general

principles of right and wrong (jus gentium) are customized to fit the specific circumstances of local

conditions; at the local level they become civil law (jus civile).

This system of law had coherence because it was based on principles thought to be universal to all men,

and it had flexibility in that it allowed for local variances. Thus rendered, this system of law allowed Rome to

administrate its massive empire with all its diverse cultures and local customs.

After the Visgoths laid waste to Rome in 410 C.E., a Roman poet mourned his city with the following words:

You made of foreign realms one fatherland,

the lawless found their gain beneath your sway;

sharing your laws with them you have subdued,

you have made a city of the once wide world.[1]

Roman law turned the diversity of the empire into a single civilization, making a "city of the world."

B. The extension of empire across large areas was dependent upon a government's ability to marshal and

project military power. This took place through a variety of techniques:

Diplomacy There is more to winning a battle than military strategy and advanced weapons.

Diplomacy, or the negotiation with allies and foes, was crucial for imperial conquest. For example, when

the Han Dynasty pushed westward they came into conflict with the powerful confederation of nomadic

tribes called the Xiongnu. In the ensuing war, the Han Emperor Wu sought alliances with small

countries on his western border, offering a Han princess in marriage to the king of Wusun to secure him

as an ally. Thus obtained, these allies helped the Chinese defeat the Xiongnu. Such matrimonial

alliances were common with the empires of the classical ages. Another form of diplomacy is the

creation of tributary states. Emporer Samudragupta of the Gupta Dynasty used this method on

several occasions to bring stability to his empire. After defeating rival kingdoms he would allow a

defeated king to retain his rule providing he paid the Gupta a determined price, called a tribute. This

was often a more practical alternative than trying to rule remote kingdoms directly. In a tributary system,

defeated kings basically purchase the right to rule from the victors, making them indirect subjects of the

conquering power.

Supply Lines The armies of ancient empires required complex logistical operations, especially

when they were on the move. The minimum daily rations for a soldier was 3 pounds of grain and 2

quarts of water. Thus an army of 65,000 men required at least 195,000 lbs of grain and 325,000 lbs of

water each day.[2] It seems almost miraculous that ancient armies were able to provide for themselves

without modern vehicles and paved roads. Armies of the classical age created supply trains of animals

and wheeled carts. This increased the provisions that could be carried but also introduced new

impediments: the average pack animal required 10 lbs of grain per day thereby increasing the necessary

provisions, and carts pulled by some animals slowed the movement of an army to a crawl (most terrain

was rough and had no roads). For this reason, Alexander the Great limited pack animals to horses and

camels and eliminated carts completely from his supply line.[3] Travelling with his army was a significant

number of non-combatants whose job it was to manage the movement of supplies across the ranks of

soldiers. All of this required tedious centralized planning. And given the fact that the average army could

only carry enough supplies to last them for 10 days, sustaining supply lines was very important for

armies. These lifelines were also vulnerable to enemy attacks that could bring devastation by cutting an

army from its provisions.

Forts, Walls and Roads Effective armies also need engineers. To ease the role of defense, armies

were aided by defensive walls. The famous Great Wall of China was first constructed by the Qin

Dynasty to protect them from nomadic tribes on their northwestern frontier. The Qin constructed miles of

walls and connected preexisting walls. It's noteworthy that the purpose of a wall was not to establish a

permanent defensive boundary for the empire. They were made to secure conquered areas with an eye

to expansion. "Build and move on was the principle of the wall, not setting up a fixed border for all

time. [4] These earthen walls were later fortified with stone by the Ming Dynasty, and this is the wall most

familiar with tourists today. The Romans likewise constructed Hadrian's Wall to divide their territory of

Britain from the Scottish Pics whose raids became problematic for them. In any case, walls were not

effective without being manned by soldiers; both the Chinese and the Romans built fortifications and

garrisons at points along their walls. As empires expanded beyond their resources, the thinning of

armies on the boundaries of an empire allowed defensive walls to be easily breached.

Defensive walls were not the only places where empires built fortifications. A fortress made a powerful

territorial claim for the empire who built it, and anyone challenging the territory on which the fortress was

built had to take the fortress first. The city of Rome built fortifications on the seven hills surrounding the

city. When the Mauryans took the province of Kalinga they built a fortification there to secure it as a

possession. [5] Most classical civilizations built fortresses to shore up their most vulnerable areas; only

the Gupta did not do this,[6] perhaps because as a decentralized state it was less able to garner

resources for the collective good.

Due to the size of their imperial reach, empires built roads as well. These facilitated travel and trade but

often the construction of roads was motivated by need to move armies across the empire. The Romans

excelled in roads, which they called Viae. Viae militares, or military roads, served to move troops easily

to defend or expand the empire. Indeed, for the Romans, the construction of roads was primarily

motivated by military needs.[7]

Raising armies All the classical empires needed methods to raise large armies. The Han army was

primarily made up of soldiers conscripted from the civilian population into military service.[8] Typically,

each group of 5 households was required to send 5 troops to military service. Unlike the troops, whose

service was temporary, officers in the Han army were career professionals who advanced through the

ranks by demonstrating knowledge of classic texts on military theory, such as Sun Tzu’s Art of

War. (This was not unlike Chinese politicians who gained entrance to the bureaucracy by demonstrating

knowledge of the Confucian classics.) Chinese officers communicated troop movements in battle by

sounding gongs, bells, drums and signaling with flags.

The Roman army was probably the most effective killing machine of the ancient world. After the Punic

Wars, the infantry was comprised of professional soldiers, not farmers called up for temporary service.

