Civilizations and space 4 ( formation of cosmopolitan civilizations )

Unlike the other three civilizations, which were based on great rivers, European civilization was born from the Mediterranean Sea like great lake . Greece and Rome emerged from the commercial influences of Egypt, Syria and Phoenicia as the agricultural production of the Orient civilizations increased. One of the reasons why Greece did not become an empire (with the exception of the Macedonian dynasty) was that it was not an agricultural civilization based on rivers, but a commerce and money civilization based on the Mediterranean Sea. It seems that So would the Roman Empire (Rome was heavily influenced by Greece*1). Compared to Indian and Chinese civilizations, Islamic civilization also includes a variety of geographical environments and is similar to Greek and Roman civilizations. 

 

*1 Rome influenced by Greece

During the Persian Wars, Persia and Carthage were linked, and Greece and Rome (against Etruria) were linked. Macedonia and Carthage were united in the dispute over Sicily, and Rome was united with the League of Greek Cities. While the activities of the Greek cities and the Roman cities showed some similarities and differences, both Greece and Rome continued to circulate in various forms of their ``government'', inheriting trade areas. I feel like In modern terms, it may be said that Hegemony moved from Greece to Rome in the Mediterranean world - economy.

*2 The Persian Wars, the Peloponnesian Wars, and the Punic Wars are all ancient wars, but just as Toynbee was inspired by them, there is an impression that these wars have something in common with modern times because these wars were fought over trade spheres. The fact that it was a battle must have been a big factor. Gradually, the Roman Empire began to grant Roman citizenship to dependent territories, but this idea itself was cosmopolitan. In other words, the major characteristic of the cosmopolitan type is that it is a cosmopolitan type society, regardless of the system or era, but the "world economy" has become a system of exploitation through two pipes that make use of internal disparities and external disparities. It seems that Toynbee drew up the idea of the rise of the proletariat inside and the rise of belligerent groups outside.

 

 

There was a time when European civilization tried to preserve the unity of imperialism like Chinese civilization. Such was the flow from the start of the Roman Empire, through the era of the Five Good Emperors, to the era of confusion, and eventually to the establishment of the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine Empire was a trading nation and had long served as a bulwark for Roman civilization, but in the west it was invaded by Germanic tribes and others, and the period of integration (the Kingdom of the Franks) was short-lived. It continued to receive it frequently*, and European civilization was formed in it, accompanied by separation.

* The Avars and Magyars attacked the Holy Roman Empire, and the Saracens and Normans attacked the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties respectively.

 

Even though they were cosmopolitan civilizations, the difference between Islamic civilization and European civilization is that Islam spread the Koran, Arabic, and the immigration of Arabs gradually spread, and  that civilization repeated expansion movements, while the Roman Empire as commerce declined,* Christianity spread. As a result, a cosmopolitan civilization has been formed by taking in what various ethnic groups have entered. In this sense, the cosmopolitan type of European civilization seems to have been formed in a way that differs greatly from the cosmopolitan type of Islamic civilization. Also, Christianity did not expand in the same way as Islamic civilization during this period, and the confusion caused by repeated ethnic invasions may have been great for a long time.

 

*Economic decline in the Roman Empire

Since the time of Diocletian, social status and occupation have been fixed, creating a system reminiscent of the Indian caste. First of all, it was the property class (council members) in the city that was placed at the center of state control. State control over trade unions of traders and craftsmen was likewise strengthened. In this way, the cities that formed the cells of Greco-Roman society fell, and the measures taken by the government for military personnel and government officials during a period of instability (inflation) in the value of money in the sector of state finance ) produced an irregular national economy.

 

A surplus was generated by the improvement of agricultural productivity, and it became possible to distribute it, cities were established, and commerce began. The earliest trade began in the Orient. The civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt arose, leading to the integration of them into Assyria and Achaemenid Persia, which led to the establishment of Phenicia, Greece, and Rome. On the other hand, in the east, it influenced the distant Indus civilization* and the Yellow River civilization. In India, a wave of Aryans, separate from the Persians, surged.

 

*Indus Valley Civilization and Mesopotamian Civilization

Which came first, the Mesopotamian Civilization or the Indus Valley Civilization? The Indus civilization is said to have been around 2500-1800 BC, and the Mesopotamian civilization around 3000 BC. And if the migration of Indo-European tribes was around 1500 BC, it is said that the Indus civilization was not destroyed by the Aryans, but was destroyed before that. The Indus Valley civilization is said to have spread farther than Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Yellow River civilization*, but it is said to have disappeared without a trace. It is believed that a variety of factors, including weather, logging, and changes in watersheds, contributed to their disappearance.

 

There were great differences between the urban civilization of Mesopotamia and the Indus civilization in terms of the form of the city and the lifestyle of the inhabitants. Also, the method of carving cuneiform characters on clay tablets was not known in the Indus civilization.

 

In addition to the two major language families (Semitic-Hamitic and Indo-European), there were peoples of unknown origin, including the Sumerians, who built the first urban civilization on the Mesopotamian plains, collectively known as the "Japhetic" language family.

It was the Sumerians who built these city-states centering on the southern part of Babylonia, and they laid the foundation of Mesopotamian civilization.

 

Considering the above, the development of bathing facilities, the improvement of urban planning, etc., are somewhat similar to those of Rome. *Although the deeper part of the stratum is unknown, there might be a possibility that the Indus civilization, the Dravidian civilization, was older than the Mesopotamian civilization. Considering this fact, the fact that it was an unknown ethnic group, and that it was not cuneiform from the beginning, it may be possible to consider the theory that the Indus civilization preceded it.

  

It should be noted that around the 5th century BC, many influential religious figures and philosophers were born, such as Zoroaster in Persia, Socrates in Greece, Buddha in India, and Confucius in China. The establishment of a "complicated human society" was considered to be the background to this, and the existence of cities would have been assumed. And the emergence of cities led to the formation of nations and empires. Alexander's Empire, the Roman Empire, the Mauryan Empire, the Qin-Han Empire, and the Persian Empire.

  

Zarathustra 6th-7th century BC

Socrates 469-399 BC

Shaka 563-483 BC

Confucius 552-479 BC

 

However, it seems that these empires were different. While Greece and Rome were civilizations centered on trade (markets) based on the network of the Mediterranean Sea, Persia, India, and China were civilizations centered on agricultural productivity and despotic power. . Although Indian civilization (especially the Satavarhana and Pallava dynasties in the south) may be a little different. And tyrannical power would have been better to prevent the nomadic tribes from constantly invading from the north.

 

The establishment of these empires cannot be regarded as the establishment of cosmopolitans, because it was a space where peoples different from cosmopolitans live based on common values rather than by coercive power. Rather than being a cosmopolitan type of civilization, the Byzantine Empire also transformed into an empire like Persia and China.

 

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