PAX SINICA (GOLDEN AGE OF HAN CHINA)

Exhibit A: Civil Service Exam

The civil service examination system

was a method of recruiting civil officials

to work and maintain a stable

government. These exams were based on

merit and skill rather than family or

political connections. Passing the rigorous

exams, which were based on classical

literature and philosophy, offered a

highly sought-after status. Any male adult

in China, regardless of his wealth or social

status, could become a high-ranking

government official by passing the

examination. They were tested on their

knowledge of the Confucian classics,

their ability to write, and the "Five

Studies": military strategy, civil law,

revenue and taxation, agriculture, and

geography.

Civil service exams still exist today and

are one way that government jobs are

filled in the state of New York.

Exhibit D: The Junk with Rudder

A junk is a Chinese sailing vessel. The English name

comes from Javanese djong (Malay:adjong),

meaning 'ship' or 'large vessel'. Junks were originally

developed during the Han Dynasty and further

evolved to represent one of the most successful ship

designs in history. Junks were used both for military

combat and for trade, traveling long distances on

rough inland rivers and at across the sea. Numerous

accounts by early Chinese historians and by

medieval travelers describe the junks and attest to

their size and efficiency.

Junks incorporated numerous technical advances in

sail plan and hull designs that were later adopted in

Western shipbuilding. The sails were rigged so that

they could direct wind into each other, allowing the

junks to sail into the wind and to travel in heavy

winds and rough seas. Multiple compartments were built in the hull,

accessed by separate hatches and ladders, and similar in structure to the interior of a bamboo

stem. These could be made watertight to slow flooding, but the front compartments often had

“limber holes” that allowed water to enter and leave the compartment, helping to ballast

[stabilize] the ship in rough waters. Junks employed stern-mounted rudders centuries before their

adoption in the West, though the rudder, origin, form and construction was completely different.

The rudder helped steer the ship.

Exhibit B: Silk Roads

The “Silk Road” is the name often given for the vast network of land and maritime [over water]

trade routes between the Mediterranean Sea and East Asia. The Silk Road covered more than

4,600 miles and was in use from about the 2nd century BCE to the 15th and 16th centuries CE.

However, the name ‘Silk Road’ is relatively recent. It was coined by the German scholar, Ferdinand

von Richthofen, in 1877. He derived the term from Rome’s historical connection to the trade route

and their love of silk.

Exhibit C: Silk- A Valuable Product in China and Europe

Where did silk spread? Why?

“The silk that constituted China’s chief export remained a mystery fabric to Greeks and Romans for

many years. They heard many possible explanations, such as that it was made from bark on trees.

Not until the mid-sixth century did the Byzantine emperor learn from two monks that the cloth was a

product of silkworms feeding on mulberry leaves.

By the first century CE silk clothes were popular on the streets of Rome among its wealthy citizens.

Much consumption of silk, at both ends of the Silk Road, was devoted to religious activities.

Christian priests used purple silk embroidered with gold silk thread for their vestments. Kings, priests,

and saints were shrouded in silks at their burials; even burials from long ago were dug up and

shrouded in silk. In the Buddhist areas, yards of silk were used for banners, sometimes tens of

thousands at one monastery. Buddhist laypeople made donations of silk to monasteries as a

reward for the monks’ intercessions and as a way to gain merits for future life. The monks, in turn,

traded silk for daily provisions and for the “seven treasures” used to decorate their stupas, or shrines:

gold, silver, lapis lazuli, red coral, crystal, pearls, and agate. During affluent times, Buddhist

monasteries thus became significant economic entities.”

Quick Facts About The Impact of the Silk Trade on Rome

• “by the time of the Roman Emperor Augustus (27 BCE – 14 CE), trade between China and

the west was firmly established and silk was the most sought after commodity in Egypt,

Greece, and, especially, in Rome.”

• Romans valued silk at its weight in gold

• Politicians tried to ban the sale of silk because Romans were spending all of their money on

it instead of buying Roman goods and products of more use

• Politicians also tried to ban silk because they thought it was immoral because it was too

revealing when worn

Exhibit F: Compass

What is it?

A device that uses magnetic forces to help the user

determine which direction is North.

Where and when was it invented?

China around 200 BCE during the Han Dynasty

What problem did it solve?

The compass helped travelers more accurately determine

which direction they were headed. This was especially

difficult at sea and on cloudy nights when one could not use

the stars to navigate.

