Classical History

BC 1000 – AD 600
The period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome known as the Greco-Roman world and ending with the Fall of Western Rome.

Birth of World Religions

• Three Major World Religions
  1. Buddhism
  2. Judaism
  3. Christianity

Hinduism

• Origin: Indus
• Founder: None
• Core belief / key concept:
  • Trimurti (Trinity): Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva
  • Brahmanism
• Historical development / spread: Developed from Brahmanism
• Key dates / events: Ancient period (no fixed founding date)

Buddhism

• Origin: Indus
• Founder: Gautama Buddha
• Core belief / key concept: Path to enlightenment and liberation from suffering
• Historical development / spread:
  • Flourished during the peak of the Maurya Dynasty
  • Later declined in India
  • Flourished in China and Japan
• Key dates / events:
  • 7C: Flourished in China and Japan

Judaism

• Origin: Near East (Canaan)
• Founder: Abraham (and his followers)
• Core belief / key concept:
  • [First] Monotheistic religion
  • Jews = Hebrews (Abraham and his followers)
• Historical development / spread: Old Testament as the foundation of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
• Key dates / events:
  • BC 1900: Migration from Ur to Canaan
  • Isaac: moved the Hebrews to avoid conflict in Canaan
  • Jacob: migrated to Egypt following Joseph to escape famine in Canaan
  • BC 13C: Moses (Yahweh) led the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt
  • BC 950: Old Testament written
  • BC 539: Hebrews returned to Canaan

Christianity

• Origin: Near East (Roman Judea)
• Founder: Jesus Christ
• Core belief / key concept:
  • Salvation through Jesus Christ
• Historical development / spread:
  • Emerged from Judaism
  • Persecuted by the Roman Empire
  • Later adopted by the Roman state
• Key dates / events:
  • 30: Jesus crucified
  • 64: Great Fire of Rome, Nero blamed Christians
  • 70: Jerusalem captured by Titus
  • 70–90: New Testament written
  • 1C: Domitian persecuted Christians
  • 249–251: Persecution under Decius
  • early 4C: Diocletian persecuted Christians
  • 392: Declared the state religion of the Roman Empire

Islam

• Origin: Near East (Arabian Peninsula)
• Founder: Muhammad
• Core belief / key concept:
  • Monotheism
  • Last monotheistic religion
• Historical development / spread: stablished in Arabia
• Key dates / events:

Persia

Capital: Persepolis

Neo-Assyrian Empire (BC 1000 – BC 612)

• BC 796: Conquered Old Babylon
• BC 722: Conquered Israel
• BC 700: Conquered Phoenecia
• BC 671: Annexed Egypt, the unification of Israel
• BC 612: Destroyed by the Neo-Babylonian–Median military alliance.

New Babylon (2nd Babylonian/Chaldean Empire) (small state) (BC 600 – BC 539)

• Founded: By the Chaldeans
• BC 612: The Neo-Babylonian–Median alliance destroyed the Assyrian Empire.
• BC 597: Judah was conquered, and the Jewish population was deported (Babylonian Exile).
• BC 568: Egypt was invaded and occupied.
• BC BC: Conquered by Cyrus the Great of Persia

Medes (small state) (BC 8C – BC 550)

Lydia (small state) (BC 1200 – BC 546)

• Destroyed the Hittite Empire.

Persian Empire (BC 557 – AD 651)

• Achaemenid (BC 557 – BC 330)
  • Founded: By Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II); the unification of Assyria
  • State Religion: Zoroastrianism — moral dualism (the two opposing forces of good and evil); Ahura Mazda
  • Political System: Strongly centralized rule; absolute autocracy
  • Policies:
    • Policy of tolerance: Allowed the Jews to return to their homeland, Canaan
    • Province (satrapy) system
    • Governor: Satrap
    • Royal Road: A road system constructed under Darius I
    • Writing and coinage
    • Standardization of weights and measures
  • BC 547: The Babylonian–Egyptian alliance.
  • BC 539: Cyrus conquered Babylon and implemented a policy of tolerance, allowing the Jews to return to Canaan (their homeland).
  • BC 525: Egypt was conquered; the unification of the Orient.
  • BC 522 – BC 486: Golden Age, reign of Darius I (defeated by Athens at the Battle of Marathon)
  • BC 330: Collapsed due to internal revolts
• Greek (Hellenistic Rule) (BC 330 – BC 247)
• Parthian Dynasty (BC 247 – AD 226)
• Sassanid Dynasty (226 – 651)

