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Today, we did mostly background from Western Civilization I (this was intended to familiarize students who have not taken Western Civilization I with some basic ideas; most of the details will not be part of the first examination). In the ancient world, Europe lagged behind North Africa, the Middle East and Asia, in developing "civilizations." By that term historians generally mean societies which have (1) law/government; (2) urbanization -- though not necessarily large cities; (3) writing; and (4) metallurgy. While early civilizations were flourishing in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and some 5,000 years ago, European peoples were still living subsistence, hunter-gatherer lives. In the area known as the Fertile Crescent, strong city-states developed whose kings formalized local village customs into laws, and whose priests created more complex religions that supported social order. The first important society in the European world was on the island of Crete, in the Mediterranean. The Cretans had established a civilization on the island of Crete around 2200 B.C.E. (Archeological evidence from Knossos on Crete demonstrates a fairly advanced society; the Cretans had at least two forms of writing, known as Linear A and Linear B, and the Palace of Minos (which is why Cretan civilization is also referred to as "Minoan") would give rise to many of the legends of the ancient Greeks, including that of the Minotaur, the half-man, half-bull that protected the palace from invaders.) Around 1380 B.C.E., Cretan society collapsed; we're not sure exactly why. The Mycenaeans established the next great civilization, centered in Mycenae, on the Greek mainland Mycenae reached the height of its prosperity between 1400 and 1200 B.C.E. Mycenaean civilization was comprised of cities that were more or less independent from one another, each having its own "palace-centered" king. (These cities may have been united in a successful war against Troy (the Trojans), in Asia Minor (Turkey), which appears to have been the basis for Homer's Iliad). Somewhere around 1100 B.C.E., Mycenaean civilization also went into decline. Pottery, burial sites and buildings gradually become much cruder from the period between 1100 and 800 B.C.E., and the Greeks may also have "relapsed" into illiteracy during this time. (Linear B writing disappeared altogether.) This period, from around 1100 to 800 B.C.E., is often referred to as the Greek Dark Ages. However, by 800 B.C.E., Greek civilization began to revive. Between 800 and 600 B.C.E., communities began to organize themselves into small, self-governing city-states, and the Greeks borrowed a new alphabet from a people called the Phoenicians. But perhaps the most important change, which occurred in Athens and some of the other city-states of Greece, was the development of limited democracy, and the concept of equality before the law. The democracy of the ancient Greeks was far from perfect -- citizenship was severely restricted, and the economy relied on slaves -- but even this limited democracy was a far cry from anything the ancient world had known before. Moreover, the theory of democratic rule would eventually re-emerge in Europe and the Americas during the 17th and 18th centuries (where we come in). Eventually, the Greek city-states would be weakened by internal rivalries, and in 338 B.C.E., a kingdom called Macedonia conquered them, ending the Greek experiment in limited democratic rule. But by this time, another people, greatly influenced by the Greeks, were establishing their own successful republic on the Italian peninsula. These people were the Romans. The city of Rome started out as a kingdom, but around 500 B.C.E., the Romans deposed their last king and established a republic. The Roman constitution was not a written document, but a set of carefully observed procedures and customs. Rome was predicated on the "rule of law," an important concept in western civilization that, like Athenian democracy, would eventually re-emerge. Free Roman society was sharply divided between Patricians (the aristocracy) and Plebeians (the commoners). Class distinctions were based on birth not wealth, a system that Europeans would maintain until at least the 19th century. Rome's expansion in Italy and then throughout the Mediterranean helped spread common Greco-Roman values, creating a common core of culture throughout western Europe, but expansion also brought tremendous economic pressures and social upheaval. Turmoil led to a succession of powerful warlords, culminating with the rise of Julius Caesar in 46 B.C.E. Eventually, Rome's system of constitutional, republican government would be replaced by an emperorship -- in which a single, ruler, usually chosen by birth rather than merit, has absolute power. Much of Western Civilization II is the story of bringing democratic (Greek) and republican (Roman) forms of organizing society back after over a thousand years of dormancy. During the long rule of Caesar's successor, another event central to Western Civilization took place -- the birth of Jesus Christ sometime around 4 B.C.E. Jesus' ministry was one of several small movements in Roman-occupied Judea, whose Jewish population was monotheistic (believing in one god). Although the Jews were allowed to maintain their temple and religious observances, "messianistic" movements among them were brutally crushed by Roman authorities. Jesus himself was executed sometime between 26 and 36 C.E. After the crucifixion, Jesus' small band of followers might have disbanded, but others, most notably Saul of Tarsus (St. Paul) began taking up his ministry. St. Paul traveled throughout the Mediterranean, establishing early Christian congregations wherever he visited. While Christianity was slowly spreading throughout the vast Roman Empire, the empire itself would begin a long period of decline. Gross disparities in wealth, an over-reliance on slavery, incompetent leaders and increasing "barbarian" threats to the Roman frontier would place tremendous pressures on the empire, which was simply too costly and difficult to maintain. In 393 C.E., the Emperor Theodosius I decided to split the empire between a western half, centered in Rome, and an eastern half, centered at Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey), in an attempt to better administer it. Theodosius also made Christianity the official religion of the empire. But splitting the empire into more manageable halves did not protect the western portion from continued invasions by Germanic peoples from the east. In 476, a barbarian chieftain made himself emperor of Rome. This is why some historians consider that date the end of the Roman Empire, even though the eastern half continued to flourish. For this reason, it's also used by some as the beginning date of the Middle Ages. A number of important trends develop during the somewhat chaotic and violent period known as the Early Middle Ages (476-1000 C.E.) -- (1) a retreat of people into the interior sections of Europe (for safety); (2) development of systems of manorialism and feudalism; (3) decentralization of political authority; (4) transition from a cash-based to a barter economy; (5) development of more distinct vernacular languages (as opposed to Latin or Greek); and (6) the rise of the Roman Christian Church as the primary source of political and social order. The medieval church filled the power vacuum left in the wake of Rome's collapse. But the church also suppressed the spirit of critical inquiry that had been central to Greco-Roman values, and as an institution the church would become materialistic, corrupt and politicized. Problems within the church would lead to a schism in the 15th century, and finally to the Protestant Reformation, beginning in 1517. More on that on 1/25.
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