Ancient Greek History: Semester 1 Articles PDF

Chapter 1 section 1: The Greek Roots of Democracy Greece lies at the southern end of the Balkan peninsula, where the land mass thrusts into the Mediterranean Sea. Greece’s geography greatly influenced its history. The region’s mountainous terrain restricted overland...

Chapter 1 section 1: The Greek Roots of Democracy Greece lies at the southern end of the Balkan peninsula, where the land mass thrusts into the Mediterranean Sea. Greece’s geography greatly influenced its history. The region’s mountainous terrain restricted overland travel, and it also limited farming. The Greeks turned instead to the sea, becoming fishers and sailors and traders. They also became thinkers and writers and artists. In time, the Greeks generated a burst of creativity that we call the classical age, a period of great artistic and literary abundance. Western civilization would draw heavily on the ideas produced during this era, which began around 500 B.C. The Rise of Greek City-States The geography of Greece influenced how its centers of power developed. The Greeks, isolated in mountain valleys or on islands, built small, independent city-states. A city-state is a political unit made up of a city and the surrounding lands. In the 700s B.C., the lack of fertile land encouraged Greek expansion overseas. Gradually, a scattering of Greek colonies appeared throughout the Mediterranean, from Spain to Egypt. Wherever they traveled, Greek settlers and traders carried their ideas about literature and art and also government. Governing the City-States As their world expanded, the Greeks evolved a unique version of the city-state, which they called the polis. Typically the city itself was built on two levels. On a hilltop stood the acropolis (uh KRAH puh lis), or high city, with its great marble temples dedicated to different gods and goddesses. On flatter ground below lay the walled main city with its marketplace, theater, public buildings, and homes. The population of each city-state was fairly small, which helped citizens share a sense of responsibility for its triumphs and defeats. In the warm climate of Greece, free men spent much time outdoors in the marketplace, debating issues that affected their lives. The whole community joined in festivals honoring the city’s special god or goddess. Between 750 and 500 B.C., Greeks evolved different forms of government. At first, a king ruled the polis. A government like this, in which a king or queen exercises central power, is a monarchy. Slowly, though, power shifted to a class of noble landowners. They served as the military defenders of the city-states, because only they could afford bronze weapons and horse-drawn chariots. At first this aristocracy, or small ruling group, defended the king. In time, they won power for themselves. As trade expanded, a new middle class of wealthy merchants, farmers, and artisans emerged in some cities. This new aristocracy challenged the landowning nobles for power and came to dominate some city-states. Changes in Warfare Changes in military technology increased the power of the middle class. By about 650 B.C., iron weapons replaced bronze ones. Since iron was cheaper, ordinary citizens could afford iron helmets, shields, and swords. Meanwhile, a new method of fighting emerged. The phalanx was a massive formation of heavily armed foot soldiers. Mastering this formation required many hours of practice. This intensive training created a strong sense of unity among citizen-soldiers. By putting the defense of the city-state in the hands of ordinary citizens, the phalanx reduced class differences. The new type of warfare, however, led the two most influential city-states to develop very different ways of life. While Sparta stressed stern discipline, Athens glorified the individual and extended political rights to more citizens. Sparta: A Nation of Soldiers The city-state of Sparta was located in the Peloponnesus (pel uh puh NEE sus), a near-island in the southern part of Greece. Starting around 600 B.C., the Spartans transformed themselves into a military state. At the age of seven, boys began training for a lifetime in the army. Toughened by a coarse diet, hard exercise, and a rigid system of discipline, Spartan boys became excellent soldiers. Girls, too, had a rigorous upbringing. As part of a warrior society, they were expected to produce healthy sons for the army. They therefore worked to exercise and strengthen their bodies. The Spartan government included two kings and a council of elders who advised the monarchs. An assembly, or group made up of all citizens, approved major decisions. Citizens were male, native-born Spartans over the age of 30. The assembly also elected five ephors, officials who held the real power and ran day-to-day affairs. Athens: A Limited Democracy Just northeast of the Peloponnesus, in the region of Attica, lay the city-state of Athens. There, the idea of democracy, or government by the people, first took root. This idea devel- opened gradually. As in many Greek city-states, the government of Athens started as a monarchy and evolved into an aristocracy. Around 700 B.C., noble landowners held power and chose the chief officials. Nobles judged major cases in court and dominated the assembly. Under the aristocracy, Athenian wealth and power grew. Yet discontent spread among ordinary people. Merchants and soldiers resented the power of the nobles. They argued that their service to Athens entitled them to more rights. Farmers, too, demanded change. During hard times, Many farmers were forced to sell their land to nobles. A growing number even sold themselves and their families into slavery to pay their debts. As discontent spread, Athens moved slowly toward democracy. In 594 B.C., a wise and trusted leader named Solon made many needed reforms. He outlawed debt slavery and freed those who had already been sold into slavery to pay off debts. He opened offices to more citizens, loosened some restrictions on citizenship, and gave the Athenian assembly more say in important decisions. Solon’s reforms ensured greater fairness and justice to some groups. Still, citizenship remained limited, and many government positions were open only to wealthy landowners. Widespread and continued unrest led to the rise of tyrants, or leaders who gain power by force. Tyrants often won support of the merchant class and the poor by imposing reforms to help these groups. The Athenian tyrant Pisistratus (pih SIS truh tus) seized power in 546 B.C. He gave farmers and poor citizens a greater voice, weakening the aristocracy. In 507 B.C., another reformer, Cleisthenes (KLYS thuh neez), broadened the role of ordinary citizens in government. He set up the Council of 500, whose members were chosen by lot from among all citizens. The council prepared laws for the assembly and supervised the day-to-day work of government. Cleisthenes made the assembly a genuine legislature, or lawmaking body. It debated laws before deciding to approve or reject them. The assembly included all male citizens over the age of 30. By modern standards, Athenian democracy was quite limited. Only male citizens could participate in government, and few people qualified for citizenship. Women, for example, had no share in public life. Neither did the tens of thousands of Athenian slaves, whose labor gave citizens the time to participate in government. The Persian Wars By 500 B.C., Athens had emerged as the wealthiest Greek city-state. But Athens and the entire Greek world soon faced a fearsome threat from the Persians, whose empire stretched from Asia Minor all the way to India. In 490 B.C., a Persian army landed at Marathon, a plain north of Athens. Athenian forces rushed to meet the enemy, and through fierce hand-to-hand combat, forced the Persians to retreat. Ten years later, a much larger Persian force landed in Greece. This time, Sparta and other city-states joined Athens to defend their homeland. After disheartening battlefield defeats and the burning of Athens, the Greeks gained victory by smashing the Persian fleet off the Athenian coast. The following year, the Greeks defeated the Persians on land in Asia Minor, ending the threat of further Persian invasions. Athens in the Age of Pericles Athens emerged from the Persian Wars as the most powerful city-state in Greece. It used its position of power in Greece to dominate other city-states, slowly establishing an empire. Under the able statesman Pericles (PEHR uh kleez), the economy thrived and the government became more democratic. Because of his wise and skillful leadership, the period from 460 to 429 B.C. is often called the Age of Pericles. Political Life Under Pericles, Athenians participated in a direct democracy. A large number of citizens took direct part in the day-to-day affairs of government. By contrast, in most democratic countries today, citizens participate in government indirectly, through elected representatives. By the time of Pericles, the Athenian assembly met several times a month. At least 6,000 members had to be present in order to decide important issues. Pericles believed that all male citizens, regardless of wealth or social class, should take part in government. Athens therefore began to pay a fixed salary to men who held public office. This reform enabled poor men to serve in government. In addition to serving in the assembly, Athenians served on juries. A jury is a panel of citizens who have the authority to make the final judgment in a trial. Unlike a modern American jury, typically made up of 12 members, an Athenian jury might include hundreds or even thousands of jurors. Male citizens over 30 years of age were chosen by lot to serve on the jury for a year. Like members of the assembly, jurors received a salary. The Funeral Oration After a funeral for Athenians slain in battle, Pericles praised the Athenian form of government. In his civic speech, he pointed out that in Athens, power rested in the hands “not of a minority but of the whole people.” Pericles stressed not only the rights but also the duties of the individual. As citizens of a democracy, he said, Athenians bore a special responsibility. “We differ from other states,” he stated, “in regarding the man who holds aloof from public life not as ‘quiet’ but as useless.” Pericles’ Funeral Oration is one of the earliest and greatest expressions of democratic ideals. Economic and Cultural Life Athens prospered during the Age of Pericles. With the riches of the Athenian empire, Pericles hired the best architects and sculptors to rebuild the Acropolis, which the Persians had destroyed. This and other building projects increased Athenians’ prosperity by creating jobs for artisans and workers. They also served to remind both citizens and visitors that the gods had favored the Athenians. Athenians, like all Greeks, honored their gods with temples and festivals. To discover the will of the gods, they consulted the oracles, priests or priestesses through whom the gods were thought to speak. Although religion was important, some Greek thinkers came to believe that the The universe was regulated not by the will of the gods, but by natural laws. Pericles surrounded himself with such thinkers, as well as writers and artists, and in this way he transformed Athens into the cultural center of Greece. The Peloponnesian War Pericles’ Funeral Oration honored Athenians killed in 431 B.C., the first year of the Peloponnesian War. This war represented a power struggle between Athens and Sparta. Sparta’s bid to Athenian supremacy triggered the war, which soon engulfed all of Greece. The fighting dragged on for 27 years. In 404 B.C., the Spartans captured Athens, ending Athenian domination of the Greek world. Athens survived for many years as a center of culture, however its spirit and vitality declined. Democratic government suffered. Corruption and selfish interests replaced older ideals such as service to the city-state. Greek Philosophers Despite wars and political turmoil, Greeks had confidence in the power of the human mind. As you have read, some Greek thinkers challenged the belief that events were