Introduction: The West Before

1300 Chapter Overview

Why we study history

o We naturally want to know how we came to be who we are and how the world we live
in came to be what it is.
o History provides insight into present human behavior
Human history overview
o People lived by hunting and gathering for hundreds of thousands of years
o Only 10,000 years ago did humans learn to cultivate plants, herd animals, and make
airtight pottery to store food.
o River valley civilizations developed just 5,000 years ago which led to better harvest
and ultimately increased populations
These river valley civilizationsie Nile, Indus, Tigris/Euphratesinvented
writing, metallurgy, and commerce.
Cities and complex religion took form.
Kings, considered to be representatives of the gods or to be divine
themselves, emerged as rulers who formed large armies to protect their
power.

Section One: Early Humans and their Culture

Section Overview
o Important dates in the history of the Earth
Scientist believe Earth to be six billion years old
Creatures, similar to humans, first appeared three to five million years ago.
Homo sapiens probably emerged 200,000 years ago
Earliest remains of modern humans date to 90,000 years ago
o Humans as cultural beings
Culture (d)the ways of living built up by a group and passed from one
generation to another; it includes behavior, material things, ideas,
institutions, and beliefs.
The Paleolithic Age
o Lasted from the earliest use of stone tools, nearly 1,000,000 years ago to about
10,000BCE
o People existed as hunters, fishers, and gatherers
o Humans learned to use sophisticated stone tools, materials like wood, and to control fire
o Language developed so they could pass on what they learned
o Division of labor
Men hunted, fished, made tools and weapons and fought against other families,
tribes, and clans
Women gathered nuts, berries, and wild grains, wove baskets, and made clothing
Women probably discovered how to plant and care for seeds
leading to the Age of Agriculturethe Neolithic revolution.
The Neolithic Age
o About 10,000BCE, parts of the Middle East began to shift from hunter-gatherer to
agricultural societies.
o Invention of pottery made it possible to store surplus liquid and dry foods
o Cloth came to be made from flax and wool
o Built permanent buildings near the best fields
o About 4,000BCE in modern-day Iraq, major urban centers, called civilization appeared
Urbanism, technology, writing, religion, laws, division of labor, and trade are
defining characteristics of civilizations
During this era, someone discovered how to smelt tin and copper to make
bronze, a stronger and more useful metal.

Section Two: Early Civilizations to about 1000 BCE

Mesopotamian Civilization

Sumerians controlled the southern part of the valley (Sumer) close to the head of
the Persian Gulf by 3,000BCE
Another groupknown as Semiticssettled upstream
Semitic peoples established a capital at Akkad, near a later city known as
Babylon
The Sumerians were absorbed by the Akkadians whose empire came to be known
as Assyria
By 1900BCE, another Semitic group called the Amorites gained control of the
region and established Babylon.
Babylonian kingdom collapsed after the Hittites and Kassites invaded from the
north and east.
After pillaging, the Hittites returned home to Asia Minor
The Kassites remained and ruled Mesopotamia for five centuries
Egyptian Civilization
o The Nile River, surrounded by desert, produced arable land as it flooded and
receded to furnish mud that could produce two crops per year
Egyptians crafted and maintained sophisticated irrigation ditches to preserve
the rivers water and agricultural prosperity ensued
o Geographic isolation
The Sahara Desert to the west and Red Sea to the east made it difficult for
invaders to reach Egypt
o 3,000 years of ancient Egyptian history
Menes united upper and lower Egypt
Unification and centralization was necessary to control irrigation
Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 332 BCE
o Periods in ancient Egyptian history
Old Kingdom (2700-2200 BCE)
Pharaohs reign with absolute power
o Carefully regulated the peasantry and taxed it heavily
o Believed to be a living god and, therefore, government was one
aspect of religion.
o Established the capital at Memphis
First Intermediate Period in Egyptian history (2200-2052BCE)
o Power of kings waned during this period and nobles gained more
independence and influence
o Governors of different regionscalled nomesgained
hereditary claim to their offices
Middle Kingdom
Nomarchsor governorsof Thebes in northern Egypt gained control of
the country and established the Middle Kingdom about 2052
Restored pharaohs power over all of Egypt
Encouraged trade and expanded Egyptian influence into Palestine and
Ethiopia
Middle Kingdom disintegrated and nobles gained control
Second Intermediate Period
Decentralization made Egypt vulnerable to invasion
Hyksos came from the east and conquered Egypt around 1700BCE
o Hyksoslikely a coalition of Semitic peoples from Palestine and Syria
New Kingdom
Around 1575BCE a dynasty from Thebes drove out the Hyksos and began
the New Kingom
Pharaohs assembled large armies and sought to establish an empire
Extended power into Palestine, Syria, and beyond the upper Euphrates
River