Greece

Capital: Athens
Innovation: Religion & Phylosophy (replaced traditional myths with reason and logic)

Dark Age (BC 1000 – BC 750)

• Belief: Divine justice (justice determined by religious myths); no scriptures, only mythological poetry about the gods
• BC 800: development of Greek Alphabet
  • Fall of Mycenaean civilization → Greek Economic Recession → Disappearance of civilization traces (period of illiteracy) → literacy re-emerges around BC 800 
• BC 776: 1st Olympic Games

Archaic (BC 750 – BC 500)

• Innovation: Political & Intellectual (struggle between innovation and tradition)
• Invention: Democracy (birth of Polis)
  • Polis: Greek city-states
    Mesopotamian city-states:
    • Similarity: geographic structure (cities for residence and social life, surrounded by countryside for agriculture)
    • Difference: central authority based on citizenship (≠ authority based on kings/monarchs)
  • Central Authority:
    • Citizenship ☞ legal authority
    • shared Governance / Political Power (All free male citizens participate in the politics and elections of the polis, governing themselves) ☞ political authority
  • People with statuses other than free male citizens:
    • Poor citizens: Citizenship + political rights
    • Slaves: No rights
    • Women: Citizenship (no political rights)
  • Innovation: Equality (≠ Near East: monarchy, legal inequality)
  • 3 types of societies/political structures based on citizenship
    1. Oligarchy, Sparta: Decision-making is dominated by a small group of male citizens in the assembly of male citizens
    2. Tyranny, Corinth: One person rules as a dictator while recognizing citizenship (≠ monarchy-based tyranny)
    3. Democracy, Athens: [First] democracy; all free male citizens have the right to participate in politics
• Invention: Rationalism
  order ⟹ knowable ⟹ explainable ⟹ logic ⟹ foundation of Science & Phylosophy
  • VS:
    • Myths (Tradition)
      • View: Mythological
      • Political Decision-Making: Authority-Status
      • Forces governing the Universe: Whims of the Gods
      • Essence of the Universe: Random/Arbitrary
    • Rationalism (Innovation)
      • View: Rule-based
      • Political Decision-Making: Persuasion
      • Forces governing the Universe: Imutable Principles f Nature
      • Essence of the Universe: Cosmos, and orderly arrangement
• BC 750: Polis established
• BC 700: Sparta conquered Messenia
• BC 508 – BC 500: Cleisthenes Revolution