Exhibit E: Paper and Paper Making

Paper was invented during the Han dynasty, probably just at the time the Silk Road trade was

beginning to flourish...paper soon became the writing material of choice throughout China and

East Asia. It was found also in the Buddhist temples of China’s northwest, but seemed not to make

inroads beyond that for a long time, perhaps in part because the Chinese tried to protect the

secret of its manufacture, and perhaps because other writing materials, such as parchment and

papyrus, were well established in the west.

Under the Mongols in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, a group of Chinese workmen set up

a papermaking establishment in Samarkand. Their product quickly spread by trade and imitation,

and paper soon supplanted other writing materials in most of western Eurasia.

In China, the invention of paper stimulated the invention of printing, sometime during the 6th

century CE—a development energetically supported by Buddhism, according to which the

duplication of sacred texts was an act of religious merit. The re-invention of printing in Europe

centuries later did not employ East Asian-style printing technology, but it may have been

stimulated by accounts of Chinese printing that could have circulated in the Middle East.

Exhibit G: Art

Like the ancient Egyptians, the Han-dynasty Chinese had complex beliefs concerning the afterlife.

They referred to the tomb as a “subterranean palace” (digong), and filled it with items they

believed the soul needed after death. The most striking of these are ceramic and wood sculptures

of soldiers, maids, and other servants, including dogs to guard the tomb’s entrance. The tomb walls

were decorated with murals, or with designs on ceramic tiles envisioning the afterlife.

Female Dancer Se player

Western Han

dynasty (206 B.C.–

9 A.D.), 2nd

century B.C.

Earthenware with

slip and pigments;

H. 21 in. (53.3 cm)

This figure is a

quintessential

example of early

Chinese

sculpture, which

found its highest

expression in the

third to first

centuries B.C.

Unlike the

geometric

approach of the

Greeks, the

Chinese sculptors

sought to capture

the "life spirit" of the human subject,

concentrating on facial expression and a

posture that suggests movement—in this

instance, a moment in a dance.

Han dynasty

(206 B.C.–220

A.D.), 1st

century B.C.–1st

century A.D.

Pottery; H. 6 in.

(15.2 cm)

Long zithers

(instruments

with string

attached to

both ends of a

hollow wood

body) of

various types

were developed in East Asia, and during their

long history, many—notably the qin and the se,

which were often paired—changed their

shapes while retaining their names. The

instrument depicted here is either a proto-se or

a stylized rendition of the actual instrument,

likely of the type found in archaeological site of

the Warring States period (5th–3rd century B.C.).

Unlike the se shown here, the typical example

had large tuning pegs at only one end and

probably more than four strings.

GOLDEN AGE OF GUPTA INDIA

Exhibit A: Trade, Prosperity, and Wealth

Standardized Money

Golden Ages require a lot of wealth. For artists and

scientists to devote themselves to their work, they

need someone to pay them for it so they can focus

on their scholarly pursuits. Usually wealthy families or

governments provide this support.

The government funded many of the innovations

during the Gupta Dynasty. The government

regulated and taxed trade and earned money from

the mines and land it owned. As evidence of the

Gupta government’s control and support for trade in

the economy, archaeologists have unearthed many

coins created by the Gupta government. The coins

show that the Gupta had the technology and power

mass-produce them, and the power needed to get

merchants to use them. This also made it possible for

the government to more easily tax business

transactions.

Exhibit B: Trade, Prosperity, and Wealth

On Trade Routes Between Rome and China

The Gupta ruled the largest and most prosperous empire in India, but in the first centuries CE it was

not the most powerful in the world. To the west, Rome ruled the area around the Mediterranean Sea,

and to the east, the Han Dynasty controlled China. The stability that the Roman, Han, and Gupta

Empires brought to Asia spurred trade on the Silk Roads. This greatly benefited all three empires and

the areas in between. Wealth and ideas passed along the trade network providing the money and

ideas necessary for Golden Ages.

Exhibit C: Literature

Some sources state that Chandragupta II supported literature and science in his empire directly by

providing for a circle of scholars known as the Nine Gems in his court. A writer named Kalidasa

stood as the greatest among them. He authored numerous pieces of literature, poems and plays,

earning him the title of “the Shakespeare of India.”

Exhibit E: Trade, Prosperity, and Wealth

Visual Arts and Architecture: Gupta Cave Shrines

Most of the examples we have of Gupta sculpture and architecture were inspired by Hinduism and

Buddhism. The most well preserved and impressive of these examples are reliefs carved out of

caves.

