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Marius became the first Dictator of Rome. 

The greatest of the Greek tragedians, Sophocles wrote ‘Oedipus Rex’, ‘Antigone’ and ‘Electra’.

The important features of the Periclean age were the participation of even the poorest in the political affairs of the State and the jury system.

The first Triumvirate were Pompey, Julius Caesar, and Crassus.

Early Greeks spoke an Indo-European language. 

Athens was destroyed during the Persian war.

He was the greatest Physician of the Roman period. Galen made a scientific study of the many parts of the human body and wrote on human anatomy. He was the first to discover the circulation of blood.

‘Iliad’ and ‘Odyssey’.

‘Iliad’ and ‘Odyssey’ were two of the works of Homer.

They were a group of people who settled in around 1000 BCE on Tiber. They were skilled architects and engineers. Romans learnt from them how to drain swamps and to construct roads.

Periclean age of Athens.

Alexander defeated Porus in the battle of Hydespes or battle of Jhelum (326 B.C.E).

Battle at Pharsalus.

Cleisthenes, from an influential Athenian family, broke the power of the ruling clans by granting citizenship rights to male adults. Poor people also got the right to vote and the tribal nature of the Government was brought to an end and the State was set on a democratic trend.

Chandra Gupta Mourya was the Indian King who defeated Seleucus. 

Pythagoras and Euclid who had made many contributions to mathematics, especially to Geometry were the famous mathematicians.

The most famous Philosophers of ancient Greece were Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

Athens was the City-State of Greece were democracy developed. 

Parthenon temple is in Athens. It was built by Pericles.

The city-state was the outstanding political achievement of the Greeks. Topographical features of the country and the tribal characteristics of the people were important factors in the development of the City-States. The Polis originated as a fortified site but later was interpreted as a Sovereign State. It included the fort, the city, and the surrounding country side. Around 800 B.C.E, a group of Greek villages began joining into larger units to form City-States.

At the highest point in a city-state, an Acropolis or Citadel was built for defence and the city spread around the Acropolis. Sparta, Athens, Macedonia, Corinth, and Thebes were important City-States. Though the Greek City-States were independent, jealous and quarrelsome, all the Greeks strongly believed that they were all Hellenes. Another bond that united them was the common language and literature. One more factor that united them was the worship of Gods like Zeus, Apollo, and Athena.

Hippocrates is regarded as the father of medicine.

Pericles’ period is popularly called as the ‘Golden Age’ of Athens.

Cleisthenes, from an influential family, broke the power of the ruling clans by granting citizenship rights to male adults. Thus poor people also got the right to vote. He reorganized the state on a democratic trend.

Solon introduced constitutional reforms of democratic character in Athens which liberated the enslaved farmers from their debts and mortgages of land. He introduced Coin-Currency and encouraged foreign artisans to settle in Athens.

1. He increased the strength of the Senate and reduced its power. 

2. He distributed public lands and provided employment to the poor. 

3. He extended citizenship rights to provincial subjects.

Athens was rebuilt by Pericles.

At first, the City-States were ruled by Monarchs. Each Monarch began to govern his City State with the assistance of a council, consisting of nobles. Then wealthy land owners took over the political power and abolished Monarchy. With the increase in the population of the cities, trade, commerce and industry expanded and middle class developed.

This class joined with poor farmers to lessen the power of the land owners. This conflict resulted in the rise of. ‘Dictators’ or ‘Tyrants’ as Greeks called them. But there were changes particularly with regard to Sparta and Athens. Sparta turned into a Military State, her government was ruled by few nobles. Two of these nobles became Kings.

Athens registered a remarkable progress in Politics, Laws, Literature, Art, Science and Philosophy. Athenians were fond of trying political experiments. Monarchy and Oligarchy did not suit their temperament. So they discarded them. With the contributions of law givers like Draco, Solon, and Cleisthenes, democracy came into existence at Athens.

Julius Caesar. 

Justinian was famous for his code of Roman Law called the ‘Justinian Code’.

Doric, Ionic, and the Corinthian were the styles of ancient Greek Architecture.

Draco was an Athenian nobleman who gave the Athenians a written code of laws. It provided-safety to the people from the tyranny of dishonest and corrupt judges but did nothing to help the poor farmers.

The term classical is used to typify the climax in the development of the ancient civilizations.

The wars between the Roman Republic and Carthage (near modern Tunis) were called as the Punic Wars. It was the struggle for the supremacy over the Western Mediterranean region. This was a long drawn conflict and took place in three stages.

