The Shang, The Mayans, And The Persian Empires

In historic times, multiple Societies of people living and collaborating together in a community is what led to the formation of many Empires. Empires were comprised of similar groups of people that were most often geographically located within close proximities. It is interesting to compare and contrast three societies which became Empires: the Egyptian, Zhou Chinese, and Persian. Each Empire is responsible for contributing to a foundational advancement that has been used in future generations. I will compare the similarities and contrasts of each and explain why I believe the Persian Empire was the most successful Empire.

| The development of the calendar was based on their observations and studies of the stars, moon, and sky. They also established a number system; a year was cut into 12 months, a month into 30 days, a day into 12 hours, an hour into 60 minutes, and a minute into 60 seconds. They also divided a circle into 360 degrees of the 60 arc minutes. Settlement patterns were based on the environment of the area and the need for a stable water supply.

However, the manufacturing process of bronze vessels was complicated. The majority of the bronzes in Shang and Zhou dynasties was cast in piece-mold technology, rather than lost-wax method, that bronze vessels were cast in sectional molds assembled around a solid central and that legs and handles were cast separately and soldered on. The earliest bronzes were produced mostly with a single mold and occasionally with two for production of double-faced objects. In piece-mold casting, a model is made of the object to be cast, and a clay mold taken of the model. The mold is then cut into sections to release the model, and the sections are reassembled after firing to form the mold for casting. If the object to be cast is a vessel, a core has to be placed inside the mold to provide the vessel’s cavity (Fairbank, 1962).

Throughout the humanities course, I have been intrigued by a vast amount of information on different cultures. However, there was a particular section that truly caught my attention, and has piqued an interest in me that has caused me to do my own research aside from this paper. The culture of the Mayas, and the Aztecs has been extremely fundamental in understanding my ancestry, being that I am Mexican American. I took an interest in their beautiful architecture, their ritualistic and sacrificial religious practices, as well as their history and how they began. Throughout this paper I will outline the similarities and differences of these two cultures, as well as articulate an understanding of the humanity disciplines outlined above.

Some ancient civilization depend on rivers for their agriculture like Mesopotamian, Egypt, India, and China. Neolithic Mesopotamian and Chinese civilization learned to adjust to climate by using a systematic agriculture of farming and herding, living sedentary and developing a pottery, allowing the preparation and storing food and water. Over time other civilization such Indus Valley from India learned to predict a flooding of the river and use it to their benefit. Unlike the Canaanites society from Egypt in which believed to sacrifice an infant and child in the name of the earth god(Baalim)and goddess(Baalot) to ensure a prosperous harvest.

Think about this; think about how right now, in this very moment there are teams of scientists and engineers working to develop better and smarter technology. But in another country far away they could be doing the same exact thing. About 2000 years ago, the Mayans and the Egyptians were exactly like this. They lived on different sides of the world, with the Mayans in Mexico/Central America and the Egyptians in Egypt. Yet both civilizations developed similar inventions and ideas but, used them for very different things. Inventions like pyramids and ideas on religion and culture.

A very long time ago, there were many ancient civilizations, three of them were called the Olmecs, Aztecs and Mayans. These were ancient civilizations that, throughout history, had many accomplishments. Focusing in on some of these achievements, a lot of the advancements made by these civilizations were in religion, economy, and technology.

From 1567 to 330 B.C. humanity experienced many subsequent development as well as decline in its civilizations. Among these events emerged three colossal empires that had shaken the world and forever changed the course of human history. The Egyptian, Assyrian, and Persian Empires have been instrumental in influencing technology, religion, and ideas throughout the world. Various factors have contributed to the success and downfall of these giants. Each of the “World Powers” have similarities as well as distinctions in its government form and organization, religion, and economy that contributed to their triumph.

