Maintaining Order: Part 1: Persia Part 2: India Part 3: China

1. Maintaining Order:Part 1: PersiaPart 2: India Part 3: China Lesson 14

2. Part 1: PersiaTheme: Centralization and Localization Lesson 14

3. Achaemenid Empire (558-330 B.C.) • Medes and Persians migrated from central Asia to Persia before 1000 B.C. • The Medes and Persians were a considerable military power • Cyrus the Achaemenid ruled from 558-530 B.C. and launched the Persians’ first imperial venture • Darius reigned from 521 to 486 and expanded the empire both east and west

5. Darius • Darius’ empire stretched some 1,865 miles from the Indus River in the east to the Aegean Sea in the west and 933 miles from Armenia in the north to the first cataract of the Nile in the south • Population of some 35 million people encompassing over 70 distinct ethnic groups • Description of the construction of the palace at Susa testifies to the diversity of the empire

6. Palace at Susa … the sun-dried brick was molded, the Babylonian people -- it did (these tasks). The cedar timber, this -- a mountain named Lebanon -- from there was brought. The Assyrian people, it brought it to Babylon; from Babylon the Carians and the Ionians brought it to Susa. The yakâ-timber was brought from Gandara and from Carmania. The gold was brought from Sardis and from Bactria, which here was wrought. The precious stone lapis lazuli and carnelian which was wrought here, this was brought from Sogdiana. The precious stone turquoise, this was brought from Chorasmia, which was wrought here. The silver and the ebony were brought from Egypt.

7. Palace at Susa The ornamentation with which the wall was adorned, that from Ionia was brought. The ivory which was wrought here, was brought from Ethiopia and from Sind and from Arachosia. The stone columns which were here wrought, a village named Abiradu, in Elam -- from there were brought. The stone-cutters who wrought the stone, those were Ionians and Sardians. The goldsmiths who wrought the gold, those were Medes and Egyptians. The men who wrought the wood, those were Sardians and Egyptians. The men who wrought the baked brick, those were Babylonians. The men who adorned the wall, those were Medes and Egyptians.

8. Darius • Governing such a far-flung empire would be a more difficult challenge than conquering it • Darius was an excellent administrator • He arrived at a finely tuned balance between central initiative and local administration • Centralization • Authority • Persepolis • Royal Road • Standardized taxes • Localization • Satraps • Tolerance

9. Authority: Centralization • Achaemenid rulers held the official title of “The Great King, King of Kings, King of Persia, King of Countries” • Darius ruled by the grace of Ahura Mazda, the Zoroastrian god of light • "A great god is Ahura Mazda, who created the earth, who created the sky, who created man, who created happiness for man, who made Darius king.” • Zoroastrianism was a Persian religion which emphasized the duality of good and evil and the role of individuals in determining their own fate

10. Authority: Centralization • King’s decision on all matters of policy was final • King was commander-in-chief of the army and ceremoniously took his position in the center of the formation • There he was protected by an elite royal bodyguard The Greeks called the bodyguard the Ten Thousand Immortals

11. Persepolis: Centralization • Soon after Darius came to power he began centralizing his administration • About 520 he began building a new capital in Persepolis • Would become the nerve center of the Persian empire Palace of Darius

12. Persepolis: Centralization • Persepolis had vast reception halls, lavish royal residences, and a well-protected treasury • It was designed to be not just an administrative center but also a monument to the Achaemenid dynasty Gate of All Nations at entrance to city

13. Persepolis: Centralization • Persepolis was full of advisors, ministers, diplomats, scribes, accountants, translators, and other bureaucratic officials • Governors served as agents of the central administration to oversee affairs in the various regions Persepolis is near modern day Shiraz in Iran

14. Satraps: Localization • Darius divided the kingdom into 23 satrapies • Administrative and taxation districts governed by satraps • Satraps were royal appointees, often members of the royal dynasty by birth or marriage • Satrapies tended to become virtually hereditary domains Satrap receiving a visitor

15. Satraps: Localization • Principal duty of the satrap was to collect taxes and deliver them to the central treasury • Before Darius, Cyrus had accepted irregular, periodic “gifts” as tribute from subject lands and cities • Though often lavish, these gifts did not provide a consistent and reliable source of income • Darius changed all that