caused by the whims of gods. Instead, they used observation and reason to determine why things happened. In the pro- cess, they opened up new ways of looking at human existence. The Greeks called these thinkers “philosophers,” meaning “lovers of wisdom.” Their search for the principles, or laws, that governed the universe contributed greatly not only to modern science, but also to the development of Western political thought. Moral and Ethical Principles Some Greek philosophers focused on ethics and morality. Ethics and morality concern the idea of goodness and the establishment of standards of human behavior. These philosophers debated issues ranging from how people should dress in public to the best form of government. In Athens, the Sophists questioned accepted ideas. To them, moral and ethical truths were just opinions, not principles. Success was more important. For a fee, they would teach the art of persuasive speaking, especially to men in public life. Ambitious students hoped to use clever speeches to persuade others and advance their careers. The turmoil of the Peloponnesian War led many young Athenians to follow the Sophists. Older citizens, however, accused the Sophists of undermining traditional Athenian values. Socrates and Citizenship One outspoken critic of the Sophists was Socrates, an Athenian stonemason and philosopher. Most of what we know about Socrates comes from his student Plato. Socrates himself wrote no books. Instead, he roamed about the marketplace, questioning his fellow citizens about their beliefs. He repeatedly asked the question “What is the greatest good?” Using a process we now call the Socratic method, he posed a series of questions to his students and challenged them to examine the implications of their answers. To Socrates, this patient examination was a way to help others seek truth and self-knowledge. To many Athenians, how- ever, such questioning threatened accepted traditions. When he was about 70 years old, Socrates was put on trial. His enemies accused him of corrupting the city’s youth and failing to respect the gods. Standing before a jury of 501 citizens, Socrates offered a calm defense. Nevertheless, the jurors condemned him to death. According to Plato, Socrates refused to try to escape from prison. He was a loyal citizen of Athens and a longtime defender of the democratic system. Socrates maintained that the duties of the individual included submitting to the laws of the state. Accepting the death penalty, he drank a cup of hemlock, a deadly poison. Plato and Reason The execution of Socrates left Plato with a deep distrust of democracy. He fled Athens for ten years. When he returned, he set up a school called the Academy. There, he taught and wrote about his own ideas. Like Socrates, Plato believed that reason, not the experience of the senses, led to genuine knowledge. Through rational thought, he argued, people could discover unchanging ethical principles, recognize perfect beauty, and learn how best to organize society. In the book The Republic, Plato described his vision of an ideal state. He rejected Athenian democracy because it had condemned Socrates. Instead, he argued that the state should regulate every aspect of its citizens’ lives in order to provide for their best interests. Plato believed in the equality of all people at birth, but he maintained that they could rise only as high in society as their abilities allowed. He divided his ideal society into three classes: workers to produce the necessities of life, soldiers to defend the state, and philosophers to rule. The rulers, or philosopher-kings, would be specially trained to ensure order and justice. Aristotle and the Rule of Law Plato’s most famous student, Aristotle, developed his own ideas about government. He analyzed all forms of government, from monarchy to democracy, and found good and bad examples of each. Aristotle preferred government by the many, not by the few. Like Plato, however, he was suspicious of democracy, which he thought could lead to mob rule. Instead, he favored a constitutional government ruled by members of the middle class. He called this form of government a “polity.” The goal of the polity was to establish just and stable rule. For Aristotle, the city-state represented the best and most natural form of human community. He believed that within the city-state, people could reach their full potential and achieve the “good life.” This could come about, however, only under the rule of law. In his book Politics, Aristotle wrote: “And the rule of the law, it is argued, is preferable to that of any individual. On the same principle, even if it is better for certain individuals to govern, they should be made only guardians and ministers of the law.” This principle, that even rulers must be subject to the law, lies at the heart of modern constitutional governments. Aristotle especially despised tyranny, in which an individual ruler—a tyrant—stood above the law. The ethical question of how people ought to live also concerned Aristotle. In his view, good conduct meant pursuing the “golden mean,” a moderate course between extremes. Aristotle promoted reason as the guiding force for learning. Following Plato’s example, he set up a school, the Lyceum, for the study of all branches of knowledge. Aristotle left writings on politics, ethics, logic, biology, literature, and many other subjects. When the first European universities appeared some 1,500 years later, their courses were based largely on the works of Aristotle. Alexander and the Hellenistic Age Following the death of Plato, Aristotle moved out of Athens. In 345 B.C., he traveled to the place of his birth, the kingdom of Macedonia. Macedonia was a frontier region in the rugged mountains of the northern Balkans. There he began tutoring the Macedonian king’s 13-year-old son, Alexander. The king, Philip II, admired Greek culture. In fact, he dreamed of conquering the prosperous city-states to the south. In 338 B.C., when Athens and the city-state of Thebes joined forces against him, he defeated them. Philip then brought all of Greece under his control. Philip’s dreams eventually grew more grand—he vowed to conquer the Persian empire. However, an assassin cut short his plans. Conquest of Persia Alexander took the throne after his father’s murder. Just 20 years old, he was already an experienced soldier who shared his father’s ambition to conquer Persia. He organized an army of Greeks and Macedonians and, in 334 B.C., set out across the strait separating Europe from Asia Minor. He moved rapidly from victory to victory, using brilliant tactics to overcome the Persian forces. Alexander’s army marched through Asia Minor into Palestine and south into Egypt. Turning back toward the east, he took Babylon and then seized the other Persian capitals. By 327 B.C., he had conquered an empire that stretched more than 2,000 miles from the Mediterranean Sea across the Middle East to Central Asia and India, and he had become Alexander the Great. The Legacy of Alexander Four years later, Alexander died, the victim of a sudden fever. Three generals divided up the empire. For 300 years, their descendants competed for power over the lands that Alexander had conquered. Although his empire crumbled, Alexander had unleashed changes that would ripple across the Mediterranean world and the Middle East for centuries. Alexander had founded many new cities, and the generals who succeeded him founded still more. Greek soldiers, traders, and artisans settled these new cities. Local people absorbed Greek ideas. In turn, the Greek settlers adopted local customs. Gradually, a blending of eastern and western cultures occurred. A new culture emerged that combined Greek, Persian, Egyptian, and Indian influences. This Hellenistic civilization would flourish for centuries. In the Hellenistic world, some city-states with their citizen-run governments continued to exist, and even a few democracies survived. For the most part, though, powerful individuals or groups ruled the cities, distant governors managed them, and a king held ultimate control. In this changing political world, earlier Greek codes of behavior no longer seemed relevant. These uncertain times contributed to the rise of new schools of philosophy. The most influential was Stoicism. Its founder, an Athenian named Zeno, urged people to avoid desires and disappointment by calmly accepting whatever life brought. Stoics preached high moral standards, such as the belief in the dignity and equality of all. They taught that all people, including women and slaves, though unequal in society, were morally equal because all had the power of reason. During the Hellenistic age, Rome emerged as a powerful new state. After its conquest of Asia Minor in 133 B.C., it replaced Greece as the dominant power in the Mediterranean world. Still, by then, the Greeks had already made their greatest contributions. Greek ideas about law, freedom, justice, and government have influenced political thinking to the present day. Chapter 1 section 2: 1.2 The Roman Republic and Empire Rome began as a small city-state in Italy but ended up ruling the entire Mediterranean world. In the process the Romans established traditions of government that continue to influence the modern world. The story of Roman success starts with the geography of Italy. The Italian peninsula looks like a boot jutting into the Mediterranean Sea. The peninsula is centrally located in the Mediterranean, and the city of Rome is in the center of Italy. That location helped the Romans as they expanded, first in Italy and then into lands around the Mediterranean. Establishing a Republic  Because of its geography, Italy was much easier to unify than Greece. Unlike Greece, Italy is not broken up into small, isolated valleys. Its mountains, which run like a backbone down the length of the peninsula, are less rugged than the mountains of Greece. Finally, Italy has the advantage of broad, fertile plains, both in the north, under the shadow of the towering Alps, and in the west, where the Romans settled. Farms in these plains supported a growing population. Etruscan Rule The ancestors of the Romans migrated into Italy by about 800 B.C. They settled along the Tiber River in small villages scattered over seven low-lying hills. There they herded and farmed. Their villages would in time grow into Rome, the city on seven hills. The Romans shared the Italian peninsula with other peoples. Among them were Greek colonists, whose city-states dotted southern Italy, and the Etruscans, who lived north of Rome. For a time, the Etruscans ruled much of central Italy, including Rome itself. An aristocracy of nobles, led by a king, controlled each Etruscan city-state. A New Government The Romans drove out the Etruscans in 509 B.C. They set up a new government in which the people chose some officials. They called it a republic, or “thing of the people.” A republic, Romans thought, would keep any individual from gaining too much power. In the early republic, the most powerful governing body was the sen- ate. Its 300 members were all patricians, meaning they belonged to the landholding upper class. Senators, who served for life, made the laws. Each year, the senators elected two consuls from among the patricians. The consuls supervised the business of government and commanded Rome’s armies. Consuls, however, could serve only one term. Also, they had to consult with the senate on major issues. By limiting the consuls’ time in office and making them responsible to the senate, Rome had a system of checks on the power of government. In the event of war, the senate might choose a dictator, or ruler who has complete control over a government. The law granted each Roman dictator the power to rule for six months. Then he had to give up power. Romans admired Cincinnatus as a model dictator. Cincinnatus organized an army, led the Romans to victory over an attacking enemy, attended victory celebrations, and returned to his farmlands—all within 16 days. Common People Demand Equality The common people, or plebeians, made up the bulk of the Roman population. Yet they had little influence on the government. The efforts of these farmers, merchants, artisans, and traders to gain power shaped politics in the early republic. The plebeians’ first breakthrough came in 450 B.C., when the government had the laws of Rome inscribed on 12 tablets and set up in the Forum, or marketplace. Plebeians had protested that citizens could not know what the laws were, because they were not written down. The Laws of the Twelve Tables made it possible for the first time for plebeians to appeal a judgment by a patrician judge.  