While attempting to expand, Egypt was weakened by continuous conflict

with the Hittites in Asia Minor and became victim of foreign invasion and
rule

Palestine and the Religion of the Israelites

o Three great religions of the modern world outside the Far EastJudaism, Christianity,
and Islamoriginated in Palestine.
o Israelites in Palestine

History of Israelites must be approached with some caution as their story is a

complicated collection of historical narrative, wisdom literature, poetry, law, and
religious witness much of which is collected in the Hebrew Bible
Story of the Israelites settlement in Palestine
The patriarch Abraham came from Ur in Mesopotamia about 1900BCE and
wandered west to tend his flocks in the land of Canaanites
Some of his people settled there and others continued to Egypt
By the thirteenth century BCE, led by Moses, they had left Egypt and
wandered in the desert until they reached Canaan
They established a civilization that reached its height under David and
Solomon in the tenth century BCE
Solomons sons did not maintain the unity of the kingdom, and it split into two
parts: Israel in the north and Judah in the south
Rise of great empires to the east led to disaster for Israelites
Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel in 722BCE
Judah, the southern kingdom, fell to the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II in
586BCE
o Babylonians destroyed the great temple built by Solomon and took
thousands of Jews back to Babylon as slaves
o When Persia conquered Babylon, the Jews were allowed to return to
their homeland thus ending this period known as the Babylonian
Captivity of the Jews
The area of the old kingdom of the Jews in Palestine, however, was
dominated for 2,500 years until the establishment of the state of Israel in
CE 1948.
Judaism and monotheism
First to develop a religious system based on the existence of one universal God
Fundamental tenants of Judaism
God made a covenant with Abraham
God is a severe but just judge
Ritual and sacrifice is not enough to achieve his approval
o People must be righteous, and God himself appears to be bound to
act righteously
Role of the prophets
prophets explained that the misfortunes of the Jews came as a result of
their misdeeds, but they promised the redemption of the Jews if they
repented.
Prophets spoke of a Messiah (deliverer)
o Christianity emerged from this tradition as it maintains that Jesus
of Nazareth was the Messiah

Section Three: The Greeks

Section Overview
o Western civilization as a distinct culture began with the Greeks
o Greek values and lifestyle spread across the Mediterranean basin and impacted the
Romans
o Minoan civilization on the island of Crete influenced the Greeks
Minoan civilization was literate and built extensive bureaucracy that served the
king
o Greeks established cities along the shores of the Mediterranean which put them in
close contact with the Near East
The Polis
o Polis is often defined as a city-state but this definition is misleading
All Greek poleis began as agricultural communities; some morphed into cities but
not all.
Most thought of the polis as a community of relatives

Originally the word polis referred to a citadel (ie, Acropolis in Athens or the
Acrocorinth in Corinth)
Poleis were usually built inland to avoid pirate raids
Eventually, the polis grew to be the center of Greek social life distinguished
by conversation and argumentation in the open air
By 750BCE the institution of monarchy disappeared and the polis was ruled as an
aristocratic republic