They expanded their war machine by "organizing the communities that they conquered in Italy into a

system that generated huge reservoirs of manpower for their army . . . Their main demand of all

defeated enemies was they provide men for the Roman army every year. "[9] But even in the face of

superior numbers and technology, the organization and flexibility of the Roman army was remarkable.

The basic unit was 8 men, and 10 of these groups combined to form a century. Six centuries made a

cohort and 10 cohorts was a legion. Soldiers drilled to fight at each of these levels. Consequently, a

legion could fight as a whole unit or be divided and maneuvered according to the needs of battle into

fighting groups ranging from 8 to 480 men. The ability of the Roman army to divide and adapt itself to

battlefield developments was demonstrated at the Battle of Pydna, where the Romans decisively

defeated the Macedonian forces.

In the Mayan army social elites served as officers and soldiers were conscripted from the local

populations. Mesoamerican armies were typically smaller than those in Eurasia, consisting at the most

of several thousand soldiers, instead of tens of thousands like the Romans and Han. Mayan weapons

did not utilize metals. They were often wooden clubs, some of which they would embed with razor sharp

chips of obsidian. These were ideal for maiming enemies by blows to the legs or arms. The non-lethal

nature of such wounds allowed them to take live prisoners, many of which were needed for ritualistic

sacrifices. Some scholars believe warfare was common among the Mayan, and there is evidence

that low-intensity fighting occurred even between Mayan cities. However, the overall scale of warfare

was significantly less among the Mayan than it was for Han China and the Roman empire. [10]

C. It was in the best interest of classical governments to make trade more accessible. Higher profits

brought in more tax revenue to the government. Although Roman roads were built at first to move

armies, they greatly facilitated trade across the empire. When the Qin emperor centralized China after

the Period of Warring States, he constructed an infrastructure of roads and bridges to increase trade and

gather taxes from formerly isolated areas. As Silk Road and Indian Ocean trade brought wealth to Gupta

India, emperors commissioned the production of coins to ease transactions and make it easier to

compare the value of goods. All classical governments enacted policies to facilitate commercial

activities.

III. Unique social and economic dimensions developed in imperial societies in Afro-Eurasia and

the Americas.

A. Cities were extremely important to the economic, political, and cultural life of empires. Administrative

centers, or what we would call capital cities, were sometimes themselves monuments to the power of

the state. The monumental buildings of Persepolis and Rome, for example, conveyed the power and

awe of the Persian and Roman Empires, respectively. Cites were also important centers for

trade. Chang'an, the imperial capital of China (remained Xi'an during the Ming Dynasty) was an

important trade center, situated as it was on the eastern end of the Silk Roads.

B. Social hierarchies and stratification that formed in foundational civilizations became more complex in

large empires. In classical India, the caste system evolved in order to accommodate the growing

complexity of Gupta society. Castes divided into subcastes, or jati, which soon became the backbone of

Indian society. Jati formed their own courts through which Indian society was regulated in the absence of

a strong central government. Thus Indian families tended to associate closely with other families

involved in the same occupations as themselves. Although there was some variation, most classical

societies could be represented in the following way:

A notable exception would be Han society with its scholar-bureaucrats at the top, peasants, laborers and

artisans next, and artists and unskilled workers at the bottom.[11]

C. Because the production of large surpluses of agriculture was necessary for the specialization of labor

and large armies, empires developed methods to extract maximum productivity from land.

Some slavery was practiced in all classical civilizations, but the Mediterranean world clearly exceeded

Asia in the development of this institution. Slaves may have comprised as much as one third of the

Roman Empire.[12] Another common form of labor sponsored by empires was the Corvée System. In

this system, governments required subjects, usually peasants, to provide labor as a payment of tax. A

specified number of labor days had to be offered to the state as an obligatory taxation. Many large

imperial projects were completed using the corvée system. The Qin built their defensive wall using it; in

130 B.C.E. the Han built a canal to better move grain to the capital city using corvée labor.[13] Under

Jeraboam, the Hebrew kingdom of Israel used the corvée system first with conquered Cananites, then

on their own population.[14]

D. Despite changes that occurred in class, caste and labor during the classical age, all empires

continued to practice patriarchy. In some societies it was very harsh; in other societies women could

advance and engage in business. Indeed, belief systems certainly gave shape to how it was practiced in

day to day life in every society. But without exception, political, social and economic life in imperial

civilizations remained dominated by males throughout this period.

IV. The Roman, Han, Persian, Mauryan and Gupta empires created political, cultural, and

administrative difficulties that they could not manage, which eventually led to their decline,

collapse, and transformation into successor empires or states.

Between 200 and 600 C.E. all of the classical civilizations had fallen (the Han around 220, Western

Rome in 476, and the Gupta in 550). There are several elements in common to the fall of these

civilizations:

Political corruption and deterioration - The politics of all classical ages became corrupt and given

over to factions and divisions. Bribery and favoritism were rife. Provinces came under the control of local

leaders and empires decentralized.

The migration of the Huns - Droughts in central Asia forced a nomadic group called the Huns to

migrate south and west during this time period. This brought them in contact with the settled classical

civilizations. They placed pressure on the Han and Gupta, attacking their frontiers and raiding their

lands. As they pushed westward, they forced Germanic peoples to put pressure on the Roman Empire.

Over-extension of borders - All empires found that their borders had grown so large that their

military had trouble guarding them. Their imperial ambition out-stripped their resources. The Chinese

could not effectively man the Great Wall with soldiers to keep out the Huns. Rome grew so large they

could not raise the armies to protect its frontiers.

The spread of epidemics and disease - The trade routes that connected civilizations and allowed

them to prosper also spread diseases. Han China and Rome lost thousands to disease, thus depleting

their tax base just as they needed fund to protect their borders.