Over time, the plebeians gained the right to elect their own officials, called tribunes, to protect their interests. The tribunes could veto, or block, laws harmful to plebeians. Little by little, Rome’s common people forced the senate to choose plebeians as consuls and finally to open the senate itself to plebeians. A Lasting Legacy Although the senate still dominated the government, the common people had gained access to power and won safeguards for their rights without having to resort to war or revolution. More than 2,000 years later, the framers of the United States Constitution would adapt such Roman ideas as the senate, the veto, and checks on power. From Republic to Empire As Rome’s political system evolved at home, its armies expanded Roman power across Italy. Roman armies conquered first the Etruscans and then the Greek city-states in the south. By about 270 B.C., Rome controlled most of the Italian peninsula. Rome then began to build an empire around the Mediterranean Sea. Continuing Conquest Rome’s conquest of the Italian peninsula brought it into contact with Carthage, a city-state on the northern coast of Africa. Carthage ruled an empire that stretched across North Africa and the western Mediterranean. Between 264 and 146 B.C., Rome fought three wars against Carthage. Rome won the first two of these Punic Wars. In the second, however, the Carthaginian general Hannibal led his army, including dozens of war elephants, on a destructive rampage through Italy. In the third Punic War, the Romans completely destroyed Carthage and established themselves as masters of the western Mediterranean. While Rome fought Carthage in the west, it was also expanding into the eastern Mediterranean. There, Romans confronted the Hellenistic rulers who had divided up the empire of Alexander the Great. One by one, Macedonia, Greece, and parts of Asia Minor surrendered and became Roman provinces, or lands under Roman rule. Other regions, like Egypt, allied with Rome. By 133 B.C., Roman power extended from Spain to Egypt. The Romans justly referred to the Mediterranean as mare nostrum, or “our sea.” Economic and Social Effects Conquests and control of busy trade routes brought incredible riches into Rome. Generals, officials, and traders amassed fortunes from loot, taxes, and commerce. A new class of wealthy landholders emerged. They bought up huge estates and forced people who were captured in war to work on the estates as slaves. This use of slave labor hurt small farmers, who could not produce food as cheaply as the estates could. Compounding farmers’ problems, huge quantities of grain pouring in from conquered lands drove down grain prices. Expansion created further strains within Roman society. Rome could not have grown without its army, made up of loyal citizens who fought without pay and supplied their own weapons. Yet these citizen-soldiers gained little from Rome’s success. Addressing plebeians, the Roman tribune Tiberius Gracchus pointed out this injustice: “The beasts of the field and the birds of the air have their holes and their hiding places, but the men who fight and die for Italy enjoy only the light and the air.... You fight and die to give wealth and luxury to others. You are called the masters of the world, but there is not a foot of ground that you can call your own.” —Plutarch, Parallel Lives Tiberius Gracchus and his brother Gaius hoped to improve the lot of the plebeians. The social reforms they tried to enact included distributing land to poor farmers and using public funds to buy grain to feed the poor. Senators did not like these reforms and saw the Gracchus brothers as a threat to their power. The brothers, along with thousands of their followers, were killed in waves of street violence set off by senators and their hired thugs. Julius Caesar’s Rise to Power Soon Rome was plunged into a series of civil wars. At issue was who should hold power—the senate or popular political leaders looking to enact reforms. During this time the old armies of citizen-soldiers evolved into professional forces, loyal first to their commanders, not to Rome. One of those military commanders, Julius Caesar, emerged from the chaos of civil war to take charge of the Republic. By 51 B.C., Caesar had completed his conquest of Gaul, the region that is now France. Fearful of his political ambition, the senate ordered Caesar to disband his army and return to Rome. Caesar defied the order and marched his army toward the Roman capital. The brilliant general crushed the army sent to stop him and then swept around the Mediterranean, suppressing rebellions. Later, upon returning to Rome, he forced the senate to make him dictator. Although he kept the senate and other Features of the republic, he was in fact the absolute ruler of Rome. Between 48 and 44 B.C., Caesar pushed through a number of reforms. He launched a program of public works to employ the jobless and gave public land to the poor. He also granted citizenship to many people in the provinces. Caesar’s enemies were jealous of his power and worried that he planned to make himself king of Rome. Saying that they needed to save the republic, they plotted against him. In March of 44 B.C., as Caesar arrived in the senate, his enemies stabbed him to death. Out of the power struggle that followed, Caesar’s grand-nephew Octavian emerged the winner. Emperor Augustus Caesar The senate gave the triumphant Octavian the title of Augustus, or Exalted One, and declared him first citizen of Rome. Augustus Caesar made sure not to call himself king, a title that Romans had hated since Etruscan times. Yet he exercised absolute power and named his successor, just as a king would do. Under Augustus, who ruled from 31 B.C. to A.D. 14, the 500-year-old republic came to an end. Romans did not know it at the time, but a new age had dawned—the age of the Roman empire. Through firm but moderate policies, Augustus laid the foundation for a stable government. Although he left the senate in place, Augustus created an efficient, well-trained civil service to enforce the laws. He opened high-level jobs to men of talent, regardless of their class. In addition, he cemented the allegiance of cities and provinces to Rome by allowing them a large measure of self-government. Pax Romana The government that Augustus organized functioned well for 200 years. This span of time is known as the period of the Pax Romana, or “Roman Peace.” During that time, Roman rule brought peace, order, unity, and prosperity to the empire. Roman lands stretched from the Euphrates River in the east to Britain in the west, an area approximately equal in size to the present-day continental United States. During the Pax Romana, the Roman military maintained and protected a network of all-weather roads, and Roman fleets chased pirates from the seas. Trade flowed freely to and from distant lands in Africa and Asia. Egyptian farmers supplied Romans with grain. Merchants carried ivory, gold, and other commodities from other parts of Africa; spices, cotton, and precious stones from India; and silk and other goods from faraway China. People, too, moved easily within the Roman empire. They spread ideas and knowledge, especially the advances of the Hellenistic east. Some of Augustus’s successors were weak and incompetent. Others ruled wisely. The emperor Hadrian, for example, codified Roman law, making it the same for all provinces. The emperor Marcus Aurelius, who read philosophy while on military campaigns, came close to Plato’s ideal of a philosopher-king. His Meditations show his Stoic philosophy and commitment to duty: “Hour by hour resolve firmly... to do what comes to hand with correct and natural dignity.” Roman Law “Let justice be done,” proclaimed a Roman saying, “though the heavens fall!” Probably the greatest legacy of Rome was the establishment of justice through the law. During the Roman empire, the institution of laws fostered unity and stability. Many centuries later, the principles of Roman law would become the basis for legal systems in Europe and Latin America. Two Systems During the republic, Rome developed written laws. Beginning with the simple rules set forth in the Laws of the Twelve Tables, the Roman code of laws grew over time with the addition of numerous rules and judges’ opinions. The resulting system of law, known as the civil law, applied only to Roman citizens. Roman expansion created a problem. Newly acquired territories had their own customs and rules, so Rome needed a new system of law that would apply to both citizens and foreign subjects. Gradually, a second system of law emerged that suited the Roman sense of justice. Romans based this new system on the laws of nature, arrived at by using the human ability to reason. For this reason they believed it to be a legitimate system of law that could apply to all people. They called it the law of nations.  The inspiration for this law of nations came largely from Stoic philosophy, especially its concept of natural law. From this concept, later thinkers developed the principle of natural rights, a key idea in the American Declaration of Independence. Common Principles As Roman law developed, certain basic principles evolved, many of which are familiar to Americans today. An accused person was presumed innocent until proven guilty. The accused had the right to face the accuser and offer a defense against the charge. Guilt had to be established “clearer than daylight” through evidence. Judges were allowed to interpret the laws and were expected to make fair decisions. Justinian’s Code The western Roman empire collapsed under the pressure of Germanic invaders in the 400s. By then, Roman power had concentrated in the east, in what we call the Byzantine empire. The Byzantine empire reached its greatest size under the emperor Justinian, who ruled from 527 to 565. Justinian is best remembered for his reform of the Roman law code. Early in his reign, Justinian set up a commission to collect, revise, and organize all the laws of ancient Rome. They produced the Body of Civil Law, popularly known as Justinian’s Code. This massive collection included laws passed by Roman assemblies or decreed by Roman emperors, as well as the legal writings of Roman judges. Justinian’s Code had an impact far beyond the Byzantine empire. By the 1100s, it had reached Western Europe. There, both the Christian church and medieval monarchs modeled their laws on its principles. Centuries later, the code also guided legal thinkers who began to compile the international law in use today. Greco-Roman Civilization As a follower of Stoicism, the Roman philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero held public figures up to a high moral standard. As the republic declined, Cicero attacked ambitious men like Julius Caesar. When Caesar came to power, however, he forgave Cicero, noting that it was “more glorious to have enlarged the limits of the Roman mind than the boundaries of Roman rule.” Both kinds of Romans—Stoics and generals—had a lasting impact. Through war and conquest, Roman generals carried the ideas and other elements of Roman civilization to distant lands. Yet the civilization that developed was not simply Roman. It blended Greek, Hellenistic, and Roman achievements. Roman Culture In its early days, Rome absorbed ideas from Greek colonists in southern Italy, and Rome continued to borrow heavily fromGreek culture after conquering Greece. To the Romans, Greek art, literature, philosophy, and scientific genius represented the height of cultural achievement. Their admiration never wavered, leading the Roman poet Horace to note, “Greece has conquered her rude conqueror.”  