They came into sustained contact with the Near East where they learned arts and
borrowed a writing system from the Semitic scripts and added vowels to create
the first true alphabet
Alphabet was easy to learn and promoted a literate society
Impact of colonization on Greeks
Contact with others fostered a sense of Panhellenic spirit
Greek religion
Pantheon
Consisted of twelve gods who lived on Mount Olympus
Notable shrines to gods
Statue of Zeus at Olympia
Delphi for Apollo
Isthmus of Corinth for Poseidon
Held athletic contests in honor of the gods
Sparta
Spartans created a military society in order to maintain dominance over
helots, the peasants over whom they ruled
Spartan men
At age seven Spartan boys were taken from their mothers and trained
At age twenty they entered the army and lived in barracks until the age of
thirty
o If a Spartan decided to marry, he visited his wife infrequently or in
stealth
At age thirty, they became full citizens
Compulsory military service ended at age 60
Spartan women
Educated to subordinate themselves to service of the state through
motherhood and child rearing
Spartan constitution
Contained elements of monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy
o Two kings with limited power
o Council of elders who had important judicial functions
o Spartan assembly consisted of all males over the age of thirty
Five annually elected ephors controlled foreign policy, presided over
the assembly, and guarded against helot rebellions
Athens
Athens was a typical aristocratic polis until the sixth century BCE
State governed by the Areopagus, a council of nobles named for the hill on
which it met
594BCE constitution changed by Solon to move Athens toward democracy
Expanded citizenship to include all males, even immigrant craftsmen
Divided citizens into four classes according to wealth
Established a Council of Four Hundred to check the power of the Areopagus
Created a popular assembly
Solons constitution was overthrown by Pisistratus, who established his own
rule; his son, Hippias, was deposed in 510BCE.
Clisthenes instituted another series of reforms that implemented real Athenian
democracy
Created the deme, a political unit that replaced clan brotherhood and
weeded out a system in which noble birth dominated
Established a Council of Five Hundred which dealt with foreign policy and
finances
All final decision rested with the assembly composed of all adult male
citizens
These reforms nurtured strong patriotism

In 490 BCE, Darius, king of Persia, attempted to restore the tyrant Hippias as
leader of Athens.
Athenians, led by Miltiades, resisted and won a victory at Marathon
In 480 BCE, the Persians under Xerxes again attempted to conquer Greece
Greek city-states responded by forming a defensive league
o Sparta, as leader of the land forces, held off the Persians at the battle
of

The

Two important developments occurred following the defeat of the Persians

Pericles revised the constitution of Athens to make it even more
democratic as every decision had to be approved by a popular assembly of
people, not representatives
There was no police force, standing army, or any other way to coerce the
people.
Peloponnesian War
second development following the defeat of the Persians was the splitting of
the Greek world into two spheres of influence, one dominated by Sparta and
the other Athens.
story of the Peloponnesian War was recorded by the historian Thucydides.
the war began in 431BCE and ended in 404BCE
farmland was ravaged, crops and homes destroyed, and commerce was
interrupted.
people abandoned patriotism and morality
In the end, Sparta defeated Athens
The upheaval of the war damaged the sense of community to the common
good required for life in the polis.

Greek Political Philosophy and the Crisis of the Polis

o Socrates (469-399BCE)
questioned and examined people about their understanding of human behavior
disliked democracy as he believed it relied on amateurs to make important
political decisions
he was condemned to death in 399 BCE on charges of bringing new gods into
the city and corrupting the youth
o Plato (429-347BCE)
most important of Socrates associates
first political philosopher
founded the Academy, a center of philosophical investigation as a school for
training statesmen and citizens
Platos view of the polis
believed the virtues of a polis were order, harmony, and justice
goal of the polis was to produce good people
only a few philosophers whose training, character, and intellect allowed
them to see reality were fit to rule
o Plato outlined the training of these leaders in his book The Republic
According to Plato, the way to harmony was to destroy the causes of strife:
private property, the family, or anything else that stood between the
individual and his loyalty to the polis
o Aristotle (384-322BCE)
Pupil of Plato
Founded his own school in Athens, the Lyceum
differed from the Academy as it s members took little interest in
mathematics and instead were concerned with gathering, ordering, and
analyzing all human knowledge
Aristotles method
began with observations of empirical evidence
to this evidence he applied reason and discovered inconsistencies or
difficulties
next, he introduced metaphysical principles to explain the problems
or to reconcile the inconsistencies
Believed in Ideas or Formstranscendental concepts outside the experience of
most people
Combined the practical analysis of political and economic realities with the
moral and political purposes of the traditional defenders of the polis

