Eurasian Communities

Until far into the 4th century BC, the Persian Empire was the only world empire in Eurasia. The subsequent centuries, however, witnessed the emergence of large empires in all the highly developed regions from China to the Mediterranean. Moreover, these regions became linked to each other by direct and indirect contacts, while at the same time they expanded their respective spheres of influence. Chinese civilization penetrated the peninsula of Korea and initiated centuries of cultural influence on Japan; simultaneously, the sinification of adjacent areas in the south of China continued apace. In India, toward the end of the 4th century BC and in reaction to the short-lived conquest of the northwest of the country by Alexander the Great, for the first time one empire united the Indus and Ganges basins. In the next century, starting from India, Buddhism would expand all over Central Asia. The Persian Empire was destroyed by Alexander the Great (334-323 BC), whose expedition into Asia unleashed countless changes. The Greek states that emerged from his empire after his death would ultimately, one after another, give way to conquering nomadic peoples in Central Asia, to the emergence of the Parthians in Iran, and finally to the expansion of Roman military power in the west. In the 3rd century BC, Rome subjugated the western part of the Mediterranean, in the 2nd century also the eastern part, and in the 1st century BC it would embark on the conquests of large areas of West and Central Europe. Thus, at the end of this period and around the beginnings of our era, three great empires had arisen in Eurasia: the Roman Empire around the Mediterranean, the Parthian Empire in Western Asia, and the Chinese Empire in the east. Commercial routes across land and sea connected these empires as well as India directly or indirectly. Along these routes, artistic influences and religious ideas spread, foremost among them Buddhist ones, although the great age of Buddhist expansion, like that of other major world religions, would continue into the next period.

Antiquity: Greeks andRomans in Context, First Edition. Frederick G. Naerebout and HenkW. Singor. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2014 byJohn Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Map 13 Eurasia, 3rd - 1st c. BC

Map 13  (Continued)