Just as the Greeks had once absorbed ideas from Egypt and Mesopotamia, the Romans adapted Greek and Hellenistic achievements. The blending of Greek, Hellenistic, and Roman traditions produced what is known as Greco-Roman civilization. Trade and travel during the Pax Romana helped spread this vital new civilization. Philosophy Romans borrowed much of their philosophy from the Greeks. The Hellenistic philosophy of Stoicism impressed Roman thinkers. Stoics stressed the importance of duty. They also showed concern for the well-being of all people, an idea that was later reflected in Christian teachings. Preserving Greco-Roman Ideas When the western Roman empire collapsed, the Christian church preserved some of its culture in its teachings. The Byzantine empire also carried forward achievements in law and other areas. Still, many ideas were lost to western Europeans for centuries. Fortunately, the Muslims saved much of this learning. Fascinated by Greco-Roman ideas, Muslim scholars translated the works of Aristotle and other thinkers into Arabic. In this way they preserved Greco-Roman ideas in philosophy, mathematics, and science. CH 1 Sec 3: 1.3 Principles of Judaism In 63 B.C., Rome conquered yet another outpost of the Greek world in the eastern Mediterranean. The Roman general Pompey marched his army into Palestine and captured Jerusalem, the capital of the independent Jewish state of Judea. A Jewish family of priestly kings had ruled Judea for about a century. Now Pompey turned Judea into a Roman province. Unlike other peoples of the Roman empire, the Jews prayed to just one God for guidance and protection. Their unique relationship with their God helped shape the history of the Jews. Their ancient beliefs evolved into Judaism, one of the world’s main faiths. The ancient history of the Jews helps explain how Jews became worshippers of one God, even in the face of Roman persecution. Early History of the Jews The Jews of ancient history were known as Hebrews or Israelites (people of Israel). Much of what we know about them comes from the Torah, their most sacred text. The story begins with a man named Abraham. A Migrating People According to the Torah, Abraham lived near Ur in Mesopotamia. About 2000 B.C., he and his family migrated, herding their sheep and goats westward into a region called Canaan. (Canaan and Palestine refer to roughly the same region, whose boundaries shifted over time. These names are derived from the occupants of the region—Canaanites and later invaders known as Philistines. The Israelites would give it a third name, Israel.) Here, near the eastern Mediterranean coast, Abraham founded the Israelite nation. A famine later forced many Israelites to migrate to Egypt. They spent more than 400 years there, much of it as enslaved workers. An Israelite named Moses finally led his people in their exodus, or escape, from Egypt. In time, the Israelites made their way back to Canaan. The Kingdom of Israel By 1000 B.C., the Israelites had set up, in Canaan, a kingdom called Israel. David, a strong and clever king, united the feuding Israelite tribes into a single nation. David’s son Solomon turned Jerusalem into an impressive capital, with a splendid temple dedicated to God. Solomon won fame for his wisdom and understanding. He also tried to increase Israel’s influence by negotiating with powerful empires in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Division and Conquest Israel paid a heavy price for Solomon’s ambitions. His building projects required such high taxes and so much forced labor that revolts erupted soon after his death about 922 B.C. The kingdom then split into Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Weakened by this division, the Israelites could not fight off invading armies. In 722 B.C., Israel fell to the Assyrians, warriors from Mesopotamia who used iron weapons. The Babylonians, also from Mesopotamia, later displaced the Assyrians. In 586 B.C., Babylonian armies captured Judah. Their ruthless king, Nebuchadnezzar, destroyed the great temple. He forced many Israelites into exile near Babylon. Years later, when the Persian ruler Cyrus conquered Babylon, he freed the Israelites from captivity. Many returned to their homeland, which became known as Judea, and they became known as Jews. There they rebuilt a smaller version of Solomon’s temple. Yet, like other groups in the region, they continued to live under Persian rule. God’s Covenant With the Israelites You have just read an outline of Israelite history. To the Israelites, history and faith were interconnected. They did not separate their religious beliefs from their social, economic, or political lives. Each event in their history reflected God’s plan for them. In time the Israelites came to see themselves as a religious group. They began to collect their stories in what would become the Hebrew Bible. The religion we know as modern Judaism began after many of the exiles returned from Babylon to Palestine. One God The beliefs of the Israelites differed in basic ways from those of nearby peoples. The Israelites were monotheistic, believing in one God. Their belief in this one God dominated their lives. At the time, most other people worshiped many gods. A few religious leaders spoke of a single powerful god. However, their ideas did not have the lasting impact that Israelite beliefs did.  The ancient Israelites prayed to God to save them from their enemies. Many other ancient peoples had also invoked particular gods as special protectors. They thought, however, that such gods remained tied to certain places or people. By the time of Isaiah, the Israelites expressed belief in one God as supreme. The Chosen People The Israelites believed that God had made a covenant, or promise and binding agreement, with Abraham and his descendants: “I will make nations of you, and kings shall come forth from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. And I will give to you, and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlast- ing possession; and I will be their God.” —book of Genesis God promised not only to protect the Israelites but also to provide them a homeland. To the Israelites, Canaan became this “promised land.” To fulfill their part of the covenant, the people of Israel believed that they had to remain faithful and obedient to God. The Israelites also believed that God had chosen them to spread God’s teachings among all the nations of the world. Therefore, the Israelites and later the Jews saw themselves as God’s “chosen people.” The Torah Early in their history, the Israelites realized how important it was for them to obey God’s laws. As a result they developed the Torah, their most sacred text, as a record of God’s teachings. In Hebrew Torah means “instruction.” The Torah consists of five books—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These writings, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, give an early account of the Israelites. For example, the book of Genesis tells how God told Abraham to leave his home in Ur and migrate to Canaan. The book of Exodus tells how God commanded Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. The Torah can be read as a history, yet it is much more. Incorporated within the stories are God’s teachings, the laws that Jews believe must be obeyed in order to fulfill the covenant between God and his chosen people. Those teachings set a strict moral standard for the Jews. Both Abraham and Moses, models of faithfulness, sought to carry out God’s commandments. The meaning of the word Torah goes beyond the written Torah of the five books. It also includes the oral Torah. The oral Torah consists of unwritten laws as well as commentaries on the written Torah. Those commentaries arose through many generations of discussion by Jewish scholars and rabbis. The oral Torah added an element of flexibility to Judaism, allowing it to adapt to changing circumstances. Teachings on Law and Morality From early times, the concept of law was central to the Israelites. The Torah set out many laws. Some dealt with everyday matters such as cleanliness and food preparation. Others defined criminal acts. The Torah also established moral principles. The Ten Commandments According to the book of Exodus, Moses and the Israelites stopped at Mount Sinai on their way from Egypt to Canaan. There, God renewed the covenant and gave the Ten Commandments directly to Moses. This set of ten basic moral laws lies at the core of Judaism. For his role in bringing these Commandments to his people, Moses became “lawgiver” to the Jews. The Torah, in which the Ten Commandments appear, is also known as the five books of Moses. The first four Commandments stress religious duties of the individual toward God, such as keeping the Sabbath, a holy day for rest and worship. The rest set out rules for individual conduct toward other people. They include “Honor your father and mother,” “You shall not murder,” and “You shall not steal.” The Seven Universal Laws The Ten Commandments spell out fundamental laws that God expects Jews to follow. A similar set of rules, called the Seven Universal Laws, applied to all people, not just Jews. Like the Ten Commandments, they include prohibitions against murder and robbery. One of the laws differs, however. It commands people to establish courts to enforce the other laws. This idea of universally accepted moral and ethical principles backed by a system of justice is a source of the modern concept of basic human rights in international law. An Ethical Worldview Jews have a responsibility to obey God’s laws. Yet they also have the freedom to make individual moral choices even if they choose to disobey the law. According to the Biblical text, disregard for the law brings punishment from God. The ancient Jews linked periods of widespread disobedience with tragic historical events. Often in Jewish history, spiritual leaders emerged to interpret God’s will. These prophets, such as Isaiah and Jeremiah, warned that failure to obey God’s law would lead their people to disaster. For example, Isaiah, who lived in Judea in the 700s B.C., predicted the catastrophe that came in the form of the Assyrian invasion. He pleaded with the Israelites to avoid this tragedy by returning to the standards of behavior acceptable to God. Other prophets also preached a strong code of ethics, or moral standards of behavior. They promoted not only personal morality but a morally just community, calling on the rich and powerful to protect the poor and weak. The book of Genesis declares: “God created man in his own image.” This idea later passed into Western culture as political equality, or equality before the law. Unlike many ancient societies whose people looked on their ruler as a god, Jews saw their leaders as fully human and bound to obey God’s law. In this way, Judaism contributed to the rise of another important democratic concept, the rule of law. The Scattering of the Jews The Babylonian Captivity, in 586 B.C., marked the start of the diaspora (dy AS pur uh), or scattering of the Jews. When the captivity ended, not all Jews returned to Canaan. Some stayed in Babylon, and others migrated elsewhere in the Middle East and Mediterranean regions. Jews in Canaan lived under Persian and Hellenistic rulers until the 100s B.C., when a Jewish family formed an independent kingdom. Then Pompey and the Romans arrived, as you have read. Influenced by Hellenism, some Jews had taken up Greek ways. Others had resisted cultural change, keeping traditional Jewish customs. Those two groups often clashed. In this tense atmosphere, new Jewish groups arose. One of those groups developed under the followers of a Jew named Jesus and became a new religion, Christianity. Roman mismanagement led to further disturbances throughout the region. In A.D. 66, sporadic incidents turned into a full-blown Jewish revolt against Roman rule. Four years later, the Romans destroyed the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. By the time of the revolt, the number of Jews outside Canaan far exceeded those living in the homeland. The scattering of