W4L4Mobile Communities The Huns and the MongolsIn a histo.docx

W4L4
Mobile Communities: The Huns and the Mongols
In a history of the world over thousands of years, a simplified
approach is crucial to getting a glimpse of global developments.
Many textbooks look at the rise and fall of specific empires.
Yet, the history of civilization is not merely the wave-like rise
and fall of imperial power. There were Celtic peoples in Europe
who lived outside of the Roman Empire who existed before the
Roman occupation. Settlements in Africa, North and South
America, and the Pacific Islands have long, complicated
histories. Yet because they did not grow into over-large and
influential imperial powerhouses, textbooks covering world
history often neglect to mention them.
Perhaps a book that covered every single community with a
unique collection of traditions and cultural mores would be
impossibly long. Yet empires interacted with many peoples, and
not all of those interactions favored the larger armies. The Han
Dynasty of China reached out to consolidate power among
settlements throughout Chinese borders. However, as people
outside of China roamed around, seeking new areas for
settlement and resources for their communities, they
encountered the authority of the Han Dynasty. Fierce battles
ensued. One protective approach taken by the Chinese Empire
was to build the awesome 1500-mile-long Great Wall. Emperor
Wen sent battalions along the wall to repel invading groups.
This double approach successfully repelled the Xiognu people
from the north. But who were they, and why were they willing
to risk life and limb to come into Chinese territory?
Huns
The Xiognu People have many names. Also known as
the Hsiung-nu and the Hun Guren, they are possibly best known
as the Huns who eventually invaded the Roman Empire in the

third and fourth centuries. They are depicted as nomads who
tended flocks of sheep and other domesticated animals. Their
work with animals allowed them to develop a strong tradition of
artful horseback riding. As warriors, this skill with horses made
them formidable foes and determined invaders. They prized
actions of courage and bravery. Protecting each other was the
goal of every responsible adult member of their group.
The Huns developed strong cultural ties through a tradition of
wrought metals, jewelry, weapons, and tools for daily life.
Commitment to their group was of extreme importance as this
group traveled with their animals to new areas for feeding and
grazing. There is some evidence that they created a dual-level
society that prized egalitarian virtues among the able-bodied
adults, both male and female, while also building on a slave
class that performed menial tasks – much like the Greeks and
Romans. As a nomadic society, though, the Huns left behind
mixed evidence for their social organization and much of these
theories are subject to debate among scholars. Even the basic
argument that the Huns and the Xiognu were probably the same
people cannot be proved for sure. We know that they both had
similar traditions, both were nomadic, and both were fierce
fighting people seeking new lands for their animals. What seems
even more likely is that these people were joined by other
groups that they encountered as they moved, building in
numbers as they first attacked the Chinese dynasties and then
moved into European regions. But concrete evidence linking the
two groups remains elusive.
Should scholars be correct about the connections between the
Huns and the Xiognu, it seems that the successful repelling of
the Northern Chinese invaders pushed the Huns to move West.
From Central Asia, they moved into modern-day Russia, where
they met the Visigoths and Ostrogoths. The combat that
followed was fierce and bloody. Ultimately, the Huns pushed
both Goths off their land. These Germanic peoples then moved
south, hoping to relocate within the Roman Empire. There, they
found resistance and the subsequent battles weakened both the

Goths and the defenses of the Roman Empire. But for the time
being, the Roman Empire did prevent them from taking land
from the imperial borders. These waves of settler invasions
occurred in the third century, just as Rome began a period of
successive weak leadership. These weak leaders would
ultimately prove to help along Rome’s decline in influence and
power. Without solid decision-making or defensive plans, the
hyper-extended Roman Empire would be unable to endure.
A fourteenth-century depiction reflecting contemporary
accounts of Hun attacks
By the fourth century, the Huns were moving again, this time
following the paths of their predecessors the Ostrogoths and
Visigoths into Roman Territory. Under the leadership of Attila
the Hun (r. 434 -453 CE), the Huns rode into imperial lands in
447. His army met Roman legions directed from Constantinople
in the Battle of Utus. The battle was long-lasting and both sides
lost great numbers of soldiers to death, dismemberment, and
severe injury. Horses were struck down alongside their riders.
Ultimately, though, the Huns emerged victorious. The Roman
(also known as the Byzantine) side was wounded and withdrew,
while the Huns moved in. Without renewed leadership from
Rome, Constantinople continued to act as a new but weakened
center of government. The Huns continued to occupy more
territory from the previous Roman Empire. There, they pillaged
the existing towns and countryside, taking whatever resources
they could for the nomadic community they sought so hard to
protect.
Once the fierce battles subsided, the Huns began to form
alliances with former Roman settlements and subjects. They
treated with the Franks, another Germanic group moving
steadily into Western Europe. Ultimately, the Franks would
found France. Hun troops also attacked Constantinople, which
was quickly becoming the new center of Roman government;
ultimately Constantinople would be the center of the Byzantine

Empire. Marriage treaties allowed the Huns to adopt equal
footing with groups who had occupied the area for much longer.
In fact, Attila himself aligned with a settled family by marrying
a woman named Ildico, but alas the marriage was short-lived. At
his wedding feast, the story goes, Attila became quite
inebriated. He did not notice a rather serious nosebleed, and
complications between the bleeding and drunken stupor caused
his death hours after the wedding ceremony.
The warring nations of settled and nomadic groups form much
of the European history during the Dark Ages – a time when no
clear empire ruled the European Continent. These waves of
conflict coincided with the rise of the Indian Empires and the
continuation of the Han dynastic structures through the later
dynasties of the Sui and the Tang. Ultimately, though, the later
dynasties would come under attack from Central Asia a second
time. In the thirteenth century, Mongols rode east across the
Asian continent.
Mongols
Depiction of a Mongolian Camp by an unknown Persian artist,
ca 1200
The nomads of Central Asia influenced the centralized empires
around them for almost a thousand years. From the first attacks
from the Steppe region of Central Asia into the Han Dynasty to
the thirteenth century under the rule of Genghis Khan, the
people of Mongolia shaped the administration and defenses of
civilizations across Eurasia. Parts of this period were spent as
separate groups moving in their own circles, and parts of it were
spent as a united group dominating specific areas to form a
more informal empire across massive tracts of land. While most
powerful conquerors create administrative governments in their
wake to concentrate their control, the Mongols remained a
nomadic group even during their height of power. As a result,
their history – and their relationship to the civilizations around
them – formed an important element of global development.

