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The course of Western civilization was profoundly influenced by the combination of monarchy and weaponry. Monarchs often wished to expand their sphere of influence, which usually involved taking over somebody else's. As a result, violence was a constant threat to early societies. People responded by inventing ingenious methods of killing their enemies, starting with maces and stone knives and working their way toward iron spears and axes. The first rulers to expand small holdings into sizeable empires were the pharoahs of Egypt and the chiefs of Sumerian cities. They moved into surrounding territories, but Indo-Europeans from the steppes around the Black and Caspian seas roamed further, taking parts of Greece and Asia Minor. These empires were relatively small compared to those created after 1200 B.C.E. by the technologically superior Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians, who conquered enormous regions. There were similarities between the various empires. Most were led by monarchs, most had strictly hierarchical societies, and most attributed their success to their military might. Yet not all empires were alike. They varied in terms of their methods and their goals. The Assyrians were ferocious fighters and vicious winners who deported whole populations of people unlucky enough to be conquered, while the Babylonians enslaved nearly the entire nation of the Jews. Persia, by way of contrast, dominated through a policy of toleration. Its rulers allowed subjects to continue their own traditions in order to render their subjugation less painful. China's rulers standardized weights, measures, writing, and coinage, and also intellectual activity-the questioning of tradition was not tolerated. In Greece, Athens joined with Sparta to defy the Persian empire, only to exert tyrannical control over other Greek city-states. Empires did not concentrate solely on war. Powerful kings provided a market for all kinds of art and technology. The Mycenean kingdom produced beautiful ceramics and bronze art. The Cretans fashioned running water and sewage systems for their king's palaces. Assyrians created monumental statues and the Babylonians invented astronomy. Conquest caused enormous suffering, but the material resources it consolidated made important cultural advances possible.
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