Massive trading occurred here from all over the Silk Road region

Abu al-Abbas moved the capital of the Abbasid Dynasty here

Capital of the Umayyad Dynasty

Moved here to put the focus more on the Byzantine Empire

Located in Syria

Colonized the Roman regions

This city led the Delian League

Forced to surrender in 404 BCE

Developed proto-democracy

Ruler elected by the populace

Created legal transparency (everyone is aware of their rights and their duties)

Highly militarized society

Historically the “bad guys”

A slave society

Muhammad was born here in 571 CE

Unified with Medina under Islam

Muhammad fled here in 622 CE (Hegira)

Took Mecca in 630 CE

Unified with Mecca under Islam

Indo-European invaders descended here through the Balkans into Peloponnesus, c. 2200 BCE

Major settlement influenced by Minoan culture

Military expansion throughout region

POWs and debtors become slaves

Trojan War— this city and Troy

1100-800 BCE— taken over by the Greeks

Greek aristocrat

...

Ruled 461 - 429 BCE

Popular Greek aristocrat

Started massive public works

Required representation from the lower classes

Major force of funding for the Delian League; would not let poleis out of the League even after it was clear the Persians would not attack

477-404 BCE Poleis created this to forestall more Persian attacks

Led by Athens

Massive payments to Athens fueled Periclean expansion

Led to the Peloponnesian War, 431-404 BCE

Poleis allied with either Athens or Sparta

After it was clear the Persians wouldn't attack again, Pericles wouldn’t let poleis leave because he liked the money

Created an Athenian empire

Descended from Aeneas, warrior in the Trojan War (he and his brother wanted to be sons of the Greeks)

OR

_________ Augustus ?

Son of Philip II

Known for his rapid expansion throughout Mediterranean basin

Invasion of Persia successful; took only six years to conquer the entire Persian empire

Turned back in India when exhausted troops mutinied

Died in 333 BCE

Split land between three generals

Antigonid empire (Macedon)

Ptolemeic empire (Egypt)

...

Cleopatra the last of the Ptolomeic rulers

Seleucid empire (Mesopotamia)

Nephew of Ceasar

Fought Mark Antony and Cleopatra

Actium (?) - 31 BCE

Took title Augustus in 27 BCE

Monarchy disguised as a republic

Increased centralization of political and military power

Stabilized empire

Soldier emperor who ruled 284-305 CE

Restructured tax and social systems

Froze prices

Tried to stabilize society by making people take the occupation of their father

Rebuilt border defenses

Created zone defense— not all defenses stationed on border

Split the empire into halves for better rule and easier defense

An Augustus ruled each half

Caesar was secondary ruler and built-in successor

Retired to a farm in the Balkans; tried to set up a transition of power

Founded Constantinople

Augustus of the East

Conquered entire empire

Legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire

312— Edict of Milan— an edict of toleration

325— presided over the Council of Nicaea

Argument over who Christ is— peaked once dictatorship disappeared

Resulted in the Nicene Creed of 325

Said there is only one god; Jesus is the son of God but also one with God, so he’s a god; he became incarnate as man, so he’s a God-man

Named Thirteenth Apostle

Ruled 527-565 CE

Richest and most powerful Byzantine ruler

The “Sleepless Emperor”

Procopius wrote a Secret History about him

Built Hagia Sophia— masterwork of churches in this time period; symbol of heaven and power of the Roman Empire

Created a Law Code that was definitive for centuries

The Body of Civil Law (Corpus Iuris Civilis)

Modification of existing Roman laws

Language and religion changed from Latin to Greek and Greek pagan religion to Christianity

Wife and advisor of Justinian

One picture: a strong, brave ruler; another picture: circus performer, actress, AKA prostitute; uses men and manipulates them with sex

Both images by Procopius; strong image was a commissioned writing, bad image was a “secret history” that was hidden away

Historians think the latter is the truth, but we have no way of knowing for sure; we typically balance the two out

Scribe to Belisarius

Wrote Secret History slandering Justinian and Theodora

Thought Justinian was a douche

Born in 571 CE to merchant family in Mecca

Had visions and began to preach around 610 CE

Monotheistic teachings were offensive to polytheists

Economic threat to existing religious industry

Denunciation of greed was an affront to local aristocracy

Others worried that he would usurp the place of worship of the qaaba, some kind of freaky sacred rock

Hegira: fled to Medina in 622, beginning of the islamic calendar, where he converted the entire city and became leader

Went to war with Mecca and took it in 630

Quickly unified Mecca and Medina under Islam

Did not claim to be divine, only a prophet, and the last one at that

Died in 632

200 BCE - 300 CE

Improvement of infrastructure (roads and bridges); roads and caravanserai drew in traveling merchants and improved the economy

Dramatic increase in trade due to Greek colonization

Discovery of Monsoon wind patterns led to the use of the wind to travel

Increased tariff revenues used to maintain open routes

Responsible for spreading Buddhism and Hinduism

Buddhism became the dominant religion of this, and monasteries offered shelter to traveling merchants

Responsible for spreading epidemic disease, which caused an economic slowdown

All over Asia, and some parts of Mediterranean and Africa

Passed over for Abu Bakr

Served as caliph 656-661 CE, then assassinated along with most of his followers

Remaining followers organized separate party called Shia

Muhammad's daughter; he named a city after her

Ali's wife

The Fatimid caliphate is based on her name

661-750 CE

From Meccan merchant class

Muawiya:

Son of Caliph Uthman

Capital: Damascus, Syria; focus on Byzantine Empire

Associated with Arab military aristocracy

Record of revelations received during Muhammad's visions

Words of the Archangel Gabriel

Holy and unchangeable because of its divine source

Means "House of Islam"

Uniformity of Islamic law promoted trade

Had two sons Carloman and Pepin

Grandfather of Charlemagne

Ruled 768-814 CE

Grandson of Charles Martel, son of Pepin

Major military achievements

Germanic warlord

Recreated Empire in the West

Took title King of the Franks and Lombards when he overtook northern Italy

Pious; built churches and gave them relics

781— executed 4500 Saxon POWs because he was pissed that they kept giving up Christianity (washing off their baptism)

804— Saxons finally gave up and accepted being conquered

Pope Leo III crowned him as emperor of the Romans in 800

King of people instead of land (King anywhere the Franks were)

813— crowned his son Louie co-emperor so there was a clear line of succession; bypassed the Pope and took power away from the Pope, so no one could take power away from Louie

? - 840 CE

Son of Charlemagne

Built soup kitchens, etc.

Didn’t make war— expansion of the empire stopped

Lords didn’t like this because they wouldn't get more land, and their sons wouldn't get more land and might fight amongst each other

Started giving lords some of his own land, but this didn't last forever; he ran out

Brought in a shit ton of monks and built monasteries

Brought all churches and clergymen in France under his control

Divided land between sons, Lothar, Pippin, Louis “the German,” Charles “the Bald” (with another wife)

All four fought for land while he was still alive