Traditionally, nomadic peoples are depicted as barbaric or
savage groups who find joy in violence, suffering, and death. Of
course, this is a major over-simplification. It’s an example of
history being written by the victors: after the Mongols faded
away, the remaining groups wrote about them in savage terms.
Tales emphasizing the ferocity of their invasions focus on rape,
pillage, murder, and destruction. Yet, like the Huns, the
Mongols were tremendously supportive of each other. They
sought to protect each other and created a code of honor that
was prized above all. Mongolian legal codes were both strict
and merciful. Mongols policed each other well, ensuring that
goods and people were safe within their communities.
Furthermore, their travels across Eurasia ensured that
inventions, techniques, technology, and foods could be carried
from one civilization to another. The Mongols benefited greatly
from this interaction with traders. They continued to be
nomadic, but reports on their lifestyles focus on the luxurious
nature of their tents. They used thread of gold and silver metal
to decorate their portable courts and homes. Elaborate golden
tents provided a transportable palace wherever the Mongolian
leaders went. The elegant, sumptuous lifestyles could rival that
of any European or Chinese monarch. And so, while historians
have documented the violence of Mongolian “hordes,” they have
traditionally ignored the rest of the Mongolian lifestyle. The
Mongols were great contributors to trade and cultural
interaction. In fact, much of the Mongolian movement allowed a
more fruitful exchange of ideas across the globe.
The sphere of Mongolian power stretched across Asia and
covered approximately 12.7 million miles
While the fluctuating position and influence of these peoples
varied throughout the centuries between 400 and 1400 CE,
Mongol power cemented during the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries. The Mongolian Empire (1206 to 1405) spread across
two continents for approximately 200 years. After an initial

period of consolidating power, invasions, and appropriatation of
local resources, the areas covered by the Mongols oversaw
the Pax Mongolica: a peaceful era of trade and exchange under
Mongolian rule. Initially, however, surrounding communities
did not see the Mongols as bringers of peace and innovative
traders. Instead, they saw them as terrible, violent invaders, led
by the terrifying leadership style of Genghis Khan.
Born Temujin to a prominent family north of the Gobi Desert,
the man known later as Genghis or Chinggis Khan was a
unifying figure of Mongolian bands. Through a series of battles
and alliances, Genghis Khan united the rival Mongol clans of
the steppe regions and beyond until he became “Genghis Khan”
or “Universal Ruler” in 1206. From there, he turned his
attention east toward China.
A bust and portrait of Temujin, Genghis Khan
Bolstered by growing ranks of supportive warriors, Genghis
rode across Asia, conquering people as he traveled. He also
learned about his enemies’ weapons and adopted those
particularly well-suited for portability and siege. For instance,
he utilized gunpowder to break up rocks and buildings and he
adopted a stone catapult from the Tangut Kingdom. In 1211,
Genghis Khan led his troops to the Great Wall of China, where
these new weapons allowed him and his followers to siege the
wall, break it open, and flood into imperial China against the
Tang Dynasty armies. He took the capital city, which was
located in modern-day Beijing. In the process, he slaughtered
thousands of innocent people. From Beijing (or Zhongdu, as it
was called then), he moved on to other kingdoms while some of
his troops spread across China. As China came under Mongolian
control, Genghis Khan moved to attack empires west.
Mongolian troops led by Genghis Khan swept through the Kara-
Khitai Empire north-west of the Chinese Empire. He penetrated
the Indian Empire and took over the Indus River Valley and the
Punjab. From there, he entered Afghanistan and led warriors

into Persia. In Baghdad, civilians who were displeased with the
Sultan openly supported the invading Mongolian horsemen. A
regiment of European crusades witnessed the battle. When
Genghis Khan allowed them to go free, they returned to Europe
with tales of violence to spread the news of the conquering
Mongols.
Administration and Reforms
The Mongolian forces were made up of 100,000 or more
horsemen. Traveling with them were Chinese doctors, inventors,
and engineers. Those who submitted quickly and offered food or
resources to the traveling army were protected by the Mongols;
those who resisted were brutally torn asunder. However, the
targets were fighting men, not masses of families. Survivors
with special skills were invited to join the Mongolian party,
allowing Genghis Khan to create a group that spoke multiple
languages and could negotiate peace before the need for
violence. From there, they were able to create a chain of
administration from horseback. Messengers connected people to
the roving group of horsemen. The people under Mongolian rule
saw themselves as the people most favored on Earth. The
success of Genghis Khan underscored that feeling of pride –
nothing justifies the behavior of a leader like a period of
prosperity. If the gods favored Khan in his military exploits, his
other decisions must be similarly favored, or so the theory went.
Furthermore, Genghis Khan made effective reforms that brought
people together and made governing more efficient.
Surviving records from the age of the Mongolian Empire.
Communication was key to the long-distance administration of
the Empire
For instance, he reformed his military corps to adopt an
administrative edge. It was, in essence, his diplomatic
delegation to the empire. Occupying forces were less about
force and more about administrative presence. The warriors had
to balance warfare with mobile politicized bureaucracy.
Essentially this kept traditional enemies and warring groups

from falling into disarray in the absence of Genghis Khan.
These military administrators also ensured a sense of continued
loyalty to the Mongols and enforced a series of laws.
Throughout the life and career of Genghis Khan, he developed a
system of law that was quite different from the panicked
reputation of invading Mongols. One of these laws forbade the
use of kidnapping as intimidation. When Genghis Khan was
only known as Temujin, newly married, his wife had been
kidnapped. Both the emotional strain of losing her and the
subsequent actions taken to rescue her left an impressionable
mark on the future leader. In addition, he established a certain
level of legal rights for women. They were no longer to be sold
into marriage as a consequence of status or losing battles. He
banished the concept of bastardy, which traditionally denied
rights to children out of wedlock and caused social scandal. By
declaring that all children should be loved and have full rights
regardless of their parents’ marital status, he altered the status
of all children regardless of the conditions of birth. He blurred
the distinction between property and emotional connection. For
instance, the theft of a horse might be more than the loss of a
form of transportation, because it was a live being that formed a
partnership with its rider. Therefore, the theft of a horse or
other animals became a capital offense across the Mongolian
Empire.
In order to maintain government from afar, Genghis Khan
insisted on a uniform method of record-keeping. All records
were copied and sent to him for easy access. They were
recorded in his native tongue to mitigate the problems of
translation. The use of an official seal allowed those throughout
the empire to recognize and conform to official correspondence,
announcements, or declarations. He collected and approved the
court decisions throughout the land, ensuring fairness during
legal disputes. Despite the sense of “hordes” of Mongols and
their brutal reputations, government under Genghis Khan was an
orderly affair. Furthermore, the conditions of government

allowed continued succession after Khan’s death in 1227,
despite a spate of short-lived reigns under various sons and
grandsons.
Marco Polo offers a give to Kublai Kahn sometime between
1275 and 1292
Genghis Khan’s visions were continued under his
grandson, Kublai Khan (1215-1294). He conquered the
remainder of China in 1279, bringing an end to the Song
Dynasty. The Song Dynasty had replaced the Tang just in time
for the Mongolian invasion. Kublai Khan replaced the Song
Dynasty with the Yuan Dynasty (1279 – 1368). During this
period of occupation, the Chinese civil service was disallowed
and administrators loyal to the Mongols replaced them in
administering government. Kublai Khan worked to expand the
Mongolian Empire even further, into the Chinese imperial
holdings of Southeast Asia and even into Japan. However, these
attempts were unsuccessful. In fact, the Empire began to fall
with the death of Genghis Khan. Kublai Khan had to be content
with furthering the reforms and administrative changes of his
grandfather.
One of the major causes of Mongolian decline and short-lived
influence was the very fact that the ideas for reform came from
horseback. With the center of government always on the move,
the administration was weakened. Genghis Khan did a good job
of establishing new laws and centralizing the tenets of
government as best he could, but the systems had to be fluid to
accommodate the constant movement of the governing court.
The Mongols relied heavily on loyal subjects from their newly
conquered areas to support them in absentia. Although this
worked in some places, it could not last beyond the fear of
military reprisal.
Conclusions