Classical

• The Golden Age of Greece (BC 500 – BC 404)
  • BC 499 – BC 479: Persian Wars (Greece vs. Persia)
    • [Cause] BC 507: failure of Athenian diplomats sent to Darius I to request a defensive alliance
    • BC 499 – BC 494: Ionian Revolt (Upprising of the Ionian city-states against the tyrants installed by Persia)
    • BC 490: Battle of Marathon (First Persian War): Darius attacks Athens (today’s marathon race commemorates the Athenian soldier who ran from Marathon to Athens to announce the victory, risking his life)
    • BC 480 – BC 479: The Great Persian Invasion (Second Persian War): Xerxes (486–465 BC) invades Greece
    • BC 480: Battle of Salamis (Third Persian War): the allied Greek navy annihilates the Persian fleet
  • BC 478 – BC 431: The Golden Age of Athens
    • Athenian Imperialism
      • each city-state paid a contribution called a “tribute” according to its size; large cities provided triremes (Greek warships)
      • used as a tool of imperial control
      • VS:
        • Delian League
          • Center: Athens
          • Consists of: Greek cities in the coast of Asia Minor, islands of the Aegean Sea
          • Period: BC 478 – BC 404
        • Peloponnesian League
          • Center: Sparta
          • Consists of:
            Peloponnesian region including Corinth
          • Period: BC 550 – BC 366
    • Athenian Radical Democracy
      : all free male citizens have the right to participate not only in the ‘assembly’ but also in the ‘judicial system’
      • Cleisthenes: Athenian constitutional reform (notably: the ostracism system, BC 508) = foundation of Democratic Politics
      • Ephialtes: reform of the judicial system (introduction of the popular court)
      • Pericles:
        1. introduced payment for public office to expand citizens’ political participation
        2. narrowed the scope of citizenship, thereby raising the status of Athenian women
      • Government Organization:
        1. Assembly: open to all free male citizens
        2. Council of Five Hundred: selected annually by lottery
        3. Council of Areopagus: ex-archons serve for life
        4. Executive Board: 10 annual generals and 9 archons selected annually by lottery; other lower officials also chosen by lottery each year
        5. Judicial Institutions:
    • Tradition vs. Innovation
      1. Cultural Innovations
         • Education: [Tradition] no public schools existed; [Innovation] Sophists provided rhetoric and debating lessons at their schools in exchange for money
         • Philosophy:
           1. Socrates
           2. Protagoras
              • Subjectivism: There is no absolute standard of truth because every issue has two mutually incompatible aspects.
                1. Institutions and values are nomos (customs, conventions, laws), not physis (products of nature); therefore, human institutions are not natural or permanent but arbitrary and temporary.
                2. Truth is subjective, so both sides of a question can be argued with equal persuasiveness and rationality.
              • Agnosticism: Transcendent or supernatural phenomena cannot be known.
           3. Theatre: 2 types of public theatre
              1. Greek Tragedy
              2. Greek Comedy
           4. Art
      2. Social Traditions
         • Religion: Traditional religion are preserved by ‘public partilication (Polis)’ (sacrifices, festivals) and ‘private meditation’ (hero cults, mystery cults)
         • Women: female citizens enjoy legal privileges and gain respect through their roles in the household and in religion
  • BC 431 – BC 404: Peloponnesian War (war between the Delian and Peloponnesian Leagues) – Athens’ defeat (due to plague) ☞ ended The Golden Age
• Post Peloponnesian War (BC 404 – BC 359)
  • BC 404 – BC 403: Athenian Civil War; Rule of the Thirty Tyrants (The Thirty Athenian oligarchs who led an oligarchy under Spartan authority)
  • BC 403: Athens’ Restoration of Independence
  • Socrates
    • BC 399: Execution of Socrates (on charges of encouraging the Thirty Tyrants)
  • Plato
    • despised democray after Socrates’ death
    • proposed “rule by philosopher-tyrants” as the ideal form of government
    • Philosophical School: Academy (BC 386 – AD 500)
    • Metaphysics
      • philosophical view on the ultimate foundation of a world beyond human perception
      • justice, beauty, goodness, and equality exist in a higher realm that transcends the human world
      • Forms (ideas):
        1. the term for these abstract, immutable, and ultimate moral properties
        2. the only “true reality”
        3. what is perceived by humans in this world is an imperfect copy of the metaphysical realities
      • ≠ Sophists’ relativism; ultimate moral properties are not relative but universal, immutable, and absolute
    • Dualism
      • philosophical view that the human soul/mind and body are separate
      • humans possess an immortal soul that is distinct from the body
  • Aristotles
    • tutored Alexander the Great of Macedonia
    • Philosophical School: Lyceum (BC 355)
    • shared Plato’s view that Athenian democracy was a flawed system
• Macedonia (BC 359 – BC 323)
  • BC 359 – BC 336: Philip II’s reign
  • BC 336 – BC 323: Alexander the Great’s reign & conquests (destroyed the Persian Empire and built a vast empire stretching from Greece to India; initiated Hellenistic culture within the empire)
    • BC 333: Battle of Issus (Hellenic League vs. Darius III’s Achaemenid Empire)

Hellenistic (BC323 – BC 30)

• Hellenistic Kingdoms
  • eintroduction of monarchy
  • The Three Diadoch: main successor states, or Hellenistic Kingdoms by Alexander’s successorsi
    1. Antigonid Kingdom: Asia Minor, Near East, Macedonia, Greece
    2. Seleucid Kingdom: Babylonia and the region eastward to India
    3. Ptolemaic Kingdom: Egypt
  • others: Attalid Kingdom, Parthian Empire, Bactrian Kingdom, Hellenistic kingdoms ruled by non-Greeks, independent Greek cities
  • Rome conquered all Hellenistic kingdoms: Antigonus (BC 168), Seleucus (BC 64), Ptolemaios (BC 30)
• Hellenistic Philosophy
  1. Materialism
     • denies Plato’s metaphysics
     • philosophical theory that considers matter as the fundamental reality and views mind/spirit as secondary
     • follows Aristotle’s idea that only things verifiable by logic and observation truly exist
  2. Epicureanism
  3. Stoicism
• BC 323: Death of Alexander the Great
• BC 306 – BC 304: Rise of Alexander’s Successors
• BC 168: Conquest by the Antigonid Dynasty
• BC 167: Maccabean Revolt
• BC 64: Pompey’s conquest of the Seleucid Kingdom
• BC 30: Death of Cleopatra VII; Augustus, Conquest of the Ptolemaic Kingdom

