The Earth and Its Peoples 3 rd edition Chapter 6 An Age of Empires: Rome and Han China, 753...

The Earth and Its Peoples

3rd edition

Chapter 6

An Age of Empires: Rome and Han China,

753 B.C.E.-330 C.E.

Cover Slide

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Augustus as imperatorAugustus, dressed in breastplate and uniform, emphasizes the imperial majesty of Rome and his role as imperator. The naked feet signify Augustus's divinity; the small cupid riding the dolphin alludes to Augustus's claim that the Julian line descended from Venus. The breastplate commemorates his victory over the Parthians, the triumph that ushered in the Augustan Peace. (Scala/Art Resource, NY)

Augustus as imperator


Bronze punic armorThis bronze Punic armor is a breast- and backplate found in a third-century B.C.E. tomb near Carthage. The ornamentation suggests an Italo-Greek origin. (Musee national du Bardo)

Bronze punic armor


Catacombs of RomeThe catacombs just outside of Rome testify to the vitality of the new religion of Christianity and pagan toleration of it. The early Christians used underground crypts and rock chambers to bury their dead. The bodies were placed in these galleries and then sealed up. The catacombs became places of pilgrimage, and in this way the dead continued to be united with the living. (Catacombe di Priscilla, Rome/Scala/Art Resource, NY)

Catacombs of Rome


Coin of Julius CaesarUpon his acquisition of power in 46 B.C.E., Caesar allowed a number of extraordinary honors to be conferred upon him. The Senate declared him "father of his country" and had this stamped on his coinage. He was the first living Roman to be represented on a coin, a sign both of his power and of the break with tradition that he marked. (Bibliotheque nationale de France)

Coin of Julius Caesar


Colossal statue of ConstantineThe head of Constantine is part of an enormous sculpture of him seated that was once originally placed in his basilica. The entire statue was over 30 feet high; the head alone weighs over 8 tons. Head, arms, hands, legs and feet were of marble. The drapery was probably of bronze plates over a masonry frame. The colossal head and neck are superbly modeled, but the eyes, which seem to be fixed on some spot above our heads (perhaps on eternity), seem overly large. Such a feature is common in the early Christian period. (Scala/Art Resource, NY)

Colossal statue of Constantine


Dagger depicting TaiyiRecent archaeological excavations of manuscripts from the Warring States Period (403-221 B.C.E.) have given us a much clearer understanding of religious beliefs and practices in early China. The deity Taiyi ("Grand One"), depicted on these drawings of a late-fourth-century B.C.E. dagger, was the god of the pole star. Sacrifices were made to Taiyi to avert evil or gain his protection in battle. (From Michael Loewe and Edward Shaughnessy, ed., Cambridge History of Ancient China (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991))

Dagger depicting Taiyi


Diocletian's TetrarchyThe emperor Diocletian's attempt to reform the Roman Empire by dividing rule among four men is represented in this piece of sculpture, which in many features illustrates the transition from ancient to medieval art. Here the four tetrarchs demonstrate their solidarity by clasping one another on the shoulder. Nonetheless each man has his other hand on his sword--a gesture that proved prophetic when Diocletian's reign ended and another struggle for power began. (Scala/Art Resource, NY)

Diocletian's Tetrarchy


Double portrait, PompeiiThis wall painting from a house joined to a bakery in Pompeii depicts a married couple, possibly the wealthy baker P. Paquius Proculus and his wife. The portraiture is realistic. The couple carries symbols of education: she holds wax tablets and a stylus (pen), while he grasps a sealed scroll. (Scala/Art Resource, NY)

Double portrait, Pompeii


Floor littered with foodThis mosaic is of a floor that can never be swept clean. It whimsically suggests what a dining room floor looked like after a lavish dinner and also tells something about the menu: a chicken head, a wishbone, and the remains of various seafood, vegetables, and fruits are easily recognizable. (Scala/Art Resource, NY)

Floor littered with food


Gladiators, mosaicGladiators--literally men who carried a gladius (sword)--fought to the death in the arena and enraptured the Roman Empire. This mosaic from a Roman villa in Germany depicts scenes from the area. The illustration shows a retiarius (net-and-trident bearer), fighting a better-armed secutor (literally "pursuer") under the watchful eyes of a lanista (trainer). (Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz)