The first Punic war was basically a naval war, in which Rome emerged triumphant. In the second Punic war, Carthage was led by the brilliant General Hannibal. He scored many ouTstanding victories, but could not capture Rome. The Romans adopted a sort of guerrilla warfare and delaying tactics. Finally, Carthaginians were decisively beaten and Hannibal committed suicide. In the third Punic war, Rome invaded Carthage and totally destroyed them. Rome became the undisputed master of the Mediterranean.

The Peloponnesian wars took place between Sparta and Athens. 

It was named Roma after Romulus, one of the founders of the city.

From‘Respublica’, meaning ‘A thing of the people’.

Lao Tse, a great philosopher was the proponent of Taoism.

The word civilization is derived from the Latin word ‘civilis’ meaning City or City-States. 

Civilization refers to a more clearly defined human society.

Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, China, etc. were the first sites of human settlements. 

Rockets, Seismograph, Mariner compass, etc. were the important scientific inventions of Chinese.

Confucius was the greatest of the Chinese philosophers. Born in the Kingdom of Lu in 571 B.C.E, he lost his father at the age of 3. He faced a lot of difficulties. Confucius learnt archery and music. He was married at the age of 19 and gave up family life at the age of 23. He worked in different capacities as a language teacher, editor, judge, and minister. He proved to be a great philosopher and teacher.

The philosophy of Confucius is known as ‘Confucianism’. It had a basis in common Chinese tradition and beliefs. He taught loyalty towards family, worship of ancestors, respect to elders and unity among the Chinese.

His sayings.

1. What you do not like when done to yourself, do not do to others. It is considered as the golden rule of Confucius. 

2. Character is the foundation of society. 

3. Wisdom begins at home. 

4. The great man acts before he speaks and speaks according to his actions. 

5. Society rests on the obedience of children to their parents, wife to her husband and students to their teachers. 

6. Excessive taxation and barbaric punishment should be abolished. 

7. To see what is right and not to do it, is want of courage or of principle. 

8. He wished that unemployed be provided with jobs. 

9. The government must protect orphans, aged, widows, diseased and the disabled.

1. Art of painting: The Chinese had developed wonderful painting techniques. They painted on silk cloth, tomb walls, pots and papers. They believed that Tomb paintings were means to protect the dead and help their souls to go to heaven.

2. Sculpture: Chinese developed the art of casting bronze statues of animals and monsters. This art developed during Shangs and Chous. Buddhism influenced their sculpture and the statues of Bodhisatva carved in stone are found in large numbers. Another noteworthy example of their mastery in sculpting is the Terracotta army consisting of more than 8,000 life-size warriors and horses, assembled in the tomb of the first Kin Emperor.

Chinese were great builders. The Great Wall of China which is visible from outer space is the finest monument for their architectural skill. It was built purely for the utilitarian purpose of protecting the country from Mongolian invasions. It is 2380 km long, about 22 ft high and 20 ft broad.

Watchtowers of 400 ft high are built after every 300 ft. They also built great Palaces with mud and wood, which have not survived, and many Buddhist temples called Pagodas. Important among them are the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda and the Jade Pagoda. The temple of sleeping Buddha outside Peking, the present Beijing is also noteworthy.

Agriculture was the main occupation of the Mesopotamians followed by cattle rearing and dairy farming. To that end, they developed erection of bunds to lands and artificial irrigation. They gave to the world the know how about digging of canals, construction of dykes, embankments and storage basins to regulate water consumption and usage throughout the year. It is believed that the Shadoof was developed by them for artificial irrigation.

They had a barter system in the beginning, but later started using metal coins. Weaving, dyeing, wood works, pottery, jewellery, and metallurgy were the important crafts. They exported wooden articles and fiber clothes and had trade relations with India and Egypt.

As stone was not available in Mesopotamia, we do not find sculpture and architecture as we find in Egypt. Most of the buildings were built with brick and mud and only very few of them have survived. King Nebuchadnezzar constructed a Palace with a variety of gardens on the roof known as the Hanging Garden of Babylon which was considered as one of the Seven wonders of the Ancient World.

Mesopotamians were excellent artisans and sculptors. They carved beautiful images of eagles and other animals. Student copybooks and a library of clay books of 4,000 years old were found at excavations. They used flat bricks for writing which was known as ‘cuneiform’ writing. They composed many myths, legends, and poems. Their Epic of Gilgamesh is a rich poetry.