Rome

Capital: Roma → Trier, Milan, Sirmium, Nicomedia (293)
Tradition:
1) Mos Maiorum: “the way of the ancestors” — the traditional moral values and customs followed by Romans.
2) Patron-Client System: a social relationship of mutual obligations between a high-status “patron” and a lower-status “client” in Roman society.
3) Patria Potestas: “paternal power” — the legal authority of the Roman father (paterfamilias) over his household, including his children, wife, and slaves.

Kingdom (BC 753 – BC 509)

• Senate: a group of distinguished men chosen as the king’s personal council; it was always a Roman tradition that one should never make decisions by oneself but only after consulting advisers/friends.
• influenced by: Etruscan civilization

Republic

• Early (BC 509 – BC 287)
  • Struggle of the Orders (BC 507 – BC 287): class conflict between the patricians and plebeians in the early Roman Republic.
  • Wars in Italy (BC 500 – BC 220)
    • Definition: a series of wars fought within the Italian peninsula.
    • Result: Rome became the dominant power in the Italian peninsula.
      • Establishment of the Roman Republic (BC 509): Roman aristocrats, hostile to monarchy, were influenced by the suicide of Lucretia, which led to the overthrow of the kings and the establishment of the Roman Republic.
      • The Struggle of the Orders (BC 507 – BC 287)
        • Definition: a political conflict between the plebeians (commoners) and the patricians (aristocrats) in the early Roman Republic.
        • Purpose: to achieve political equality for the plebeians and stabilize the republican system.
        • Result: the plebeians gained the right to pass laws through their own assembly.
      • The Twelve Tables (BC 451 – BC 449): the first written law code of Rome and the foundation of Roman law.
      • Political Institutions of the Roman Republic:
        1. The Consuls: the two chief magistrates of the Republic.
        2. Cursus Honorum (“Ladder of Offices”): the sequence of elected public offices; quaestor → aedile → praetor → consul
        3. The Senate: the main advisory council, dominated by the aristocracy.
        4. Popular Assemblies:
           • The Centuriate Assembly: an assembly organized by wealth and military class.
           • The Plebeian Assembly (BC 494): represented the plebeians and elected the tribunes, who held the power of veto over senatorial decisions.
           • ※ Plebiscites: resolutions passed by the Plebeian Assembly; after BC 287, they became legally binding on all Romans.
  • BC 494: establishment of the Plebeian Assembly (Concilium Plebis)
  • BC 451 – BC 449: codification of Law of the Twelve Tables
• Mid (BC 287 – BC 121)
  • Definition: a series of wars fought against Carthage and in the Near East (BC 500 – BC 220).
  • Result: Rome became the dominant power in the Mediterranean world.
    • wars against Carthage = The Punic Wars (Rome vs. Carthage; for dominance in the Mediterranean)
      • First Punic War (BC 264 – BC 241)
      • Second Punic War (BC 218 – BC 201)
      • Thid Punic War (BC 149 – BC 146)
  • BC 287: Plebeiscites gained legal binding force
  • BC 264 – BC 146: Punic Wars
  • BC 264 – BC 241: First Punic War
  • BC 218 – BC 201: Second Punic War
  • BC 149 – BC 146: Third Punic War
    