16. Standardized Taxes: Centralization • Darius replaced the irregular payments with formal tax levies • Each satrapy was required to pay a set quantity of silver– and in some cases a levy of horses and slaves also– to the imperial court • In order to expedite payments, he issued standard coins Gold coin issued by Darius, known after him as a daric

17. Localization: Legal Tolerance • Darius did not abolish the existing laws of individual lands and peoples • He had no uniform law code for the entire empire • He did direct legal experts to codify the laws of the subject people and modify them as necessary to harmonize them with the legal principles observed by the empire as a whole

18. Localization: Religious Tolerance • “Now then, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and you, their fellow officials of that province, stay away from there. Do not interfere with the work on this temple of God. Let the governor of the Jews and the Jewish elders rebuild this house of God on its site.” • Ezra 6: 6-7 • Darius also funded the project and provided harsh penalties for anyone who interfered

19. Royal Road: Centralization • The Royal Road stretched 1,600 miles from the Aegean port of Ephesus to Sardis in Anatolia, through Mesopotamia along the Tigris River, to Susa in Iran, with an extension to Pasargadae and Persepolis • Caravans took 90 days to travel the route • Inns along the way provided lodging • The road was well policed for safety

21. Royal Road: Centralization • Darius established 111 postal stations at 25 to 30 mile intervals along the route • Each station kept a fresh supply of horses so couriers could travel the entire route in one week • Like the Pony Express • Herodotus praised the couriers saying, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” • Motto of the US Postal Service

22. Checks and Balances • Since the satraps were often far away from Persepolis, there was always the possibility they might ally with local groups and become independent of the central authority • To prevent this Darius • Placed a contingent of military officers and tax collectors in each satrapy to serve as a check on the satrap’s power and influence • Appointed agents to serve as “the eyes and ears of the king” by traveling throughout the empire conducting surprise audits and gathering intelligence

23. Alexander the Great • Ultimately the Persian Empire is going to fall to Alexander the Great in 330 B.C. • We’ll talk about the military conquests of Alexander in Lesson 18 • Alexander is going to have an even larger empire and he will rely largely on established Persian institutions such as the satrapies to govern it

24. How were populations controlled by the Persians?

25. How were populations controlled by the Persians? • Combination of centralization and localization • Centralization • Authority • Persepolis • Royal Road • Standardized taxes • Localization • Satraps • Tolerance

26. Part 2: IndiaTheme: Social hierarchical controls Lesson 14

27. Where we left off in Lesson 8:Roots of Hinduism • The Vedas (“Wisdom”) were collections of prayers and hymns of the Indo-European Aryans who migrated into India around 1500 B.C. • Reflect the knowledge that priests needed to carry out their functions • The Aryans developed a social structure with sharp distinctions between individuals and groups according to the occupations and roles in society • These distinctions became the basis of the caste system • Brahmins (priests) were at the top of the caste system Fanciful depiction of the Indo-Aryans entering India

28. Aryan Social Order • Aryan social hierarchy served to maintain order and stability that other societies such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China maintained through state and political structures • The term caste comes from the Portuguese word casta meaning a social class of hereditary and usually unchangeable status • Coined by Portuguese merchants and mariners who visited India during the 16th Century

29. Caste and Varna • As the Aryans settled in India they interacted with more people to include the darker-skinned Dravidians • The Aryans began using the word varna meaning “color” to refer to the major social classes • This suggests that social distinctions arose partly from differences in skin color

30. Varnas • After about 1000 B.C., Aryans increasingly recognized four main varnas • Brahmins (priests) • Kshatriyas (warriors and aristocrats) • Vaishyas (cultivators, artisans, and merchants) • Shudras (landless peasants and serfs)

31. Untouchables • Some centuries later, the Aryans added the category of untouchables • The untouchables performed dirty or unpleasant tasks such as butchering animals or handling dead bodies • Such work made them become so polluted that their very touch could defile individuals of higher status Members of the untouchable class dispose of corpses after the 2004 tsunami

32. Subcastes (Jati) • Until about the 6th Century, the four varnas were sufficient to maintain the desired social distinctions, but increased urbanization and specialization demanded a more complex hierarchy • Jati emerged as subcastes • Largely determined by occupation • By the 18th and 19th Centuries there were several thousand jati • Even untouchables had jati and some looked down on others as more polluted and miserable than themselves

