Ancient India Study Guide

the rest of India. He then decided he would force the ruler of the state to modify his autocratic rule.

Ancient civilizations such as Sumeria, Egypt, and Babylon have all contributed to humankind and some way through their major achievements. the achievements of these civilizations have all helped later civilizations develop due to the examples of these past groups. some ancient civilizations developed techniques of farming and others comma some of the first written languages. All of these achievements are equally important for later developing civilizations. The Sumerians were a civilization that helped to contribute to humankind with their achievements involving architecture, weapons, and writing.

What if you could live in a golden empire? That was exactly what the Gupta Empire was for India, their “Golden Age.” That was because of their daily life, Chandra Gupta II, and achievements in academics.

Even though religion was an important part of the Indian political system, neither rajas nor later emperors established a theocracy, while the Egyptian pharaohs did. In Egypt the pharaohs were religious and political figures, in fact, during the New Kingdom they had no standing army, while Rajas were warriors and the authority of Indian emperors also derived from military power. This is due because Egyptian civilization was peaceful through most of its history, so religion, rather tan an army was used to justify the pharaohs rule. In India, on the other hand, Indo-Aryan tribes spread through war, and the Indian empire was established by overthrowing the Macedonians through military conquest. So in both the positions of the Raja and the emperor were sustained by their ability to conquer and subdue others, even during the reign of Asoka diplomacy was used to expand the empires domains.

In Greece, monarchies were found when the Mycenaeans ruled Greece during the period 2000 to 1100 BC. Monarchy is defined as a system of government where a single ruler has supreme power. The word “monarchy” comes from the Greek words “monos” meaning “single” and “archo” meaning “rule”. This single ruler, known as a king, ruled for life and passed the rule on to his heir when he died. The most famous monarchy was that of King Alexandra of Macedonia who ruled all of Greece from 336 BC.

It is crazy how two different civilizations from two different times can have such similar ideas about their economies. But, India, becoming an empire much later than Persia, had some improved technologies and ideas which made these two civilizations somewhat different. Persia’s main focus of strengthening their economy was the development of agriculture. By growing crops like grains, fruits, and vegetables, the Persians were able to acquire a great amount of food, making the population grow and grow. Fortunately, their location helped them conquer smaller civilizations so they can gain fertile soil, which is extremely important in agriculture. The abundance of food that the Persians had helped them trade with other civilizations that couldn’t grow the crops they needed. In return they would receive items that they needed to help their economy grow. Persia’s main trade route was the Persian Royal Road, which was about 1500 miles long. To transport themselves to deliver a message or items to trade with, the Persians would have intervals along the road and one horse would pull one man until he reaches his stop. It would take about nine days to travel the whole road using couriers, while on footy it would have taken them three months, making trade and communication very slow. Persia did have a social class, with the royal family on top, and of course, the slaves at the bottom. Slaves were a very big part in the labor systems of

Before its modern state, India had only been united once. This time was under the rule of the Mauryan Empire in the 300s-200s BCE. The Mauryan Empire was started by Chandragupta Maurya after overthrowing and conquering the Magadha government. He proceeded to conquer more than half of the Indian subcontinent. After some time, Chandragupta’s grandson Asoka came to power. Asoka was a leader who ruled with feelings of remorse for decisions he had made in the past yet still ruled with great, imposing power. He also was mindful of his people and made sure to always rule in favor of them.

China, India, and Rome all shared the idea of monarchy. Although Rome went through a phase of having a republic, all three empires accepted the rule of one supreme leader. The governmental system of monarchy showed up in most ancient civilizations all the way back to Mesopotamia and Egypt. Something about a single leader appealed to these people and to all people all the way up into the 1700s. Not to say that monarchies don’t exist anymore, they do. China held onto monarchy from the Tang Dynasty, past the Han dynasty. Han China worked similarly to the dynasty before it: the Qin. In India, both the Mauryan Empire as well as the later Gupta Empire, both functioned under the rule of an emperor. Although both Indian empires had different ideas and laws, the basic governmental structure

Let’s see what is Monarchy? It is a king or queen who gets all the powers of authority from inheritance and power stays in the same family, usually the bloodline from father to son. In Ancient Greeks, there weren’t too many monarchies, but there was some present and even Athens went under the monarchy at the end of the classical period which ended with the death of Alexander the Great. His father Phillip II of Macedon who became king after the deaths of his two brothers conquered Athens after the Peloponnesian war and ended democracy in the great city of Athens. (Wasson, 2014)

King Harsha (606-648 C.E) temporarily restored unified rule in most of Northern India and sought to revive imperial authority

monarchy government. A monarchy government is a government ruled by a King or Queen in a

The history of the nation of India is a long and interesting one but most westernizes lack any true understanding of it. Like any long standing culture there have been good and bad periods in their history but one period has been identified as the "Golden Age of India (Dehejia, 1993)." This period, which lasted over a hundred years (322 BCE 185 BCE), began when an exiled general by the name of Chandragupta Maurya overthrew the reigning king Dhana Nanda. Once Chandragupta Maurya had established his new government in the Eastern area of India he began expanding his power westward across Central and Western India and, in the process, the religions of Hinduism and Buddhism also began to spread throughout India (Avari, 2007).

Arriving Aryans brought Hindu beliefs with them. Early Aryan rulers used this class caste system to impose social order. This social order provided a society where everybody followed their Dharma. The stress on filial piety was to impose complete obedience to any and all superiors. Since the family was an extension of the state, respect for elder relations was simply transferred to obedience for a centralized state. Buddhists on the opposite hand, didn't believe in the caste system, therefore it didn't become as common in Asian nor did it serve a political purpose.

Government falls into two categories; monarchy or a republic. A monarchy is a form of government that is always headed by a

A monarchy is a form of government where a monarch is ruling and usually, they are referred to as a king or queen. Also, a monarchy is hereditary. In history, the ancient Egyptians saw their monarchs as gods. Beginning in 1500, many European monarchs claimed that their power came from gods; also known as the divine right of kings. The World War I ended many important monarchies; however, there are still 26 monarchies around the world some of which are the United Kingdom, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, Morocco, Jordan, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Swaziland.