The invasions of moving populations interrupted the
administrations of Empires across Eurasia, from the Roman
Empire to the dynasties of China. Yet these peoples were not
merely violent warriors who craved new conflicts. Rather, they
were fiercely loyal groups who sought new ways to support each
other, either by setting in new lands or adopting new
techniques. Their early formation as agricultural groups who
had to follow their animals to new pastures helped them develop
strong ties with each other and unparalleled skills as horsemen.
The height of their influence came with Genghis Khan, who
attempted to create a centralized government structure. Under a
centralized structure in theory, the greatest winner was trade.
Trade routes re-vitalized under Mongolian authority, and trade
from China to the Middle East to Europe was renewed in time to
influence the European Renaissance.
And yet we also must take into account how the Huns and the
Mongols influenced history in general through the constant
displacement of people – Huns moved south, displacing
Ostrogoths and Visigoths, Franks, and Vandals. The Mongols
displaced people as well, and may have spawned the Viking
attacks on Northern Europe. The descriptions of attacking
warriors should not be the only information we consider in their
history though: stories told by enemies will no doubt hold
negative connotations, but these people cared for each other
very well and held loyalty, bravery, equality, and order in high
esteem.
W4L3
Indian Empires: The Mauryans and Guptas, 300 BCE to 1100
CE

An ancient statue from the Gupta Era
The Indian subcontinent can be divided into two strong groups
between 300 BCE and 1100 CE: the Mauryan Empire and the
Gupta Empire. These two dynasties were related, yet the forms
of their administration, religious ideology, and specific
challenges make them different from each other. Their rule
rivaled that of nearby China without causing too much conflict.
Meanwhile, the light of the European empires, notably that of
Rome, diminished and Europe suffered through what is known
as the “Dark Ages,” a time of contracting city centers, fighting
kingdoms, and very little innovation.
In Module One, we learned about a group of people who settled
in the Indus River Valley during the Neolithic period. These
people died out for unknown reasons; as we learned, no
evidence of their vibrant culture survived until the discovery of
archeological remains during the construction of cross-India
railroad tracks in the nineteenth century. The demise of the
Indus River Valley people left the area mostly unpopulated until
approximately 1000 BCE, when a new wave of immigrants
began to settle in the Ganges River Valley.
These immigrants were called the Aryan people. They came
from the Steppe region and brought with them Sanskrit, the
language that eventually spread throughout the Indian
subcontinent. They founded small cities and collected in urban
areas to share the responsibilities of caring for each other while
working together to farm lands. Surviving evidence suggests
that these cities were ruled by monarchies – archeologists have
uncovered large palatial estates that are usually dominated by
one per general area. However, some small city areas may have
been democratic republics. Instead of a single palace, there
were center town halls that lack the decadence of a monarchy.
Of these cities, one named Magadha became the most powerful.
Without intervention, Magadha would have probably ruled the
region as a city-state much as Athens and Rome did in their
height of power. However, in 325 BCE, the armies of Alexander

the Great ran over India, interrupting the accumulation of
gradual power.
Alexander of Macedonia was never defeated. His approach to an
area usually meant a struggle in futility followed by sacrifice
and domination. However, his undefeated record did not mean
that he was always successful. In the case of the Ganges,
Alexander suffered a massive revolt from his over-worked
army. Unable to rely on his generals as he had through his other
successful conquests, Alexander decided to withdraw and left
the Indian area only slightly tainted. The leader of the Indian
armies saw this as a success. Chandragupta Maurya then went
on the offensive. His leadership and a very loyal army enabled
him to dominate the nearby city-states. With his rule, the
Mauryan Empire was born.
Chandragupta is revered here in this carving
The Mauryan Empire (322 to 185 BCE) began as Chandragupta
Maurya (r. 321 to 297 BCE) began to conquer Northern India.
Over the course of 24 years, military might and administrative
sensibility enabled Chandragupta to establish his dynasty. His
army included tens of thousands of foot-soldiers, horses,
chariots, and as many as 10,000 war elephants. The threat and
danger posed by this army of innumerable soldiers and
elephants must have been great enough for cities and towns to
surrender rather than fight. Chandragupta created an
administrative system that emphasized service and efficiency.
His son, Bindusara (r. 297 to 272 BCE), continued what
Chandragupta had begun and that continuity ensured the long-
term success of new administrative systems.
Chandragupta established a capital city named Pataliputra,
known as modern-day Patna. It was possibly the largest city in
the world during this time, covering almost twenty square miles.
The city was protected by a series of walls and gates made of
thick wood. Beyond that was a moat that acted both as deterrent

for thieves and invaders while also carrying away the sewage of
the city. Outside of the city were networks of associated towns.
Far away along the newly-conquered empire, Chandragupta
established heads of state to report directly to his provincial
areas, who in turn reported directly to him. This structure
enabled a clear-cut, hierarchical administration from afar. This
administrative system laid out new laws and policies and
enforced behaviors through the local courts that were controlled
by the imperial center. In fact, important court cases were
reported back to the center and Chandragupta weighed their
arguments to ensure a sense of conformity to the law throughout
the provinces. The centralized and well-organized chain of
command would endure for centuries.
The theory of government under Mauryan rule followed written
advice given to the kings by philosophers of the day. The book
“Arthashastra” (“Treatise on Material Gain”) advised the King
to focus on administrative sensibility, maintaining that the
greatest evil in the world was anarchy. In order to avoid
anarchy, all authority must point to a single individual, the
king. And so the courts of law were hierarchical, and local
administration was hierarchical, and the system of tax, military
leadership, and other institutions led up a chain of hierarchy
that ended with the King. At the peak of the Mauyran Empire,
all but the southern tip of India was collected under the rule of
a single person.
The image of the King Ashoka: four lions looking to each
direction of the Empire.
India grew very strong under the leadership of Ashoka (269 to
232 BCE). Ashoka is known best for his peace-keeping. Rather
than a combative leader of wars and battles, Ashoka focused on
administration rather than violence to solve disputes. He had led
military campaigns in his youth but had been horrified by the
violence of war. As King, he converted to Buddhism and

explored the balance of peace through Buddhist teachings. His
rule through Buddhist ideals was good for peace, but it created
tension with a largely Hindu population. The caste system
prized the priesthood of Brahmin-born people, but a leader who
was Buddhist would not have the same respect for the caste of
Brahmins. Although Ashoka was able to maintain peace over the
Empire, this religious tension contributed to the end of the
Empire within a few decades of his death.
Ashoka carved his policies into rocks and spread them
throughout the land, giving local people an understanding of the
theory behind any given edict rather than forcing them to accept
his word unilaterally. The increased communication led to a
wider understanding of ruling policy and a rise in the loyalty of
the imperial subjects to this ruler. Many of his edicts survive
still today, giving us insight to the workers of a finely-tuned
administrative system. He developed the Ashoka Chakra, or the
Wheel of Dharma. Each of the 24 spokes of this wheel
corresponds to an edict of peace authored by Ashoka. Today,
this wheel forms the unifying symbol on the flag of the
Republic of India.
Unfortunately, the successors that followed Ashoka did not
share his passion for peace-making. Violence and struggles for
authority plagued the Mauryan Empire from 232 until 185 BCE,
when the last in the line of kings was assassinated by a
Brahman priest. This termination of the dynastic line coincided
with invasions, and the hierarchy of administration was broken
by the force of invading powers. A period of instability
followed for 500 years. Local regional nobility took over the
systems in place and much of the administrative ideals
established by Chandragupta were maintained, but on a local
level. This hierarchy remained crucial to the long-term survival
of an Indian state, even as it was broken into smaller pieces.
Then, in the fourth and fifth centuries, a new series of monarchs
began to amass power.
An elaborately-carved temple from the Gupta Empire