the Jews continued through the following centuries and Judaism spread through the Middle East and into Europe. Still, for Jews everywhere Canaan, later called Palestine, remained the center of their culture and religion. CH 1 Sec 4: 1 / 4 The Rise of Christianity Early in the Pax Romana, Judaism experienced a period of turmoil that created deep divisions in the religion. As you have read, many Jews in Canaan absorbed Greek customs and ideas during the Hellenistic age. Concerned about the weakening of their religion, conservative Jews rejected these influences and called for strict obedience to Jewish laws and traditions. Amidst the disorder that engulfed the Jews, Christianity arose among them. Its leader was a Jew named Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth Almost all that we know about the life of Jesus comes from the Gospels, the first four books of the New Testament of the Bible. Early Christians attributed these accounts to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, four followers of Jesus. Gospel comes from the Old English word for “good news.” Early Life Jesus was born about 4 B.C. in Bethlehem, not far from Jerusalem. His parents, Mary and Joseph, had traveled there from their home in Nazareth. Through his parents Jesus was a descendant of King David of Israel. David had lived in Bethlehem. Therefore, when Augustus Caesar called for a census, Jesus’ parents returned to their ancestral city to be counted. An angel, the Gospels say, had told Jesus’ mother, Mary, that she would give birth to “the Son of the Most High God.” Jesus would be the messiah, the savior sent by God to lead the Jews to freedom. Most Jews at the time believed that, in line with the covenant, God would someday return to them full control of their homeland in Palestine. Some of those Jews expected that God would send a descendant of David to overthrow the Romans. For them, the time was right for the messiah to appear. Growing up in the small town of Nazareth, Jesus worshiped God and followed Jewish law. As a young man, he may have worked with his hands like his father, who the Gospels say was a carpenter. Ministry At the age of 30, the Gospels relate, Jesus began preaching in the provinces of Galilee and Judea. To help him in his mission, he chose twelve close followers, known as the apostles, from the Greek word meaning “a person sent forth.” Chief among these was a man called Peter. Large crowds gathered to hear Jesus’ teachings, especially when word spread that he had performed miracles of healing. Jesus often used parables, or short stories with simple moral lessons, to communicate his ideas. After three years, he and his disciples, or loyal followers, went to Jerusalem to spread his message there. The Message Jesus’ teachings were firmly rooted in Jewish tradition. Jesus believed in one God and accepted the Ten Commandments. He preached obedience to God’s laws and defended the teachings of the Jewish prophets. Nevertheless, Jesus interpreted the law in ways that upset some Jewish authorities. He also preached new beliefs. According to his followers, he called himself the Son of God. Many people came to believe that he was the messiah whose appearance Jews had long predicted. Jesus proclaimed that his mission was to bring spiritual salvation and eternal life to anyone who would believe in him. Jesus emphasized God’s love and taught the need for justice, morality, and service to others. According to Jesus, a person’s major responsibilities were to “love the Lord your God with all your heart” and to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus also emphasized the importance of forgiveness. “Love your enemies,” he told his followers. “If anyone hits you on one cheek, let him hit the other one, too.” Death on the Cross Jesus arrived in Jerusalem near the time of the Jewish festival of Passover, a celebration of the exodus from Egypt. Many thousands of Jews gathered in the city. Some of them welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem. Others, particularly the chief Jewish priests, regarded Jesus as a dangerous troublemaker. They knew that his speeches could inflame Jews eager to end Roman rule.  A prefect, or Roman military official, held real power in the region, but the high priest had the responsibility of keeping the peace in Jerusalem. He and his council may well have feared that Jesus and his followers would trigger a revolt. Any such uprising might lead to a Roman military crack- down and thousands of Jewish deaths. They decided to have Jesus arrested. One of Jesus’ disciples betrayed him by leading a group of armed men to him. The men took Jesus before the high priest and his council, who questioned him. After this trial, they delivered him to the prefect with the recommendation that he be executed. The perfect ordered that Jesus be crucified. In crucifixion, a Roman method of executing criminals, a person was nailed to or hung on a cross and left to die. Jesus’ death threw his disciples into confusion. Then, according to the Gospels, they learned that Jesus was not dead at all and that he had risen from the dead. The Gospels also state that Jesus appeared among the disciples, who saw and talked with him. At this time Jesus commanded them to carry his teachings to “all nations,” and then he ascended into heaven. Christianity Spreads Following Jesus’ death, the apostles and other disciples spread his teachings. They fascinated listeners with the story of how he had risen from the dead. At first, the disciples preached only among the Jews of Judea. Jews who accepted the teaching that Jesus was the messiah became the first Christians, or followers of Jesus Christ. Christ, from the Greek for “the anointed one,” was another word for messiah. Gradually, disciples of Jesus began to preach in Jewish communities throughout the Roman world. According to tradition, the apostle Pete established Christianity in the city of Rome itself. However, it was Paul, a Jew from Asia Minor, who played the most influential role in the spread of Christianity. Work of Paul Paul, originally known as Saul, had never seen Jesus. In fact, he had been among those who wanted to destroy the emerging Christian church. Then one day, Saul had a vision in which Jesus spoke to him. Immediately converting to the new faith and changing his name, Paul made an important decision. He would spread the teachings of Jesus beyond Jewish communities to Gentiles, or non-Jews. In this way Paul helped separate Christianity from Judaism. Paul’s missionary work set Christianity on the road to becoming a world religion. A tireless traveler, Paul journeyed around the Mediterranean, setting up churches from Jerusalem to Rome. In long letters to Christian communities, he explained difficult doctrines, judged disputes, and expanded Christian teachings. In his writings, Paul emphasized the idea that Jesus had sacrificed his life out of love for humankind. Paul promised that those who believed that Jesus was the son of God and followed his teachings would achieve salvation, or eternal life. A New Covenant For a time, Christianity remained a sect within Judaism. The main difference between this sect and traditional Judaism was the Christians’ focus on Jesus as the messiah and the center of their faith. Christians adopted Jewish monotheism and all of the Hebrew scriptures, or sacred writings, including the Torah and the words of the prophets. In the Christian Bible, these writings later became known as the Old Testament. Christian writings about Jesus, including the Gospels and Paul’s letters, became the New Testament. The New Testament represented the establishment of a new covenant with God. To Christians, faith in Jesus Christ replaced strict observance of the law as the way to fulfill the covenant. Persecution Rome had a long history of tolerance, or acceptance, of varied religious traditions. That tolerant attitude did not extend to Judaism or Christianity. Christians refused to make sacrifices to the emperor. Neither did they honor the gods who, Romans believed, had brought so much success to the empire. For these reasons Roman officials suspected them of disloyalty to Rome. They began to persecute Christians. In times of trouble, persecution increased. Roman rulers like Nero used Christians as scapegoats, blaming them for social or economic ills. Over the centuries, thousands of Christians became martyrs, people who suffer or die for their beliefs. According to tradition, both Peter and Paul were killed in Rome during the reign of Nero. Reasons for Christianity’s Appeal Despite the attacks, Christianity continued to spread. The reasons were many. The religion, with its roots in the Jewish faith, naturally appealed to Jews. Christian ethics also generated broad interest. Jesus had welcomed all people, especially the humble, poor, and oppressed. They found comfort in his message of love. Belief in the equality and dignity of all brought widespread support among common people too, as did the promise of a better life beyond the grave. In the course of their work, Christian missionaries like Paul added ideas from Plato, the Stoics, and other Greek thinkers to Jesus’ message. With the addition of the discipline and moderation of Greek philosophy, Christianity increased its appeal, especially to educated Romans. The unity of the Roman empire made the work of missionaries such as Paul easier. Christians traveled along Roman roads and across the Mediterranean Sea, which Roman fleets protected. Early Christians usually wrote their documents in Greek or Latin, languages that many people in the empire understood. Triumph Roman persecution of Christians finally ended in A.D. 313, when the emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan. It granted freedom of worship to all citizens of the Roman empire. Constantine’s mother, a devout Christian, influenced Constantine’s decision. The Edict of Milan, issued in 313 AD by the Roman emperors Constantine I (in the West) and Licinius (in the East), was a pivotal proclamation that granted religious tolerance throughout the Roman Empire. The key aspects of the edict include: 1. Freedom of Religion: It legalized the practice of Christianity and other religions, ending the persecution of Christians, which had been widespread under earlier emperors. The Christian Church Early Christian communities shared a common faith in the teachings of Jesus and a common way of worship. Only gradually did the scattered communities organize a structured church hierarchy. During the Middle Ages (about A.D. 500–1500), the Christian church emerged as the most powerful force in Europe. The Early Communities A person fully joined the Christian community by renouncing evil through the sacrament, or holy ceremony, of baptism. Christians believed that by the grace of God, baptism washed away their sins. The Christian community considered all its members equals. They called one another “brother” or “sister.” Women, such as Constantine’s mother, often led the way to Christianity. They welcomed its promise that in the church, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female.” In early Christian communities, women served as teachers and Administrators. Some Christians became members of the Christian clergy. The clergy are people authorized to perform religious ceremonies. Each community had its own priest. Priests came under the authority of a bishop, a church official who was responsible for all Christians in one area. Bishops traced their spiritual authority to the apostles and, through the apostles, to Jesus himself. Gradually, the bishops of the most important cities in the Roman empire gained greater authority. Some of them attained the honorary title of patriarch. Patriarchs exercised control over other bishops in their region. The patriarch of Rome, called the pope, began to claim authority over all the bishops, even those in the far-off cities of the east. This bid for power by the patriarch in Rome, along with other disputes, led to periods of disunity within the church. The Medieval Church In the centuries after the fall of Rome, the disputes grew more serious. In 1054, the