33. Castes and Subcastes • Prescribed an individual’s role in society in the minutest of detail • Members of the same jati ate together, intermarried, and cared for their own sick • Elaborate rules dictated how members of different jati addressed each other and communicated • Violation of the rules could result in expulsion from the larger group

34. Social Order • Individuals came to identify themselves more closely with their jati than with their cities or states • The caste system served as the principal foundation of social stability in India, doing what states and empires did to maintain public order elsewhere

35. Mobility • There were some provisions for movement between classes, but individual upward mobility was not easy • More often it occurred for a group as members of a jati improved their condition collectively • The caste system did enable foreign people to find a place in Indian society

36. Expansion of the Caste System • As more people migrated to India, especially Turks and Muslim merchants, the caste system continued to provide order • Immigrant groups gained recognition as distinct groups under the umbrella of the caste system • Established codes of conduct both within their group and in their interactions with others

37. Caste and Economic Development • Since jati was so closely tied to occupation they often took the form of workers’ guilds that were able to powerfully represent the group’s interests • Merchants and artisans established distinct jati based on their particular type of commerce or industry

38. Geographic Expansion • At first the caste system was confined to northern India where the Aryans had first entered • As commercial relationships pushed south, the caste system took hold there as well • By the 11th Century the caste system was the principal basis of social organization in southern India

39. Caste in India Today • The preamble of India's constitution forbids negative public discrimination on the basis of caste. • In reality, caste ranking and caste-based interaction continue • More prominent in the countryside than in urban settings and more in the realms of kinship and marriage than in less personal interactions • “The National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) is part of a wider struggle to abolish ‘untouchability’ and to ‘cast out caste’. ‘Untouchability’ and caste discrimination continue to be a brutal reality for more than 160 million Dalits living in India today, despite the fact that more than half a century has passed since India was born as a ‘democratic’ and independent state.” • http://www.dalits.org/

40. How were populations controlled in India?

41. How were populations controlled in India? • Caste system • Maintains order by assigning an individual to a place in the social hierarchy and establishes a rigid code of behavior based on that assignment • Allows immigrant groups to find a place in society by recognizing them as distinct groups within the overall system

42. Part 3: ChinaTheme: The costs of maintaining order Lesson 14

43. Where we left off in Lesson 4 • Dynasty • “A sequence of powerful leaders in the same family” • Shang Dynasty 1766 to 1122 B.C. • Zhou Dynasty 1122 to 256 B.C.

44. Characteristics of a Civilization • Intensive agricultural techniques • Specialization of labor • Cities • A social hierarchy • Organized religion and education • Development of complex forms of economic exchange • Development of new technologies • Advanced development of the arts. (This can include writing.)

45. Social Hierarchy: Mandate of Heaven • Zhou justified their disposition of the Shang by the mandate of heaven • Earthly events were closely related to heavenly affairs • Heavenly powers granted the right to govern to an especially deserving individual known as the son of heaven • Ruler served as a link between heaven and earth

46. Social Hierarchy: Mandate of Heaven • The ruler had the duty to govern conscientiously, observe high standards of honor and justice, and maintain order and harmony within his realm • As long as he did, the heavenly powers would approve his work, all would be in balance, and the ruler would retain his mandate to govern • If the ruler failed his duties, balance would be disrupted, chaos would follow, and the displeased heavenly powers would withdraw the mandate and transfer it to a more deserving candidate • This principle was maintained by Chinese rulers until the 20th Century

48. Decline of the Zhou • The Zhou relied on a decentralized administration, entrusting power, authority, and responsibility to subordinates who in return owed allegiance, tribute, and military support to the central government • Subordinates gradually established their own bases of power, setting up regional bureaucracies, armies, and tax systems which allowed them to consolidate their rule and exercise their authority • The Zhou began to lose control

49. Period of the Warring States (403 to 221 B.C.) • The late centuries of the Zhou Dynasty brought political confusion to China and led eventually to chaos • Territorial princes ignored the central government and used their resources to build, strengthen, and expand their own states • They fought ferociously among themselves to become the leader of the new political order • Violence and chaos gave rise to the name “Period of the Warring States”

50. Period of the Warring States