The Gupta Empire (320 to 1100 CE) is perhaps the most
culturally significant Empire of Indian history. Their rule
witnessed the growth of the Indian Classical Age, when
literature, art, science, and government grew and flourished. In
the fourth and fifth centuries, religious tension between
Buddhists and Brahmin Vedic traditions had continued
unabated. However, the Guptas found unity in their tolerant
policies by celebrating the neutral traditions of art, literature,
and creative expression. Sanskrit in particular was a beautiful
language that could be used to express the complicated feelings
of religious faith for both Buddhists and Brahmin ideals. As
Hindu culture spread throughout Southeast Asia, the Brahmins
adopted the Hindu ideals and their priestly caste became a
prominent part of Hindu worship. Even as political power
faltered in some areas, the strength and unity afforded through
Hindu continued to strengthen the Gupta State.
The Gupta Empire began through the unifying power of Chandra
Gupta I (r. 320-330 CE), who named himself after the Mauryan
imperial founder in order to enhance his reputation. His dynasty
merged in marriage two minor powerful families: his own
family and that of the Licchavi. The resulting power couple had
a son whose military leadership allowed him to build on the
power of his parents through conquest and violence. This
son, Samudra Gupta (330-380 CE) drew local regions into
imperial control in all four directions: south to the Indian
Ocean, east to Bengal, north to Nepal, and through the mountain
regions of central India. His son, Chandra Gupta II (380-415
CE), continued the conquest through both force and marriage,
drawing the influence of a powerful family through his marriage
to their daughter. Secondary children began to marry into other
families, until the Gupta Empire had aligned or conquered
almost the whole of the Subcontinent.
While Mauryan rule had emphasized a direct relationship
between provinces and the King through a rigid hierarchy, the
Guptas permitted some local variation and ruled through

indirect power. They adopted the Mauryan hierarchy structure
but did not enforce that their own people had to administer
within local areas. Administration could be independent if the
locality agreed to pay tributes. This had the double effect of
leaving local traditions alone while earning money for the
Gupta Empire. Furthermore, the series of local centers
encouraged loyalty and peace. Although technically part of the
larger empire, locals had familiar heads of state with whom to
interact. While a strong, rigid hierarchy was better for enforcing
conformity, allowing local difference reduced the chance of
resistance. And so the Guptas observed a period of local
prosperity, peaceful interaction, and cultural flowering.
An elaborate hunting scene from a Gupta era temple
Much of what we know from the Gupta period comes from the
widespread temples that were built and decorated during that
time. On the walls of these magnificent buildings are images
that show a peaceful balance of thoughtful engagement and a
love for life. Erotic images are shown next to stances of
serenity and deep thought. The joy of life is described here
through depictions of music and dance, lovers embraced,
families happy together, and the celebration of the human form.
Despite religious differences within the enormous Gupta
Empire, Sanskrit was the language they shared in common. The
Gupta Empire adopted Sanskrit as its official language. With
the mixture of hierarchical central authority and local individual
traditions, a common language and system of government was
crucial to maintaining control. It also spilled into the creative
outlet for artists. This period witnessed a growth in fables,
myths, and legends; fairytales exploring the supernatural;
poetry, drama, and holy texts. Famous artists including Kalidasa
lived under the Gupta Empire. Kalidasa wrote epic poems in the
fifth century that could be learned and repeated by rote for
those who could not read. Education itself was highly prized
and rewarded; a grammar book written in fourth century BCE by

Panini was widely circulated during the Gupta Age. The laws of
the land were published and circulated for widespread
understanding. Universities were founded to train new civil
servants, educate local nobility in the ways of law and
administration, and continue a new-found tradition of Gupta
artistic expression.
In addition to legal, literal, and artistic development, science
and technology also flourished under Gupta control. The
concept of Zero, which was highly controversial, originated
under the Gupta scientists. In a period of stark religion, many
different faiths had trouble conceiving of nothingness. If God
had created something to be good, then logically the lack of
something was the opposite of God’s good creation. This was a
theological difficulty. Yet the Gupta mathematicians understood
that complex math required the zero concept. They passed it on
to the Islamic Empires, who in turn influenced the resistant
European thinkers of the time. One fifth-century Gupta
scientist, Aryabhatta, wrote epic poems to explain the position
of the Earth in the universe. He wrote about astrological
concepts including the solstice, lunar and solar eclipses, and the
concept of the Earth’s axis known as heliocentrism. He also
contributed to the mathematical knowledge by describing the
number zero and the mathematical ideas of circles – including
π, the relationship between the radius and the circumference of
a circle too complex to be named into a specific number.
An image of a Gupta medical servant
Medical advancements during this period were quite radical at
the time. The practice of Yoga increased the health and the
longevity of those who practiced it. Also contributing to the
longevity of people living under Gupta rule was the
recommended use of lye and soap for regular washing of the
body. At the time, other cultures saw baths to be the dangerous
stripping of natural oils, but Gupta practitioners encouraged
regular bathing. Gupta doctors sterilized wounds and developed
surgery, using the same kinds of natural pesticides to put

patients under during surgery. They were able to perform
Caesarian sections during difficult pregnancies, set broken
bones, and even perform limited kinds of plastic surgeries.
Pharmaceutical developments enabled the Gupta doctors to treat
fevers, infections, and leprosy.
A Buddhist monk named Faxian (337-422 CE) traveled
throughout India and recorded his impressions in the fifth
century. His work allows us to know much about the culture of
Gupta India. He found government intervention to be limited.
The local people were able to flourish and trade without too
much intervention; on the other hand, the imperial connections
provided an adequate balance of protection and contributing
taxes and military force. Faxian reports that there was a strong
sense of charity among the Gupta people. However, not all was
well; equality was strongly lacking in Gupta society. Class
differences were almost impossible to overcome due to the
Hindu belief in caste systems. If one was born into the caste
into which they belonged, trying to change their position in life
would be anathema to the gods. Those born into the lowest
castes had to work without relief their entire lives while those
born into the Brahmin caste were priests and could not deign to
eat in the presence of lesser caste people. The flow of resources
and abilities was mostly limited to an elite group of well-born
people. Even Buddhist groups followed this general social
structure, since the power of Hindus was greater than that of the
more egalitarian Buddhist followers.
Similar to the problems of class difference was a persistent
difference between men and women. Women commanded great
respect for their roles as mothers, sisters, wives, and
companions, but the trademark of a prosperous society was to
keep these able-bodied adults confined to small places in
deference to their roles as child-bearers. Even those who could
not have children were kept apart from the majority of society.
Only those from upper-classes could venture out as patrons of
the arts or representatives of their husbands, brothers, or

