Chapter 3 focuses on the Persian Empire, The Greeks, and the comparison of Rome and China Empires and also Persian and Greeks. Throughout the time these civilizations developed most monarchs continued to rule, women were subordinate to men and the practice of slavery was still practiced. There was also no technological or economic breakthrough until the Industrial Revolution came much later. One important thing that happened was the growth of population. Number quadrupled in the 20th century, and there was a pattern of growth during the age of agrarian civilization.
One interesting fact about technology was that the Chinese were the ones who had the most technological advancements. They came up with things like piston bellows, draw-loom, silk-handing machinery, the wheelbarrow, gunpowder among others. This interesting fact can connect with the world today because even today China is one of the countries that provides the most technology advancements and even simple things like clothing are exported from there.
The first Empire discussed is The Persian Empire. It was the largest and most impressive of the world's empires. Persian conquests quickly reached from Egypt to India, it contained many single states and had dozens of people, states, languages, and cultural traditions. Another important fact about Persians was that they had a very effective administrative system and was believed that their kings were absolute monarchs. Lastly, the Persians had a system of standardized coinage, predictable taxes and newly dug canal linking the Nile with the Red Sea. This is important because it expanded commerce and enriched Egypt.
In comparison to the Persians the Greeks had a total population of 2 to 3 million, which is a fraction of what the Persian was. The greatest contrast of Greece and Persia is the extent of participation in political life. The idea of citizenship of free people managing affairs of the state and equality of all citizens was very unique compared to other civilizations or Empires. One thing that the Persians and the Greeks had was expansion of people and how their expansion took form of settlement in distant places rather than conquest and empire.
The last comparison made in chapter 3 I between the Roman and Chinese Empires. Both of these empires invoked supernatural sanctions to support their rule. For Romans it was the regard of their deceased emperors as Gods and made religious cults to support the authority of living rulers. Politically, both had an effective control over regions and big populations, although Chinese were far more developed than Romans. Lastly, these two empires differ in several ways. One was their relationship to the societies they governed. Rome had very small city-states while China grew a much larger cultural heartland. And the last contrast is how the impacted the environment. Rome was very aware of the noise and smoke of the city, and objected to the urban sprawl that extended into fertile lands. On the other hand Chinese ironworking during the Han dynasty had a huge contribution to urban air pollution.
