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 spawned in these empires left enduring cultural footprints even as the empires' political structures disintegrated.

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

To see these on maps go to Maps of Classical Civilizations.

There

The division of the Roman Empire after Diocletian

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 (see map on the right). The later would continue as the Byzantine Empire for another thousand years after the western side fell in 476 C.E..

The

The Augustus of Prima Porta, Roman propaganda

Persian Empire is even more complex as it went through several permutations. The first Persian Empire was the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE) which reached its height under Cyrus the Great. At its peak it encompassed present day Iraq and Iran, Syria, Israel, Anatolia, parts of Egypt, the Arabian peninsula, much of Central Asia, and Macedonia to the north of classical Greece. The antagonism between the Persians and Greek civilization would provoke the wrath of Alexander the Great, whose conquest of Persia ended the Achaemenid Empire.

Much smaller than its predecessor was the Parthian Empire (247 BCE–224 CE). The Partians were the arch rivals of the Roman Empire and defeated them in Rome's early attempts at eastward expansion. This conflict evoked the most famous political propaganda in Roman history, the Augustus of Prima Porta (on the left). Brazened on the breastplate of Augustus is the Parthian general returning the battle standards lost to the Romans in earlier defeats, a great diplomatic triumph for Caesar Augustus.

The last of the Persian Empires was the Sassanid Empire, or Neo-Persian Empire (224–651 CE). The collapse of the Sassanid Empire in 651 C.E. was one of the primary factors in the rapid spread of Islam in the next unit of study. One result of these Persian Empires was the diffusion of religious ideas associated with Zoarastrianism.

II. Empires and states developed new techniques of imperial administration based, in part, on the success of earlier political fomrs.

A. Empires are large and diverse. As they expanded duing the classical age, ruling them became more difficult. Governments had to implement methods to project power over large areas, something that presented a challenge in the age before modern transportation and communication. Drawing from the successes of earlier civilizations, empires in the classical age were able to centralize their power and rule over vast domains.

A centralized government is one in which most decisions for the entire state are made by one executive power. This usually involves one leader, or a small group of individuals, having authority over all regions of a state from a single location, such as a capital city. Although all states are necessarily centralized to some degree, some governments can lean more toward decentralization. A decentralized government allows more control and decision making to be made at the level of local provinces or counties. An illustration would be a school in which the administration allows teachers to create many of the rules and procedures for their own classrooms, as opposed to a more centralized system in which an administrator micro-manages every aspect of the classroom from an administrative office. Examples of centralized states in the classical age are Han China, Mauryan India, and the Byzantine Empire. More decentralized states were Gupta India and the Zhou Dynasty of China.

Each of these models of government has its own pattern of strengths and weaknesses. Although decentralized governments put people more in touch with the powers that govern them, they often find it difficult to unite for the common good in times of crises. Centralized states can be efficient, but require some apparatus to project power and hold distance provinces together. They can also can be the target of blame when people become discontented.

Centralized Governments: Case Studies

EAST ASIA

After the fall of the Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC–256 BC) China fell into a period of chaos known as the Period of the Warring States. Although a time of conflict and strife, this period was one of the most fruitful in terms of intellectual output. In the quest to understand how China could have fallen into a period of instability, great thinkers pondered questions such as "What is the best form of governance?" and, related to that question, "What is the nature of man?" The differing answers to these questions formed the basis of Confucianism, Legalism, and Daoism. See more about these Chinese Belief Systems from Key Concept 2.1.

The Period of Warring States ended when the warrior Qin Shi Huang centralized power and destroyed regional opposition. Although it lasted only 14 years, the Qin Dynasty set in place many important aspects of Chinese civilization.

One of the most important things the Qin did was create a bureaucracy. Bureaucrats are employees of the state whose position in society, unlike nobles or aristocrats, does not rest on an independent source of wealth. Members of the bureaucracy only had positions and power as granted by the emperor. Generally speaking, the bureaucrat's high status and wealth is based on his obedience to his superior. Land owning aristocrats, on the other hand, have large estates and personal fortunes to fall back on; they have a vested interest in influencing the government in their personal favor. Aristocrats also tend to make decisions based on what is best for their region, thus becoming a decentralizing force. By assigning bureaucrats to regions, the Qin bypassed the powerful aristocracy and governed through those whose position depended on loyal obedience to the state. Additionally, the practice of Legalism reinforced the bonds of obligation between bureaucrat and superior. In this manner, the bureaucracy became a tool of centralization for China and placed the entire empire under the leadership of the Qin emperor.

A bureaucracy is an hierarchical chain of authority that allows a central leader to project power across a large area divided into many administrative regions.

In order to bring unity to China, the Qin also built roads and bridges, constructed defensive walls, standardized units of weight and measurement, created a standard currency, and made one common form of Chinese writing. The harsh Legalism of the Qin allowed it to do much during its short reign of 14 years, but this same strict political philosophy also generated much resentment among the common people. As soon as the emperor died, the people revolted and slaughtered many of the remaining Qin officials.

Unlike previous eras, Chinese civilization did not regress into chaos for long. The Han dynasty came to power and ruled China for about 400 years, roughly 200 B.C.E. to 200 C.E. The ability of the Han to maintain a strong central government over such a vast area was greatly facilitated by the Qin reforms under Legalism.

Under the leadership of emperor Han Wudi, the Han Dynasty is responsible for some very important innovations that would have a lasting effect on China: the official adoption of Confucianism and the rise of the civil service examinations.