The Empire of Alexander the Great

o The conquest of the Greek poleis by the kingdom of Macedonia in the fourth century
BCE is what brought their collapse.
o Macedonians inhabited the land north of Thessaly
governed by a king chosen partly by descent and partly by the approval of the
army

Battle of Chaeronea (338BCE)Macedonian army defeated an alliance of

Greek cities thus ending their freedom and autonomy
Phillip II was assassinated in 336BCE
Alexander the Great succeeded Phillip II
led his army across and conquered Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Persia, and
Mesopotamia
he planned to build vast infrastructure of cities, roads and harbors but died of
fever in 323 BCE at age 33.
His conquest spread Greek culture throughout the eastern Mediterranean

Section Four: Rome

The Republic and Expansion in the Mediterranean

o Early years of Rome
Ruled by kings from 753 BCE until 509 BCE
The republic replaced the monarchy after nobles led a revolution
o Republican government, dominated by the institution of an aristocratic Senate,
endured for almost five centuries.
o Roman expansion
by 265 BCE, the Romans had conquered most of central and southern Italy
many conquered people retained the rights of local self-government and
could gain full citizenship if they moved to Rome
o they did, however, follow Roman foreign policy and provided
soldiers to serve in the Roman legions
some states became allies of Rome on the basis of treaties
Roman government placed colonies on some conquered lands and placed
permanent settlements of veteran soldiers in the territory of the recently
defeated enemies
Most of Romes allies remained loyalty in hope of achieving the status of full
Roman citizenship
o Battles with Carthage
First and Second Punic Wars (264-241BCE and 218-202BCE)
Rome emerged as the dominant power in the Mediterranean
o Following the wars with Carthage, Rome moved on the lands to the east
By 168 BCE, the Romans effectively governed Greece as a protectorate
o Rome established provinces in Sicily, Spain, Sardinia, and Corsica
they did not retain self-rule and the people were not Roman citizens, did not serve
in the army, but rather subjects who paid tribute
o Roman culture borrowed heavily from Greek culture (literature, religion, art,
philosophy), but held Greek government in contempt

From Republic to Empire

o Financial problems caused by overseas conquests led to a sharp divide between the rich
and poor in Rome
Much of the farmland in Italy was destroyed in the Punic wars and more was
bought up by nobles
many veterans returning from war found themselves landless and
moved to large urban areas
Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, who were brothers, attempted to carry
out program of land redistribution
nobles violently resisted their policies and both were assassinated
o Financial problems led to the practice whereby generals controlled the government
many generals grew famous from their conquests and appealed to the people
Marius (157-86 BCE)won many battles in North Africa and dominated politics
for a while

Sulla (138-78 BCE) established a dictatorship after a series of military

victories
two generals, Julius Cesar and Gnaeus Pompey, compete for power
they tried to share political power for a while but all cooperation broke
down by 49 BCE

Cesar governed Rome alone until his assassination in 44 BCE

Octavian, the nephew of Cesar, rallied Cesars army and engaged in a civil war
Octavian won the naval battle of Actium, and at age 32, stood as
the master of the Mediterranean world

The Principate and the Empire

o Octavian, well aware of his uncles fate, included elements of republicanism in his
government to give the appearance that he was sharing power with the Senate a
citizens of Rome
took the title princeps, or first citizen
the Senate gave him the title Augustus which carried connotations of
veneration, majesty, and holiness
o Historians speak of Romes first emperor as Augustus and of his regime as the
Principate
Octavian united political and military power which made it possible for him
to install rational, efficient, and stable government in the provinces for the
first time
Principate of Augustus brought great prosperity
conquest in Egypt brought in wealth
Rome returned to small-scale farming as a result of the policy through
which Augustus endowed veterans with small plots of fertile land
Late Republic and Augustan periods was a high period in Roman culture
Cicero (106-43BCE)late Republic period
o orator and poet who studied moral philosophy, ethics, politics, and
law
o believed in a world governed by divine and natural law that
human reason could perceive and human institutions reflect
Vegil (70-19 BCE)
most important of Augustan poets
wrote Aeneid
national epic that glorified civic greatness represented by
Augustus and the peace and prosperity he brought to Rome
Augustus successors came to be called imperatorfrom which comes our word
emperor
some emperorslike Vespasian increased the dignity and prestige of the
Senatewhile others like Caligula, Nero, and Domitian, degraded the Senate
and paraded their despotic power
provinces flourished economically and accepted Roman rule
legionnaires often married local women and settled in the provinces they
conquered
emperors became deified
Administration of the provinces
Municipal charters vested power in the hands of local councils and
magistrates elected from the local aristocracy
A shift in the notion of civic virtue occurred by the start of the second century
Whereas members of the upper classes had previously vied with one another
for election to municipal offices, by the second century emperors had to
force members of the ruling classes to accept public office.
This waning desire to serve arose, in large part, from the imperial
practice of holding magistrates and local councilmen personally
responsible for revenues due.
Financial problems surface by the start of the second century due to the rising costs of:
maintaining a large standing army
keeping the people of Rome happy with subsidized food and public entertainment
pay a large bureaucracy
wage wars to defend the frontiers against barbarian armies
o
o