After the Neolithic revolution, human society blossomed into several powerful civilizations that still impact the world to this very day. Two such civilizations are the Phoenicians the Shang Dynasty. The Shang dynast developed around the Yellow River in China from 1750 B.C.E-1027 B.C.E. The Phoenicians developed in the Mediterranean during the waning of the Shang Dynasty, from 1100 B.C.E-500 B.C.E. These civilizations contributed heavily to religious practices, set the precedent for economic development in their regions, and created the legacy necessary for the development of modern writing on different continents.

The Maya were a people from Middle America, which includes modern Guatemala, Southern Mexico, and Northern Belize (Editors). The Maya civilization was considered to be “one of the most dominant indigenous societies of Mesoamerica,” (Maya). “The Maya excelled at agriculture, pottery, hieroglyph writing, calendar-making, and mathematics, and left behind an astonishing amount of impressive architecture and symbolic artwork,” (Maya). They also gave mankind the modern calendar (Jarus, Maya). The Mayans were a very advanced people, but one of the most important things in the Mayan culture was their religion/god worshipping rituals.

1.Which had a larger impact on the Persian civilizations - trade networks, diffusion of food and goods, spread of religion, or spread of disease? Please explain all 4 and choose one overall.

In Ancient China the Social hierarchy was built like a pyramid, with an Emperor and his Nobles being at the top. The food they ate was of wide variety, and they took pride in there pastoral animals considering them as prized possessions. In Ancient Maya the majority of their structures were built like pyramids, with human sacrificial ceremonies happening at the top of them. While the food that impacted there survival was corn and a couple of fruits that they farmed. These cultures are extremely different, but surprisingly they can also be compared with some similarities.

​Many of the cultures that we have today have evolved from past events. Such as language it was something that became known throughout the years. Some of the languages that came from that were English, Spanish, German, and Latin to name a few. These languages were derived more past civilizations. One important civilization that is known for having great success is the Mayan civilization. The Mayan civilization is known for many things like they fully developed written language, art, architecture, math and some other factors. Historians have said that they don’t know an exact date of when this civilization rose up but they do mention that it flourished for about 2000 years. Although staring in 250 AD it is said that it was the start of their high point and it continued until the arrival of the Spanish in 1524. The Maya area covers southern Mexico and northwestern Central America. According to Sharer the area is divided into three regions: the Pacific coastal plain to the south, the highlands in the center, and the lowlands to the north. Even though these three regions were under the same civilization they all practiced different religious rituals. Religion plays a big role in every civilization. Some civilizations tend to praise more than one god and they always mention that what they have is thanks to their god. When they see things going wrong they often say that their god is punishing them because they did something that the god/s did not like. This tends to be the same

Every country can have several or a specific genre of music that symbolizes their culture and background: whether it be complicated rhythms, conflicted dissonance in the melody, or a basic harmony to back up the melody, it signifies the culture making their own music unique and opposing from everyone else. For instance, China has an enormous range of music genres developing throughout history to today; furthermore, with the aging dynasties starting from Xia, Shang, Zhou, Tang, Song, to Ming and Qing, traditional Chinese music was a growing art form by adding something new when entering into a new dynasty. The Xia dynasty, Shang dynasty, and Zhou dynasty specially created music for the elite and upper class with more of classical melodies, meanwhile,

The Maya civilization was one of the Mesoamerican cultures that were developed by Maya people. It was highly noted for its hieroglyphic script. This was one of the best writing systems of the pre-Columbian Americas. The Maya community consists majorly of the indigenous people of Mexico and Central America. The Aztec empire was flourished between 1345 and 1521 CE and was spreading within the northern Mesoamerica. The Aztec warriors through their power were able to dominate the neighboring states, and through that, they made it possible to transfer their ideas as well as religion to many parts of Mexico. The art and architecture of the Aztec civilization were the best ranked in the continent and therefore preferable to many due to the design and techniques that were used by the architects. The Aztec territory was best documents within the states and consisted majorly of best archaeological details, native books as well as information from the Spanish conquerors. This study paper aims to describe the Maya civilization.