Social

Egypt:

Old Kingdom

class structure:
  • Pharaoh
    • supreme leader
  • Vizier
    • Pharaoh's right hand man
  • High Priests
  • Nomarchs (42)
    • Local lords, report to king
  • Priests/Scribes
  • Commoners
    • live in nomes, report to Nomarchs
men's role:
women's role:

Middle Kingdom

class structure:
  • Pharaoh
men's role:
women's role:

New Kingdom

class structure:
  • Pharaoh
men's role:
women's role: women could own and inherit property and participate in legal contracts. They could sue someone and divorce their husband if they were unhappy or abused (very rare). They had freedom to move around meaning they could get jobs outside of the house. Sometimes they could kick their husbands out if they owned the land (VERY VERY RARE)

China:

Shang Dynasty

class structure:
  • Shang King
  • Estate holders
    • within the heartland
  • Allied Chieftains
    • OUTSIDE heartland
    • technically didn't have to report to the king, but if they didn't, the king would send an army to attack them
  • skilled workers
    • artisans, scribes, etc.
  • farmers and herders
  • dead war captives
    • for sacrifice to gods
men's role:
women's role:

Western Zhou Dynasty

class structure:
  • Zhou King
  • estate holders
    • no longer heart land
  • SHANG estate holder (previously shang king)
    • revolted, put down by Duke of Zhou, no longer hold an estate
  • Multitudes
    • of people
men's role:
women's role:

Eastern Zhou: Spring and Autumn

class structure:
  • Zhou King and Lords, temporary Hegemon
    • all with equal power due to decentralization
    • hegemon: NEVER Zhou king
      • supposed to step down once he fulfilled what he needed to do
    • Zhou King=for religious purposes
  • multitudes
    • of people
men's role:
women's role:

Eastern Zhou: Warring States

class structure:
  • Kings of 7 warring states
    • one is the Zhous king
    • all fairly equal power
  • estate holders
    • loyal to different kings
  • multitudes
    • of people
men's role:
women's role:

Qin Dynasty

class structure:
  • Emperor
    • called emperor because he conquered other warring states
  • Appointed Officials
    • shows an increase in centralization
  • multitudes
    • like always, with more skilled people at the top, followed by the less skilled people
men's role:
women's role:

Han Dynasty

class structure:
  • Emperor
  • Appointed Officials
    • based on civil service exam
  • multitudes
    • still, of people
men's role:
women's role:

Persia:

class structure:
  • Great King
    • monarch
  • Satraps
    • report to king ; 20 of them
    • ethnic persian
  • Key Officials
    • report to King
    • top military, administrative, and financial people
    • ethnic persians
  • Nobles
    • report to satraps
    • 2 tiers:
      • ethnic persians
      • non-ethnic persians
  • Merchants, Artisans, and Skilled Freemen
    • report to satraps
    • made up lower/middle class
  • Unskilled Freeman, Serfs, and Slaves
    • report to satraps
men's role:
  • superior; more powerful
  • had multiple wives (polygamy) and concubines; showed wealth: the more wives you had, the more money you had
  • educated
    • taught to ride, use the bow, and to always tell the truth
  • young boys lived in the women's quarters until they were 5 years old so that the father would become attached to the child in case they died
women's role:
  • inferior
  • not educated
  • not allowed to work
  • stayed in the women's quarters
  • raised the children
  • protected and guarded bu eunuch's

Greece

Bronze Age- Minoans:

  • Culture was centered at the palace
  • regional monarchy

Bronze Age- Mycenaeans

  • thought to have become the Sea peoples
  • eventually kicked out by the Dorian Greeks

Dark Ages

Lost the cities and writing (became uncivilized)
  • Loss of trade
    • No bronze and no surplus
    • shortage of supplies
Wealthy aristocrats are in control
  • rise to power and become the only leadership
  • able to come to power because they were the only people with bronze (for weapons) and horses
  • (sea warfare)
No surplus
  • people became farmers so they could have food to eat
    • there were not any markets
    • no specialized workers
    • loss of population in cities
Bards
  • traveling story-tellers
  • told stories for food and a place to stay
Warfare
  • dominated by the aristocratic cavalry
    • could afford weapons
    • took control

