The millennium between 500 B.C.E. and 500 C.E. in North Africa and Eurasia witnessed the flowering of second-wave civilizations in the Mediterranean world, the Middle East, India, and China. For the most part, these distant civilizations did not directly encounter one another, as each established its own political system, cultural values, and ways of organizing society. A great exception to that rule lay in the Mediterranean world and in the Middle East, where the emerging Persian Empire and Greek civilization, physically adjacent to each other, experienced a centuries-long interaction and clash. It was one of the most consequential cultural encounters of the ancient world.
| Civilization | Chinese | South Asian | Middle Eastern | Mediterranean |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Political features | Unified empire under Qin and Han dynasties; “Mandate of Heaven” concept; examinations for official positions | Mauryan and Gupta empires; frequent political fragmentation | Persian Empire; royal absolutism; conquest by Alexander the Great | Greek city-states; Athenian democracy; Roman Empire; unification of Mediterranean basin |
| Cultural features | Confucianism/Daoism | Hinduism/Buddhism | Zoroastrianism; Judaism; Christianity | Greek rationalism; spread of Christianity |
| Social features | Class hierarchy; dominance of bureaucratic and landholding elites; peasant rebellions | Caste system; purity and pollution; social position as indicator of spiritual development | Benevolent posture toward minorities in Persian Empire; Jews returned to homeland; tension between Greek and non-Greeks in Hellenistic era | Unusually prominent role of slavery in Greek and Roman society |