Chapter 5: Worlds Turned Inside Out, 1000-350
The Buddha's teachings challenged the moral authority of Brahmans. Which of these passages from Primary Source 5.3, the Dhammapada, most clearly challenges their authority?
"Better than reciting a hundred pointless verses is one verse of teaching (one dhammapada) on hearing which one finds peace."
By the start of the Warring States period, regional leaders in China undertook large local engineering projects, like irrigation systems. Why is this considered evidence that the power of regional governments was growing at the expense of the Zhou central government?
It is evidence that local leaders eventually controlled both the engineering expertise and the tribute labor that the Zhou government had once controlled. (Administration and taxation are both important powers. The extent to which a government can exercise those powers is an indication of the true extent of its influence.)
Place each of the following professions by order of its status in South Asia during the first millennium BCE. Begin with the highest-status profession, and end with the lowest-status profession.
Leader in an oligarchy Trader Jeweler who works with gold Blacksmith who makes iron farming implements Garbage Collector
Though they did not use a wide variety of domesticated animals, Olmec and Chavín societies cultivated crops like potatoes, maize (corn), squash, beans, and cacao. True or False
True Although the vast majority of domesticated animals came from Afro-Eurasia, many globally important food crops were developed in the Americas.
Which of the following Axial Age belief systems most directly addressed questions about government and methods of leadership?
Confucianism Confucianism described ideal leaders and governance, as well as the ideal man and the features of an orderly society.
Match each person, text, and concept to the appropriate Chinese philosophy.
Confucianism: -the superior man (junzi) -humaneness (ren) -Kong Fuzi -Confucius -loyalty to family (xiao) -ritual (li) -The Analects Daoism: -Laozi -doing nothing, or Action Without Action (wuwei) -The Path (dao) -The Daodejing
How have historians challenged the idea of an "Axial Age" in the decades since the idea was first developed?
Correct Answer: -Some historians have suggested that Axial Age beliefs were inaccessible to women, to nonelite men, or to people in rural areas. -Some historians have suggested that Axial Age philosophies are too different from one another to be categorized together into a time period. Incorrect Answer: -Some historians have suggested that Axial Age societies developed completely independently of one another. -Some historians have suggested that Axial Age philosophies actually extended into Oceania and the Americas.
Governments of the first millennium BCE utilized administrative innovations to manage growing populations and expanding territories. How were these new ideas about order, procedure, and ethics mirrored in the ideas of Axial Age thinkers?
Correct Answer: -The Buddha asserted that all people were subject to the same universal laws, embodied in the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. -Confucian thinkers held that people became model leaders of society through a process of education, rather than simply by noble birth. Incorrect Answers: -In support of large-scale Zhou engineering projects built with tribute labor, Daoists held that the best form of government was one that refrained from interfering in the day-to-day lives of the common people. -Reflecting local ideas about divinely inspired powerful kings, Socrates held that self-discovery through rational thought and questioning authority were important parts of human existence.
Coins like those shown below were used for trade in Zhou China, Vedic South Asia, and the Mediterranean basin. Which of the following statements regarding these coins are accurate?
Correct Answer: -The stamp on each coin served two purposes: it reinforced the power of the governing body that issued the coin, and it indicated that the coin was trustworthy and valuable. -Coins were issued by imperial or municipal organizations that managed the weight and quantity of coins produced. Incorrect Answer: -Coins were always made from gold or silver because those were the only metals that had value as money. (Coins were made from a variety of metals, including gold, silver, copper, tin, and more.) -Once coins were created, people in China, South Asia, and the Mediterranean basin stopped bartering. (Coins and bartering coexisted. Coins facilitated both trade and warfare, both involving purchases that took place over long distances and between strangers. However, within local communities, people continued to barter with one another.) -The Athenian coin (with the owl image) was used only inside Athens; people did not trust coins from other places. (Coins from the Greek city-states were used throughout the Mediterranean basin.)
What rights did citizens of Mediterranean city-states exercise that noncitizen inhabitants of the city-state did not enjoy?
Correct Answer: -They could help decide whether or not the city-state should go to war. -They could make decisions about infrastructure projects within the city-state. -They could hold public office. Incorrect Answers: They could engage in trade and other forms of business.
The chapter opens with a quotation from Master Kong Fuzi, also known as Confucius: "Guide them by edicts, keep them in line with punishments, and the people will stay out of trouble but will have no sense of shame. Guide them by virtue, keep them in line with the rites, and they will, besides having a sense of shame, reform themselves." (Confucius, The Analects, II, 3) What does this passage suggest about Confucius's views?
Correct Answers -Confucius was concerned by lawlessness within his society. -Confucius felt that leaders needed to understand the innate nature of the people over whom they ruled. -Confucius believed that if leaders conducted themselves well, the people would come to understand the difference between right and wrong. Incorrect Answers -Confucius was convinced that human beings were basically evil and would not behave unless leaders harshly punished wrongdoers. (This statement contradicts the passage, which suggests that people who are led by a virtuous leader will understand the difference between right and wrong and choose to behave well.)