Christian church finally split into an eastern and a western church. This became known as the Great Schism. The eastern church came to be called the Orthodox Church. It became the church of many nations including Russia, Greece, Bulgaria, and Rumania. These churches rejected the authority of the pope in the west. The western church, headed by the pope, became known as the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church controlled the spiritual lives of Christians throughout Western Europe. Christians believed that all people were sinners and that many were doomed to eternal suffering. The only way to avoid hell was to believe in Jesus and participate in the sacraments, such as baptism and communion. Because the medieval church administered the sacraments, it had absolute power in religious matters and significant control over European society. It expressed that power through a body of church laws and a system of courts to judge those who disobeyed the laws. As the Roman Catholic Church grew stronger and wealthier, it also became the leading secular, or worldly, institution in medieval Europe. Some church leaders, including the pope, owned large tracts of land. Rulers appointed church officials to high government positions, because they were often the only educated people. Spread of Learning By the 1100s, schools had sprung up to train the clergy. Some of these schools evolved into the first universities. The universities received a boost from an explosion of knowledge that reached Europe in the late Middle Ages. Many of the “new” ideas had originated in ancient Greece but had been lost to Western Europeans after the fall of Rome. In the Middle East, Muslim scholars had translated the works of Aristotle and other Greek thinkers into Arabic. These texts had spread across the Muslim world. In Muslim Spain, Jewish scholars translated these works into Latin, the language of Christian European scholars. By the early 1200s, these new translations were seeping into Western Europe. There they set off a revolution in the world of learning. Philosophy The writings of the ancient Greeks posed a challenge to Christian scholars. Aristotle taught that people should use reason to discover basic truths. Christians accepted many ideas on faith. For example, they believed that Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. Faith is belief that goes beyond reason. As the New Testament puts it, “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” How could Christians use the logic of Aristotle without undermin- ing their Christian faith? Christian scholars tried to resolve the conflict between faith and reason. They found Aristotle’s arguments concerning reason clear and convincing. Yet they had faith in the truth as revealed in the life of Jesus. In the 1300s, the Christian scholar Thomas Aquinas (uh KWY nus) examined Christian teachings in the light of reason. Faith and reason, he concluded, existed in harmony. Both led to the same truth, that God ruled over an orderly universe. He thus brought together Christian faith and classical Greek philosophy. The Judeo-Christian Tradition Christianity, widely practiced across the globe, is a major world religion. Judaism, though not so widely practiced, is still considered a major world religion for its unique contribution to religious thought. It strongly influenced Christianity and Islam, two other monotheistic faiths that arose in the Middle East. Today, Jews, Christians, and Muslims all honor Abraham, Moses, and the prophets, and they all teach the ethical worldview developed by the Israelites. In the West, this shared heritage of Jews and Christians is known as the Judeo-Christian tradition. It is a major cultural foundation of Western civilization. At the heart of this tradition are the moral and ethical principles put forth in the Bible. These principles are the basic assumptions behind many Western beliefs, including fair treatment, or justice. Traditional Judeo-Christian principles, then, played a central role in the development of the democratic tradition. CH 1 Sec 5: Democratic Developments in England In medieval England the Christian church, the nobility, and the monarchy all had considerable wealth and influence. Theoretically, monarchs held supreme authority over the church and the nobility. Yet in reality, the three groups maintained an unsteady balance of power. Growth of Royal Power In the face of invasion by Vikings and other warrior peoples, European monarchs proved too weak to maintain law and order. People needed protection for themselves, their homes, and their lands. In response to this basic need for security, a new system evolved, known as feudalism. Feudalism was a loosely organized system of rule in which powerful local lords divided their landholdings among lesser lords. In exchange, these lesser lords, or vassals, pledged service and loyalty to the greater lord. For example, vassals would provide knights, or mounted warriors, to fight their lord’s battles. The greater lords, in turn, pledged loyalty to even more powerful lords. The greatest lord, the king, occupied the highest point on the feudal pyramid. Monarchs, Nobles, and the Church Feudal monarchs in Europe stood at the head of society, but most had limited power. While they ruled their own domains, they relied on vassals for military support. Nobles and the church had as much power as the monarch—and sometimes more. Both nobles and the church had their own courts, collected their own taxes, and fielded their own armies. They jealously guarded their rights and privileges against any effort by rulers to increase royal authority. Strong Monarchs in England During the early Middle Ages, Angles, Saxons, and Vikings invaded and settled in England. Although feudalism developed, English rulers generally kept their kingdoms united. In 1066, the Anglo-Saxon king, Edward died without an heir. Two men, William and Harold, laid claim to the vacant throne. To settle the dispute, William sailed across the English Channel from Normandy to battle Harold, Edward’s brother-in-law. At the Battle of Hastings, William and his Norman knights triumphed over Harold. William the Conqueror, as he was now called, ascended the throne of England. Although William’s French-speaking nobles, or barons, dominated England, the country’s Anglo-Saxon population survived. Over the next 300 years, Norman-French and Anglo-Saxon customs, languages, and traditions gradually blended. William exerted firm control over his new lands. He required every vassal to swear first allegiance to him rather than to any other feudal lord. Realizing that knowledge is power, William had a complete census taken in 1086. The information he gathered helped him and later English monarchs build an efficient system of tax collecting. Royal wealth and authority continued to increase. Common Law In 1154, an energetic, well-educated king, Henry II, inherited the throne. He broadened the system of royal justice. As a ruler, the king could not simply write new laws but had to follow accepted customs. Henry found ways to expand customs into law. He then sent out traveling judges to enforce royal laws. The decisions of the royal courts became the foundation of English common law, a legal system based on custom and court rulings. Unlike local feudal laws, common law applied to all of England. It served to standardize laws and punishments. In time, people chose royal courts over those of nobles or the church. Because royal courts charged fees, the treasury benefited from the growth of royal justice. Under Henry II, England also developed the idea that local citizens should take part in trials. When traveling judges visited an area, local officials gathered some men to form a jury, or group of people sworn to speak the truth. (The word jury comes from the French juré, meaning “sworn to oath.”) These men determined which cases should be brought to trial. As such, this early jury was the ancestor of today’s grand jury. Another kind of jury evolved later. Composed of 12 neighbors of the accused person, it was the ancestor of today’s trial jury. England’s establishment of common law and a jury system set the stage for further advances on the road to democratic rule. Evolving Traditions of Government Henry’s efforts to extend royal power led to a bitter dispute with the church. Henry claimed the right to try clergy in royal courts. Church officials fiercely opposed the king’s move. The quarrel ended in the murder of a church leader. Later English rulers repeatedly clashed with nobles and the church. Most battles developed as a result of efforts by the monarch to raise taxes or to impose royal authority over traditional feudal rights. Out of those struggles evolved traditions of government that would influence the modern world. The Magna Carta Henry’s son John was a clever and greedy ruler. He earned his bad reputation in part through failed struggles with the French king and the pope. King John is best remembered, however, for a momentous power struggle with his own nobles. John angered them with oppressive taxes and other abuses of power. In 1215, a group of rebellious barons cornered John and forced him to accept the Magna Carta, or Great Charter. In this document, the king affirmed a long list of feudal rights. Besides protecting their own privileges, the barons included a few clauses recognizing the legal rights of townspeople and the church. Among the most significant of these was a clause protecting every freeman from arbitrary arrest, imprisonment, and other legal actions, except “by legal judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.” This famous clause formed the basis of the democratic right now known as “due process of law.” The king also agreed not to raise new taxes without first consulting his Great Council of lords and clergy. Many centuries later, American colonists would claim that those words meant that any taxation without representation was unjust.  In 1215, though, neither the king nor his lords could have imagined such an idea. The Magna Carta contained two very important principles that in the long run would shape government traditions in England. First, it asserted that the nobles had certain rights. Over time, those rights were extended to all English citizens. Second, the Magna Carta made it clear that the monarch must obey the law. The rule of law became a key principle in the democratic tradition. Development of Parliament In keeping with the Magna Carta, English rulers often called on the Great Council for advice. During the 1200s, this body evolved into Parliament. Its name comes from the French word parler, meaning “to talk.” As Parliament acquired a larger role in government, it helped unify England. In 1295, Edward I summoned Parliament to approve money for his wars in France. “What touches all,” he declared, “should be approved by all.” He arranged for representatives of the “common people” to join with the lords and clergy. The “commons” included two knights from each county and delegates from the towns. This assembly set up the framework for England’s legislature. For this reason, it later became known as the Model Parliament. In time, Parliament developed into a two-house body. Nobles and clergy met in the House of Lords. Knights and middle-class citizens met in the House of Commons. Parliament Gains Strength England and France battled each other over land claims, politics, and other issues off and on for centuries. Between 1337 and 1453, they fought a series of especially destructive conflicts known together as the Hundred Years’ War. Once fighting started, economic rivalry and a growing sense of national pride made it hard for either side to give up the struggle. By the end, England had lost nearly all of its lands in France. The Hundred Years’ War changed England politically. During the war English rulers turned repeatedly to Parliament for funds, which helped that body win the “power of the purse.” That is, it won the right to approve any new taxes. With that power, Parliament could insist that the monarch meet its demands before voting for taxes. In this way it could check, or