1400 Kingdom of Mycenae; Trojan War.
800-600 Rise of Greek city- states; Athens and Sparta become dominant.
c.700 Homerian epics Iliad Odyssey; flowering of Greek architecture.
550 Cyrus the Great forms Persian Empire.
509 Beginnings of Roman republic.
470-430 Athens at its height: Pericles, Phidias, Sophocles, Socrates.
450 Twelve Tables of Law
431-404 Peloponnesian Wars.
359-336 Phillip II of Macedonia
338-323 Macedonian Empire, Alexander the Great.
300-100 Hellenistic period.
264-146 Rome’s Punic Wars.
49 Julius Caesar becomes dictator, assassinated in 44.
27 Augustus Caesar seizes power; rise of Roman Empire.
C. 4 Birth of Jesus
c.30 Crucifixion of Jesus
63 Forced dissolution …show more content…
of independent Jewish state by Romans.
101-106 Greatest spread of Roman territory.
180 Death of Marcus Aurelius; beginning of decline of Roman Empire.
313 Constantine adopts chritianity
476 Fall of Rome.
The Persian Tradition: Rome emerged as a separate republic but strongly influenced by Greece. Roman expansion led to a decline of republican forms and the rise of a great empire. Cyrus the Great established a massive Persian Empire across the northern Middle East and into northwestern India; developed a new religion Zoroastrinism. Greek –educated conqueror Alexander the Great, The Sassanid emerged again during Rome’s imperial centuries.
Patterns of Greek and Roman History: Greek values spread widely in the ensuing Hellenistic period. By the time Hellenism declined, Rome was emerging as an expansionist republic, later becoming the Roman Empire. Greek rise and decline, Hellenism, Roman republic, Roman Empire.
Greece: The island of Crete, showed the results of Egyptian influence, were later able develop a taste for monumental architecture. The Greeks themselves were an Indo- European people. This was the kingdom later memorialized in Homer’s epics abou the Trojan War. Greece was based on the creation of strong city states, rather than a single political unit. Each city state had its own government, Trade developed rapidly under city- state sponsorship, and common cultural forms, including a rich written language with letters derived from the Phoenician alphabet. Olympic Games. Two states cooperated, along with smaller states, to defeat a huge Persian invasion. Pericles wise influence and negotiation, even further expansion of the empire to garner more wealth and build the economy, but he couldn’t prevent the tragic war between Athens and Sparta. Peloponnesian Wars, Phillip II of Macedon won the crucial battle, and his son Alexander extended the Macedonian Empire. Alexander’s the Great died of 33 & 13 years of reign. Hellenistic period; trade flourished and important scientific centers were established in such cities as Alexandria in Egypt
Rome: Was a central monarchy in central Italy.
The new Roman republic spread during the 3 Punic Wars which Rome fought the armies of the Phoenician city of Carthage situated on the northern coast of Africa, defeat of the invading Carthaginian general Hannibal. Julius Caesar, end of the traditional institutions of the Roman state. Caesar’s grandnephew, Augustus Caesar sized power after Julius assassination, and established the basic structures of the Roman Empire. Marcus Aurelius brought peace and prosperity to the Mediterranean world. Government became less effective, strong later emperor, Diocletian and Constantine attempted to reverse the tide. Constantine adopted Christianity. The decline of the city states ushered in the Macedonian conquest and the formation of a wider Hellenistic culture. Important political institutions in peace and …show more content…
glory.
Greek and Roman Political Institutions: Greece & Rome had imp variety of political forms, emphasized aristocratic rule. Rome added emphasis on law and institutions of a great, somewhat decentralized, empire. Politics were very important in classical Mediterranean from the Greek city- states though Roman Empire. Polis=politics. The upper class Athenian or Roman included active participation in politics.
Religion and Culture.
The Greeks and Romans did not create a significant world religion. Their religions derived from a complex set of gods and goddesses who were seen as regulating human life. Both Mediterranean and Indian religious lore reflected the common heritage of Indo-European invaders. Greco-Roman religion tended toward an of-this-world approach with lessons that illustrated human passions and foibles but offered little in regard to modeling ethical behavior. Thus, separate models of moral philosophy were developed, by such men as Aristotle and Cicero, who like Confucius, taught the importance of moderation and balance in human behavior. Socrates taught his followers to question conventional wisdom by using rational inquiry. In the sciences, Greek work in geometry and anatomy were especially important. The greatest Roman contribution to the sciences was in engineering. In the arts and literature, the Greeks had few equals, particularly in sculpture, architecture, and plays. The Romans mimicked but rarely surpassed the Greek innovators in these
fields.
Economy and Society in the Mediterranean. Most Greeks and Romans were self-sustaining farmers, but there was also a great deal of commercial agriculture, which in turn fueled their establishment of empire. There was also extensive trade. Slavery was an important economic and social institution in the Mediterranean civilization. The family was a tight social structure, with men in firm control; however, women were often active in business and sometimes controlled property. Overall, the status of women in the Mediterranean world was better than in China.
Toward the Fall of Rome. The fall of Rome differed from China’s and India’s declines. For instance, no single civilization rose to replace Rome, although several smaller governments claimed to be its inheritor. In addition, Rome’s fall was fragmentary, collapsing in the Western empire long before the Eastern side did.
Global Connections: Greece, Rome, and the World. The Greeks set up a widespread colonial and trading network, peaking with Alexander, but it did not last. The much bigger world of the Romans was well aware of the Asian, African, and northern European world outside their realm. Chinese goods were traded in the city of Rome itself, but interest in the Middle Kingdom seems to have been strictly out of a desire for material goods, rather than because of China’s technology or system of governance.