Why was the period from 800 to 200 BCE in Afro-Eurasia known as the “Axial Age”? Provide examples to justify this historical classification. Include comments on chapter maps and images that relate to your answer
The “Axial Age”
The maps included in Chapter 8 help illustrate how these shifts impacted both physical geography (elements such as terrain features) as well as human geography (the movement of people). For example, one map shows how trade routes connected cultures across Eurasia while another illustrates how Alexander III’s conquests shaped modern day nation boundaries across North Africa and Asia Minor. The images included throughout Chapter 8 provide visual evidence for some of these broader changes; they show representations of important figures from various Axial Age religions along with artwork depicting different belief systems (such as religious symbols or temple architecture). Together these maps and images give us a comprehensive understanding of why this era was known as the "Axial Age".