The Axial Age

The Axial Age was a time in mankind’s history when great thinkers started to conceive and develop many new political, economical, and philosophical ideas. It is defined as a period from 800 B.C. to 200 B.C. The Axial Age was the era of enlightenment and mankind began to develop intellectually. All these ideas soon led to the start of the Age of Empires. The Age of Empires arises from the end of the Axial Age. The rulers and leaders of this new era started to use the new ideas and thoughts in their decisions. Empires began to base rulings off of information. Some empires started to manifestly grow and flourish, while it caused others to fall apart and collapse. The Axial Age was a period in time where political transformations utterly impacted
the development of empires, and shortly after, the Age of Empires used these gains and falls to help format and provide a sturdy and more stable empire.
During the axial age, intellectual thinking helped transform the political developments in the empires.
One example would be in China would be Han Fei. Han Fei said, “…Bad characters cannot be disguised, falsely praised fellow cannot be advanced, wrong defamed people cannot be degraded.” (Legalism) Han Fei’s intellectual thoughts made him to strongly believe that, “To govern the state by law is to praise the right and blame the wrong.” (Legalism) These thoughts have led him to believe that the intelligent ruler can control his ministers by two handles only, which are chastisement and commendation. Chastisement is the act of scolding or punishing a culprit. Commendation is to award encouragements and praise. Han Fei believed that, “Ministers are afraid of censure and punishment but fond of encouragement and reward.” (Legalism) This also made Han Fei imagine that if the authority of being able to give punishment and give rewards were given to the ministers, then everybody would start to turn to the ministers and away from the ruler. This developed into Han Fei’s political development of China. Han Fei believed, “Any ruler to expel private crookedness and uphold public law finds the people safe and the state in order; and any ruler able to expunge private action and act on public law finds his army strong and his enemy weak.” (Legalism) Han Fei used this idea back up his thought to find men following the discipline of all the laws and regulations, and make them superior over
the officials. Then the ruler would not be able to be tricked by anyone trying to deceive him.
An empire that went through a similar experience is India. Asoka was one of India's greatest rulers. Asoka changed his political development because of his intellectual thoughts. To Asoka, the sight of a battlefield made him sick. The sight of numerous corpses lying strewn across the battlefield made his heart wrench. Asoka then converted to Buddhism, which dramatically changes the way Asoka ruled India. Asoka's views were, "All men are my children. Just as I seek the welfare and happiness of my own children in this world and the next, I seek the same things for all men." (Emperor Asoka) Asoka wanted men to not fear him but to trust him. Asoka also wanted people to know, "...that I will forgive them for offences which can be forgiven." (Emperor Asoka) Asoka used his status spread Buddhist ideas and knowledge all over the world. Asoka is credited to be the first Emperor to make a serious attempt at developing Buddhist policies.
Another good example of a person whose political ideologies are based off of his intellectual thoughts is Plato. Plato was a philosopher who grew up in Athens. Plato talks about the virtues of justice, wisdom, and moderation. Then Plato analyzes how these virtues are taken by society by comparing it to the different forms of government. Plato writes, “… the nature of a philosopher has to be ascertain.” Plato goes on to say all the superior qualities of a good ruler, like truthfulness. But Plato always connects it back to how philosophers also have that trait. Plato also writes, “Let us supposes that philosophical minds always love knowledge of a sort which shows them the eternal nature not varying from generation and corruption.” (Plato) Plato believes that the person most fit to be a ruler would be a philosopher. The point Plato attempts to get across is the only way an empire could move forward is if their ruler was a philosopher.
Later on in time, rulers started to use their own political developments to develop new tactics to expand their empire. There were empires that thrived through trade and some that thrived from conquest. An empire that flourished from trade is Saba. Saba used economics as a way to continue to prosper. According to the agatharchides of Kindos, “No people appear to be wealthier than the Sabeans and Gerrheans, for they have piled up in their treasuries all the riches that they have gained fro Europe and Asia.” (Agatharchides of Kindos describes Saba) This shows how city-states were jealous of the larger empires or of other places with high revenue. Saba was much became much more wealthier than Kindos because “…the Sabeans controlled much of the lucrative trade between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean via the Red Sea.” (Agatharchides of Kindos describes Saba)
An empire that used the conquering method of expansion is Rome. Rome doesn’t have any of the resources that other empires need, therefore can’t trade with any of them. Rome had to resort to expansion through conquest. Quintus Horatius Flaccus, anglicized to Horace, fought for Brutus against Caesar. When Horace got home, he could concentrate on his own writings. In one of Horace’s poems, Horace talks about his battle. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori translates in English to it is sweet and fitting to die for the homeland. Horace did run away from the only battle he fought in, and in his poem he writes a line, “Death’s darts e’en flying feet o’ertake” (Horace). Horace is saying that death conquers all even if you’re trying to run away. Horace also writes, “True Virtue opens heaven to worth: She makes the way she does not find” (Horace) The point Horace is trying to get across is that there’s always a way to carve new paths for yourself. When Rome began to conquer new lands, they became more powerful. Rome’s army started to grow stronger, and Rome gained more resources that way. Quickly, Rome began to become one of the strongest empires.
All of these empires eventually led back to a philosophy that had emerged during the Axial Age.
This shows how drastically the Axial Age affected the Age of Empires. Imperialism and trade both played huge factors in the expansion of the empires. The new, strong intellectual ideologies helped develop and create a strong foundation for the political developments. The political developments in return help expand the strong empires and help them become much more strong and stable. Rulers of the empires stabilized their governmental systems and grasped a good system for maintaining resources. The Axial Age is the bark of the tree, and the Age of Empires expanded on the ideas from the Axial Age, creating the branches of the tree. The new political, economical, and philosophical ideas helped shape and provide a stronger and stabilized
empire.