AP World - Period 2 Review (600 BCE to 600 CE)

Period 2: Organization & Reorganization of Human Societies (600 BCE-600 CE)

Period 2 Dates to Know

Period 2 Essential Questions

1. In what ways  did humans develop and codify religious and cultural traditions?
2. In what ways  did states and empires rise, develop, and fall?
3. In what ways did interregional networks of communication and exchange emerge and develop?

Past Essay Questions from Period 2

Period 2 Key Concepts - Course Outline

2.1. Religion & Culture

1. Old religions were developed and codified.
1. Spread of monotheism through Hebrew scriptures and Jewish diaspora.
2. Hinduism developed in India with a caste system that affected political & social roles.
2. New religions emerged and spread.
1. Buddhism developed in India, spread throughout Asia.
2. Confucianism developed in China with key ideas in education and relationships.
3. Daoism influenced China, focused on balance between humans and nature.
4. Christianity influenced by Judaism & Hellenism, spread through Eurasia.
5. Greco-Roman philosophers used logic and empiricism to understand the world.
6. Religion was reflected in architecture.
3. Religion affected social structures.
1. Confucianism emphasized filial piety.
2. Monasticism was practiced by some Buddhists and Christians.
4. Other traditions.
1. Shamanism, animism, ancestor veneration continued in periphery civilizations.

2.2. States & Empires

1. States unified and expanded.
   1. Key states = Persia, Qin & Han, Maurya & Gupta, Phoenicia, Greek city-states, Hellenistic Empires, Roman Empire, Teotihuacan, Maya city-states, Moche, Cahokia
2. States developed new systems of political administration.
1. Centralized governments managed bureaucracies and legal systems.
2. Trade and military power led to diplomacy, defensive walls, and roads.
3. Changes in social and economic structures.
1. Imperial cities were centers of trade, religion, and politics
1. Persepolis, Chang’an, Pataliputra, Athens, Carthage, Rome, Alexandria, Constantinople, Teotihuacan
2. Social hierarchies included laborers, slaves, artisans, merchants, and elites.
3. Labor systems developed to maintain food production (corvee, slavery, tributes).
4. Patriarchy continued.
4. Empires of the classic era collapsed.
1. States fell because of overexpansion, political corruption, social tensions, economic difficulties, and elites with too much power.
2. Lack of security led to outside invasions.

1. Land & water routes allowed for interregional trade.
   1. Silk Roads, Trans-Saharan routes, Indian Ocean sea lanes, Mediterranean sea lanes.
2. New technologies expanded trade.
1. Transportation of goods through domesticated animals.
2. Adaptations to the environment innovated maritime trade (monsoon management).
3. People, beliefs, goods, and disease spread on trade networks.
1. Spread of crops (rice & cotton) changed farming techniques (qanat).
2. Spread of disease led to decline in populations (smallpox).
3. Spread of religions (Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism) led to syncretisms.

Concepts & Vocabulary from Period 2

• Achaemenid empire
• ahimsa
• Alexander the Great
• Alexandria
• aristocracy/aristocrats
• Aristotle
• ascetic
• Ashoka Maurya
• Bhagavad Gita
• Buddhism
• caravanserai
• Carthage
• caste system
• Chandragupta Maurya
• Chichen Itza
• Christianity
• Cicero
• civil service exam
• Confucianism
• Constantine
• consuls
• Crete
• Cyrus the Great
• dao
• Dao De Jing
• Daoism
• Darius I
• Delian League
• democracy
• direct democracy
• Edict of Milan
• empiricism
• Epicureanism
• Four Noble Truths
• Ganges River
• Gupta Dynasty
• Han Dynasty
• Hellenistic period
• hieroglyphics
• Homer
• Iliad
• Indian Ocean sea lanes
• Jainism
• Jesus
• Julius Caesar
• Kushan Empire
• latifundia
• Laws of the Twelve Tables
• Mauryan Dynasty
• Maya/Mayan
• Minoan civilization
• Moche
• monasteries
• obsidian
• Octavian/Caesar Augustus
• oligarchy
• Olmec
• Parthians
• patricians
• Pax Romana
• Pax Sinica
• Peloponnesian League
• Persian Wars
• Plato
• plebeians
• poleis (polis)
• Punic Wars
• qanat
• reincarnation
• representative democracy
• republic
• Rock and Pillar Edicts
• Royal Road
• Sassanids
• satraps
• Seleucids
• Shihuangdi
• Siddhartha Gautama
• Silk Roads
• Socrates
• Spartacus Revolution
• Stoicism
• syncretic
• Teotihuacan
• tribunes
• tribute
• Vedas Upanishads
• White Huns
• Xerxes
• Xiongnu
• Yellow Turban Rebellion
• Zarathustra
• Zoroastrianism