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. 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 spawn in these empires left their enduring cultural footprints even as their political systems disintegrated.

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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

Civilizations and Empires you must know (location and name)

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  Phoenicia and its trade routes

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  The city-states of classical Greece

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  The Hellenistic Kingdoms

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  The Moche of South America (Peru)

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  The civilization of Mayan city-states

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  Classical India: the Mauryan

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  Classica India: the Gupta

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  The Roman Empire

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  The Persian Empire

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  The Qin and Han Empires

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. 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 which reached its height under Cyrus the Great. At its peak in encompassed present day Iran, Syria, Israel, Anatolia, parts of Egypt, and Macedonia to the north of classical Greece. The antagonism between Persia and Greece civilization would provoke the wrath of Alexander the Great, whose conquest ended the Achaemenid Empire.