The Fall of Classical Civilizations: Case Studies

HAN CHINA

About 100 A.D. the Han started to decline. Bureaucrats became corrupt and bribery was wide spread.

As the supervision of the central government began to decline, local landlords stepped up to take more

control of their provinces. Political decentralization occurred. The local aristocrats added their own taxes

on to the already high tax burden of the empire. Crushing tax debts forced many peasant farmers to sell

their land to local aristocrats; some peasants sold their children into slavery to alleviate debt. This

created a situation common to most all failing states: the distribution of wealth across society became

disproportionately imbalanced, as more of the wealth fell into the hands of fewer people. Peasants hated

the merciless forces that seemed beyond their control, and their sense of helplessness led them to

revolt. A revolutionary movement emerged called the Yellow Turbans. Led by Daoists, the Yellow

Turbans attracted farmers, scholars, and even disillusioned government employees. They attacked

wealthy corrupt bureaucrats and directed their rage at the emperor himself. Hundreds of thousands

strong, they believed they would usher in a "new historical era of Great Peace as the Phase of the earth

(color yellow) gained ascendancy."[15] Although the Yellow Turbans failed, the feelings of despair that

drove them did not. The Han never recovered fully from this rebellion.

Compounding this political weakness and peasant unrest was the effect of several

devastating epidemics that wiped out nearly half the population. The death of so many peasants

diminished grain production and reduced the tax base for the government, just as the government

needed resources to deal with the invading Huns. With all this internal turmoil, the weakened Han

dynasty could not fend off the advance of the Hun invaders who easily crossed the abandoned Great

Wall. The Han fell in 220 C.E. and China temporarily fell into a period of disunity.

Even though the Han fell and initiated a period of chaos, there was not a permanent disruption of

Chinese civilization. Briefly, the Sui dynasty ruled. Then in 618 the Tang dynasty emerged as one of the

most glorious in Chinese history. They reinstated Confucian thought and revived and improved upon the

Han style of bureaucracy. After the Hun invasions and the fall of the Han dynasty, the Chinese never

had to reinvent their civilization.

ROMAN EMPIRE

The fall of the Roman Empire was very complex and is still debated among historians today. But things that

are agreed upon are the following. As the Roman Empire grew, it required more soldiers to patrol its borders

and frontiers. This brought a high tax burden on a population that was decreasing because of plague and

poverty. Likewise, Rome Emperors and the upper classes adopted increasingly luxurious and extravagant

lifestyles at the expense of the tax paying citizens. This cause not only great resentment among the lower

classes, but the upper classes became more self-centered and less concerned about social and political

responsibilities. New artistic and cultural styles were not being created. People came to view life as futile

and meaningless. Weakened politically, economically, culturally, and psychologically, the Roman Empire no

longer had the strength or the desire to fend off the Germanic invaders.

As the empire started to weaken, farmers and laborers clustered around powerful regional landowners to

whom they surrendered full allegiance in return for military protection. Thus people looked to their local

landlords rather than to the Empire for protection and stability. As this decentralization took place, the

vast Mediterranean trade routes fell out of Roman hands.

The Emperor Diocletian tried to stop this political disintegration. He divided the empire into several

administrative zones and persecuted Christians whose allegiance to their God he blamed for the

weakening of Roman civil life. Then the emperor Constantine, who converted the Christianity, used his

religion to try to unify the Empire spiritually. He created a new capital, Constantinople. However, neither

of these Emperors could save the crumbling Empire.

The last Roman Empire in the west was displaced by Germanic armies in 476. Mediterranean culture,

which had been put together by the Hellenism of Alexander and the Roman Empire itself, was

fragmented. Unlike the classical civilizations of India and China, this Mediterranean classical civilization

suffered a complete death. “For Greece and Rome had not put together the shared political culture and

bureaucratic traditions of China that could allow revival after a period of chaos. Nor had Mediterranean

civilization . . . generated a common religion that appealed deeply enough, or satisfied enough needs, to

maintain unity amid political fragmentation, as in India.”[16]

One unique thing about the fall of Rome, however, was that the eastern portion, called the Byzantine

Empire, did not really fall. But this Empire did not gain the entire inheritance of Mediterranean classical

civilization. It more accurately mirrored the political system of late imperial Rome. Thus the fall of the

Empire was more devastating in the west, while in the east a unique culture—not completely of

Mediterranean origin—thrived.

A. The mobilization of resources required by classical empires had vast environmental consequences.

The materials required by settled people and the need for surpluses of agriculture led to

the deforestation of enormous tracks of land. In the Mediterranean civilizations, entire forests were cut

down to provide building timbers, burning fuel, and to extend farming areas. Plato described in his

book Critias the deforestation of Attica (Greece): where there was once "an abundance of wood in the

mountains," he could now only see "the mere skeleton of the land."[17]

B. The internal problems of empires described above hampered their ability to deal with external

problems on their frontiers. All classical civilizations had to deal with migrations and invasions of

nomadic people. The Qin and Han dynasties struggled against the Xiongnu Confederacy, and we have

seen above that the invasion of the Huns was a factor in the collapse of the Han Dynasty. The white

Huns invaded the Gupta and exposed the inability of its decentralized system to coordinate a unified

defense. As the Huns migrated westward they pressed Germanic tribes of central and eastern Europe

against the frontiers of the Roman Empire. When resources were too scarce to sustain their defenses,

the Romans found these "barbarians" at the gates of their capital city.