fathers. The separation of the sexes is strongest in the legal
code, where women could not attain full rights. Their status was
so closely tied to that of their husbands, that the practice of
suicide became associated with widowhood. At the death of
their husbands, properly grieving widows were expected to burn
themselves to death, since life without their husband
was supposed to be empty and meaningless. Of course, women
probably did not feel this way, but the surviving record focuses
more on male experiences than on the thoughts and reactions of
women.
Conclusions
Indian Empires grew out of the local administration of
individual states. The Mauryan Empire created a bold sense of
hierarchical government that managed to make uniform the
experiences of court, law, and policy across great distances and
among large numbers of people. The Gupta Empire was a
longer-lasting Empire that thrived on the diversity of local
administrations yet maintained the loyalty of the outposts for
hundreds of years. The decline of the Age of Empires,
encompassing not only China and India but Greece, Persia, and
Rome as well, fell for similar reasons: the sudden and persistent
waves of invaders. India’s takeover by groups from the Huns to
the Mongols would not last, though, and eventually the Mughal
Empire would form in the 1500s to carry the standard of the
Gupta Age into the modern era.
W1L2
Chinese Empires, 200 BCE to 900 CE
China’s long history is peppered with the strength of numerous

empires. The rule over China and neighboring Asian kingdoms
by one particularly strong dynasty can be divided into waves, as
one dynasty rises and another falls. In particular, there are four
dynasties that took control between 200 BCE and 900 CE. These
are the Qin (or Ch’in), the Han, the Sui, and the Tang.
The Warring States were combined under the Ch’in or Qin
Dynasty
In the few hundred years before these dynasties took control,
China was lost in a sea of what Chinese historians have dubbed
the “period of the Warring States.” From 481 to 221 BCE,
various evenly-divided kingdoms struggled with each other to
assume to control, but none of them were organized enough or
militarily strong enough to assert their authority permanently
over nearby groups. This period of constant warfare limited the
amount of civil and technological innovation. Without a single
strong leader, there were no projects, no peace and stability to
underwrite the experiments of new ideas, and no era of
prosperity.
However, much of this changed in 221 BCE, with the rise of
the Ch’in Dynasty (221 to 206 BCE). It is from the Ch’in that
we inherit the name “China.” The Ch’in people were located
along the border of the Chinese region. Their armies spread
eastward, successfully conquering as they moved. There are a
lot of parallels between the Ch’in and Roman Empires. Of great
importance is the centralized social structure that the Ch’in
introduced as they won over new areas. They standardized
measurements like weights and created a standard form of
money to be used throughout the Empire. Although the Ch’in
people self-identified through the reputation of their military
might, the real strength of this dynasty was their dedication to
civil works. It is perhaps this long-lasting dedication that
created a Chinese Empire that survived the dynasty. While
Rome rose in power and then declined, Chinese dynasties ruled
persistently over the same essential region from the second
century BCE until the modern day. The Ch’in were responsible

for the Terra-Cotta army and the Great Wall of China.
The primary leader of the Ch’in government was Qin Shi
Huangdi, who died in 210 BCE. He ruled through a bureaucracy
that was able to implement his ideas and policies throughout the
conquered lands. Huangdi abandoned the family-style system of
rule by nepotism that had plagued the centuries of the Warring
States and replaced it instead with a meritocracy, by testing and
selecting those from all over provinces who showed an aptitude
for administration. Those with talent and ability were given
promotions and a system of loyalty to the state, rather than to a
specific charismatic person, was born. This loyalty to the state
is extremely important to the story of China, for as more
dynastic families came to power and died out, the
administration and government were able to continue
uninterrupted as the specifics of leadership were sorted out.
Without interruption, there were few causes for rebellion and
resistance. Local changes could be made on a local basis but
without a larger, stable, and conformist structure. The
leadership of Qin Shi Huangdi was powerful, but his ideas of
administration set the stage for over a thousand years of
Chinese imperial authority.
The Great Wall of China climbed hills and mountains for 1500
miles
Once Huangdi established his rule, it became an essential goal
to figure out a way to repel the invaders from the borderlands.
To that end, Huangdi employed hundreds of thousands of
laborers to build the Great Wall of China across a stunning
1500-mile border. The northern Xiongnu people had been
known to travel into the warring areas and take advantage of
whatever wealth, opportunity, and resources that they could
find. By building this enormous wall, the Chinese created a
border where no natural protection had existed. The enormous
wall successfully prevented the repeated invasions that had
plagued area towns for so long. Later on, when the Huns came

to attack from the west, the Wall continued to protect the
Chinese and ultimately the Huns had to return west, where they
attacked the Roman Empire and contributed to its decline in
power. The Great Wall of China still stands today, tall, thick,
and impenetrable, and has guarded the Chinese empires ever
since its construction.
When Qin Shi Huangdi died in 210 BCE, the people built an
enormous tomb in his honor. In order to grant this leader his
followers in the afterlife, an enormous terra-cotta army was
built underground. This included 7,000 soldiers and horses,
each individually carved to resemble the unique features of the
faces of Huangdi’s soldiers. They stand in rigid military
formation, equipped with finely-made bronze swords,
crossbows, spears, and longbows. Even their sword decorations
and hair-styles are different. In addition to soldiers, some 1,400
cavalry men with chariots and horses were carved in a tomb
area, and a much small group of officers dressed in a regal
finery. This intense army was built to accompany Huangdi to
the afterlife.
Each of the thousands of statues is unique
After eleven years of rule, Huangdi died and his terra-cotta
army was buried with him. The central power of this short-lived
dynasty faltered within four years of his demise. However, the
structures did not collapse with his leadership. Instead, the
administration he established withstood the exchange of
leadership. The immediate rise of the Han Dynasty from the
south led to the continuation of some of the important social,
financial, and political structures that had begun during the
Ch’in Dynasty.
The Han Dynasty (206 BCE to 220 CE) can be further divided
into two sections: the West and the East. The Han came out of
the south, in modern-day Henan, to establish a center in the
east. The Han rose under the leadership of Lui Bang (r. 206 to

195 BCE), who defeated the remaining Ch’in Dynasty in 206
BCE. He then established the Han Dynasty and transformed the
existing administration into a Confucianism-dominated
bureaucracy. As you will recall from Module Three,
Confucianism is a form of philosophy-religion that dictated the
relationship of the individual in relation to the state. By
defining an individual by their ability to be always better than
before, each administrator would strive to perfect the duty
granted to their station. The system of administration was
perfected under the strong Confucianist leader Emperor Wu (r.
141-87 BCE). Wu established an imperial academy to ensure
that those who worked for government understood the
philosophy of improving the self through service to the state.
Promotions were based on merit and performance, ensuring that
the most competent civil servants gained access to more power
while weaker servants either stayed in their positions or were
replaced by more reliable people. Women, too, were encouraged
to read and conduct philosophical experiments to better
themselves individually. While Confucius had written little
about the roles of women, the Han Dynasty hired court
historians to craft ideals for Confucian women to follow. In 100
BCE, Emperor Wu rebuffed the attempts of the Huns to conquer
the Chinese area, sending them to the lands of the Roman
Empire.
The Silk Road stretched from China across India and into the
Roman Empire
Following the conflict with the Huns was a period of peace and
prosperity. The western Han Dynasty helped to establish was
later scholars would dub the “Silk Road.” The Silk Road was a
network of trade routes that enhanced trade with the unique
resources of China and neighboring countries. The Silk Road
crisscrossed Asia into the Middle East; through it, the Han
established trade with Persia, Rome, and India. The name is
somewhat misleading, for the Silk Road traded everything and