Udayagiri Caves Ajanta Caves

To the left is a

sculpture carved

out of a cave

wall of the Hindu

god Vishnu in a

boar-headed

incarnation. It is

roughly 23 feet

tall and 13 feet

wide. The Ajanta Caves are covered in carvings

and paintings that depict the lives of the

Buddha.

Exhibit F: Mathematics

Scholars during the Gupta period, made important advances in mathematics including:

• a close approximation of the value of (pi)

• advances in trigonometry

• the use of negative numbers

• the use of decimal points

• THE CONCEPT OF ZERO

Exhibit G: Science and Technology

Stepwell Architecture Metallurgy and the Iron Pillar of Delhi

Stepwell is architectural form that was long popular

throughout India but particularly in arid regions of the Indian

subcontinent. For centuries, stepwells—which incorporated

a cylinder well that extended down to the water table—

provided water for drinking, washing, bathing, and the

irrigation of crops. They also served as cool sanctuaries for

caravans, pilgrims, and other travelers during the heat of

day or overnight. Commissioned by royal, wealthy, or

powerful patrons, they were complex engineering feats and

stunning examples of both Hindu architecture.

Indian metal workers were known for

their expertise in ancient times. Their

swords used by their soldiers were

admired by other armies for their

strength and the officers carried

metal bows. In Delhi, there is an iron

pillar from the Gupta era that stands

23 ft tall. It is over 1,500 years old but

has very little rust or wear.

PAX ROMANA (GOLDEN AGE OF THE ROMAN EMIPRE)

Exhibit A: Roman Arches and Domes

Roman architecture continued the legacy left by the earlier architects of the Greek world. For example, the Romans used

Greek column styles and built their grandest projects from marble. However, the Romans were also great innovators and

they quickly adopted new construction techniques, used new materials, and uniquely combined existing techniques with

creative design to produce a whole range of new architectural structures such as the dome and the arch. Many of these

innovations were a response to the changing practical needs of Roman society, and these projects were all backed by the

government which funded, organized, and spread them around the Roman world, guaranteeing their permanence so

that many of these great edifices survive to the present day.

The Arch The Pantheon

The Segovia Aqueduct in modern-day Spain is a well-preserved

example of how Roman engineers used arches to span long

distances and support a great amount of weight on a structure.

The Pantheon is the best preserved building from

ancient Rome and was completed in c. 125 CE. Its

magnificent dome is a lasting testimony to the genius

of Roman architects and as the building stands

virtually intact it offers a unique opportunity to step

back 2,000 years and experience the glory that was

Rome.

Exhibit B: Roman Aqueducts

These massive structures, with single, double, or triple tiers of

arches, were designed to carry fresh water to urban centres

from sources sometimes many kilometres away. The earliest

in Rome was the Aqua Appia (312 BCE), but the most

impressive example is undoubtedly the Pont du Gard near

Nimes (c. 14 CE). Romans used the arch to span rivers and

ravines.

Exhibit C: The Colosseum

Roman theatres and amphitheaters were inspired by the Greek

versions. The Romans added a highly decorative stage building (scaenae frons) which incorporated different levels of columns, projections,

pediments, and statues. Theatres also display the Roman passion for

enclosing spaces, especially as they were often (partially or completely)

roofed in wood or employed canvas awnings.

The fully enclosed amphitheatre was a particular favorite of the

Romans. The Colosseum is the largest and most famous, and it is a

typical example copied throughout the empire: a highly decorative

exterior, seats set over a network of barrel vaults, and underground

rooms below the arena floor to hide people, animals and props until they were needed in the spectacles.

Exhibit D: Roman Roads

A street in Pompeii. (See Pompeii pictures)

Map of major

Roman roads in

modern-day Spain

and Portugal.

Throughout the

empire, “all roads

led to Rome.”

Each day, the streets would be flushed with rushing water and drained down the gutters on either side. To ensure that

people could still cross the street while it was being cleaned, there were stepping stone installed at regular intervals.

Exhibit E: Roman Sculpture

Roman sculpture, with artists from across a huge empire and changing public tastes over centuries, is above all else,

remarkable for its sheer variety and eclectic mix. The art form blended the idealised perfection of earlier Classical

Greek sculpture with a greater aspiration for realism and absorbed artistic preferences and styles from the East to

create images in stone and bronze which rank among the finest works from antiquity [the Classical Era]. Aside from

their own unique contribution, Roman sculptors have also, with their popular copies of earlier Greek masterpieces,

preserved invaluable works for the future which would have otherwise been completely lost to world art.