• Late (BC 121 – BC 44)
  • Definition: period of political and social turmoil (BC 500 – BC 220)
  • Result: birth of the Roman Empire
    1. The Gracchus Brothers (BC 133 – BC 121): Reforms & Factional Politics
       • Tiberius Gracchus (BC 133): elected Tribune
       • Gaius Gracchus (BC 123): elected Tribune; introduced reforms to distribute land to the proletariat (the landless poor)
       • Rise of Roman factional politics:
         • Populares: the “people’s party,” supported by the plebeians
         • Optimates: the aristocratic senatorial elite
    2. Gaius Marius & Client Armies (BC 104 – BC 100)
       • Marius expanded military recruitment to include the proletariat.
       • Previously, only property-owning citizens could serve (military).
       • This created client armies loyal to their general rather than to the Republic.
    3. Sulla (BC 91 – BC 78)
       • Social War (BC 91 – BC 87): a rebellion by Rome’s Italian allies demanding Roman citizenship and voting rights.
         ※ Results:
         1. Rome achieved a military victory; Italian allies gained political victory (citizenship was granted to insurgent state)
         2. Sulla’s success led to his election as consul in BC 88
       • Civil War (BC 83 – BC 81): Sulla vs. Marius; Sulla defeated Marius and emerged as the dominant leader.
    4. Collapse of the Republic (BC 83–44): Pompey vs. Julius Caesar
       • Pompey’s Achievements
         • BC 66: Defeated Mithridates in Asia Minor
         • BC 64: Annexed Syria; Overthrew the Seleucid dynasty
       • First Triumvirate (BC 60 – BC 53): alliance between Pompey-Caesar-Crassus
       • Caesar’s Civil War (BC 49 – BC 45): Caesar defeated Pompey; Pompey fled to Egypt.
       • Julius Caesar (BC 44): attempted to end factional conflict; assassinated in BC 44
  • BC 91 – BC 87: Social War (War of the Allies)
  • BC 83 – BC 44: fall of the Roman Republic
    • BC 83 – BC 81: Sulla–Marius Civil War (Sulla win)
    • BC 60: First Triumvirate
    • BC 49 – BC 45: Pompey–Caesar Civil War (Caesar win)
    • BC 44: Caesar assassinated after establishing dictatorship
      

Republic → Principate (BC 44 – BC 27)

= 17 years of civil war (a period of civil wars that ended the Roman Republic and led to the establishment of the Principate.)

• Augustus and the Establishment of the Principate:
  • Octavian → Augustus (“the revered one”)
  • In BC 27, Octavian took the title Augustus and established the Principate, often described as a disguised monarchy.
  • Title: princeps (“the first citizen of Rome”)
  • Augustus maintained the traditional republican institutions (Senate, consuls, courts) while holding real power.
• Pax Romana (BC 27 – AD 180): roughly 200 years of peace and stability secured by Augustus’s political system.
• Second Triumvirate (BC 43): alliance between Mark Antony-Lepidus-Octavian
• War between Second Triumvirate (BC 32): Octavian vs. Antony; faction conflict.
• Battle of Actium (BC 31):
  • a naval battle in which the allied fleet of Antony and Cleopatra VII was defeated by Octavian.
  • This battle marked:
    1. the end of the Hellenistic Age
    2. the beginning of the Roman Imperial era
• End of Antony and Cleopatra (BC 30):
  • Antony and Cleopatra VII committed suicide.
  • Octavian conquered Ptolemaic Egypt.
• BC 43: Second Triumvirate

Empire (Principate)

• Rax Romana
  • Augustus’ reign (BC 27 – AD 14)
    • =  First Roman emperor; Golden Age of Latin literature
    • BC 32: War of the Second Triumvirate
    • BC 31: Battle of Actium
    • BC 30: Augustus conquered the Ptolemaic Kingdom (Egypt)
  • Julius-Claudius Dynasty (14-68)
    • = First Dynasty
    • Tiberus
    • Caligula
    • Claudis
    • Nero (54 – 68)
      • 64: Great Fire of Rome
      • 69: Year of the Four Emperors (civil war)
  • Flavian Dynasty (69-96)
    • Vespasian (69-79)
      • 70: Titus captured Jerusalem (Fall of Jerusalem)
    • Titutus
    • Domitian
      • Colosseum construction completed
    • Nerva (96-98)
  • Golden Age (Five Good Emperors) (96-180)
    • = Political Golden Age of Rome; Silver Age of Latin LiteratureNerva (96-98)
    • Trajan: Roman Empire at its largest territorial extent
    • Hadrian
    • Antonius Pius
    • Marcus Aurelius
• Crisis (180-284)
  • = Crisis of the Third Century
    • Crisis of the Third Century (235–284): a fifty-year period of civil war, political instability, and external invasions.
    • Battle of Edessa (260): Sasanian Persian king Shapur I captured the Roman emperor Valerian.
    • End of Pax Romana (284)
      • 230s – 280s: Era of the Soldier Emperors
      • 249 – 251: persecution of Christians by Decius
      • 260: Battle of Edessa