Christianity
o Jesus of Nazareth
life and message
born in Judea in the time of Augustus

why he rubbed some the wrong way

criticized practices in Judaism
upper-classes feared his popularity among the poor
death
executed by Roman soldiers in Jerusalem probably in 30CE
his followers believed that he was resurrected three days after his death
o Spread of Christianity
Paul of Tarsusmissionary responsible for spreading Christian beliefs to
the whole eastern Mediterranean world and to Rome itself
Christianity had its greatest success in the cities among the poor and uneducated
o Organization of Christianity
By the second century, a bishop emerged to lead Church activities in different
cities
bishops extended their power outside cities to surrounding towns and
country sides
Apostolic Succession
o belief that the powers Jesus had given his original disciples were
passed on from bishop to bishop through ordination
Canon of doctrine included the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the Epistles of
Saint Paul, among other writings.
Rome became the most important center of Christianity by 200CE
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
o The Crisis of the Third Century
Persians pressed from the east and German tribes endangered the frontiers on the
west and north
army no longer consisted of citizens but instead slaves, gladiators,
barbarians, and brigands conscripted to fight
emperors could no longer afford to maintain armies and relied on the people
of Rome to provide food, supplies, money, and labor
upper classes forced to serve as city administrators without pay
o The Emperor Diocletian (CE. 284-305) responded to the crisis by dividing the empire into
four administrative units, each with its own ruler and capital
Diocletian is also known for his policy of systematic persecution of Christians
o Constantine (CE 306-337) reunited the empire in CE 330 and established his capital at
Constantinople in the East
Constantinople became the center of a flourishing culture that we call Byzantine
Constantine championed the Christianity
After praying to the Christian God, he won the Battle of Milvian Bridge
which led him to grant privileges to the Christian Church
o The Western portion of the Roman Empire devolved into rural agrarianism and
suffered from barbarian invasions
the villa became the basic unit of life
the coloni, small landholders who were original settlers, gave their services to
the local magnates in return for economic assistance and protection
failure of the imperial authority to maintain roads and constant danger of robber
bands slowed trade and communications
o The Christian Church came to dominate western Europe
Christian philosophywith a God who suffered, died, and resurrectedand
fostered a sense of community, equality, and the promise of immortality,
attracted many during this tumultuous time
o Major barbarian victories that led to the collapse of the western part of the Roman
empire
Battle of Adrianople (378 CE)--German tribes defeated the armies led by the
emperor Valens
In 476, the Western Emperor Romulus was deposed and replaced by the
barbarian Odoacer, a Ostrogoth chieftan.

Section Five: Europe Enters the Middle Ages

The eastern half of the Roman Empire endured after the fall of the West until
1453 when it fell to the Ottoman Empire
o Between 324 and 632 the Byzantine Empire experienced a cultural golden age (ie.
Code Justinian, Hagia Sophia)
o Islamic armies began constantly attacks on it after the year 700
o Emperor Leo III, by forbidding the display of images in eastern Christian churches,
ignited a schism between western Roman Catholic and Byzantine Christianity.
The Rise of Islam
o Muhammad (570-632), the founder of Islam (submission) received his call to be prophet
at age forty.
o Through a series of revelations, Allah revealed the Quran to Muhammad
o Core Muslim beliefs and practices
prayer five times a day
generous alms giving
fasting during daylight hours for one month each year (Ramadan)
pilgrimage to Mecca
o Conquests
By the middle of the eighth century, Muslims had conquered the
southern and eastern Mediterranean coastline and occupied parts of
Spain
Europeans grew suspicious of the expanding Islamic world
o At Poitiers in 732, Charles Martel, the leader of the Franks,
defeated an Arab army and ended the threat of Arab expansion
into western Europe by way of Spain
o