Archaic Period

Began with return of writing in Athens
Commercial Revolution
  • resumption of trade leads to a massive economic boom
    • thanks to the Phoenicians
  • trade ventures
    • personal success will increase wealth
    • unsuccessful trade ventures could drain wealth and lead to debt slavery
    • artisans in merchants with internationally appealing products gain wealth
New social classes
  • new rich- successful merchants and traders
  • debt slaves- people who sold themselves to pay off debts
  • land aristocracy- gained wealth from agriculture; began to lose fortune and were not the primary source of income anymore
Population boom
  • led to colonization
Hoplite warfare
  • replaced aristocratic cavalry
  • cheap iron weapons replaced bronze
  • poor could afford to fight
Tyranny replaces aristocratic oligarchy
  • Economic discontent+hoplite warfare=political upheaval
    • economic discontent: debt slaves and failing aristocracy; new rich want power
    • hoplite warfare: poor had the capabilities to fight and ability
    • upheaval: aristocracies overthrown by new rich and tyrants take power
  • the overthrown aristocrat often became the tyrant
    • knew how to rule
    • had to rule in favor of the people
Tyranny in Athens
  • debt slavery eliminated by Solon
  • Solon creates democratic councils for new rich
    • failure

Sparta

  • Became a military state after nearly overthrown by a Helot uprising (see Code of Lycurgus)
  • Social Classes
    • Spartiates
      • smallest class
      • "citizens" of Sparta (proper)
      • sense of equality and brotherhood within the class
    • Perioikoi
      • "near home"
      • free people, but not citizens
      • mostly specialized workers
        • main part of economy
      • served in military as assistants or squires or archers
      • could become Spartiates through brave or exceptional acts
    • Helots
      • Spartiates declared war on them yearly
        • legal to kill them for practice
      • farmers
  • Code of Lycurgus
    • flawed infants left out to die
    • at age 7 boys moved to barracks
      • to begin military training
    • become soldiers at age 20
    • Syssition
      • fraternities with whom you train and eat
      • became an outcast if not accepted
      • pathway into adulthood
    • At age 30 you could live at home and vote
      • sex life until now was secretive and like a challenge
    • Served in military until 60
      • at age 60 could hope to be on Gerousia
Democracy in Athens
  • Attica was divided into 10 tribes
    • out of the smaller Demes (neighborhoods)
      • 200-300 demes
      • categorized as city, mountain, or shore
        • each tribe had some of each
    • power of aristocrats becomes local
    • tribes elected generals
  • All people could be selected at random to serve in government
    • year long terms fro Boule
    • allotment
      • for Boule
      • 50 black marbles and a ton of white

Classical Greece

The arts flourished and became a large part of life
Philosophy flourished
Theatre
  • big part of social life
  • lithergy
    • funded plays as choregos
      • like producer
    • also could supply a boat

Hellenistic Greece

Philip II conquered Greece
  • planned to conquer Persia then dies
  • Alexander does
Alexander the Great
  • conquered Persia
  • very fond of Persia
    • brought back culture
  • His death led to the division of the empire into Seleucids, Ptloemies, and Antagonids
Empires
  • Antagonid
    • Greece and Macedonia
  • Ptolemy
    • Egypt and Palestine
  • Seleucid
    • largest empire
    • the east
Hellenistic= Greek+
  • +local culture
  • Egypt was ruled by ethnic Greek minority
    • the two cultures merged
    • tension between classes
  • social class was based on what language you spoke
    • learning Greek increased your class
      • Greek culture superior
      • Koinai- a dumbed down version
        • becomes most widely used language in Roman empire
  • People intermarried to gain wealth
Huge slave trade
  • from the trade and interconnectedness of the empire
    • new industrial era

Rome

Early Republic

Social Class
  • based on birth
  • Patricians
    • original descendants of the nobles who overthrew Tarquin the Proud
    • mainly the wealthy landowner
    • had religious and political advantages
  • Plebeians
    • originally merchants and non-landowners
    • were citizens but had fewer rights
    • couldn't marry Patricians
Concessions and Reforms
  • Plebeians threatened not to fight in order to gain rights
    • repeated
  • first gained intermarriage
  • office of tribune
    • representative for the Plebeians
    • ten of them
    • one year long term
    • had power to veto senate's reforms
  • Plebeian assembly

Late Republic

Early Empire

Late Empire