Empire (Dominate)

• Diocletian (284-304)
  • = Reformation
  • Title: dominus (“lord”)
  • Tetrarchy (293):
    • a system of “rule by four,” in which the Empire was governed by: 2 senior emperors (Augusti), 2 junior emperors (Caesares)
      • The Empire was effectively divided into four administrative regions.
      • Rome was no longer the capital.
      • Four Imperial Districts:
        1. Constantius (Trier)
        2. Maximian (Milan)
        3. Galerius (Sirmium)
        4. Diocletian (Nicomedia)
  • 293: Diocletian implemented the Tetrarchy
• Constantine I (306-337)
  • = Christianization
  • Edict of Milan (313): aproclamation issued by the co-emperors Constantine I (a Christian) and Licinius (a pagan) granting religious toleration and freedom of worship throughout the Empire.
  • Constantine I’s Conversion (312): Constantine converted to Christianity after his victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge.
    ⇒ Theodosius I (392): Christianity was declared the official religion of the Roman Empire.
  • Eastern Orthodoxy (the Orthodox Church)
  • Christian Orthodoxy, the Eastern Church (≠ the Western Church): distinction between orthodoxy and heresy; major heresies included Monophysitism, Nestorianism, and Donatism
  • Nicene Creed (325): at the Council of Nicaea (AD 325), the Church condemned Arianism as heresy and defended orthodox doctrine by proclaiming the same substance (homoousios) of God the Father and Jesus Christ
    • 312: Constantine I’s conversion to Christianity
    • 313: Edict of Milan
    • 325: Nicene Creed (Council of Nicaea)
• Great Migration & Fall of Roman Empire (337-476)
  • Division of Rome (395)
    • Implemented by Theodosius I
    • Eastern Roman Empire → Arcadius
    • Western Roman Empire → Honorius

The Germanic Migration (4C/375-568)

• Germanic kingdoms = Barbarian (Non-Roman) kingdoms
• Germanic people = successors of the Western Roman Empire
  1. Eastern Germanic Tribes
     • Region: Central/Eastern Europe
     • Example: Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Vandals, Burgundians
     • Note: often migrated south or west under pressure from the Huns; major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
  2. Western Germanic Tribes
     • Region: Central/Western Europe (modern Germany, France, Netherlands)
     • Example: Franks, Saxons, Alemanni, Lombards
     • Note: many settled in Gaul, Italy, and Britain; foundation of medieval kingdoms like the Frankish Empire.
  3. Northern Germanic Tribes
     • Region: Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, Sweden)
     • Example: Danes, Swedes, Norwegians
     • Note: often called “Vikings” during 8C – 11C; raided, traded, and later settled across Europe; some became Normans in France.
  4. Non-Germanic People
     • Region: Balkans & Eastern Europe
     • Example:
       1. Slavs: later divided into
          1. West Slavs (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks)
          2. East Slavs (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians)
          3. South Slavs(Serbs, Croats, Bulgarians)
       2. Avars
     • Note: 
• 375: beginning of the Great Migration (Migration Period) – the Ostrogoths, along with the entire Germanic peoples, entered Roman territory to escape the Huns’ invasion from Asia, triggering the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
• 392: Christianity declared as official religion of the Roman Empire.
• 395: Roman Empire permanently divided into the Eastern and Western Empires

Italy

• Odoacer’s Kingdom of Italy (476-493)
• Kingdom of the Ostrogoths (493-554)
  • 493–553:: Theoderic I (ruler of the Ostrogoths) conquered Italy and established Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy reflecting Roman administration
  • 554: Justinian I (Byzantine Emperor) expelled the Ostrogoths and took control of Italy
• Byzantine rule (554-568)
• Kingdom of the Lombards (568-774)
  • 568: Lombards invaded Italy
  • 572: Lombards established the Kingdom of the Lombards in northern Italy (initially divided into 35 dukedoms, later unified under Authari, r. 584–590)
  • 590-616: Agilulf’s reign; Agilulf converted the Lombards to Catholicism (603-607)
  • 774: last Lombard king Desiderius deposed by Charlemagne