Gladiators, mosaic


Relief of farmers plowing with oxenFarmers in the Han dynasty (220-206 B.C.E.) began to use animal-drawn plows, as depicted here in a stone relief. Improvements in agricultural technology in Han times aided the geographical expansion of Chinese civilization and the growth of the Chinese population. (From Patricia Buckley Ebrey, The Cambridge Illustrated History of China, 1996)

Relief of farmers plowing with oxen


Roman amphitheater, TunisiaAmphitheaters where gladiatorial combats took place were as common in Italy and the Roman Empire as skyscrapers are in a modern city. This amphitheater in the city of El Djem in modern Tunisia (the Roman province of Africa) was built of high-quality local stone. It was meant to have sixty-four arches but was never completed. The openings in the floor permitted animals to be released into the arena. This amphitheater held at least thirty thousand spectators. (Adina Tovy/Robert Harding Picture Library)

Roman amphitheater, Tunisia


Roman ForumThe site of the future Roman Forum, the famous public square and center of Roman political life, was originally the cemetery of the small community of early Romans. Under the Etruscans the Forum began its history as a public meeting place, a development parallel to that of the Greek agora. (Josephine Powell)

Roman Forum


Rubbing of salt miningFound in a Chinese tomb of the first century C.E., this rubbing illustrates a procedure for mining salt. The tower on the left originally served as a derrick for drilling a deep hole through dirt and rock. In this scene workers are hauling up buckets full of brine (saltwater) from underground deposits. In the background are hunters in the mountains. (Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum)

Rubbing of salt mining


Stamped brick: Tax collectingThis stamped brick, found in a tomb in western China, depicts, at center, a stooped peasant pouring into a basket the grain demanded by the government. The tax collector, seated and wearing fine clothing, clutches bamboo slips on which he keeps his records. A number of pictorial elements--positioning in the composition, posture, clothing, and vehicles--contrast the wealth, comfort, and superior social status of the government official with the poverty, toil, and low status of the peasant. (Private Collection)

Stamped brick: Tax collecting


The Good ShepherdThis ceiling painting comes from a Christian catacomb in Rome dating before 284 C.E. The pastoral image, common in the early church, recalls Christ's ministry. It symbolizes his beneficence and his sacrifice, as well as his closeness to ordinary people. (Scala/Art Resource, NY)

The Good Shepherd


Tophet of CarthageHere, from the seventh to second centuries B.C.E., the cremated bodies of sacrificed children were buried. Archaeological excavation has confirmed the claim in ancient sources that the Carthaginians sacrificed children to their gods at times of crisis. Stone markers, decorated with magical signs and symbols of divinities as well as family names, were placed over ceramic urns containing the ashes and charred bones of one or more infants or, occasionally, older children (Martha Cooper/Peter Arnold, Inc.)

Tophet of Carthage


Map: The Economic Aspect of the Pax Romana

The Economic Aspect of the Pax RomanaThe Roman Empire was not merely a political and military organization but also an intricate economic network through which goods from Armenia and Syria were traded for Western products from as far away as Spain and Britain. (Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved.)


Map: The Han Empire

The Han EmpireThe Han Dynasty asserted sovereignty over vast regions from Korea in the east to Central Asia in the west and Vietnam in the south. Once garrisons were established, traders were quick to follow, leading to considerable spread of Chinese material culture in East Asia. Chinese goods, especially silk, were in demand far beyond East Asia, promoting long-distance trade across Eurasia. (Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved.)


Map: Italy and the City of Rome

Italy and the City of RomeThe geographical configuration of the Italian peninsula shows how Rome stood astride north-south communication routes and how the state that united Italy stood poised to move into Sicily and northern Africa. (Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved.)


Map: Roman Expansion During the Republic

Roman Expansion During the RepublicThe main spurt of Roman expansion occurred between 264 and 133 B.C.E., when most of the Mediterranean fell to Rome, followed by the conquest of Gaul and the eastern Mediterranean by 44 B.C.E. (Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved.)


Map: Roman Expansion Under the Empire

Roman Expansion Under the EmpireFollowing Roman expansion during the republic, Augustus added vast tracts of Europe to the Roman Empire, which the emperor Hadrian later enlarged by assuming control over parts of central Europe, the Near East, and North Africa. (Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved.)


The Earth and Its Peoples 3 rd edition Chapter 6 An Age of Empires: Rome and Han China, 753...

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