After reading the chapter, watch this video comparing Socrates and Confucius. What did these two thinkers have in common?
Correct Answers: -Both thinkers advocated self-knowledge and self-reflection. (Though they advocated different methods of thought and valued some differing traits, both thinkers encouraged people to study themselves.) -Both men participated in government during turbulent times. (Socrates and Confucius both participated in government, rather than simply commenting on it from afar.) Incorrect Answers: -Both thinkers challenged the concepts of social hierarchy and criticized inequality between people. (Though both men challenged the reasons why one person might be better or more powerful than another, neither of them advocated the idea that all people were or should be equal.) -Each philosopher was killed by his own government as a result of his ideology. (This was true of Socrates, but not Confucius.)
Consider these two maps together. Which statements accurately contextualize the world in which Greek philosophers developed their ideas?
Correct Answers: -Greek philosophers developed their ideas in very close proximity to the gigantic Persian Empire. -Mediterranean merchants had indirect access to goods from sub-Saharan Africa and Meroe. Incorrect Answers: -Greek thinkers were isolated from developments in other Axial Age societies. -The Mediterranean world of Greek and Phoenician cities arose after the decline of the Persian Empire.
During the Spring and Autumn period, some Chinese rulers gave peasants the right to own their land in exchange for taxes and military service. This led to increased agricultural productivity because the farmers worked to benefit themselves. What does the timing of this development suggest about private property rights?
Correct Answers: -Private property rights were the result of a political exchange in which governments promised to protect individual ownership of parcels of land in exchange for tax payments and military service. -It is possible to have settled agriculture without having private property. Incorrect Answers: -Until private property rights existed, farmers did not care how much they produced because they did not get to keep any of the crops they grew. -Living on and farming a parcel of land for fifty years is the same thing as owning that parcel of land.
Match each idea with the philosophy it best reflects.
Daoism: There is an innate order to the natural world. If human beings ignore artificial rules and live in harmony with the natural processes, society will be orderly without the need for energetic government. Platonic philosophy as described in The Republic: The best society would be one led by a philosopher-king, in which each person strove to perform fitting tasks with honor and integrity, rather than simply chasing after money and power. Confucianism: Human beings are innately good, but they need education, training, and positive role models to help cultivate their goodness and forge a collectively orderly society. Buddhism: Human life is full of suffering, but people can permanently escape suffering and achieve enlightenment by successfully renouncing all desires. Brahmanic teachings from South Asia: Social order can be maintained only if everyone stays in their preordained place in society. The role of kings is to help maintain that order, and the role of priests is to guide kings and facilitate their relationship with the gods.
Greek philosophers were only concerned with the question of how to develop the ideal state. True or False
False Greek philosophers considered everything from chemistry to cosmology to mathematics to music. Political philosophy was only one of many areas of thought and study.
Meroe was similar to its neighbor Egypt in many significant ways, but dissimilar in others. Match each characteristic of Meroe to the appropriate category.
Similar to Egypt -burial practices for the kings of Meroe -the primary god of Meroe Not similar to Egypt -Meroe's trade partners -the way that new kings ascended to the throne in Meroe -the spoken language of Meroe
South Asian society was divided into major hierarchical categories called _____. For example, leaders of oligarchies were _____, whereas the priests who supported the oligarchs were _____.Each of these major social tiers was subdivided into smaller groups, called jatis, which were organized by both kinship and profession. One of the few ways to change your social status was to move to a city, where the proliferation of new professions created rare opportunities for social movement.
South Asian society was divided into major hierarchical categories called 𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐬. For example, leaders of oligarchies were 𝐊𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐲𝐚𝐬, whereas the priests who supported the oligarchs were 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐡𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬. Each of these major social tiers was subdivided into smaller groups, called 𝐣𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐬, which were organized by both kinship and profession. One of the few ways to change your social status was to move to a 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲, where the proliferation of new professions created rare opportunities for social movement.
Which Axial Age thinker focused primarily on attaining personal contentment and spiritual growth, rather than achieving social and political order?
The Buddha The Buddha's challenge to Brahmanic thinking appealed particularly in the new urban contexts of South Asia and to those who felt disadvantaged by prevailing Vedic hierarchies in the first millennium BCE.
While China, western Asia, and South Asia experienced _____ , Mesoamerica and parts of Africa gave rise to new _____. The new communities of China, western Asia, and South Asia might be termed _____ because they built on the foundations of their predecessors in the region.
While China, western Asia, and South Asia experienced 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐱𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐠𝐞, Mesoamerica and parts of Africa gave rise to new 𝐮𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐧-𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬. The new communities of China, western Asia, and South Asia might be termed 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝-𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 because they built on the foundations of their predecessors in the region.
