World History Homework Chapters 3, 4, 5 & 6 What I enjoyed from chapter three was the evolution of all of these new civilizations and, how these evolutions were occurring simultaneously and autonomously. This was very cool to think about and see how similar yet how different these civilizations are, specifically the Persian and Greek empires that due to proximity of each other traded and feuded with each other constantly while growing their civilizations in completely different ways and beliefs. I liked the fact that even with the most impressive army and navy the Persians were not able to defeat the Greeks. I also found it interesting that with the death of Alexander that the Greece was broken up into three different civilizations, Egypt, Mesopotamia and India. This also led to the beginnings of the Chinese and the Roman empires. These two empires were very similar in their reigns and area of control but very different in their daily lives. Of these two empires I am most impressed with the Chinese. They were very forward thinking in many areas, such as, iron weaponry, rapid agricultural prosperity, and the creation of weights and measures, currency and a formation of a legal system. They also like the Roman Empire were not overly welcomed throughout the land and blood was inevitably shed. In China it is the shedding of this blood that inevitably ended up toppling the Qin dynasty with the Han dynasty quick to replace and consolidate the imperial state. The Roman Empire and Han dynasty were ultimately doomed by the same factors they grew too big too fast and alienated and harshly discriminated against the poor and underprivileged. Another civilization that started in and around this time was India and the Mauryan Empire. This empire did not last long as once again the rulers led with blood shed. This empire did lead to the establishment of the Caste system which was in place for a number of years and also brought Buddhist and Hindu beliefs to the table. During this time China was going through many forms of spiritual and governmental changes. Some of these influencing philosophies included; Confucianism and Daoism which was a more genteel and kind form of spiritual and religious beliefs. While these forms of religion were a more thoughtful there were also many gender and economic inequalities. This also brought upon the legalists the Vedas and the Brahmans who were more focused on ancient Sanskrit writings and beliefs that were closely related to caste systems. This in turn drew more and more people to religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism to find some spirituality and safety. Once again I like how with the beginning of new civilizations occurring simultaneously in complete autonomy so was this formation of religious and spiritual belief. In the Middle East Judaism and Zoroastrianism were beginning during the time of Buddhism and Hinduism were evolving in China and India. I had never heard of Zoroastrian philosophy but it seems as though they were one of the original monotheistic beliefs in a peaceful manner, which I found very interesting. I also found it interesting that there was also this reversion to the ancient Greek tradition such as the arts and Greek rationalism. I liked how the author compared the two religions Buddhism and Christianity as well as the two Jesus and Gautama. I like how the author takes more of a female perspective in regards to Patriarchy as most history takes more of a male perspective; I found this to be refreshing and new. I particularly like how he compares the patriarchy in China and Athens and Sparta. I found it interesting about how the Chinese worked the Yin and the Yang into their philosophy saying that gender and their roles were already written in the stars. In China and Athens a woman’s role was very defined and limited as to what they could do and what rights they had, compared to Sparta where women were for the most part considered equal to men in every facet. One of the graphs I found most interesting was the breakdown of population per continent and how it changed over time. I was also surprised that Christianity had made it so far down south in Africa in both the Meroe and Axum civilizations. I once again was very impressed with the speed at which these civilizations were progressing all on their own with no real assistance from other civilizations. Examples of these are the Andes civilizations the Charvin and the Moche. It is also easy to see how America has been influenced by both Afro-Eurasia from the north and the Hispanic culture from the south.