THE GREAT MAN THEORY
THE GREAT MAN THEORY
Themes
- Dominance
- Models in Southwest Asia, Mediterranean, and South Asia
The Great Man Theory
- the man makes the times or the times make the man?
- George Hegel; Thomas Carlyle (1840):
- Why do we want heroes?
Two Models from Southwest Asia
- Assyrian Empire: __________ war?
- Environment *:
Mesopotamia, Ninevah
- Development
- c. 1100-612 B.C.E.; high point 9th-7th centuries
- Sargon II 721-705 B.C.E.
- Sennacherib 705-681 B.C.E.
- Ashurbanipal 668-663 B.C.E.
- defeat by Babylonians and Medes 612 B.C.E.
- Culture
- Achaemenids: __________ imperialism?
- Environment
- Development
- Indo-Europeans c. 2000-1000 B.C.E.
- Achaemenid dynasty 558-330 B.C.E.
- Cyrus the Great 558-530 B.C.E.
- Cambyses 530-522 B.C.E.
- Darius 522-486 B.C.E.
- Xerxes 486-464 B.C.E.
- Culture
Great Men and Fleeting Empires
-
- Alexander and the Hellenistic Empire
- Who gets the credit?
- the conditions:
-
- Philip II 359-336 B.C.E.
- Alexander the Great 336-323 B.C.E.
- Hellenistic empires 323-272 B.C.E.
- Ptolemaic
- Selucid
- Antigonid
- the mythical man:
- Plutarch (1st cen C.E.)
- Aristotle
- *
- cultural legacy: Hellenistic world
- Ashoka and the Mauryan Empire; Chandragupta and the Gupta Empire
- Man or Myth?
- the conditions
-
- Republics and Kingdoms c.600-321 B.C.E.
- 5th cen B.C.E: Magadha, Kashi, Kosala, Vrijis
- Nandas c. 360 B.C.E.
- Mauryan dynasty 321-180 B.C.E.
- Chandragupta Maurya 321 B.C.E.
- Bindusara 297-272 B.C.E.
- Ashoka 272-232 B.C.E.
- Diffusion and disintegration c. 180-B.C.E.-C.E. 300
- Gupta dynasty 320-550 C.E.
- the myth of Ashoka:
- cultural legacy:
Conclusions
- threads: interactive map
- dominant or domineering?
- historical impact and the power of heroic myth
Explore!
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