The Han adopted Confucianism because it was the most organized educational network from which they could draw people for the bureaucracy. To make certain new recruits were educated well, they began testing them through a rigorous system of civil service examinations; to be in the Han bureaucracy, one had to demonstrate a mastery of Confucian ideas on these test. One effect of this was that the Han bureaucracy was filled with people profoundly influenced by Confucian thought: they were taught to model good behavior for those under them and to respect and submit to those in authority over them. Thus Confucianism not only became deeply imbedded in Chinese culture, it also came to re-enforce the political bureaucracy by advocating obedience and benevolent rule. A synthesis was forged between China's political structure and a belief system.

SOUTH ASIA

The classical age of India’s history was comprised of two important dynasties, the Mauryan and the Gupta. The rise of the Mauryan Dynasty was precipitated by the invasion of Alexander of Macedonia in 327 B.C. Although Alexander left no lasting impression on India, he did clear out several small Aryan states and create the power vacuum which allowed Chandragupta Mauryan to establish his namesake dynasty.

Under Mauryan rule much of the Indian subcontinent was united for the first time under one central government. They

were able to rule such a large area by using a well organized bureaucracy. Chandragupta maintained his bureaucracy with a systematic use of spying, brutality and intimidation. The most important ruler of the Mauryan dynasty was Ashoka. He retained the bureaucracy created by this grandfather Chandragupta, but imposed a system of law across his empire known as the Edicts of Ashoka. These rules brought cohesion and legal consistency across the empire, as the Code of Hammurabi did for the Babylonians. Thus Ashoka relied on both a bureaucracy and a codified legal system to centralize his rule.

Under Ashoka's rule the empire expanded and the bureaucracy became more organized. He created central organizations to ensure that his edicts and policies were carried out across his empire. An important event during Ashoka’s rule was his conversion to Buddhism, a change that moderated the harsh precedents set by his grandfather. Ashoka today is remembered as one of ancient India's most influential and benevolent leaders.

When Ashoka died the Mauryan empire soon crumbled. After a period of disorder and regional kingdoms, the Gupta Dynasty emerged and once again united India under a single government. The Gupta empire never grew to the size of the Mauryan. The organization of their empire was considerably different as well. Ashoka used the bureaucracy to manage most details of the empire. The Gutpas, on the other hand, let most decisions and policy making up to local leaders. They also preferred to negotiate or intermarry with local rulers to keep the peace. Although they ruled over a smaller area than the Mauryans, the Gupta era was the greatest period of political stability in classical India. However, this lack of centralized rule came with an eventual price. The various regions of India had their own distinctions and were never integrated into the whole as they were under Ashoka. In fact, the Gupta empire would break along these regional divisions as the empire was threatened by internal corruption and nomadic invaders. After the fall of the Gupta dynasty, the Indian subcontinent would remain fragmented into regions for over 1500 years. Thus the pattern of rule in classical India alternated between large but decentralized empires and networks of disjointed regional kingdoms.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE

The diversity of east and south Asian empires did not compare with that of Rome. At its peak, the Roman Empire included areas as diverse as Egypt, Spain, Britain, Palestine, and the Caucasus Mountain region. As its territory expanded it grew from a monarchy, to a Republic, and finally became an Empire. Although its political innovations were impressive, Rome's greatest legacy was its system of law through which they forged a way to incorporate diverse cultures into a single political state without stripping localities of their individual identities.

The first laws implemented in Rome were the Twelve Tables. These laws were produced early in Roman history (449 BCE) in order to relieve tensions between the upper classes (the patricians) and the common classes (the plebians) of citizens. The plebians used their position as Rome's labor force as leverage to get the patricians to create these laws. The Twevle tables, which guaranteed procedural equality and consistency in courts of law, was the first major concession won by the plebians on their road to political equality and republican government.

Roman

laws became more complex as the empire grew. The genius Rome's response to the increased diversity of an expanding empire was the division of law into two types, jus gentium and jus civile. Jus gentium, or law of all nations, refers to universal principles that are true of all people. These are fundamental to being human and all societies have some version of them. They embody principles such as: harm done to another person without cause is wrong, and false dealing or fraud is wrong. The Romans thought these basic precepts were universal to all people; without them different cultures could not even engage trade. Because they are universal, a foreigner in Rome could be charged for breaking one of these principles even if that person did not see them written down. Ignorance can never be an excuse for violating jus gentium. By the second century C.E. the jus gentium was called Natural Law.

After recognizing the general principles (jus gentium) that make society possible, the Romans realized that these general principles do not look the same within different societies; specific cultural norms and practices vary widely across civilizations. Thus the Romans came up with the idea of jus civile, or civil law. This codified system of law is what the jus gentium looks like inside a specific culture. They differ from place to place, but always manifest the general principles common to all people. For example, in all cultures it is wrong to cheat in trade. But in one civilization it may be more disruptive to cheat someone from another clan or tribe, so the punishment will be more severe in that case. In another civilization it worse to cheat someone from an higher class than someone from one's own class. In both cultures cheating is wrong, but the written law concerning this principle looks different in both places. In short, general principles of right and wrong (jus gentium) are customozed to fit the specific circumstances of local conditions; at the local level they become civil law (jus civile).

This system of law had coherence because it was based on principles thought to be universal to all men, and it had flexibility in that it allowed for local variances. Thus rendered, this system of law allowed Rome to administrate its massive empire with all its diverse cultures and local customs.

After the Visgoths laid waste to Rome in 410 C.E., a Roman poet mourned his city thus:

You made of foriegn realms one fatherland,

the lawless found their gain beneath your sway;

sharing your laws with them you have subdued,

you have made a city of the once wide world.

Roman law turned the diversity of the empire into a single civilization, making a city of the world.

Key Concept 2.2 The Development of States and Empires

Centralized Governments: Case Studies

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