The Dying Gaul, sculpted from marble, is one of

the best-known and most important works from

Rome. The image above is a replica of one of the

sculptures created to commemorate the victories

over the Galatians in the 3rd and 2nd centuries

BCE.

Exhibit F: Literature

The two most well known Roman authors were Virgil and Cicero. Their

works, though completed before Pax Romana, were widely read during the

golden age.

Virgil (70 BCE- 19BCE) was regarded by the Romans as their greatest poet,

an estimation that subsequent generations have upheld. His fame rests

chiefly upon the Aeneid, which tells the story of Rome’s legendary

founder and proclaims the Roman mission to civilize the world under

divine guidance. His reputation as a poet endures not only for the music

and diction of his verse and for his skill in constructing an intricate work

on the grand scale, but also because he embodied in his poetry aspects of

experience and behavior that transcend history.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BCE- 43 BCE) was a Roman statesman,

lawyer, scholar, and writer who vainly tried to uphold republican

principles in the final civil wars that destroyed the Roman Republic. His

writings include books of rhetoric, speeches, philosophical and political

treatises, and letters.

Exhibit G: Roman Medicine

Roman medicine was greatly influenced by earlier Greek medical

practice and literature but also made its own unique contribution to the

history of medicine through the work of such famous experts like Galen.

Whilst there were professional doctors attached to the Roman army, for

the rest of the population medicine remained a private affair.

Nevertheless, many large Roman households had their own medical

specialist amongst their staff and with the spread of literature on the topic,

access to medical knowledge became ever wider, treatments became more

well known, and surgery became more sophisticated.

Galen (131-201) was a physician who learned about anatomy through the

dissection of apes and pigs, clinical observation, and thorough

examination of patient and symptoms. Galen was forbidden by Roman

law to dissect human corpses, so his knowledge was limited to what he

could learn from other animals and outward examinations of the bodies of

dead gladiators and hanged criminals.

GOLDEN AGE OF THE MAYAN EMPIRE

Exhibit A: LIFE AT THE MAYA COURT

Dominated by the king, the Maya court was the focus of religious and

political life. Within palace chambers and behind swag curtains, the

king ruled from his throne, where he reclined on jaguar pelts in settings

often prepared for feasts, with plentiful tamales, pots of frothy chocolate

drink, and flowers. Dwarfs and hunchbacks served as his trusted

counselors, while musicians played wooden trumpets and horns made

from conch shells.

The Maya commissioned finely crafted works to furnish their palaces and

attest to their sovereignty--among them carved thrones and throne

backs, where a king might reign supported by depictions of ancestors or gods. Figural mirror

holders served as “perpetual servants” who revealed the king’s dazzling but fractured image in

polished mosaic mirrors. The king’s scepter took the form of a powerful god of lineage and

lightning. Although rare, artists working in stucco achieved realistic portraiture that captures age

and wisdom.

Painted cups and vases for the elite depict scenes of court life, while clay figurines portray

members of society that attended the king. Representing servants, dwarfs, hunchbacks, musicians,

messengers, and priests, along with elegantly dressed women, these figurines all come from tombs,

where they also served their lords in death.

Exhibit B: THE DIVINE COURT

At the heart of ancient Maya religious belief lies maize, the staple food

of the New World, personified by the Maize God. The mythic story of

the god of maize mirrors the annual planting and harvesting of the

corn on which all Maya civilization depended. Like the maize plant,

the Maize God was decapitated at harvest time but was reborn--fresh,

young, and beautiful--at the beginning of each new growing season.

The Maize God was thus a metaphor for life and resurrection.

At court, lords and ladies often portrayed themselves as incarnations

of the handsome Maize God. Mothers strapped infants to cradle boards, gently molding their

foreheads into the shape of tapered maize cobs. The Maya elite wore their thick, straight hair

gathered in upswept hairdos that echoed the lustrous corn silk of the maize plant. For their formal

costumes, they relied on two precious materials: jade and feathers. Adorned in jade jewelry and

bedecked with headdresses of green quetzal feathers, rulers became one with the verdant, life-

giving Maize God.

The Maize God was the preeminent deity in a pantheon that also included the god of cacao, or

chocolate, and the underworld god of trade. Unlike maize, a necessity, chocolate was a luxury

and the basis for a special drink favored at court. The god of trade, also associated with luxury, was

an old and ruthless trickster made rich by his control of commerce and tribute. Maya rulers

emulated his luxurious palace, where he is depicted sitting on a throne covered with a jaguar pelt

and wearing the richest of costumes--valued goods garnered in his role as the merchant god.