Key Concept 2.3 Emergence of Transregional Networks of Communication and

Exchange The large empires that emerged in the classical age created massive amounts of goods and became markets for imports. Several prominent trade systems developed that linked the empires together in a complex network of exchange that greatly exceeded that of the foundational and River Valley civilizations. Luxury goods and raw materials traveled in caravans and on boats to distant markets. Traveling with them were belief systems, ideas, technology, culture and diseases. Globally, these tranregional networks were limited to Eurasia and Africa in this time period. Trade networks that developed in Oceania and the Americas remained localized for the time being.

I. Land and water routes became the basis for transregional trade, communication, and exchange

networks in the Eastern Hemisphere.

A. The major networks of trade that developed in the classical age were influenced by economic, cultural,

environmental, and geographic factors. You should be familiar with the following examples of trade

networks:

The Silk Roads

The Silk Roads were made up of an indirect chain of separate transactions through which goods crossed the

entire land area of Eurasia. Rarely did merchants themselves travel the length of these routes; in fact, few of

them knew the complexity and breadth of the Silk Roads. Merchants primarily engaged in local instances of

"relay trade" in which goods changed "hands many times before reaching their final destinations." [1] Because

the Silk Roads crossed land it was much more expensive and dangerous to move goods. Consequently,

trade focused on luxury items that would bring a nice profit making the greater risks worthwhile. Particularly

important were luxury items with a high value to weight ratio.

The Silk Roads had their origins in Asia as nomadic and settled people exchanged goods. In part, it began

because of environmental conditions. The soil in China lacks selenium, a deficiency that contributes to

muscular weakness, low fertility, and reduced growth in horses.[2] Consequently, Chinese-raised horses

were too frail to support a mounted soldier rendering the Chinese military weak in the face of the powerful

cavalries of the steppe nomads. [3] Chinese emperors needed the superior horses that pastoral nomads bred

on the steppes, and nomads desired things only agricultural societies could produce, such

as grain, alcohol and silk. Even after the construction of the Great Wall, nomads gathered at the gates of

the wall to exchange items. Soldiers sent to guard the wall were often paid in bolts of silk which they traded

with the nomads.[4] Silk was so wide spread it eventually became a currency of exchange in Central Asia.

Silk and luxury goods were not the only things that moved across the Silk Roads. Merchants became agents

of cultural diffusion. The oasis towns that connected segments of trade became nodes of cultural

exchange, especially Buddhism. Mahayana Buddhism spread rapidly, leap-frogging from oasis town to oasis

town. The process was facilitated by these towns which often built beautiful Buddhist temples to attract

Buddhist merchants abroad. Nestorian Christianity also spread across the Silk Roads into China. Not

surprisingly, silk took on a sacred meaning in Buddhist and Christian rituals. Merchants also carried disease.

The disease epidemics that devastated the classical civilizations were spread across large ecological

zones via the Silk Roads.

The volume of trade increased dramatically as the classical empires formed. The Romans, Gupta, and Han

were centers of production and huge markets for goods. Moreover, the laws and legal systems of these

empires provided security for merchants, encouraging them to take more risks. As always, the primary items

of trade were luxury goods, and nomadic people continued to play an important role; their movements

sometimes served as important connections between segments of trade, buying in one place and selling in

another. Some nomads became settled people and made their living off of trade. Nevertheless, the volume

of trade on the Silk Roads was connected to the strength of the classical civilizations during this period and

declined when they fell into ruin.

Mediterranean Sea Routes Another major trade network during the classical period developed in the

Mediterranean Sea. Maritime trade routes, unlike land-based routes such as the Silk Roads, were

better suited for heavy and bulky items. Wine, olive oil and grain were mainstays of this network. Other

items of trade included timber, marble, glassware, perfumes, silver, spices and silk.

Like the Silk Roads, the the Mediterranean trade network went through major changes during the classical

period. In its early stage, merchants trading on these sea lanes were predominately from the city states of

Phoenicia and the Greek peninsula. The Phoenicians were sea-faring people who traded widely across the

Mediterranean area, especially in the era before the classical age. They established a network of colonies

across the region, the most famous of which was Carthage. After Phoenicia was defeated by Persia,

Carthage went on to create its own empire in the Mediterranean, eventually clashing with Rome in the Punic

Wars. The most lasting legacy of the Phoenicians was the diffusion of the first truly phonetic alphabet.

As the Phoenician presence in the Mediterranean declined, the Greeks became more involved. In order to

feed their people, Greek cities created a network of colonies throughout the Mediterranean. Grain poured

into the city-states of Greece from the colonies, for which they in turn traded olive oil and wine, products

much better suited to Greek soil. A major consequence of this trade was the diffusion of Greek

culture across the Mediterranean region.

The most significant change in Mediterranean trade occurred when Carthage fell to Rome and the entire rim

of the Mediterranean Sea was controlled by the Roman government. Roman laws were now enforced

across the region, providing a consistent legal system. The wide spread use of Latin facilitated trade. Piracy

on the Mediterranean Sea was controlled by the Roman navy. During this Roman period, trade reached its

peak. Engulfed by Roman civilization, the Romans referred to the Mediterranean as mare nostrum ("our

sea," Latin).[5] Like the Greeks before them, the Romans depended on massive grain imports to feed their

urban centers, while silk was imported to satisfy the demands of the upper class. The Romans exported

copper, tin, glass, wine and olive oil.

Indian Ocean Trade Although Indian Ocean trade would reach its heyday in the post-classical

period, it was an important trade network during this time, particularly for the Gupta

Dynasty. Pepper, cotton textiles, and dye became lucrative commodities on this maritime network. A

unique feature of Indian Ocean trade was its dependence on the weather. Each monsoon season brought

with it predictable patterns of winds, which reversed six months later. Merchants had to time their departures

with these cycles of winds in mind.

