History 210: Expansion and Empire in Eurasia, 500 BCE-500 CE

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History 210 Expansion and Empire in Eurasia, 500
BCE-500 CE
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What is an empire?
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What is an empire?

• Political system of coercive power
• Larger, more aggressive than other states
• Conquer other states
• Use their resources to benefit the center
• Usually include multiple peoples and cultures
  under one political system, with one ultimate
  ruler
• More or less integrative
• Deal with local elites
• Enforce taxes and the status quo

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Earliest empires of the First Civilizations

• Akkadian empire, 2350-2083 BCE
• Babylonian empire, 1900-1500 BCE
• Hittite empire, 1750-1180 BCE
• Egyptian empire, 1500-760 BCE
• Assyrian empire, 900-612 BCE

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Phoenicians, 1550 BCE to 300 BCE

• Based in present-day Lebanon
• Became powerful through trade
• Expanded across the Mediterranean Sea
• Founded Carthage
• Created the first alphabet

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Name the Eurasian empires of the classical
period, 500 BCE-500 CE.
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Name the Eurasian empires of the classical
period, 500 BCE-500 CE.

• Persian Empire, 553-330 BCE (Achaemenid dynasty)
• Greek Empire of Alexander the Great, 338-30 BCE
• Roman Empire, 146 BCE-476 CE
• Chinese Empire (Qin and Han dynasties), 221
  BCE-220 CE
• India
• Mauryan Empire (326-184 BCE)
• Gupta Empire (320-550 CE)

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The accomplishments of which of the following
classical empires most impressed you? Why?

• a. Han China
• b. Persia
• c. Rome
• d. Greece

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Do you believe that democracy as practiced at the
height of the classical period in Athens

• a. was not a democracy at all?
• b. was not a democracy but provided an important
  step toward democracy?
• c. was a democracy, just not in a form that would
  be acceptable the United States today?
• d. was a democracy?

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In what ways did these empires differ from one
another?

• What accounts for these differences?

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How did Persian and Greek civilizations differ in
their political organization and values?

• What accounts for these differences?

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What were the consequences for both sides of the
encounter between the Persians and the Greeks?
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What changes did Alexanders conquests bring in
their wake?
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How did Rome grow from a single city to the
center of a huge empire? What were the most
important causal factors?
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In what ways were the Chinese and Roman Empires
similar?
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In what ways were the Chinese and Roman Empires
different?
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How would you account for the differences in the
long-term legacies of these two empires?