Asia 300-200 BCE

Instructor Pacas

The Hellenistic World 323 – 30 BCE

The achievements in science, philosophy, medicine, cartography, mathematics, etc. that we associate with the ancient world occurred as a part of the world that Alexander and his successors created when they expanded east and southward and blended the cultures of Greece and Eastern Civilizations.

The power that would be Rome could not have achieved what it did if it not had been for the 300 years of contact between east and west that Alexander’s conquest and his successors created. The explosion of trade the increase of wealth filtering into the west and many more achievements were only possible due to this contact.

• The Hellenistic world was also responsible for the degree of sophistication attributed to later civilizations particularly Islamic civilization that preserved much of the work of the Hellenistic world.

• The end of the Seleucid Empire in Persia ushered in a very important period for Far Eastern cultures of India, China, Parthia and the steppe tribes in Eurasia.

The Mauryan Empire of India

The Mauryan Empire was a cultural renaissance for Indian civilization particularly during the reign of Asoka in the 3rd century BCE. At first a military expansionist Asoka adopted Buddhism and began a cultural revolution in India which spilt over into missionary work throughout the Eurasian steppe eastward.

It was around this time that Buddhism made inroads into China.

Through trade between Parthian Buddhists and the Chinese.

Asoka was said to have converted after having conducted a brutal and ruthless campaign against an enemy and saw the mass execution of the enemy troops.

Much like Siddhartha he shunned violence and decided to exercise his authority to more enlightened pursuits than territorial expansion.

In short he could be classified as a philosopher king.

Qin China

• The creation in Persia and India of new centralized powers which created, to some degree, stability in the trade between east and west and gave it a new vitality; put the Qin, the western most feudal state, of Warring State China in a position of advantage over the other feudal states.

• Technological advancements in military particularly the development of the crossbow (allowed greater degree of accuracy for a peasant conscripted army against the barbarians plus farther reach) and new forms of mass military conscription allowed the state of Qin to quickly subjugate the other states and establish the Qin Dynasty 221-207 BCE.

• The first Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi 221-210 BCE is responsible for coalescing China into a huge albeit short lived empire that became a cultural beacon in the far east.

• The Qin were responsible for subjugating the tribes of steppe nomads and building the Great Wall of China in order to secure the borders against further predatory raids. The Hsiung-Nu were repulsed and security restored to the western borders

• Many cultural innovations in writing, poetry, education and sciences date to the Qin and the famous Terracota army was the burial of the emperor of Qin. China began to expand its use of iron at this period as well and perfected iron casting techniques that would not be adopted by the west until centuries later.