Classical India: Dissent, Cultural Innovations, and Religious Movements (600-300 BC) - Pro, Study notes of World History

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Classical India Classical Age Dissent: (600-300 BC)  Critique of Brahmanism and Vedic religion  Critique of caste system  Philosophical and scientific questioning o Atomism and materialism o Atheism  Religious dissent o Asceticism (extreme personal discipline o Jainism (founder: Mahavira)  Radical ahimsa (non-violence) o Biddhism (founder: Siddartha Gautama)  Other Cultural Innovations o Alphabet  Brahmi script (from Aramaic) (Theravada) Buddhism  Partial rejection, Partial elaboration of late Vedic religion o Caste, Brahmanism, Vedas o Meditation, Karma, Reincarnation o Moksha (release, salvation, enlightenment) o Nirvana (extinction of self – much like late Vedic union of atman [_____ soul] and brahman [_____soul])  Partial rejection, partial elaboration of dissident innovations o Extreme, individualistic asceticism (self-mortification) o Moderate, group asceticism (moasticism) o Ahimsa (non-violence) o Selflessness, compassion  Little emphasis on divinity, theology o Salvation not a divine gift but a natural process Main Buddhistic Tenets  Four Noble Truths o Link between suffering and desire  The way to salvation: Eightfold Path o Selflessness, contemplation, compassion o The Middle Way  Nirvana Social Appeal of Buddhism  Towns o Rising towns were centers of classical age dissent and Buddhism  Lower Castes o Vernacular preaching o All could be like priests, learn o Cheaper worship (no expensive sacrifices)  Women - Nuns Vedic/Brahmanic Response: Early Hinduism (after 500 BC)  Metaphysical, literary flowering (Bhagavad Gita)  Adoption of dissident trends o Ascetism & selflessness (Bhagavad Gita)  Religious Differentiation (all things to all people) o Vedic, brahmanic, and caste core maintained o Multiple paths to salvation o Multiple theisms  Monotheism/Trinitarianism  Pantheism  Polytheism Later Buddhist Trends  Mahayana Buddhism o Return to polytheism  Competition with Hinduism for popular appeal o Deification of Buddha o Bodhisattva saints o Return of this-worldliness o Easier modes of salvation  Devotion rather than discipline  Competition with Hinduism for popular appeal o More emphasis of Heaven (happiness and pleasure) instead of Nirvana (extinction) o Metaphysical (intellectualist) elaboration  Competition with Hinduism for elite adherents Context of Dissent: Civilizational Renaissance (700-300 BC)  Geographic shifts o Ganges-centric  Social change o Return of cities and commerce  Political change o Return of large states  Republics (assemblies)  Monarchies (Magadha)  Birth of Literacy o Alphabet  Brahmi script (derived from Aramaic) Mauryan Empire: (322-185 BC)  Expansion from Maghada kingdom  Post-Alexandrian vacuum in NW Confucianism  Confucius: c. 500 BC o Scholar/official  Return to, but transformation of , early Chou traditions o Hierarchical  “Rectification of names” o Decorum and rites rather than punishment and law  Old traditions, new interpretations o “Gentlemen”  Aristocracy of ethics and culture rather than birth; illustrates move away from feudalism  Humanistic, optimistic, this-worldly, activist  Neither individualistic nor collectivist, but relationistic o Duties toward certain other individuals stressed  Filial piety and five cardinal relationships  Compassion and politeness toward strangers and inferiors  Mencius: c. 300 BC o Popular sovereignty (radical twist on Mandate of Heaven) o Duty of revolution (rectification of names – ouster of bad ruler) o Human nature essentially good Later Confucian Canon  Collection of Early Zhou lore, records, and practices with later elaborations o The Five Classics (I-Ching) o Compiled by Confucianists  Confucian Dialogues o The Analects o The Mencius (later addition to canon; less dialogues than pronouncements) Daoism  Lao-Tzu (c. 500BC)  An anti-Confucianism o Non-social o Escapist o Non-conformist  Religious o Mystical  The sensual, material world illusory  Pantheistic for elite  The Dao  Polytheistic for masses  Wu-wei o Non-action o Unselfconsciousness o Spontaneity, instinct o Doing without striving Legalism  Hsun-Tsu o A renegade confucianist  State Power o Centralized governement o Royal will as law o Impersonal law and punishment as key to public morality o Impersonal bureaucracy o Meritocratic governement to best serve prince  Rejection of traditional rituals and ethics o Hard-nosed, unromantic realism  Anti-nobility  Maximize economic production (competitive free market in land, regulation of people, public works, forced labor) The First Empire: Qin (225-205 BC)  First Legalist state  Tyrannical  Intolerant o Massacre of intellectuals o Book burnings  Militaristic o Overthrows all other states  Centralizing o Central appointees rather than local aristocrats rule provinces  Standardizing o Roads o Weights and measures o Currency o Chinese script  Short-lived Han Empire (200 