Exhibit C: WORD AND IMAGE IN THE MAYA COURT

Writing is a hallmark of Maya civilization. Of the

many Mesoamerican societies, from the Olmec

to the Aztec, only the Maya developed a

complete system of writing that represents the

equivalent of speech. With more than five

hundred hieroglyphs--phonetic or pictorial signs

for sounds or words--Mayan writing long eluded

modern attempts at decipherment.

By 1900 the elaborate calendar of the Maya

had been deciphered and a correlation

between it and the Christian calendar

established. Beginning in the 1950s, and

especially in the past two decades, scholars

have made enormous strides in decoding

Mayan glyphs. Much of Mayan writing can now

be read, reproducing the sound and syntax of

an archaic language no longer spoken today.

This writing system saw its highest achievement

in the seventh and eighth centuries AD.

Although no examples from the first millennium

AD survive, books--screenfold manuscripts

painted on fig bark paper--were a

commonplace; their illustrations may have

resembled the finely painted images on

ceramics in this gallery. Such flourishing art

production required wealthy patrons--not just

the king, but warlords, noblemen, and

noblewomen.

Image:

Cylinder vessel

with flower

motifs (The

pictorial quality

of Mayan

glyphs meant

that scribes

were by

necessity artists.

Many scribes

and artists

came from the

elite ranks; the

specialized skills

for the making

and inscribing of fine things belonged to

particular families and their workshops. Teams of

sculptors produced large stone works, while a

single artist painted any given Maya pot. Artists

sometimes signed their work, as in the case of

the "Fleur-de-lis vase."

Exhibit D: THE COURT AT WAR

For decades, when calendars were the only Maya documents that had been deciphered,

scholars erroneously theorized that the ancient Maya were peaceful timekeepers or stargazers

ruled by astronomer-priests. The discovery of new works of art and advances in understanding the

written language revealed that, to the contrary, warfare was common. Maya city-states went to

war to take over trade routes, gain special access to precious goods (especially jade, cacao, and

feathers), and probably, by the late eighth century, just to get a share of diminishing resources,

especially foodstuffs and construction material. Over the centuries, grim rivalries developed.

Warfare took place twice for the Maya, once in the chaotic setting of battle, and a second time in

court, where victories were reenacted in carefully scripted ceremonies. Wearing jaguar pelts and

leather jerkins, warriors marched live captives, bound and stripped of their finery, back to the

palace, where they were presented to the king and subjected to painful rituals.

Exhibit E: MATHEMATICS

The Mayan achievements in science were particularly astronomy and engineering. Astronomy and

engineering would have not been possible if the Maya had not been skilled mathematicians. Two

systems were used to record numbers. One was stylized pictures of the heads of the Gods with the

numerals remaining. The second system was more commonly used, it was similar in many respects

to our decimal system. It was based on units of twenty rather than units of ten. The Mayans had

employed bar-and-dot notations in which the bar had a value of 5 and dot as 1. A shell was a third

symbol representing the number 0. The use of the concept of zero was an accomplishment.

Combinations of the bar and dot symbols represented the numbers 1-19. Beyond the point, the

position of the numerals indicated the value, just as the decimal system the positions to the left of

the decimal point increase by powers of 10. In the Mayan system the values increased by powers

of 20 as you moved from bottom to top.

Exhibit F: ASTRONOMY AND THE CALENDAR

The Maya were fascinated with time and the

thought of it as a supernatural force under the

control of the Gods. They believed that periods of

time were burdens that different gods carried on

their backs for their allotted span of time, before

passing the burden to the next god. For example;

the god of October would pass the burden onto the

god of November. Some gods were kind, others

were not. Priests were responsible for determining

when beneficial or harmful deities would be ruling

time. Mayan priest-astronomers studied the sky

intently from the tops of their temple-pyramids,

plotting the movements of the sun, the moon, and

Venus without the use of any optical devices. They

undertook intensive studies of lunar eclipses and

their observations and records were so exact that

they could predict eclipses. The Mayans calculated

the year to be 365.2422 days. The Maya used a

gnomon, a kind of sight made with a vertical rod, to

determine the solstices. The rod produced the

shortest shadow at midday on June 21 and the

longest at midday on December 21.