anything rare or exotic. Fine silk was transported next to spices
grown in the tropical heat of Asia. Camels, horses, and
interesting animals were also transported across long distances.
While modern-day trade is dominated by the mundane product
of daily life (computers, clothing, food, toys), trade of the
ancient civilizations were about luxury and rarity. The very
wealthy paid traders to risk their lives and goods in order to
gather interesting and exotic products and deliver them safely
back home. In addition to luxury items and rare animals, the
Silk Road became a highway for information, traditions,
language, and religion. Buddhism, which we learned bout in
Module Three, traveled across Asia from India following traders
using the Silk Road network.
The Han stretched into modern-day Afghanistan and India. The
spread of trade and religions like Buddhism opened the door for
an extension of the Chinese Empire. The Eastern Han oversaw a
tremendously prosperous empire. In addition to the strong
showing in trade along the Silk Road, the second Han rulers
emphasized assimilation. A process calledsinicization allowed
incoming roaming peoples to become part of the Chinese
Empire, so long as they adopted the local traditions, religious
rites, and state loyalties of the Han Dynasty. Military
conscription also played a large role in allowing such people to
live in the Chinese borders. The emphasis on an open policy
with the requirement of learning local customs, languages, and
obligations allowed the Chinese Empire to grow even during a
period of weaker leadership.
Trade with Rome and others continued to grow. Silk and
porcelain, whose secrets were only known by the Chinese,
continued to be in demand. In fact, European monarchs would
attempt to discover the secrets of porcelain for centuries. They
theorized that the strength must be from marble or the crushed
powder of fine jewels, perhaps made of pearls. European courts
during the Middle Ages attempted to recreate porcelain goods
by destroying jewels, plates, and marble, failing to re-produce
what could only be obtained through the impossibly long

journey all the way to China and back. The invention of paper
in China only intensified the demand for goods.
The Han finally fell around 184 CE, when a massive peasant
revolt rocked the foundation of the Confucian-based
administration. The revolt centered on a leader named Zhang
Jue, a Taoist faith-healer who preached that a new era of peace
would be possibly only after the Han were ousted. The rebellion
was widespread. Although it was eventually suppressed, the
political leaders at Court used it as an opportunity to try to
change the leadership. Those in line for the throne began to
struggle for power, extending their families, wives, children,
and siblings into the cause. The resulting squabbles forced
much of government to stand still until 220 CE, when the last
man involved with the struggle, Xian, abdicated. By then, local
administration had continued unabated, but under the rule of
local nobility. When the massive political struggle had ended,
Court was no longer the center of government. Local nobility
led their provinces as necessary.
The provincial nobility fought among themselves for influence
and power for approximately 300 years. During this period,
China broke up into northern and southern spheres of influence.
Confucianism declined and Buddhism became more prominent.
In fact, the southern region adopted Mahayana Buddhism
officially in 379 CE.
Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty
China was reunified under the brief but powerful Sui
Dynasty (589 to 604 CE). The reunification occurred under the
powerful leadership of Emperor Wen, also known as Yen Chien
(r. 581 to 604). He began as a general of a northern province
who took control of a very loyal army. His powerful army
enabled him to demand tribute from neighboring areas. Those
who refused could be attacked; many complied with the wish
and gradually Emperor Wen was able to command a great level
of influence throughout China. By 589, he was firmly in

control, establishing the Sui Dynasty.
Emperor Wen contributed to a renewed Chinese Empire. He
reformed the legal code and built a series of canals that
restricted flooding. The canals also worked to create more
complicated and more accessible centers of trade. What had
previously required difficult navigation over land could be
completed more swiftly and safely through water. The
homogenous civil service from the early Han Dynasty still
existed with the same Confucian ideals. However, in 606 CE a
written exam was added to the meritocracy of government. This
exam was administered to every civil servant until 1951. His
son, Yang (r. 604 to 615 CE) continued the reforms. Yet such
rapid change was difficult to maintain. Food supplies and other
materials necessary to maintain a military presence cost time
and money. Army support weakened with distance from the
Emperor. Nevertheless, structural changes made to the Chinese
government persisted. Just as the Sui Dynasty began to falter,
the Tang Dynasty stepped in to maintain the new reformed
effected through Emperor Wen.
Women on silk tapestry from the Tang Period
The Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE) is most notable for the
innovations from this period. Under the Tang, porcelain
continued to grow as a commanding product with demand
worldwide. Arts and technology flourished. A printing press of
wood assisted the spread of Buddhist teachings. The invention
of gears and machinery set Chinese practices apart from other
civilizations of the time. Water-mills and wind-mills assisted in
the production of grain, bread, and paper. Systems very similar
to the later Industrial Revolution enabled early Tang Chinese
practices to produce food and goods must more quickly than
their counterparts around the world. The Tang established a new
series of education, especially focusing on the Imperial
Academy to train future civil servants. A book from 659 CE
lists the various forms of medicine in practice during the Tang

Dynasty, outshining medical knowledge from most other
seventh-century cultures. Gun powder, fireworks, and bowed
weapons gave the Chinese command the upper hand in military
conflicts.
Additionally, the Tang Dynasty spread far beyond traditional
imperial borders. The Tang were able to colonize nearby Asian
civilizations, including Mongolia, Turkestan, Pakistan, and even
to Iran. Other colonized areas included Tibet, Vietnam, Korea,
and Japan. The long-lasting tradition of assimilation in Chinese
culture meant that the colonization over different ethnic groups
minimized the effects of religious difference, ethnic diversity,
and cultural tensions. Vietnam was first conquered under the
Han Dynasty, in 111 BCE. It remained a Chinese outpost until a
major revolution under the Vietnamese rebel Ngo Quyen in 939
CE. During this thousand-year rule, Chinese culture and
political structure thrived in Vietnam, despite some resistance
from locals. The Vietnamese adopted Chinese practices as
required through the practice of sinicization. As a result,
Vietnamese administrative structures are similar to those in
China.
Korea only briefly came under direct control of the Chinese,
and that was under the Han in the first century CE, but the Tang
renewed those ties through trade and diplomacy. Japan was
never conquered through force, but the Japanese did
acknowledge the Tang Dynasty as a cultural hegemony over the
Japanese. In the seventh and eighth centuries Japan and Chine
forged close ties that resulted in the Japanese adoption of
Chinese ideals in the formation of the state, in pursuing
religion, and in adopting elements of technology and art.
The 900s witnessed a succession of imperial turnovers, as weak
kings with short reigns failed to leave significant marks on the
Tang Dynasty. The instability resulting from this rapid
exchange of leaders allowed the northern Sung Dynasty to
challenge Tang imperial rule. The Tang withdrew just as the
wave of Mongolian invaders began their takeover of the
continent in the tenth century.

