Classical Era

The readings from week 2, which includes chapters 4,5,6 and 7, have a lot of information that refers to the Classical era. There is a lot to learn from this Classical era, it is amazing to understand how it all became to be what it is today, because even when so much time has passed by; there are things that are still ongoing from back then. People sometimes don’t take the time to really appreciate, the things we have and how we currently live; if they would only think about how different and harder things were back then.

The first chapter of the second part, explains how some of the major empires of Eurasia where built, and how they collapsed. Each Empire was brought up differently and had different impacts from the history point of view. One of the largest and impressive of the world’s empires was that one of the Persians. On the other hand the Greeks created a civilization that was distinctive in many ways, particularly in comparison to that of the Persians. Their population was a fraction of that of the Persians. The most distinctive and contrasting feature that separated the Greeks from the Persians was there popular participation in Political life. Alexander “ the great” was celebrated as the liberator from Persian domination and was declared “son of the gods”. While these two empires where in conflict, two other empires were taking shape, the Roman Empire and the China’s imperial state. They both flourished around the same time. Unlike the Persians and Greeks, the Romans and the Chinese had almost no direct contact with each other. Both of these empires invested heavily in Public Works. Another interesting thing about them is that both of their authorities invoked supernatural sanctions to support their rule.

As we go to the next chapter, the main topic of this chapter was cultural traditions and the development of the different religions. I am not at all a religious person, but it is interesting to learn and understand how they developed and how they differ from each other. Their beliefs are very different and what they want to prove is also interesting. In my personal opinion Confucious is something that I would agree on, his way of thinking seems to have impacted many, and is still ongoing nowadays. So many religions and so many points of view, can make people confused on what to follow.

It is also important to look at the hierarchies in the Eurasian societies, where slaves were prevalent in many different cultures during this era. In China and India, both of these civilizations, birth determined social status for most people, sharp distinctions and great inequalities characterized the social life. India had their unique Caste system, in which their social status was determined by their race or the purity of their blood. In the case of the Roman Empire, slavery generally meant ownership by a master, the possibility of being sold, working without pay, and the status of an outsider at the bottom of the social hierarchy. This is so harsh, imagine being one of those slaves, I wouldn’t have being able to take so much injustice, and no human rights at all.

The last chapter of this second part involves Africa and the Americas during the classical era. Everywhere except Oceania, gathering and hunting remained long as the sole basis for sustaining life. At the beginning the world human’s population was very unevenly across the three giant continents; during the Classical era, Euroasia had 80% of the population, leaving Africa with about 11% and the Americas with about 5 to 7%  only. This is one of the many reasons why there is more attention on the history of Euroasia than on Africa or the Americas. These civilizations where also fewer in number and generally smaller than those of Euroasia, and larger numbers of their people lived in communities that did not feature Cities and states.