New Importance of the Christian Church

o Local bishops and cathedral chapters filled the vacuum of authority left by the removal
of Roman governors.
o The Church possessed an effective hierarchical administration staffed by the most
educated men in Europe
o Monasticism became the purest form of religious practice in the Middle Ages
o The bishops of Rome made a claim to supremacy over all other clergymen which led
to the development of the doctrine of papal primacy.

Charlemagne
o Charlemagne, the king of the Franks, created a centralized empire in western Europe
that included modern France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, most of western
Germany, much of Italy, parts of Spain, and the island of Corsica.
o Charlemagne befriended the right people
he developed close ties with powerful nobles
Pope Leo II, who regarded Charlemagne as his protector, crowned him Holy
Roman Emperor on Christmas Day in 800.
o Administration of his empire
appointed counts to oversee districts in his kingdom
o Charlemagne grew wealthy through conquest and used the booty to improve learning
and culture
o Charlemagnes empire disintegrated shortly after the death of his son and successor
Louis the Pious
o Late ninth and tenth centuries saw waves of attacks by the Vikings from
Scandinavia, the Magyars from eastern Europe, and the Muslims in the south.
These conditions led to the development of a feudal society

Feudal and Manorial Society

o feudal society (definition)the social, political, military, and economic system that
emerged in response to the invasions of the ninth and tenth centuries
vassalagea pledge of fealty to a lord in exchange for a fief
o manor system and serfdom

village farms, usually owned by a local landlord, were called manors

peasants labored on farms and, in exchange, the lord gave them small plots of
land in exchange for a portion of the crops
peasants who entered the service of a lord without any property ended up as
serfs who were not

Section Six: Church and State in the High Middle Ages

Section Overview
o High Middle Ages
period of political expansion and the emergence of national monarchs in
England, France, and Germany
revival of trade and commerce, the growth of towns, and the emergence of a
merchant class
Church reaches its height of power after winning the Investiture Struggle

The Division of Christendom

o Eastern vs. Western Church
Greek in the East and Latin in the West
West demanded clerical celibacy, the East permitted the marriage of parish
priests
Eastern church opposed western tradition of icons and imagery in worship
East put more stress on the Bible and of the ecumenical councils than on papal
primacy

The Rise of Towns

o Urban centers and culture revived during the High Middle Ages
o Bourgeois, or burgher, was first used in the eleventh century to describe the newly
powerful townspeople
clergy and nobility grew suspicious of merchant class
common people admired the merchants and the new economic
opportunities made possible through commerce
o Merchant and artisan guilds emerged during the eleventh and twelfth centuries to
protect them from policies created by the nobility
o Sometimes towns formed independent communes and allied with kings against the
landed nobility.

The Crusades
o Pope Urban II called for the First Crusade in 1095 at Clermont in France
Crusader armies took control of Jerusalem in 1099 but it fell back into Arab
hands by the middle of the eleventh century
o Long-term achievements of the Crusades
Stimulated trade between western Europe and the East
Merchants from Genoa, Pisa, and Venice prospered

The Rise of New Monarchies

o England
William of Normandy conquered England in 1066 and centralized the
government of England
o France
Norman conquest of England led French kings to solidify their power in order
to compete with an increasingly centralized England
o Holy Roman Empire
acted collectively in terms of foreign policy but local rulers enjoyed autonomy
over domestic issues

Universities and Scholasticism

o Due to Muslim scholars, the works of Aristotle, the writings of Euclid and
Ptolemy, formulas of Arab mathematicians, and texts on Roman law became
available to western scholars
o Early universities
Bologna (1158)specialized in law

University of Paris--theology
Oxford and Cambridgeliberal arts and medicine, theology, and law