Chapter 5 - Society and Inequality in Eurasia

Wang Mang

________, a Han dynasty high court official who took the emperor's throne in 8 c.e.

infertile male

A woman is, as it were, a(n) ________, "according to Aristotle.

Sudras

The ________, aboriginal peoples absorbed into the fringes of Aryan culture in very submissive roles, were much below these twice- born in the hierarchy of varna groupings.

Greek scholars

Women's exclusion from public life and their overall subjection to men were justified by ________, particularly Aristotle.

Emperor Wu Di

________ created an imperial academy in 124 B.C.E., where potential officials were educated as academics and steeped in writings on history, literature, art, and mathematics, with a focus on Confucian doctrines.

Merchants

________ were forbidden to wear silk, ride horses, or carry guns during the Han dynasty's early years.

Peasants

made up the vast bulk of the population, living in small houses with two or three generations

Caste system

society was perpetually split into four graded classes or varnas, was thoroughly established in Indian philosophy by around 500 B.C.E. Everyone was born into one of these classes and remained in it for the rest of their lives

Four classes (varna doctrine)

produced from the body of the god Purusha and were hence immortal and changeless