Trans-Saharan Trade Trans-Saharan trade was another network that would reach its peak in the

post-classical age (600 to 1450) when Islam comes to the region. Nevertheless, merchants carried goods

across these routes during the classical age, facilitated by the domestication of the camel. Many of the

items that were exchanged between Egypt and Nubia in the previous period continued across the Saraha

(slaves, gold, and ivory.) One of the most important items that merchants carried to sub-Saharan Africa from

North Africa was salt, a needed commodity before refrigeration.

II. New technologies facilitated long-distance communication and exchange.

A. Land trade increased when people learned to use the power of animals for their benefit. The camel,

originally a herd animal, was domesticated in the middle east for its use in the incense trade. Camels

extended the scope and volume of trade in the arid Arabian climate. They carried military supplies for the

Assyrian armies under the command of Sargon II.[6] These uses of the camel were made possible by the

development of a saddle which allowed the animal to be loaded with much cargo. Camels could carry up to

50 percent more cargo than other pack animals, could go longer without water, and lived longer than most of

them as well.

In Central Asia nomads domesticated the horse and became expert trainers, so much so that the Han

dynasty traded silk with them for their horses. The invention of the stirrup, a small ring or strap that holds

the feet of rider, allowed for much greater control of the animal. With new technologies such as the stirrup

and saddle, pack animals permitted humans to greatly increase their ability to trade, travel, and

communicate.

B. Advances in technology aided maritime trade as well. On the Indian Ocean merchants were recognizing

the seasonal patterns of monsoon winds and they began adapting their voyages to harness these winds.

New technologies helped them adapt more efficiently to the dynamics of this trade route. The Dhow, a long

slender boat with a lateen sail, became a common vessel for Indian Ocean trade. Although its origins are

not completely clear, the Chinese, Arabs, and Indians were certainly involved in its creation and/or

modification. The dhow was used for heavy items that were not as fit for land-based trade. One of its primary

characteristics was the lateen sail which allowed sailors to tack against the wind. The dhow and lateen sail

did for maritime trade what the saddle and stirrup did for land trade: they helped people widen networks of

trade and communication thus accelerating the diffusion of goods, ideas, and culture.

III. Alongside the trade in goods, the exchange of people, technology, religious and cultural beliefs,

food crops, domesticated animals, and disease pathogens developed across far-flung networks of

communication and exchange.

A. Cotton is indigenous to South Asia and has a long history of cultivation in India. The Laws of

Manu mentions cotton, and it appears in the Enquiry into Plants by the Greek writer Theophrastus, a

contemporary of Plato and Aristotle.[7] As transregional networks of exchange expanded, cotton spread out

of India into the Middle East where it placed strains on the agricultural systems there. In Persia, for example,

wheat and barley could be planted in the Fall, remain dormant over winter, and left to sprout in the Spring,

thus avoiding the terribly hot summer months of the Iranian piedmont. Cotton, on the other hand, is a

summer crop, planted in April and harvested in the Fall. Consequently, much of Persia (modern day Iran)

was initially too hot and dry to accommodate this important crop. The solution to this problem was the

introduction of a new irrigation system known as the qanat system.[8]

The Qanat used hydraulic and gravitational force to extract water from the ground without the use of any energy at all. By linking vertical shafts and gently sloping horizontal passages, water was drawn from the aquifer and released to the agricultural fields at a lower level. This system not only allowed for the cultivation of cotton, but was applied to other crops as well. The effect was profound. Qanats doubled the amount of available water for irrigation and urban use in Iran.[9] Persia was able to enjoy larger surpluses of agriculture thus increasing urbanization and social stratification.[10] The qanat system spread throughout the Middle East and as far as China.

Rice was another crop that spread during this time period. First cultivated on the southern slopes of

the Himalayas [11], it spread from China across the caravan routes of the central Asian steppes.

Because Buddhist monks were vegetarian and avoided the meat-based diets of pastoral nomads,

they would carry rice with them on their journeys across the steppes. Indeed, a Buddhist text called

the Aggañña Sutta states that "rice grows as long as Buddhism spreads." [12]

Sugarcane likewise spread during this time. It was first grown in India and probably spread through

the Khyber pass, into Afghanistan, and then diffused across the central Asian caravan routes. [13]

B. The transregional movement of people and goods also facilitated the spread of disease

pathogens. When Roman troops moved into Mesopotamia in the second century, a major epidemic

of smallpox broke out among the soldiers stationed in Parthia. By 166 B.C.E. it spread across much

of the Roman Empire, reaching the city of Rome itself. Enduring for 15 years, probably 10 percent of

the population of the Roman Empire, about 5 million people, perished from disease. [14] Worse

epidemics were to come. Merchant ships on maritime trade routes and pack animals on caravan

routes introduced the Roman Empire to devastating epidemics. Horses, upon which Roman

expansion and trade depended, were often the culprits for carrying diseases to humans. [15] Most

historians consider these devastating epidemics a key factor in the fall of the western Roman

Empire.

Disease pathogens ravished Chinese civilization as well. Smallpox probably first arrived in China

with the Huns around 250 B.C.E. [16] Contact with Roman civilization along the Silk Roads continually

reintroduced China to smallpox and in the third and fourth centuries C.E., the disease destroyed half

the population of northern China. After the fall of the Han Dynasty, bubonic plague spread from

Constantinople to China, and Buddhist monks subsequently spread the plague to Japan. [17] As with

Rome, each devastating epidemic weakened the foundations of civilization. It meant fewer men to

be called up for military service, thus decreasing security. With fewer people to work in agriculture,

food surpluses dropped, and with them, the basis for a complex society. Lastly, a sharp drop in the

population deprived the government of taxpaying peasants making it difficult to fund the basic

functions of the state.

