Thursday, October 15, 2009

READINGS

Maps - PDF at Hisar Copy Center

"China: Five Thousand Years of History and Civilization" at Hisar Copy Center

“The History and Civilization of China” - PDF at Hisar Copy Center

“World Civilizations: The Global Experience”, Peter N. Stearns - Library Online Course Reserve - Course Code HIST 105

“Traditions & Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past”, Jerry Bently and Herbert Ziegler - PDF at Hisar Copy Center

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

LECTURE 1 / 8 OCTOBER 2009

















Overall Perspective

A. The Eurasian Continent
•The Eurasian continent is a contiguous landmass comprising some 55 million square kilometers or 3/5 of the total land area of the earth.
•A line drawn from the northeast corner of the Eurasian continent (northern part of Kamchatka Peninsula) southwestward to the southwest part of Arabian Peninsula (Aden) divides the landmass into two triangles.
•The lower triangle is warm and humid, with an annual precipitation of over 500 mm; this area contains some of the best agricultural zones of the world.
•The base of the upper triangle is generally dry and consists mostly of steppes and deserts; this area is mostly for herding or animal husbandry.
•North to the steppes are vast areas of coniferous forest; this area is mostly for hunting.
B. Comparison of the Eurasian Continent with the Americas, Africa and Australia
•Very large land areas spreading over mild weather zones of roughly similar weather patterns. Easier to communicate between East and West than between North and South.
•The availability of large animals that can be domesticated.
C. Routes of Exchanges Across the Continent
•East-West Exchanges: To the north, a “steppe route” used by the nomadic peoples; to the south, a “sea route” used by the coastal seafarers; in the middle, an “oasis route”, used by the agricultural peoples.
•North-South Exchanges: Orhon River to Chang’an, a main trade route between the nomadic tribes and the farming people along the Yellow River; from Tibet to the Tarim Basin and further north to the Junggar Basin; from Central Asia down to Afghanistan and then to India; from the eastern coast of the Mediterranean to Anatolia, Astrakhan etc.; Constantinople (Istanbul) south to the Mediterranean and Egypt and north to the Black Sea, thus East and North Europe.
•These networks of communications have allowed from very ancient times the exchanges of goods, social practices and ideas.
D. Means and Effects of Exchange
•Exchange among different groups are natural in human experience. These contacts have resulted in racial and cultural integration for the most part. The exchanges sometimes take the form of war, but mostly through peaceful means.
•However, wars have been effective catalysts for cultural adaptation and integration.
•The peoples in the East first developed a very sophisticated civilization, including technologies, sciences, social institutions and writing systems; these were adopted and integrated by the Greeks in the West.
•Alexander the Great was a product and a symbol of the Greek civilization; his expedition to the East brought a further integration and fusion of these two types of culture. Philip II (382–336 B.C.E.) of Macedonia unified Greece and decided to conquer the East. His son Alexander continued his unfulfilled ambition by leading a Greek-Macedonian army to the East.

I. Persian Empire

II. Classical Greece

III. Wars between Persia and Greece

IV. Alexander the Great and His Eastern Thrust




Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic World

Ptolemy’s Rule of Egypt
* Ptolemaic Dynasty
* Ptolemy’s Support for Culture
* Seleucus Ruled the Asian Territories

Economy and Culture of the Hellenistic Period

Four major cities of the Hellenistic Period

Alexanderia
•Built by Alexander in 332 BCE.
•Becoming an important city in the world and a center of Greek culture within 100 years.

Pergamum
•Capital of Attalid kingdom.
•One of the most important and beautiful cities in the Hellenistic period.
•The Pergamum library was next only to the Alexanderia library in size and importance.

Antioch
•Established by Seleucus I in 330 BCE
•It was the western terminal point of trade from Asia to the Mediterrenean region.
•The third largest city (next to Rome and Alexanderia) of the Roman Empire, with temples, theaters, aquaducts and public baths.

Athens
•Declining in importance during the Hellenistic period, Athens often needed financial support from the other rulers.
•Rulers of the Ptolemaic dynasty donated a statium next to the Theseus Temple.
•The Ptolemaic rulers offered their favorite god Isis in the temple in Athens.
•Athens remained a center for philosophy and culture along with Alexandria.

Trade Networks
•The Mediterrenean was joined with Indian Ocean
•India and East Africa were connected by ships following the mansoons
•Roads connected Asia Minor, Central Asia and India
•The central governments of each region maintained the roads with military garrisons to allow the merchants safe passage as well as to levy the trade taxes.
•“The Silk Road” began to take shape
•The main trading cities were Taxila, Bukhara, Merv, Palmyra, Antioch, Tyre, Alexandria, etc.

V. The Influence of Alexander’s Eastern Thrust
•There are estimated some 80 cities which were named Alexandria in today’s West and Central Asia.
•Many legends in the Persian speaking world are based on Alexander, corrupted to be Iskander and glorified in many literary works, e.g., Shahname by Firdausi (Firdevsi).
A. The Nature of Hellenistic Culture
•The Hellenistic culture in essence was a fusion of the Greek culture and the Asian cultures of the regions conquered by Alexander.
•Alexander was convinced that the Eastern peoples were not barbaric as Aristotle had taught him but cultured in their own way; he sought to fuse the two cultures by encouraging racial and cultural integration. For example, he married two Asian wives and began to wear Persian costumes. He also encouraged 9,000 Greek soldiers to take Perisan wives at a large wedding ceremony.
B.Bactria and Gandhara Culture
•Greek Rulers of Bactria
•Bactria was in today’s Afghanistan near Pakistan. The Greek generals who ruled this area became independent of the Seleucid rulers based in Damascus in 2nd century BCE.
•Buddhism which began in India was introduced to this area around this time.
•A majority of the Greek population in Bactria adopted Buddhism.
Gandhara Art
•Buddhists in India originally did not images of Buddha, believing that it was impossible to portray him.
•However, the Buddhists in Bactria felt a need to worship Buddha with the human image. Hence, they applied the Greek sculpture and painting techniques to Buddha and other deities.
•This was the possible because Bactria was far away from the center of Buddhism.
The Spread of Gandhara Art
•The Gandhara art spread to Central Asia and from there to China; it also propagated to Southeast Asia via the sea route.
•Exchange and fusion of different cultures have always existed; the appearance and spread of the Gandhara art is a case which can be clearly traced to its origin with documentary evidence and archeological findings.