limit, the power of the monarch. Later, most democratic governments would incorporate similar checks on power into their constitutions. Triumph of Parliament From 1485 to 1603, the Tudor dynasty ruled England. The Tudors, including Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I, shrewdly recognized the value of good relations with Parliament. They continued the tradition of consulting Parliament, especially on issues related to finances. During this time, Christians throughout Europe launched protests against questionable church practices. The resulting religious reform movement became known as the Protestant Reformation. The Catholic Church resisted these protesters, who eventually split off to form various Protestant groups. In England, Henry VIII broke with Rome to form the Church of England. Elizabeth I died in 1603 without a direct heir. The throne passed to her relatives the Stuarts, the ruling family of Scotland. The Stuarts were neither as popular as the Tudors nor as skillful in dealing with Parliament. The ongoing battle between the Stuart monarchs and Parliament resulted in a “century of revolution.” The Royal Challenge The first Stuart monarch, James I, agreed to rule according to English laws and customs. Yet he behaved like an absolute monarch, a ruler with complete authority over the government and the lives of the people. James rejected the demands of Puritans, a group that wanted to “purify” the Church of England of Catholic practices. He clashed regularly with Parliament over money and foreign policy. In 1611 and again in 1614, James angrily dissolved the Parliament, sending its members home. James’s son, Charles I, also claimed absolute power. He imprisoned his foes without trial and squeezed the nation for money. By 1628, though, his need to raise taxes forced Charles to summon Parliament. Before voting for any funds, Parliament insisted that Charles accept the Petition of Right. It prohibited the king from raising taxes without the consent of Parliament and banned imprisonment without just cause. Charles signed the petition, but he dissolved Parliament the next year. In 1640, Charles needed funds to combat a rebellion in Scotland, so he summoned Parliament. When it met, however, Parliament launched its own revolt. The Long Parliament, which lasted until 1653, triggered the greatest political revolution in English history. In a mounting struggle with the king, Parliament tried and executed the king’s chief ministers. It further declared that the Parliament could not be dissolved without its own consent. Charles lashed back. In 1642, he led troops into the House of Commons to arrest its most radical leaders. They escaped through a back door and soon raised their own army. The clash then moved to the battlefield. The English Civil War The civil war that followed lasted from 1642 to 1649. Many wealthy nobles supported Charles. Rural landowners, town dwelling manufacturers, and Puritan clergy backed Parliament, whose forces were led by a skilled general named Oliver Cromwell. In a series of decisive battles, Cromwell’s army defeated the king’s troops. By 1647, Charles I was in the hands of parliamentary forces. Two years later, Parliament set up a court to try the king. It condemned Charles to death as “a tyrant, traitor, murderer, and public enemy.” The king’s execution sent shock waves throughout Europe. For the first time, a ruling monarch had been tried and executed by his own people. The parliamentary forces had sent a clear signal that in England, no ruler could claim absolute power and ignore the rule of law. The Commonwealth After the execution of Charles I, the House of Commons abolished the monarchy, the House of Lords, and the official Church of England. Parliament also declared England a republic, known as the Commonwealth, with Cromwell in charge. A series of threats led Cromwell to impose military rule in 1653. Under the Commonwealth, Parliament exiled Catholics to barren land in the west of Ireland. Puritans gained influence throughout the government and society. Puritan preachers tried to root out godlessness and impose a “rule of saints.” They also encouraged greater religious observance and restrictions on various forms of entertainment. Oliver Cromwell died in 1658. Soon after, the Puritans lost their grip on England. Many people had tired of military rule and strict Puritan ways. In 1660, a newly elected Parliament restored the monarchy by inviting Charles’s son to rule. From Restoration to Glorious Revolution The new king, Charles II, shared his father’s faith in absolute monarchy and secretly had Catholic sympathies. Still, he accepted the Petition of Right and shrewdly avoided his father’s mistakes in dealing with Parliament. Charles’s brother, James II, inherited the throne in 1685. James lacked his brother’s good sense. He suspended laws at whim and flaunted his Catholic faith. He even appointed Catholics to high office. Many English Protestants feared that James would restore the Roman Catholic Church. In 1688, alarmed parliamentary leaders invited James’s Protestant daughter, Mary, and her Dutch Protestant husband, William III of Orange, to become rulers of England. When William and Mary landed with their army late in 1688, James II fled to France. This bloodless overthrow of the king became known as the Glorious Revolution. English Bill of Rights Before they could be crowned, William and Mary had to accept several acts passed by Parliament in 1689 that became known as the English Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights ensured the superiority of Parliament over the monarchy. It required the monarch to summon Parliament regularly and gave the House of Commons the “power of the purse.” A king or queen could no longer interfere in parliamentary debates or suspend laws. The Bill of Rights also barred any Roman Catholic from sitting on the throne. The Bill of Rights restated the traditional rights of English citizens, such as trial by jury. It abolished excessive fines and cruel or unjust punishment. It affirmed the principle of habeas corpus. That is, no person could be held in prison without first being charged with a specific crime. The Glorious Revolution and the English Bill of Rights did not create a democracy. They established a type of government called a limited monarchy, in which a constitution or legislative body limits the monarch’s powers. English rulers still had much power, but they had to obey the law and govern in partnership with Parliament. (infographic section) Many of the democratic rights and freedoms included in the American Bill of Rights (1791) trace their origins to two landmark documents in British history: The Magna Carta (1215) and the English Bill of Rights (1689). These two documents confirmed the principles that governments need to be limited in their power and that individuals have rights that the government cannot take away. 1215–The Magna Carta In 1215, barons living under King John 1 were tired of the king’s military campaigns and heavy taxes. They wrote the Magna Carta, or Great Charter, to bring an end to arbitrary acts by the king and to establish in writing the fact that the power of the monarch was not absolute.  The Magna Carta established three key rights: 1) The right to a trial by a jury of one’s peers, 2) the right of due process, or protection from the arbitrary taking of life, liberty or property, 3) and the right to private property. 1295–Model Parliament In the years between the Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights, some monarchs respected the principles and rights of the Magna Carta and others ignored them. English rulers often called on the Great Council, or Parliament for advice. 1337–1453 Hundred Years’ War Parliament began requiring the king to meet their demands before they would allow the king to raise new taxes to fund the war. 1628 Petition of Right In 1628, when Charles I asked Parliament for more money in taxes, Parliament refused until he signed the Petition of Right. The petition limited the king’s power in several ways. Most importantly, the document demanded that the king no longer imprison or punish any person but by the lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land. 1689–The English Bill of Rights In 1688, after years of turmoil, Parliament offered the crown to William and Mary of Orange. In 1689, Parliament drew up a list of demands to which William and Mary had to agree. This document, The English Bill of Rights, repeated some of the demands listed in the Magna Carta and Petition of Right and added several new key rights: no cruel punishment, 8 no excessive bail or fines, the right to bear arms, 9 and the right to petition or bring one’s case to the king without fear of punishment. 10 CH 2 Sec 1: Adam smith2/1 Philosophy in the Age of Reason By the early 1700s, European thinkers felt that nothing was beyond the reach of the human mind. Through the use of reason, insisted these thinkers, people and governments could solve every social, political, and economic problems. In essence, these writers, scholars, and philosophers felt they could change the world. Scientific Revolution Sparks the Enlightenment The Scientific Revolution of the 1500s and 1600s had transformed the way people in Europe looked at the world. In the 1700s, other scientists expanded European knowledge. For example, Edward Jenner developed a vaccine against smallpox, a disease whose path of death spanned the centuries. Scientific successes convinced educated Europeans of the power of human reason. Natural law, or rules discoverable by reason, govern scientific forces such as gravity and magnetism. Why not, then, use natural law to better understand social, economic, and political problems? Using the methods of the new science, reformers thus set out to study human behavior and solve the problems of society. In this way, the Scientific Revolution led to another revolution in thinking, known as the Enlightenment. Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher best known for his work The Critique of Pure Reason, was one of the first to describe this era with the word “Enlightenment.” Despite Kant’s skepticism about the power of reason, he was enthusiastic about the Enlightenment and believed, like many European philosophers, that natural law could help explain aspects of humanity. Hobbes and Locke Have Conflicting Views Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, two seventeenth-century English thinkers, set forth ideas that were to become key to the Enlightenment. Both men lived through the upheavals of the English Civil War. Yet they came to very different conclusions about human nature and the role of government. Hobbes Believes in Powerful Government Thomas Hobbes outlined his ideas in a work titled Leviathan. In it, he argued that people were naturally cruel, greedy, and selfish. If not strictly controlled, they would fight, rob, and oppress one another. Life in the “state of nature”— without laws or other control—would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” To escape that “brutish” life, said Hobbes, people entered into a social contract, an agreement by which they gave up their freedom for an organized society. Hobbes believed that only a powerful government could ensure an orderly society. For him, such a government was an absolute monarchy, which could impose order and compel obedience. Locke Advocates Natural Rights John Locke had a more optimistic view of human nature. He thought people were basically reasonable and moral. Further, they had certain natural rights, or rights that belonged to all humans from birth. These included the right to life, liberty, and property. In Two Treatises of Government, Locke argued that people formed governments to protect their natural rights. The best kind of government, he said, had limited power and was accepted by all citizens. Thus, unlike Hobbes, Locke rejected absolute monarchy. England during this time experienced a shift in political power known as the Glorious Revolution. James II, an unpopular absolute monarch, left the throne and fled England in 1688. Locke later