C. Trade routes not only diffuse the things merchants carry on their animals; they also spread the

ideas and beliefs they carry in their heads. As major world religions spread from one area into

another they adapted to local circumstances and preexisting traditions. Christianity, Hinduism and

Buddhism all spread across trade routes far from their places of origin and all were modified in the

process.

The Spread and Transformation of Religions: Case Studies

Christianity From its humble origins in first century Palestine, Christianity gradually spread across

the vast domain of the Roman Empire. As with Buddhism, missionaries were instrumental in the

diffusion of the faith. Using Rome's infrastructure of roads and trade routes, missionaries like St.

Paul preached Christianity in Greece, Anatolia, and the city of Rome itself. It survived persecutions by

several Roman Emperors. Although most converts were initially from the middle classes, the religion

gained an occasional convert in the higher ranks. There were a number of reasons why it appealed to

average Romans. Unlike the polytheistic religions of the Empire, Christianity promised eternal rewards

for ethical behavior, a belief that gave meaning to everyday choices and actions. Individuals could now

participate in an unseen world of cosmic importance[18] and were taught a way to secure life beyond the

grave. Also, where Roman religions recognized social status and citizenship, Christianity taught that all

people are equal before God.[19]

Despite its early gains, by the beginning of the 4th century Christianity was still a minority belief comprising

perhaps only 5 percent of the Roman population. [20] By the end of that century it would be the official

religion of the empire. The most important event in this dramatic change was when Roman

Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and, through the Edict of Milan, gave it official acceptance.

Later in 392, Emperor Theodosius made it the official religion of the empire; he banned pagan ceremonies,

shut down temples to Roman gods, and ordered idols destroyed. Now that Christianity was connected

officially to the state, it grew wealthy. The Church solicited donations from the rich and could own

land.[21] The empire constructed churches and dispatched missionaries. Christianity spread to new areas of

Eastern Europe, in part, because two Byzantine missionaries created the Cyrillic alphabet for the Slavic

spoken language. Christian morality was reinforced by the state through the Code of Justinian, which fused

Christian teachings with Roman law. Supported by the Roman state, Christianity was propelled into a

significant role in world history.

As it benefited from imperial patronage Christianity returned the favor by endowing the state with religious

legitimacy. The very model of Christianity--one God reigning supremely over the universe through a network

of angels and saints--was complimentary to the model of Constantine ruling the empire through a centralized

bureaucracy; the empire mirrored the hierarchical cosmology of Christianity. Constantine represented

himself as one who ruled on God's behalf, not only performing the normal functions of political rule but

making appointments to prominent church offices and intervening in doctrinal disputes.[22] This union of

political and religious authority under one ruler was called caesaropapism. The Roman Empire, now

reordered as a community of belief and union of church and state, laid claim to supernatural support.

Although the political development of the fallen western half of the Roman Empire was much different than

the eastern (Byzantine) half, Christianity became the religion of choice for kings there as well. As the Roman

Catholic Church grew in power and prestige, Germanic kings converted to Catholicism in order to reinforce

their political power. When Clovis I of the Franks converted to Catholic Christianity, it set him apart from

other kings vying for power and put him in alliance with landholding elites of the former patrician classes. [23]

In the eastern Byzantine Empire the best example of a politician using Christianity to legitimize authority was

Constantine, particularly evident in the dedication of Constantinople in 330. Forty days of ceremonies, both

Christian and pagan, surrounded this event. The Column of Constantine which was erected for this

dedication was a repository of relics both Christian and pagan. The figure of Constantine at the top (no

longer there today) held an orb containing a piece of the cross on which Jesus died. The base of the column

held the ax used by Noah to build the ark, a surviving basket of bread from when Jesus fed a crowd, and

Mary Magdaline's jar of ointment used to anoint the feet of Jesus. [24] But the figure of Constantine was

clearly a model of Apollo, complete with rays of light emanating from his head in traditional Roman fashion.

Alongside the Christian relics in the base were pagan items as well, such as the Palladium, a relic thought to

bring the protection of the Roman gods upon whatever city possessed it. This blending of pagan and

Christian symbolism made the new religion seem less threatening to traditionally minded Romans. But the

statue of Constantine towering above both pagan and Christian symbols left no doubt as to who had

absolute power.

Based as it was upon the Christian religion, the empire could not afford to tolerate alternate opinions about

important Christian doctrines. Most divisive among these doctrines was who exactly Jesus was. Was he a

man who became God, a God who became man, or a combination of the two simultaneously, and if so, how

did the divine and human natures relate to each other? To settle these theological issues Constantine called

the Council of Nicaea (325 C.E.) which outlined the empire's position on such issues. These "official"

beliefs of Christianity, called orthodoxy, were enforced by the state. Heresy--any belief that deviated from

orthodoxy--was condemned and suppressed within the boundary of the empire. This actually led to the

diffusion of Christianity, as those whose Christian beliefs were condemned sought refuge outside the

empire. For example, in 431, Nestorius--the patriarch of Constantinople--was condemned for his views

about Jesus and Mary.[25] His followers, called Nestorians, formed Christian communities in the Persian

Sassanid Empire to escape persecution in the Roman (Byzantine) lands. From Persia they made their way

to the Silk Roads which became their routes across Eurasia. Nestorian Christianity went as far as China

where they established communities in the early 7th century.[26] The famous Nestorian Stele, erected in the

Chinese capital of Chang'an in 781, documents the early Christians who took their faith to China, as well as

some basic Christian teachings.

