Changes in the Classical Period

As the economy grew in the beginning of the classical period, the sharing of rich information and spiritual ideas flourished. With each society expanding their wealth and perfecting their goods, the need to trade those with surrounding societies also grew. People began to build complex religious ideas, which traveled right along with merchants on the trade routes. The effects that these developments had in religious and economic thought of this time will have an effect on each and every one of our lives to a degree in which most do not realize.

In the beginning of the classical period we began to see the first workings of a vast network of roads. One of the most important, was the Persian Royal Road. These trade routes spanned from Susa in Persia to Sardis in Anatolia, and were around 1600 miles long. Other than the Royal Road, they began to build large trading ships and developed sea-lanes through the Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea, and the Red Sea, which brought people together from such places and Egypt, India, and Greece.1 This was mostly done by King Darius in the 5th century BCE. Darius was a king with many accomplishments, and was known for his administrative abilities. He applied many policies that promoted trade because he realized that trade helped to hold together an empire. Showing off more of his administrative and organizational skills he divided the Persian Empire into Satrapies, developed a banking and systemized taxing system, and built the magnificent capital, Persepolis. For the first time coins and weights of a standardized value circulated throughout the empire.2 Darius attributes his rise to the throne and success in reorganizing the Persian Empire to the faith Zoroastrianism.3

Zoroastrianism was developed ...

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... emerge. After he died, his group of disciples spread to various states finding employment in either government or education. They became instrumental in the new government and their ideas would remain in China, and Chinese policies until this day.30

The classical period was a time of major economic growth, and for the first time we saw a miniature type of globalization, at least in the eastern hemisphere. The expanding governments built farther and stronger roads to help develop long-distance trade. The merchants carrying the goods carried with them their religious background. They found converts of all types in all places, and spiritual thought became one of the most important themes of the time. These Religions would remain in place as powerful institutions, and the economic strategies developed would only be expanded on until this very present day.