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Conclusion
The breakdown of two imperial systems—Rome around the Mediterranean, and Han China in East Asia—introduced an era in which religion and shared culture rather than military conquest and political institutions linked large areas of Afro-Eurasia.
The Roman Empire gave way to a new religious unity, first represented by Christian dissenters and then co-opted by the emperor Constantine. In western Europe, the sense of unity unlimited by imperial frontiers gave rise to a universal, or “Catholic,” church—the “true” Christian religion that believers felt all peoples should share. In the eastern Mediterranean, where the Roman Empire survived, Christianity and empire coalesced to reinforce each other. Christians here held that beliefs about God and Jesus found their most correct expression within the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) and in its capital, Constantinople.
Similarly, in East Asia, the weakening of the Han dynasty enabled Buddhism to dominate Chinese culture. Without a unified state in China, Confucian officials lost their influence, while Buddhist priests and monks enjoyed patronage from regional rulers, local warriors, and commoners. In India, Brahman elites exploited population movements beyond the reach of traditional rulers as they established ritual forms for daily life on every level of society while melding aspects of their own Vedic faith with those of Buddhism to create a new Hindu synthesis.
Not all regions felt the spread of universalizing religions, however. In most of sub-Saharan Africa, belief systems were much more localized. Similarly, in Mesoamerica, where long-distance transportation was harder and political authority more diffuse, religion was a unifying force but nothing like the widespread universalizing religions of Afro-Eurasia. Nevertheless, spiritual life was no less profound. Here, a strong sense of a shared worldview, a shared sense of purpose, and a shared sense of faith enabled common cultures to develop. Indeed, the Bantus and the Maya became large-scale common cultures—but ruled at the local level.
CORE OBJECTIVES
Thus, the period 300–600 CE saw the emergence of three great cultural units in Afro-Eurasia, each defined in religious terms: Christianity in the Mediterranean and parts of Southwest Asia, Hinduism in South Asia, and Buddhism in East Asia. They illustrate the ways in which peoples were converging under larger religious tents, while also becoming more distinct. Universalizing religions, whether Christian or Buddhist, and codes of behavior, such as the Brahmanic Code of Manu, gave people a new way to define themselves and their loyalties.
TRACING THE GLOBAL STORYLINE
FOCUS ON: The Rise of Christianity, the Spread of Buddhism, and the Beginnings of Common Cultures
Europe and Southwest Asia
- Christianity moves from a minority, persecuted faith to a state religion in the Roman Empire.
- The Sasanian Empire in Iran cultivates religious diversity, tolerating the practice of Zoroastrianism, Nestorian Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and Brahmanic religion.
South Asia and East Asia
- Brahmanism, or Hinduism, becomes the dominant religion among the Vedic peoples of South Asia.
- Buddhism spreads out of South Asia along the Silk Roads through central Asia and into East Asia (now fractured politically, but with the Buddhist-leaning Northern Wei having a dominant influence).
Sub-Saharan Africa and Mesoamerica
- Large parts of sub-Saharan Africa are influenced by the spread of Bantu-speaking, ironworking migrants who adapt to a range of ecological zones.
- In Mesoamerica, urban kingdoms thrive in Teotihuacán (central Mexico) and among the Maya (of Yucatán).
KEY TERMS
THINKING ABOUT GLOBAL CONNECTIONS
Thinking about Crossing Borders and Universalizing Religions Why did the challenge of crossing borders seem to infuse vitality into Christianity and Buddhism in the fourth through sixth centuries CE? Which religions in this period did not seem to cross borders and why? What effect did this have on those religions?
Thinking about Changing Power Relationships and Universalizing Religions Universalizing religions, like Christianity and Buddhism, were successful in part because of their diverse personalized appeal to women and men, rich and poor, and the upper and lower classes. How might this diverse appeal enable a universalizing religion like Christianity to undermine and alter traditional power relationships? In what ways did Buddhism do the same?
Thinking about Worlds Together, Worlds Apart and Universalizing Religions Why did universalizing religions like Christianity and Buddhism develop in some parts of the world but not in others in the period 300 to 600 CE? How did these universalizing religions allow for continuity in Eurasia, even as empires fell away? In the “worlds apart,” how might the lack of universalizing religion have influenced continuity, as political entities rose and fell over time?
More information
A horizontal timeline covering 1 to 1000 CE organizes major historical developments by region: the Mediterranean and Southwest Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Mesoamerica. Bars mark important periods such as the legalization of Christianity in the Roman Empire, the flourishing of the Sasanian and Byzantine Empires, and invasions that affected the Roman world. In Asia, the timeline highlights the spread of Buddhism through Central and East Asia, the Gupta Empire in South Asia, and the Six Dynasties period in China. In Africa, it shows the long migration of Bantu-speaking peoples across the continent. In Mesoamerica, it marks the prominence of Maya culture and the rise of the city of Teotihuacán.
Glossary
- Bantu migrations
- Waves of population movement from West Africa into eastern and southern Africa during the first millennium CE, bringing new agricultural practices to these regions and absorbing much of the hunting and gathering population.
- Byzantium
- Modern term for the Eastern Roman Empire (which would last until 1453), centered at its “New Rome,” Constantinople, which was founded in 324 CE by Constantine on the site of the Greek city Byzantium.
- Code of Manu
- Brahmanic code of law that took shape in the third to fifth centuries CE and expressed ideas going back to Vedic times. Framed as a conversation between Manu (the first human and an ancient lawgiver) and a group of wise men, it articulated the rules of the hierarchical varna system.
- creed
- From the Latin credo, meaning “I believe,” an authoritative statement of belief. The Nicene Creed, formulated by Christian bishops at the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, is an example of one such formal belief statement.
- Hinayana Buddhism
- (termed “Lesser Vehicle” Buddhism by the Mahayana/“Greater Vehicle” school; also called Theraveda Buddhism) A more traditional, conservative branch of Buddhism that accepted the divinity of the Buddha but not of bodhisattvas.
- Hinduism
- Ancient Brahmanic Vedic religion that emerged as the dominant faith in India in the third century CE. It reflected rural and agrarian values and focused on the trinity of Brahma (birth), Vishnu (existence), and Shiva (destruction).
- martyr
- Literally meaning “witness,” a person executed by Roman authorities for maintaining his or her Christian beliefs rather than worshipping the emperor.
- Sanskrit cosmopolis
- Cultural synthesis based on Hindu spiritual beliefs expressed in the Sanskrit language that unified South Asia in place of a centralized empire.
- universalizing religions
- Religions that appeal to diverse populations; are adaptable to new cultures and places; promote universal rules and principles; proselytize new believers, often through missionaries; foster community; and, in some cases, do all of this through the support of an empire.