As it traveled the Silk Roads, Christianity adopted local practices and blended with local beliefs. Such

adaptations aided its spread by "camouflaging its newness" before potential converts. [27] For example,

Turks in Central Asia converted to Christianity because the practices of the Nestorian priests were nearly

identical to that of their own shamans. The Christian cross was used as a charm to bring good weather and

ward off evil spirits and disease. There were some mass conversions which have led scholars to speculate if

the converts merely took Christianity as another form of "shamanism" that had demonstrated greater power.

Although Christianity did not have the same success in China as Buddhism did, it merged there with other

beliefs as well. A Christian monument in the Chinese capital of Xi'an included Daoist symbols of yin and

yang along with the Buddhist lotus flower. Nestorian Christians in China preached the "Eight Cardinal

Virtues," which were basically a restatement of the Buddhist Eight Fold Path. The message of Jesus

became The Way (or the Dao) and saints were referred to as buddhas. [28]

The Silk Roads were not the only trade route upon which Christianity spread. Through maritime routes, it

made its way to Egypt and Axum and formed the Coptic Church. A kingdom in northern Ethiopia converted

and retained a unique form of Christianity distinct from Catholic and Eastern Orthodox forms. Across the

English channel, monks took Christianity to the British Isles where it was prone to Celtic influences. In short,

Catholic and Orthodox forms of Christianity spread inside the borders of the Roman Empire while Nestorian

and Coptic versions went beyond them. In all areas it absorbed influences from its host culture.

Hinduism We saw in Key Concept 2.1 that during the Vedic era Brahmin priests rose to the top of

society in South Asia. The complex rituals and sacrifices they conducted were thought necessary to ensure

good harvests and healthy herds of animals. As a privileged elite, they paid no taxes and grew wealthy

collecting large fees for their services. [29]

In the Bhagavad Gita, the warrior Arjuna prays to Krishna to spare him the agony of killing people in battle. Krishna tells

him to carry out the duties of the warrior caste in which he belongs. This is dharma.

The writings known as the Upanishads signaled a “grassroots” reaction against the strict system of the

Brahmins and their sacrifices. The title means “one who sits at the feet of the master” and implies that

people were seeking answers to life’s deepest meaning from wandering mystics and teachers rather than

the official religious system. Even though they offered a religious path around the official priests, the ways

taught in the Upanishads were hard. According to one of them, achieving cosmic awareness is "as hard as

walking barefoot over a razor's edge." [30]

During the Mauryan Dynasty, the active role played by Ashoka in promoting Buddhism put Hinduism on the

defensive. Brahmin priests resisted his efforts, and after the fall of Ashoka's Dynasty India experience a

Hindu revival. [31] Buddhism began to recede. Further diminishing its appeal was the invasion of the Kushans

from the north. The Kushan king had converted to Buddhism, an act that decreased its popularity in India “by

associating it with foreign rule.” [32] When the Gupta brought dynastic rule back to India, they directly

supported Hinduism. The ironic result of these trends is that Buddhism did not keep a significant presence in

India, the place of its origin.

Buddhism's decline in India was accompanied by the rise of a popular and devotional form of Hinduism.

Transformed by its competition with Buddhism, popular Hinduism emphasized the teachings of

the Bhagavad Gita rather than the rituals of the Vedas or the philosophical musings of the Upanishads. As

such, the new Hinduism stressed that a deep spirituality was available to any person by "selflessly

performing the ordinary duties of their lives." [33] Hindus at at any level of society could make spiritual

progress by mechanically carrying out the dharma of their caste in a detached and emotionless way. As the

Bhagavad Gita puts it:

Action alone should be your interest,

Never its fruits.

With discipline perform actions,

Abandoning attachments,

and indifferent to success or failure.[34]

This emphasis on action meant that members of the merchant caste, for example, were performing their

religious duty by carrying on the activities of trade. Shorn of complicated rules and dependence upon sacred

rituals, religious activity--once the exclusive domain of priests--was now open to anyone. This devotional

form of Hinduism became extremely popular with the masses. To some degree, the new practice of

Hinduism took on some of the characteristics of Mahayana Buddhism. As merchants spread their Hindu faith

it became hard to tell the two apart.

This is particularly true with a branch of Hinduism called bhakti which emerged in southern India and spread

to the north.. Intensely passionate, this form of Hinduism stressed intense emotions directed at specific

Hindu gods, most popularly Vishnu and Shiva. Despite the reputation Hinduism has of being a non-

missionary religion, there is strong evidence that certain sects of Hindus actively sought to spread the

religion. Through missionaries and merchants, the bhakti faith made its way to Southeast Asia and spread

alongside Buddhism. Here the two religions blended to such an extent that believers often didn’t distinguish

between them at all. Hindu temples, Buddhist stupas and monasteries blended the symbols and practices of

both religions. [35] One attraction of Hinduism was that people did not have to give up their traditional gods to

practice it. As an inclusive religion, Hinduism readily absorbs the gods and practices of other belief systems.

It is a belief system about all belief systems. Interestingly, there is no term for the process of conversion in

the religion of Hinduism. [36]

Buddhism As we have seen, Buddhism began north of India (in Nepal) and, like Christianity, saw

limited acceptance in the first few centuries after its founder's death. The way of life originally taught by the

Buddha was not easy. Although he had rejected both the life of pleasure and the life of extreme deprivation,

the Buddha called his followers to renounce friends, family, and belongings in the quest for enlightenment.

Absolutely central to this spiritual calling was a monastic life and the rejection of all possessions, except a

modest robe and a begging bowl. [37] This call to austerity did not fit well with the values of most people,

particularly merchants on the caravan routes.

