Chapter Six: Eurasian Social Hierarchies

In chapter six you would find the information provided to be so natural and realistic. We see that the section strongly focuses on social hierarchies’ or caste systems. Class would be defined from areas you’re born to the clothes you wear, even based up on how wealthy you were. In China class would be determined on the wealth of its family, so from much land you owned and the family name. Most wealthy people in China were some type of scribe or scholar to law maker this making intelligence a priority in China. Another example of these social hierarchy and caste systems were India’s Birth “purity of blood”.  What family you were born into determined what social status people had, some of their social life, religious life, or even cultural traditions had influence upon their caste system. Then as we read farther on in the chapter we hit a section of this brutal and vulgar truth about Rome and its slavery civilization.

As I have been reading these last couple chapters I am lead to believe how important China’s history is because we could really learn and fix our government from their problems. China’s role in this section leads a huge chunk of a terrible and corrupt economy. The way China was lead seemed backwards they taxed greatly on the poor and less on the rich even let them get away depending on property. Most of China's inhabitants were a merchant, beggar, or peasant that worked on a farm. Early on in China's history its people were allowed to expand and migrate until population started to greatly increase then they were allow less slots eventually people ran out of money and sold their land.

Chapter 5: Eurasian Cultural Traditions

            This chapter is one impressing and two interesting, it pretty much hands us a whole bunch of cultures and their traditions. All these cultures had something in common that happened all in a similar time zone where gods or spirits explained what happened in this world. In the reading these various cultures and the religions that follow have survived thousands of years such as Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity. These beings of spirituality seemed to be similar to human beings though more powerful and all knowing. New ways in worshiping were coming in order and some source out in the universe a higher power shaped mankind and influenced a change of thinking. This new way of thinking included morals a way of living and a way of worshiping changed generations after.

            Two religions that really stood out to me were Confucianism and Buddhism. Confucianism impressed me because it really wasn’t about the all mighty god but the way of standard living and the morals that come along with life. Buddhism had changed the way I thought about the culture just because I am use to seeing a figurine with a round belly and that’s not who he is apparently it’s a man named Siddhartha Gautama a prince from a small north Indian state.  The people to follow Buddhism achieved enlightenment, but were taught nirvana and karma.

            As I was reading the book on page 126 to 127 the last paragraph contained all these questions and some analysis to why, and what happened. The question that stood out was “what is the relationship between human life in this world and the moral spiritual realms that lie beyond?”  And it says “precisely why various societies developed their own distinctive answers to these questions remains an elusive mystery a tribute, perhaps, to the unpredictable genius of the human imagination.” With these two quotes left me speechless because it just shows how outstanding the human mind is and how we can shape reality with a combination of high spirituality.

Chapter 4 Part 2: Eurasian Empires

Chapter four included some of histories finest moments with empires and civilizations clashing. The definition of an empire is states with political systems that exercise coercive power. Empires have generally a quantity of people with a variety of cultures within a single ruling system. From this chapter we get a taste of an ongoing feud between the Persian Empire and the Greeks. But this section does not stop there it keeps going with one of history’s greatest conqueror Alexander the great, and after that we get to see Roman, Chinese, and the collapse of empires.

            The Persian Empire (500B.C.E) is the largest and most impressive of the world’s empires was constructed on an imperial system. “It was centered upon an elaborate cult in which kingship and/or monarchs could only be approached through rituals, when a king died, sacred fires all across the land were extinguished” (Page 99). Two important rulers of the Persian Empires because they surpassed those before them is Cyrus (557-530 B.C.E.) and Darius (522-486 B.C.E), these monarch’s effectively earned their titles. Cyrus the man who won the gratitude of the Jews in 539 (B.C.E.) allowed those who were exiled in Babylon to return to their homeland and rebuild their temple in Jerusalem.

            The Greeks were an Indo-European civilization that took shape in a small peninsula that was divided by steep mountains and valleys. Greece was based upon hundreds of city states with around 500-5000 male citizens. What really impressed me about this civilization was their political life this idea of “citizenship” of free people running the affairs of state and equality for all citizens before the law. The council was composed of twenty eight men over the age of sixty who served for life and provided political leadership.