They knew about the Planets and believed that Sun and Moon influenced the life of men. They had faith in Astrology which was based on Astronomy. They divided the year into 12 months with 354 days.

They followed the lunar Calendar. Their hour had 60 minutes and a minute had 60 seconds. They had made good progress in the field of medicine. Their book ‘Matoria Medica’ mentions of 550 medicines prepared from vegetables, minerals, and animal products. That book also gives details of various diseases and their symptoms.

Mesopotamians worshipped Nature along with innumerable Gods and Goddesses. They built Ziggurats – Temples with tall towers. The Temples were also centres of education. They had streamlined Central and Provincial administrations. Governors were appointed to look after the provincial administration. They had a horse borne postal system for communication.

The greatest contribution of the Mesopotamian civilization was the ‘Code of Hammurabi’. King Hammurabi was a great Conqueror and an able administrator. He collected all the existing laws, classified them, improved them, added new ones and codified all into one body of laws. It covered all aspects of human life and was a mixture of enlightened laws and barbarous punishments. It was an everlasting and monumental legal achievement of Hammurabi, which has made him immortal. 

Egyptians were great builders. They developed fine arts. Their arts and architecture reflected their culture. They built temples for their Gods and Pyramids to bury their Kings. These are the proofs of a well organized and highly skilled artists, craftsmen and labourers. The Sphinx has the head of a man and body of a lion. Emperor Khaphre got it carved. It is 240 feet long and 66 feet high, carved out of a single stone. 

The pyramid of Giza is the tomb of King Khufu. It is one of the heaviest structures ever built. It was built by his son and grandson. It is the biggest pyramid, 746 x 746 and 481 ft high 23,00,000 stone blocks of average 2.5-ton weight were used in its construction. It occupies 13 acres of area. A million slaves worked for 20 years to complete it. 

It had a magnificent entrance. The road in front of it was lined with 365 statues of Sphinxes and two tall Obelisks stood on either side of the main road. During festive seasons the statues of Gods were paraded through the doors into the temple. There are more than 90 smaller Pyramids, still standing after 4000 years of their construction. The Pyramids are fine examples of the outstanding technical knowledge and sound administrative ability of the ancient Egyptians.

The Chinese had developed wonderful paintings. They painted on silk cloth, tomb walls, pots and papers. They had developed the art of casting bronze statues of animals and monsters. The Great Wall of China and the number of Pagodas are testimonials of their architectural skills.

The rules of Egyptian dynasties can be divided into 3 parts

1. The period of Old Kingdom 

2. The period of Middle Kingdom

3. The period of New Kingdom.

Egyptians developed a solar Calendar System of 365 days with 12 months in a year and 30 days in each month. 

The books of Dead, Coffin Text, The Story of Ship-wrecked Sailor and The tales of Anupu and Bitiu are some of the important books by the ancient Egyptians. 

1. Political life: Early Mesopotamians established the City-States first, which developed into Kingdoms and later into an Empire. King was both the head of administration and religion. Kings were regarded as the representatives of God on earth. He was the head of the State and owner of the property of the State. He ruled the State in the name of God. Many a time, the King’s authority fell in the hands of military officers. Only the powerful Kings exercised immense power. Priests had a greater voice in the administration. Provincial administration with Governors and horse borne postal system for communication were some important aspects.

2. Hammurabi: He was a Babylonian King who conquered Sumer and ruled between 2123 to 2081 B.C.E. He was one of the greatest Rulers of Mesopotamian civilization. He was a great conqueror and an able administrator. He conquered the whole of Mesopotamia. He was an enlightened despot. He united Sumer and Akkad and divided the province into districts. He personally supervised the administration. He built palaces, temples and fortified Babylon. Central and provincial administration was carried out smoothly, according to the orders of the Emperor.

3. Code of Hammurabi: Hammurabi has become immortal in the history of mankind by his ‘Code of Law’. He collected all the existing laws, classified, improved, added new ones and codified them. The code included 282 laws relating to all aspects of life. It is beautifully engraved on a black stone with the image of King Hammurabi shown as receiving the laws from God Shamash i.e. the Sun God. The code is a mixture of enlightened laws and barbarous punishments. It is aimed at providing equality, giving women the right to own and inherit property. The significance of the code lies in the fact that it covered all aspects of human life. It was an everlasting and monumental legal achievement of Hammurabi which has made him immortal.