W4L1
Mesoamerican Administration: The Mexican Peninsula, 500
BCE to 900 CE
The material on city-states in the last module helps us
understand a very important development in history: the rise,
not only of settlements designed to support their inhabitants,
but also of networks of patronage and authoritative structures
designed to maintain a stable, long-lasting influence over larger
regions: empires. Success in capturing the loyalty and resources
of neighboring communities relied on tact, indebtedness, and
sound administration. Greco-Roman cities like Athens, Sparta,
Rome, and many others developed key policies concerning
foreigner peoples, state religions, loyalty in spite of ethnic
division, and trade. These policies encouraged the cooperation
and smooth transition of multiple cultural backgrounds living
under a single state.
Yet Persia, Greece, and Rome were not alone in this endeavor.
As we shall see, Asian empires began to develop authority
structures that would endure for thousands of years. And on the
other side of the world, cultural developments on the Central
American region home to modern-day Mexico began to
capitalize on their resource-rich surroundings to establish a
wealth of traditions, multi-ethnic civilization, and strong
religious belief. The first of these civilizations was the great
city of Teotihuacan. The second was the longer-lasting and
more widespread Maya Empire.
In red, the Mayan Empire; in yellow, the Olmec civilization. On
the left-hand side, 20 miles North of Mexico City, is
Teotihuacan. The ancient city was the cultural center for the
surrounding rural regions.

Teotihuacan was founded in the Mexican Highlands before 500
BCE and lasted well into the seventh or eighth century. The
peak of influence for this enormous city occupied the fourth and
fifth centuries, just as Rome was collapsing. The city and its
surroundings occupy an enormous area of 20 square kilometers.
Perhaps the most stunning aspect of this great city is its urban
planning. Relying on incredibly strict geometric shapes and
mathematical significance, the city is built on a grid that uses
two enormous pyramids as bookends. One is thePyramid of the
Sun. On the day of the Summer Solstice, the sun stands directly
above the Pyramid, shining light into rays corresponding with
art on the inside. The other is the Pyramid of the Moon. These
two pyramids were the heart of religious and social life. From
the Pyramid of the Moon rose a straight and wide street called
the Avenue of the Dead. Functioning as the main street of the
city, it stretched south from the lunar pyramid into the
mountains. Along the avenue were elaborate apartments that
contained special Masonic structures to prevent strangers from
entering the homes. They had regular access to water through
special irrigation collection systems along the avenue that could
provide rainwater to the residents.
The sound and complex urban structure of the city brought
immigrants from far and wide. Archeological evidence shows
that the city was a multi-ethnic center, with Otomi, Mixtec,
Maya, Nahua, Zapotec, and Toltec peoples coexisting.
Religious, cultural, and linguistic elements of all of these
peoples contributed to the unique culture of Teotihuacan itself.
They developed a stunning knowledge of human anatomy and
herbology. While the Greeks were balancing the four humors
and bleeding people out in attempts to cure them, the
Teotihuacan understood complex medicines made by plants used
to treat an array of ailments. The walls of their buildings were
lined with hieroglyphics similar to that of Egypt. A rather
accurate calendar was based on a considerable knowledge of
astronomy. Artistic development was both encouraged in this
prosperous city and influential over neighboring and future

empires in the Mesoamerican world.
The stunning ruins of the ancient city of Teotihuacan
What we know of this culture is told through its pottery, murals,
and building structures that continue to stand today. Geometric
shapes were very important to building cities, temples, and
houses. Close quarters were a must in order to make room for
the 150,000 to 250,000 residents, making Teotihuacan one of
the largest, most populated cities of the contemporary world.
The city-state itself spread influence across the region, trading
with neighboring farmers to feed and support the residents of
the city while gaining fealty from those living in nearby
villages and towns. The only limit was that of the Maya Empire,
which interacted with Teotihuacan but does not seem to have
taken a military approach to stamping out the competition.
Scholars are unsure why this could be, and some wonder if the
lack of aggression is merely a problem of sources rather than
actual events.
Residents of Teotihuacan were polytheistic people who
worshipped the sun and the moon. Like the Olmec who came
before them, they placed great trust in the Feathered Serpent
and the Rain God. Archeological projects have uncovered
enormous collections of intact bones in almost all of the
buildings of the city, suggesting that human and animal
sacrifice played a role in this religious system. Furthermore, it
seems that the building of any structure was accompanied by
sacrifice; every building contains bones from sacrificial victims
in the cornerstones. Those who were selected for sacrifice were
probably warriors from neighboring cities rather than residents.
They also contained fierce warlike animals: cougars, wolves,
birds of prey, and venomous snakes. Some sacrificial victims
were struck in the head or beheaded and some had their hearts
cut out for ceremonial purposes, but others were buried alive.
This religious system maintained many of the beliefs from the
Olmec and passed them on to future generations. The name
Teotihuacan itself means the “birthplace of the gods,” a telling

representation of how residents and neighbors alike thought of
the grandeur of the city. The later Aztecs would maintain the
remains of Teotihuacan as a holy site. They thought it was the
location of Tollan, the birthplace of the sun, which was the
center of their religion.
The preserved temple image of the Teotihuacan Feathered
Serpent God
Teotihuacan was a long-standing trade center that experienced
centuries of prosperity and widespread influence. The structure
of the city itself was a complicated socio-economic portrayal of
wealthy cities, superb urban engineering, and complex diversity
in culture and population. Ultimately, the city began to decline
and in the seventh or eighth century it was run over by invaders,
sacked and pillaged. Yet the strong buildings persisted.
Squatters and marauders lived in its ruins over the next
thousand years until the area was set apart in the 1970s for
scholarly exploration and archeological projects. Although it is
difficult to measure what particular laws and policies were in
place from this city that outlasted the influence of Rome, we
can tell that it was a major cultural and economic center that
encouraged the presence of peoples from multi-ethnic
backgrounds. Only tolerance and fair policies would enable this
situation to last for almost a thousand years.
One of six pages that survive from hundreds of Mayan books
destroyed by European invaders
The Maya Empire was even more enduring than that of
Teotihuacan, which is an impressive accomplishment. The Maya
Empire was founded in the tropical lowlands of Guatemala
around 250 CE and reached a peak of influence around the sixth
century, about a hundred years after the Teotihuacan. The
Empire spread across Central America, occupying the Yucatan
Peninsula, through Belize and Mexico, even extending into El
Salvador and Honduras. The widespread extension of the Maya
occupation enabled them to protect the core of the Empire,

while natural boundaries prevented too many external
challenges to their hegemony.
The Mayan Empire was structured in a pattern similar to the
Greek constellation of city-states. Over 40 Mayan cities
controlled the regions surrounding them, with various cities
gaining in power over the neighboring city-states and ruling the
Empire during a wave-like rise and fall that can be compared to
the authority of Athens or Sparta. Despite these natural peaks
and valleys of governing power, none of the cities ever
thoroughly disappeared, even during the Spanish invasion,
colonization, and journey to modern independence.
Nevertheless, the Maya Empire experienced a Classical Period
between 250 and 900 CE, during which the impressive gains in
scientific, engineering, mathematics, artistic, religious, and
philosophical arenas built the Maya culture into something of an
innovative behemoth, able to influence long-standing empires
throughout the region. Even today, Mayan ideas invade pop
culture; the movie 2012, explored the end of the Mayan
calendar as the catalyst for the end of the world.
Maya culture explored new agricultural techniques, finding that
the annual slash and burn process reinvigorated soils to produce
high yields in the following year. After a harvest, farmers
would destroy their harvested plants and light the remains on
fire. The process of fire broke down the existing nutrients back
into the soil. The downside to this process was and remains the
massive destruction of rain forest, but at the time it was the best
way to feed a conglomeration of large cities.
The ruins of ancient Mayan cities Tikal and Ek-Balam
Mayan art depicts human and animal images in the three-quarter
style, similar to Egyptian art, portraying leaders of the Empire
alongside gods, animals, cities, and trade scenes. When scholars
began to decipher the Mayan script, it was discovered the
Mayan artists enjoyed celebrity enough to mark their works
with their names. Architects were particularly valued, and it