Debates raged about how literally the strict message of the Buddha was to be taken. Under the Mauryan

Emperor Ashoka, who had come to accept Buddhism, the Third Buddhist Council was held in 247 B.C.E. to

resolve some of these tensions. [38]As a result, Buddhist texts were translated to appeal to a much wider

audience. A sect of Buddhism called Mahayana (the Greater Vehicle), which was much more

accommodating of the lifestyles of ordinary people, gained wide acceptance. In this school of "easy"

Buddhism, Nirvana was state of awareness open to anyone in any walk of life. Mahayana Buddhists

elevated Buddha to the level of a god. Salvation was much easier with the help of Bodhisattvas, individuals

who postponed enlightenment to share their surplus karma with average people trying to attain nirvana. This

is to be contrasted with the Theravada sect, which maintained the strict teachings about the monastic life

and sacrificing possessions and family in the quest for nirvana.

Freed from the stricter interpretation of the Buddha’s teaching, Mahayana Buddhism permitted a new

acceptance of worldly values. This can be seen in the Jatakamala, a Buddhist text of the second century

C.E. which depicts the Buddha helping merchants with their voyages.

[The Buddha] possessed every quality desired in a ship's pilot. Knowing the course of the [stars] he was

never at loss with respect to the regions of the ship. . . . So being skilled in the art of taking a ship out and

bringing her home, he exercised the profession of one who [takes] the merchants by sea to their

destinations.

Mahayana Buddhism became identified with Silk Road trade more than any other belief system.

Monasteries and the routes between them formed the network through which valuable goods flowed. Its

close connection with trade made conversion to Buddhism an attractive option for the Hindu Vaishya caste.

This merchant caste believed that buying and selling was their dharma, or religious duty. Converting to

Buddhism and benefiting from its commercial advantages allowed them to better perform their dharma. More

generally, Buddhism delivered people from the harshness of the Hindu caste system. As a self-styled

religious practice, Mahayana Buddhism was a liberating alternative to the strict system of sacrifices presided

over by the Brahmin priestly caste.

In addition to the rise of Mahayana Buddhism, Ashoka’s rule had other direct effects on the spread of

Buddhism. He sponsored Buddhist monks and missionaries and commissioned the building of Buddhist

monasteries. He used his stone edicts to spread the word of his conversion and to diffuse Buddhist

teachings. [39] Ashoka sent one of his sons to preach Buddhism on the island of Ceylon (present day Sri

Lanka), where it today still has a major presence.

During Ashoka’s reign a cult of relics developed in Buddhism. A relic is an object connected to an important

religious person, such as the ashes or belongings of a well known Buddhist monk. The most sacred relics

were those from The Buddha, most commonly a piece of his garment, wood from the tree under which he

found enlightenment, or even a bone from his finger. For many Buddhist, those in possession of a relic were

thought to have the religious authority of the Buddha himself. Relics gave legitimacy to those in possession

of them. [40] According to legend, Ashoka divided and sent out 84,000 relics to the same number of

locations. [41] He built Stupas—houses of meditation used to hold relics—for each of them. In a religion with

no centralized bureaucracy or official priesthood, relics legitimized the status of monasteries and monks.

Managing and dispensing them was a prominent force in the spread of Buddhism after Ashoka’s rule.

Ashoka was not the only king to support Buddhism. After the fall of the Gupta, the northern plains of India

and much of Central Asia was a patchwork of small kingdoms. One of the most difficult challenges for these

kings was trying to bind people of different language and ethnic identities into a loyal group. In that regard,

kings found Buddhism a useful tool. Like Christianity, Buddhism is a universal religion. Not limited to a single

tribe or location, it describes a condition of humanity that is true in all places and times. Because Buddhism

appealed to a universal human condition it could help bridge "kinship or ethnic differences." [42] It made

sense to people no matter where they were and gave kings the ability to appeal to those outside their

domain. By funding distant monasteries and bestowing them with lavish gifts, kings could gain wide prestige.

They could also extend their influence.

After Buddhism became wide-spread in China, the political advantages it could leverage were not lost on Sui

emperors. In 583, a monk at a government sponsored monastery translated a Buddhist text to imply that

Emperor Wen was a reincarnated bodhisattva. A few years later, this emperor claimed that the Buddha

himself had entrusted him with the authority to rule China. [43] Buddha, it would seem, was now the source of

the Mandate of Heaven.

As it gained ground in China Buddhism experienced profound changes. The monastic life was particularly

offensive for Chinese because it ran contrary to Confucian notions of proper human relationships. [44] In

China, for example, filial piety--goodness and care shown to one's parents-- is central to a properly

functioning society. How was the life of the solitary monk to be reconciled with the obligations of filial piety?

Through syncretism. In Chinese Buddhism the monastic life came to be understood as a way to generate

karma for one's family and ancestors. Thus, living in a monastery could satisfy the Confucian requirement of

filial piety; it was a means to care for parents and elders by earning karma for them. Much of the

transformation of Buddhism in China occurred because Buddhist texts had to be translated. Indian terms did

not have exact equivalents in Chinese so translators chose familiar Chinese terms to take the place of

Buddhist words. For example, the Chinese word wu-wei, which means to allow events to unfold naturally,

replaced the Sanskrit word Nirvana. Likewise, the Buddhist word for Dharma was translated into the

Chinese texts as The Dao. The meanings of these important terms thus shifted into ideas already deeply

rooted in Chinese culture. Buddhism did not seem as foreign as it actually was. The transformation of

Buddhism in China (and elsewhere) allowed people to convert without having to completely reject previous

beliefs and practices.[45]