Spain

• Kingdom of the Visigoths (469-711)
  • 418: settled in southwestern Gaul as allies of the Romans
  • 469: conquered Spain
  • 507: defeated by the Frankish army at the Battle of Vouillé (Poitiers) and retreated to Spain
  • Agila (r. 549–554): Lost southeastern Spain to the Byzantines
  • Fall: Muslim conquest (711; weakened by civil war after Roderick took the throne)

France

• Francia (Frankish Kingdom) 486/509-843
  • = Middle Ages
  • Significance:
    became the successors of the Western Roman Empire
  • 486: founded by Clovis; Clovis defeated the Roman governor Syagrius at the Battle of Soissons → established Merovingian dynasty
  • 496: Clovis converted to orthodox (Nicene) Catholicism

UK

• Anglo-Saxons (411-1066)
  • Until 411: = under Roman administrative division; in 5C – 6C, Germanic invaders (Jutes, Angles, Saxons) expelled the indigenous Romano-Celtic population.
  • 7C: Heptarchy (7 kingdoms politics: Kent, Sussex, Wessex, Essex, Northumbria, East Anglia, Mercia)
  • Expansion of Wessex:
    1. Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria: major kingdoms among the seven
    2. 9C: Danish Invasion (Northumbria/Mercia)
    3. 878: Battle of Edington – Alfred the Great (r. 871–899) defeated the Vikings (defended Wessex from the Danish Invasion)
    4. Edward the Elder (r. 899–924): Unification of England (a single Anglo-Saxon monarchy)
  • The British Isles: England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland
• Normans (600-1050)
  • 911-1087: settled in Normandy, England and southern Italy
  • 911: Carolingians granted Normandy to the Viking ruler Rollo in exchange for protection against other invaders
  • The Norman Conquests:
    • Rollo’s successors (the Dukes of Normandy) established a hybrid Norman state
    • 1066: William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy, invaded England, became king, and founded the Norman Kingdom of England
    • 1040s: Robert Guiscard invaded southern Italy and Sicily, establishing the Kingdom of Sicily that lasted until 1194, when it was conquered by Henry VI of Germany
• Vikings (739-1069)
  • took advantage of the divisions between Carolingian France and Anglo-Saxon England to launch invasions
  • 793: attacked Lindisfarne
  • 9C: colonized Danemlaw (northeastern region in England)
  • 870: settled in Iceland
  • late-10C: settled in northern America

Germany

• Ottonian kings (10C-11C German kings; starting with Otto I, r. 936–973)

Balkans

Egypt

• Predynastic Period (c. 5500 – 3100 B.C.): Early settlements and agriculture developed, leading up to the unification of Egypt.
• Early Dynastic Period (c. 3100 – 2686 B.C.): The unification of Egypt under the first pharaohs, with capital established at Memphis.
• Old Kingdom (c. 2686 – 2181 B.C.): Known as the “Age of the Pyramids,” a period of centralized government and massive monument construction (e.g., Giza pyramids).
• First Intermediate Period (c. 2181 – 2055 B.C.): A period of political instability, regional conflict, and civil war.
• Middle Kingdom (c. 2055 – 1650 B.C.): Known as the “Age of Reunification” or “Golden Age,” featuring expansionist military campaigns and artistic growth.
• Second Intermediate Period (c. 1650 – 1550 B.C.): The Hyksos, a foreign power, controlled parts of Northern Egypt.
• New Kingdom (c. 1550 – 1069 B.C.): Egypt’s “Imperial Age,” a powerful era of pharaohs like Thutmose III, Hatshepsut, and Ramesses II, who expanded the empire to its greatest extent.
• Third Intermediate Period (c. 1069 – 653 B.C.): A time of fragmentation with rulers from Libyan and Nubian dynasties.
• Late Period (c. 653 – 332 B.C.): Egypt was intermittently ruled by foreign powers, including the Persians, until conquered by Alexander the Great.
• Ptolemaic Period (332 – 30 B.C.): Macedonian Greek rule (started by Ptolemy I, a general of Alexander), ending with the death of Cleopatra VII.
• Roman Period (30 B.C. – A.D. 642): Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire, marking the formal end of the pharaonic era.