BC-200 AD)  Kinder, gentler imperialism o Compromise with both aristocrats and people  Mix of legalist and Confucianist ideals o Examination system o Confucianism as official philosophy o Some legalist practices maintained  Founded by peasant-born generalissimo  Subject duties o Taxed o Forced labor  Roads, canals, palaces o Military service  Central state control of most provinces  Local autonomy at bottom o Village self-governement  Innovation o Paper, Porcelain, Compass, Spinning wheel; water mill  Mathematics & Astronomy o Negative numbers, Abacus, Solar Eclipses, fractions Decline and Fall of Han  Refeudalization (successfully combated c. 1 AD; not later) o Growth of landed estates/aristocracy  Reward through land grants o Peasant flight to tax-free estates  Vicious cycle  Avoid taxes and forced service (labor, military)  Weakening of central government  Tenants to serfs o Economic Downturn  Crops failures and famine  Public iurrigation and canals increasingly fail  Trade dries up; money use declines  Cities shrink  Religioius uprisings o Daoist sects proliferate  Organized, popular religion  Rise of aristocratic warlords o Private armies (to combat uprisings, etc) o New regional powers  Warlords take control o Overthrow of Han o Three Kingdoms (from 220 AD) Post-Han Disunity (200-580 AD)  Entry of Buddhism o Silk Road o Mahayana  Bodhisatvas  Pure Land sect (faith in Amhitabha Buddha; Western Paradise)  Barbarian nomadic invasions (from 300 AD) o Former military vassals o Barbarian successor states in north  Huns, Mongols, Tibetans o Han successor states in south  Greek unity, Persian overstretch, Alexandrian strategy o Greek colonies Hellenistic Period  Alexandrian successor states o Territorial monarchies  Seleucids (Persia, Mesopotamia)  Ptolemies (Egypt & Levant) o Polis federations  Greek mainland  Decline of democracy  Gender o Women more culturally visible o Culture ideals less militaristic and heroic, more civilian and realistically human  Multi-cultural, Multi-ethnic o Many peoples united in single kingdoms o Universalism (Polis no longer sole center of devotion and identity) o Greek art and language (Greek culture rather than Greek birth as mark of civility) o Eastern religion , political practices (Hellenistic monarchies) o Stoicism and Epicureanism: Hellenistic life-philosophies  Parthians (Persia & Mesopotamia) and Romans (Greece, Anatolia, Levant, Egypt) o Conquests from 150-30 BC o Greek culture retains hold in cities and among elites  Until 1st century AD in Parthia  Until Muslim conquest in “Romania” Classical Era: (450-330 BC) Hellenistic Era Rome Origins  Etruscan Hegemony  City-state o Trading center  Citizen-soldiers  Mixed constitution o Patricians vs. Plebeians o Consuls, Senators, Civil Priesthood o Centuriate Assembly, Plebeian Assembly, Tribunes  Slow conquest o Latium, Italian peninsula o Full naturalization, semi-citizenship, colonies, allies (socii) Mediterranean Conquest  Italian resource base o Flourishing agriculture and trade o Soldiers o Taxes  New Provinces o Mediterranean expansion  North Africa, Spain, Sardinia  Carthaginian Empire, Punic Wars, Sea fleet o Greece, and Anatolia o Celtic Gaul and Ptolemaic Egypt  Imperial infrastructure o Long-distance roads  Methods o Military garrisons, Local autonomy o Stick - Military force, brutality (Carthage) o Carrot  Peace, protection (from piracy, etc.)  Prosperity? (trade facilitation)  Liberty, Justice, and Civilization: mere propaganda? Lifestyle  Urbanity o Polis central (administration, culture) o Italy 40% urban o Public amenities  Theaters, aqueducts, sanitation, baths, arenas, libraries  Culture o Hellenistic  Art & Stoicism and Epicurianism o Humanitas  Greek roots  Culture, benevolence, virtue, civilization o Eastern cults  Mithra (Persia)  Magna Mater (Anatolia) Pompeii Fall of Republic: (60-30 BC)  Rise of professional army o Transfer of loyalty to consul-generals  Rise of Roman “proletariat”  Populist politics  Army factions  Julius Caesar o Populist, noble general  Octavian o Caesar’s heir o Principate Imperial Trends  Pax Romana  Rome City parasitism o Proletariat o Bread and Circuses  Further Expansion o Mesopotamia, Britain, Germania  Spread of Greco-Roman culture o Push-pull process  Latin West, Greek East  Multiethnicity o Arab, Spanish, African, Illyrian emperors and senators o Culture rather than ethnicity as key to membership Decline and Fall of Rome Third Century Crisis: (235-85 AD)  Trouble in the East o Sassanian Empire  Neo-Acheamenid (Neo-Persian)  Trouble in the West o Germanic incursions  Civil Wars & Army Coups  Empire almost falls Germania  Pre-Roman Society (1st Century BC) o Small tribes o Subsistence agriculture o Little trade o Relatively egalitarian  Post-Roman Developments (by 3rd Century AD) o Periodic roman interference in tribal politics o Large tribal confederations o Trade flowering; economic growth  Roman coinage  Trade with empire  Paid military service to Rome  Larger-scale “industrial” pursuits