2. By the 600s BCE new civilizations
were on the rise. This new period
of human history (until 600 CE) is
called the CLASSICAL PERIOD.
3. Monarchs continued to rule most of the new
civilizations
Patriarchy
A wide gap between the small number of elite
and everyone else
The practice of slavery
Social Classes and Economic structures
4. Population grew more rapidly
The size of the states or empires grew
(later civs were much larger than
Mesopotamian city-states or the Egyptian
Empire)
New philosophical and religious
traditions (Confucianism, Daoism,
Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism,
Zoroastrianism, and Christianity)
5. Technological innovations to help humans
manipulate the environment (China-
bellows, loom, silk
making, wheelbarrow, harness, crossbow, iron
casting; India-sugar, cotton; Rome-
aqueducts, roads)
Emergence of more
elaborate, widespread, and dense
networks of exchange and communication
(Indian Ocean, Silk Road)
Long-distance trade
6. Many countries, regions, and
civilizations still link their
identities to the achievements
of the Classical Era!
Persia, Greece, Rome, Qin/Han
China, Mauryan/Gupta India