wrote that he thought James II deserved to be dethroned for violating the rights of the English. Locke proposed a radical idea about this time. A government, he said, has an obligation to the people it governs. If a government fails its obligations or violates people’s natural rights, the people have the right to overthrow that government. Locke’s idea would one day influence leaders of the American Revolution, such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. Locke’s idea of the right of revolution would also echo across Europe and Latin America in the centuries that followed. The Philosophes In the 1700s, there was a flowering of Enlightenment thought. This was when a group of Enlightenment thinkers in France applied the methods of science to understand and improve society. They believed that the use of reason could lead to reforms of government, law, and society. These thinkers were called philosophes (fee loh ZOHFS), which means “philosophers.” Their ideas soon spread beyond France and even beyond Europe. Montesquieu Advances the Idea Of Separation of Powers An early and influential thinker was Baron de Montesquieu (MAHN tus kyoo). Montesquieu studied the governments of Europe, from Italy to England. He read about ancient and medieval Europe, and learned about Chinese and Native American cultures. His sharp criticism of absolute monarchy would open doors for later debate. In 1748, Montesquieu published The Spirit of the Laws, in which he discussed governments throughout history. Montesquieu felt that the best way to protect liberty was to divide the various functions and powers of government among three branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial. He also felt that each branch of government should be able to serve as a check on the other two, an idea that we call checks and balances. Montesquieu’s beliefs would soon profoundly affect the Framers of the United States Constitution. Voltaire Defends Freedom of Thought Probably the most famous of the philosophes was François-Marie Arouet, who took the name Voltaire. “My trade,” said Voltaire, “is to say what I think,” and he did so throughout his long, controversial life. Voltaire used biting wit as a weapon to expose the abuses of his day. He targeted corrupt officials and idle aristocrats. With his pen, he battled inequality, injustice, and superstition. He detested the slave trade and deplored religious prejudice. Voltaire’s outspoken attacks offended both the French government and the Catholic Church. He was imprisoned and forced into exile. Even as he saw his books outlawed and even burned, he continued to defend the principle of freedom of speech. Diderot Edits the Encyclopedia Denis Diderot (DEE duh roh) worked for years to produce a 28-volume set of books called the Encyclopedia. As the editor, Diderot did more than just compile articles. His purpose was “to change the general way of thinking” by explaining ideas on topics such as government, philosophy, and religion. Diderot’s Encyclopedia included articles by leading thinkers of the day, including Montesquieu and Voltaire. In these articles, the philosophes denounced slavery, praised freedom of expression, and urged education for all. They attacked divine-right theory and traditional religions. Critics raised an outcry. The French government argued that the Encyclopedia was an attack on public morals, and the pope threatened to excommunicate Roman Catholics who bought or read the volumes. Despite these and other efforts to ban the Encyclopedia, more than 4,000 copies were printed between 1751 and 1789. When translated into other languages, the Encyclopedia helped spread Enlightenment ideas throughout Europe and across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas. Rousseau Promotes The Social Contract Jean-Jacques Rousseau (roo SOH), believed that people in their natural state were basically good. This natural innocence, he felt, was corrupted by the evils of society, especially the unequal distribution of property. Many reformers and revolutionaries later adopted this view. Among them were Thomas Paine and Marquis de Lafayette, who were leading figures of the American and French Revolutions. In 1762, Rousseau set forth his ideas about government and society in The Social Contract. Rousseau felt that society placed too many limitations on people’s behavior. He believed that some controls were necessary, but that they should be minimal. Additionally, only governments that had been freely elected should impose these controls. Rousseau put his faith in the “general will,” or the best conscience of the people. The good of the community as a whole, he said, should be placed above individual interests. Rousseau has influenced political and social thinkers for more than 200 years. Woven through his work is a hatred of all forms of political and economic oppression. His bold ideas would help fan the flames of revolt in years to come. Women Challenge the Philosophes The Enlightenment slogan “free and equal” did not apply to women. Though the philosophes said women had natural rights, their rights were limited to the areas of home and family. By the mid- to late-1700s, a small but growing number of women protested this view. Germaine de Staël in France and Catharine Macaulay and Mary Wollstonecraft in Britain argued that women were being excluded from the social contract itself. Their arguments, however, were ridiculed and often sharply condemned. Wollstonecraft was a well-known British social critic. She accepted that a woman’s first duty was to be a good mother but felt that a woman should be able to decide what was in her own interest without depending on her husband. In 1792, Wollstonecraft published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. In it, she called for equal education for girls and boys. Only education, she argued, could give women the tools they needed to participate equally with men in public life. New Economic Thinking French thinkers known as physiocrats focused on economic reforms. Like the philosophes, physiocrats based their thinking on natural laws. The physiocrats claimed that their rational economic system was based on the natural laws of economics. Laissez Faire Replaces Mercantilism Physiocrats rejected mercantilism, which required government regulation of the economy to achieve a favorable balance of trade. Instead, they urged a policy of laissez faire (les ay FEHR), allowing business to operate with little or no government interference. Physiocrats also supported free trade and opposed tariffs. Smith Argues for a Free Market Scottish economist Adam Smith greatly admired the physiocrats. In his influential work The Wealth of Nations, he argued that the free market should be allowed to regulate business activity. Smith tried to show how manufacturing, trade, wages, profits, and economic growth were all linked to the market forces of supply and demand. Wherever there was a demand for goods or services, he said, suppliers would seek to meet that demand in order to gain profits. Smith was a strong supporter of laissez faire. However, he felt that government had a duty to protect society, administer justice, and provide public works. Adam Smith’s ideas would help to shape productive economies in the 1800s and 1900s. Smith is considered the founder of Capitalism John Locke: Two Treatises of Government English philosopher John Locke (1632–1704) published Two Treatises of Government in 1690. Locke believed that all people had the same natural rights of life, liberty, and property. In this essay, Locke states that the primary purpose of government is to protect these natural rights. He also states that governments hold their power only with the consent of the people. Locke’s ideas greatly influenced revolutions in America and France. But though men, when they enter into society give up the equality, liberty, and executive power they had in the state of Nature into the hands of society... the power of the society or legislative constituted by them can never be supposed to extend farther than the common good.... Whoever has the legislative or supreme power of any commonwealth, is bound to govern by established standing laws, promulgated1 and known to the people, and not by extemporary 2 decrees, by indifferent and upright judges, who are to decide controversies by those laws; and to employ the force of the community at home only in the execution of such laws, or abroad to prevent or redress foreign injuries and secure the community from inroads3 and invasion. And all this to be directed to no other end but the peace, safety, and public good of the people.... The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property; and the end while they choose and authorize a legislative is that there may be laws made, and rules set, as guards and fences to the properties of all the society,... Whensoever, therefore, the legislative [power] shall transgress4 this fundamental rule of society, and either by ambition, fear, folly, or corruption, endeavor to grasp themselves, or put into the hands of any other, an absolute power over the lives, liberties, and estates of the people, by this breach of trust they forfeit the power the people had put into their hands for quite contrary ends, and it devolves5 to the people; who have a right to resume their original liberty, and by the establishment of a new legislative (such as they shall think fit), provide for their own safety and security.... CH 2 Sec 2: 2/2 Enlightenment Ideas Spread Paris, France, the heart of the Enlightenment, drew many intellectuals and others eager to debate new ideas. Reforms proposed one evening became the talk of the town the next day. Enlightenment ideas flowed from France, across Europe, and beyond. Everywhere, thinkers examined traditional beliefs and customs in the light of reason and found them flawed. Even some absolute monarchs experimented with Enlightenment ideas, although they drew back when changes threatened the established way of doing things. New Ideas Challenge Society Enlightenment ideas spread quickly through many levels of society. Educated people all over Europe eagerly read not only Diderot’s Encyclopedia but also the small, inexpensive pamphlets that printers churned out on a broad range of issues. More and more, people saw that reform was necessary in order to achieve a just society. During the Middle Ages, most Europeans had accepted without question a society based on divine-right rule, a strict class system, and a belief in heavenly reward for earthly suffering. In the Age of Reason, such ideas seemed unscientific and irrational. A just society, Enlightenment thinkers taught, should ensure social justice and happiness in this world. Not everyone agreed with this idea of replacing the values that existed, however. Writers Face Censorship Most, but not all, government and church authorities felt they had a sacred duty to defend the old order. They believed that God had set up the old order. To protect against the attacks of the Enlightenment, they waged a war of censorship, or restricting access to ideas and information. They banned and burned books and imprisoned writers. To avoid censorship, philosophes and writers like Montesquieu and Voltaire sometimes disguised their ideas in works of fiction. In the Persian Letters, Montesquieu used two fictional Persian travelers, named Usbek and Rica, to mock French society. The hero of Voltaire’s satirical novel Candide, published in 1759, travels across Europe and even to the Americas and the Middle East in search of “the best of all possible worlds.” Voltaire slyly uses the tale to expose the corruption and hypocrisy of European society. Ideas Spread in Salons New literature, the arts, science, and philosophy were regular topics of discussion in salons, or informal social gatherings at which writers, artists, philosophes, and others exchanged ideas. The salon originated in the 1600s, when a group of noblewomen in Paris began inviting a few friends to their homes for poetry readings. By the 1700s, some middle-class women began holding salons. Here middle-class citizens could meet with the nobi