TRA: Lesson - The Age of Empires: Introduction

The Age of Empires

In our first module, we discussed the idea that the first civilizations tended to stick to one small area near a water source. One of these early civilizations, though, chose a different path: the Persian empire was not content to stay contained in a small area, instead expanding out to 2.5 million square miles! Once the Persian empire set an example to Europe and Asia of how large an empire could be, future civilizations followed suit. From 300 BCE to 600 CE, four great empires formed:

  • Two European Empires
    • Greece and Rome: New Mediterranean Empires created independently but connected through the legacy of the Persian Empire
  • Two Asian Empires
    • India and China: Original Asian River Valley Civilizations that grew larger, more advanced, and more united than ever

A map of the four empires: Rome, Greece, India and China.

The New Empires

These emerging empires had a few things in common:

  • Large Conquests: This makes sense because an empire is several territories under one leadership. This usually happens when one of those territories conquers nearby territories.
  • Military and Agricultural Innovations: New weapons and new strategies to get all that land, and more difficultly, all those people, into one empire. And then new ways of farming that land to feed all the people.
  • New Governing Styles: Those diverse groups can’t be ruled like a smaller civilization
  • New Philosophies and Religions: Not everyone agrees with this type of government or the idea of empire at all! In fact, with so much changing, some people start to wonder what life is really all about, and these ideas are called philosophies (if secular) or religions (if connected to a god). Sometimes, the new ideas are initially rejected by the leaders but then adopted by future leaders (like Confucianism or Christianity).
  • Trade and Cultural Diffusion: Eurasia (the “supercontinent” of Europe and Asia) is big, but the empires start to take note of each other. No single empire can produce every possible good for their people, so they start to trade. But they also spread cultures along those trade routes once the merchants begin to talk to one another.
  • Golden Ages: While the military conquests could be extremely violent (we’re talking hundreds of thousands of deaths!), once these empires reached their geographic height they tended to experience a Golden Age. That’s a period of artistic, technological, scientific, and intellectual advancement.

While Greece, Rome, India, and China developed independently, they interacted through trade and competition. Their militaries, golden ages, and governing systems became major influences, not just in Europe and Asia, but throughout the world and across the centuries.

Interactive Timeline

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