seems that the temples and stone buildings of Mayan cities were
remodeled every 52 years, in accordance with the Maya
Calendar, in order to bring the buildings into alignment with
contemporary fashion and current rulers. While Teotihuacan
was built with a specific urban efficiency in mind, on a grid that
connected the people to temples, Mayan cities housed as few as
5000 people and as many as 50,000. Accordingly, they were
built on an as-needed basis. Winding streets, disorganized
buildings, and dead end communities were the mark of poor
planning. It seems that the architects were more focused on
stunning buildings and irrigation techniques than urban
planning as a whole.
Fun Fact: The written system used throughout the Empire joins
a very select group: only three written systems have been
invented in the history of the world – Sumerian, Chinese, and
Maya – and from those three all remaining global writing
systems have evolved!
But in a great tragedy of time, much of the Maya written
records have not survived. Spanish explorers who documented
the invasion of the Americas noted that the Maya were very
particular about recording their history and meticulous
documents preserved major events of Maya history stretching
back for 800 years. Books upon books were produced to ensure
a long-lasting historical knowledge. However, the Spanish saw
the Empire as weak and inconsequential; to the horror of
scholarly onlookers, all Maya language history books were
destroyed in a huge fire upon their discovery by European
Conquistadors in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Can you take a moment to consider how different the world
would be if we had no evidence of English History? Of
American history? Of the Italian Renaissance or Chinese
inventions? This is the reality of Maya legacies.
We still know more about Maya culture than other
Mesoamerican groups because of the deciphering of script and
numbers, which were preserved in places other than those
valuable books. Maya Script was organized into blocks of

writing, creating a cross between Asian block scripts running up
and down a page and Egyptian hieroglyphics. It is important to
note that the Maya were not related to either world culture,
despite similar appearances. The script on walls in set in stone
show an extensive use of writing in the Maya culture.
Maya numbering system was based on the 5 and the 20, using a
combination of dots and dashes to represent counting:
A Chart shows the Mayan system of counting that resembles an
abacus or Braille system
Due to the destruction of the carefully preserved histories,
scholars have difficulty explaining what daily life would have
been like for those living in the Empire. We do not know stories
of courageous battle or innovative government policies. We do
not have evidence of their laws, although we do know that there
were extensive legal practices. Leisure was a major part of
social life; professional ball players played a game that appears
to be similar to baseball, but the prominent descriptions of this
game throughout pottery and murals and temple wall
decorations are our only preserved knowledge of the game that
once unified and divided a population. Every city had a large
ball court, even the smallest towns, indicating that it was a
central experience of civilians throughout the Empire.
Mayas believed strongly in the sense of a cyclical life. They
documented the heavens around them with alarming accuracy
through observatories built throughout the land. Their religious
traditions honor this cycle through devout observations of
holidays. They practiced human sacrifice through removing the
heart and dedicating it to the figures of the universe. There were
three planes of existence: Earth, underworld, and heavens
above. The complicated approach to the crop maize – corn –
which does not exist in the wild is a great example of the strong
relationship between cycles, life, and death. The Maize god is a
central figure to Mayan art, and subsequently scholars assume it
was as central to the religious belief as the sun and lunar gods,

the study of stars, the sanctity of mathematics in tracking
astronomy. The Mayan Calendar has multiple cycles: a 250-day
year, a 365-day solar year, and a 13-cycle lunar year. The
mathematics behind their religion is astoundingly complex.
Images of daily life preserved on pottery (left) and murals from
temple walls (right)
By the 900s, the Maya began to decline and many (but not all)
of their cities were abandoned. Without the books of historical
accounts to explain why, scholars have had difficulty measuring
the cause for decline. Theories concerning everything from
invading forces and revolts to overpopulation and trade collapse
have been proposed, with a fair amount of evidence but no
overwhelming explanation has been discovered. Some
ecological explanations, such as draught or illness or even
ecological disaster like an earthquake or destructive force, have
sought ground but no conclusive evidence has been found. Some
stone cities remained occupied for another thousand years.
There were enough Maya cultural centers in existence when the
Spanish arrived to warrant the wanton destruction of their
temples and books, so whatever caused the fall of the Maya, it
was not complete.
What can we learn from the Maya? They legislated an enormous
empire of approximately two million people from about 250 CE
until the 900s. The necessary government and administrative
structures required for such an enormous task suggests that the
Mayan focus on efficiency was key to this assimilation and
preservation. However, because of the destruction of evidence,
we only have buildings to go on. Even there, we can see the
evidence of an overly large administration, centralized power,
and cyclical preservation of religious beliefs, values, and
buildings. Whatever the Spanish attempted to do in order to
erase the power of this enormous Empire, it was not enough, for
the buildings remain standing today, long after the Spanish were
expelled from the region

HS101 World History w4a D Adachi
1.Part One:
Much of the Maya records were destroyed by the Spanish in the
sixteenth century. One Catholic monk bent on destroying the
manuscripts also recorded their life in his own writings. Read
the following account and then describe what we know about
Maya government and administration based on the description:
The chiefs agreed that for the permanence of the state the house
of the Cocoms [leader] should exercise the chief authority. They
ordained that within the enclosure there should only be temples
and residences of the chiefs; that they should build outside the
walls dwellings where each of them might keep some serving
people, and where the people from the villages might come
whenever they had business at the city. Officers held
supervision over the villages and those in charge of them, to
whom he sent advices as to the things needed in the chief's
establishment, as birds, maize, honey, salt, fish, game, clothing
and other things. It was the custom of these officers to hunt out
the crippled and the blind in the villages, and give them their
necessities. The chiefs appointed the governors and, if worthy,
confirmed their offices to their sons. They enjoined upon them
good treatment of the common people, the peace of the
community, and that all should be diligent in their own support
and that of the lords.
Diego de Landa, & William Gates. (n.d.). Yucatan Before and
After the Conquest
Retrieved from http://www.sacred-
texts.com/nam/maya/ybac/ybac11.htm)
Question: How would you characterize the Maya government
administration based on this passage? Please write at least three
sentences:
===============================================

=====================
2.Part Two
Question: Consider the way that Indian, Chinese, and
Mongolian Empires administered their government. Fill in the
following list of governments with a sentence summarizing their
administrative tactics. Some of them were very specific in their
structures; others were characterized with bullying, power, and
chaos. Where possible, be specific and in other areas, provide a
general description.
Example: The Warring States: The Warring states did not have a
cohesive theory of administration because there was too much
instability as they struggled for supremacy.
China
Ch'in:
3.Han:
4. Sui:
5. Tang:
6.India
Mauryan:
7. Gupta:
8.Mobile Peoples
Huns:
===============================================
======================
10.Part Three:

Write a short essay (250+ words) comparing how successful the
comparative Asian empires were in administering government
when absent from local areas. The above information should
help you put this together. What approaches were most
successful, and what can we learn from Asian Empires and their
administrative policies?

W4L4Mobile Communities The Huns and the MongolsIn a histo.docx

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

More from melbruce90096

More from melbruce90096 (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

W4L4Mobile Communities The Huns and the MongolsIn a histo.docx