Today

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Today

• Themes of Classical India
• Themes of Classical Greece
• What is Social History?

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Key Points

• Neither classical India nor Greece was a site of
  enduring imperial control in the former,
  short-lived empires gave way to regional
  kingdoms in the latter, city-states dominated
• New religions and philosophical systems grapple
  with increasing complexity of imperial/urban life
• Cross-cultural interactions increase sharply
  during this era (particularly with Persia!)
  trade, warfare, seafaring, missionaries, disease

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Key Points

• History can be studied from the bottom up as well
  as from the top down. . . social historians
  explore the experiences and contexts of the
  non-elite (the great majority of people in human
  history)

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Themes to think about across regions

• Processes of imposing and maintaining rule
• Growth of administration/bureaucracies
• Expansion of cross-cultural interactions
• Widening of socioeconomic gap
• Emergence of new religions/philosophies
• Ongoing historical influence of geography

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Classical IndiaState, Society, and the Quest
for Salvation

• Empires vs. Regional Kingdoms
• The Mauryan Dynasty (c.300 -230 BCE)
• Regional kingdoms and nomadic invasions
• The Gupta (c.320 400 CE)
• What was the Arthashastra?
• Manual/guidebook on government and politics

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How was classical Indian society structured and
regulated?
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What three religious traditions shaped classical
India? What were the central features or beliefs
of each?
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What three religious traditions shaped classical
India? What were the central features or beliefs
of each?

• Jainism
• Popular Hinduism
• Buddhism

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The Four Noble Truths

• Pain, suffering, frustration and anxiety are
  inescapable parts of human life
• Suffering and anxiety are caused by human desire
  and attachments
• People can understand these weaknesses and
  triumph over them
• This truth is made possible by following a simple
  code of conduct, the eightfold path.

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How does caste factor into Buddhism?
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What is the Bhagavadgita? Why is it so useful
for historians of ancient India?
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II. Classical Greece
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Mediterranean SocietyThe Greek Phase

• Early Development

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Mediterranean SocietyThe Greek Phase

• Early Development
• Minoan/Mycenaean Societies (c.2000-1000 BCE)

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Mediterranean SocietyThe Greek Phase

• Early Development
• Minoan/Mycenaean Societies (c.2000-1000 BCE)
• The World of the Polis (c.800 330 BCE)

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Mediterranean SocietyThe Greek Phase

• Early Development
• Minoan/Mycenaean Societies (c.2000-1000 BCE)
• The World of the Polis (c.800 330 BCE)
• Athens and Sparta

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Mediterranean SocietyThe Greek Phase

• Greece and the Larger World
• Greek Colonization where?

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Mediterranean SocietyThe Greek Phase

• Greece and the Larger World
• Greek Colonization where?
• Conflict with Persia why?

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The Greco-Persian Wars (c.499-448)
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Turning Points of the Persian Wars

• Ionian Revolt (c. 500 BCE) resist Persia
• Marathon (490 BCE) Greeks dominate

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Turning Points of the Persian Wars

• Ionian Revolt (c. 500 BCE) resist Persia
• Marathon (490 BCE) Greeks dominate
• Thermopylae (480 BCE) Spartan last stand

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Turning Points of the Persian Wars

• Ionian Revolt (c. 500 BCE) resist Persia
• Marathon (490 BCE) Greeks dominate
• Thermopylae (480 BCE) Spartan last stand
• Salamis (480 BCE) Greeks force Xerxes to leave

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Mediterranean SocietyThe Greek Phase

• Greece and the Larger World
• Greek Colonization where?
• Conflict with Persia why?
• Macedonians and the coming of Empire how?
• The Hellenistic Empires what?

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The Hellenistic Empires
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What was the social hierarchy of classical
Greece?
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What questions interested classical Greek
philosophers? (5th/4th BCE)

• Socrates Plato Aristotle

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Social History, or History from below
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What is the value of social history?