| A | B |
|---|
| cradle of civilization | where farming first began 8000 yrs. ago |
| Mesopotamia | means "land between the rivers"-Tigris and Euphrates, no natural boundaries to protect it from invasion |
| Neolithic Revolution | change which brought agriculture and technology, took thousands of years, in middle east: 6000-3000 BC |
| Rosetta Stone | enabled Jean-Fracisco Champollion to break the Hieroglyphic code (1822) |
| Hammurabi | leader of the Babylonian Empire |
| polytheism | belief in many Gods |
| monotheism | belief in one God |
| theocracy | govt. run by church/priest |
| cuneiform | Sumerian created writing- 3500 BC, wedge shaped |
| Behistun rock | enabled Sir Henry Rawlinson (in 1835) to break the code of cuneiform writing |
| hieroglyphics | Egyptian created writing, means "sacred carving," written on papyrus or stone |
| Menes (Narmer) | king, united upper and lower Egypt |
| Khufu | had great pyramid located at Giza |
| Hittites | came out of central Turkey (Anatolia) and defeated the Babylonians, introduced the use of iron |
| Sumerians | migrated from the Armenian region of the Black/Caspian Sea, invented the wheel, math system based on numeral 60, mapping of constellations, weight and measure system |
| pharaoh | leader of Egypt |
| Israel | roughly included area between the Jordan R. and coastal plain |
| ziggurat | temple built on staircased platform |
| Abraham | father of Isaac and Ishmael, patriarch |
| Canaan | people called Hebrews, Abraham and the conquest |
| Palestine | Roman occupation until 1948 |
| Saul | reigned from c. 1020-1000 BC, chosen king in response to the needs of war, opposed by Samuel |
| David | reigned from 1000-950 BC, made Jerusalem the capital |
| Solomon | developed the city of Jerusalem, built first temple, heavy taxation, not popular in his own time |
| patriarchs | fathers-Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Jewish) |
| Torah | Jewish holy book |
| Talmud | consists of a codification of laws, including commentaries on the Torah |
| Babylonian Captivity | synagogues replaced the temple, Talmud was compiled, Rabbis replaced Priests |
| Ark of the Covenant | religious shrine where Isaac was to be sacrificed |
| Yahweh | onmiscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and uncreated God |
| Exodus | Hebrews go to Egypt to escape famine, remained there for 400 yrs., Moses led them out of Egypt, Jewish religion takes concrete form |
| Jesus | born in 4 BC |
| Conquest | Hebrews had to conquer the Philistines and Canaanites for the right to settle on the land, 2 accounts-Joshua and Judges |
| Herod | ruled from 37-4 BC, extremely cruel, rebuilt the temple (second temple), last years of rule were a reign of terror |
| Masada | Jews held out on the top of it (fortress on a mountain) during Diaspora |
| Diaspora | dispersing of Jews, 135 AD |
| Islam | religion started by Muhammad 600 yrs. after rise of christianity |
| Muhammad | born in 570 AD, received revelations from archangel Gabriel in 610, began preaching his message in 613 |
| Koran | Muslim holy book |
| Five Pillars | five duties required of Muslims |
| Hijra | Muhammad fled to Medina |
| hajj | pilgrimage to Mecca |
| Battle of Tours | happened in 732 AD, Franks defeated Muslim armies |
| accomplishments of the Arabs during the Golden Age | built observatories, calculated circumference of earth, developed compass, quadrant, sextant, and astrolabe, geographers mapped the vast world they knew, developed circular maps, cartography, developed calligraphy, arabesque, mosaics, dome, arch, minaret, mosques, periodic table, Koran, Arabian Nights, Tales of Sinbad, introduced guitar, tambourine in music |
| Saladin | led the Muslims in the second Crusade, a Kurd |
| Umayyads | dynasty from 661-750, founded by Mu'awiya after the murder of 'Ali, capital moved to Damascus, made Arabic official language throughout empire |
| Abbasids | dynasty from 750-945, capital moved to Baghdad, eliminated distinction between Arab and non-Arab, see beginnings of "Golden Age" |
| Abu Bakr | first religious caliph (knew the prophet personally) |
| Ali | fourth caliph (656-661), supporters called Shi'ites, opposed by Mu'awiya who held him responsible for Uthman's death, was murdered |
| Sunni | believed in an elective caliphate open to all, more open in ideas, majority |
| Shi'ite | believed the caliphate should be held only by descendants of Muhammad, role of martyrdom, look to imams for leadership, belief in the Mahdi, located primarily in Iraq and Iran |
| minaret | towers from which muezzin makes the cry |
| mosque | place of worship |
| muezzin | muslim crier, calls people to prayer |
| Crusades | Seljuk Turks were persecuting Christian pilgrims and European Christians saught to retake holy land |
| Byzantine Empire | threatened by the Seljuk Turks, were defeated in the Battle of Manzikert |
| sultan | king of an Islamic country |
| Wahabi Movement | blamed problems on corruption of Islam during decline of empire |
| Sulieman the Magnificent | 1520-1566, codified Ottoman law, attacked Vienna, contemporary of Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V |
| Young Turks | led the Westernization movement w/ Mustafa Kemal |
| Balkan Peninsula | includes Greece, part of Turkey, Albania, Yugoslavia |
| Constantinople | former city in Turkey (Istanbul today), in fourth crusade-attacked and looted |
| Osman I | led band of ghazi warriors, unified w. Anatolia, conquests gradual enough to allow for efficient government administration |
| Battle of Kosovo | 1912, Ottomans expelled |
| Kemal Ataturk (Mustafa Kemal) | led Westernization Movement w/ the Young Turks |
| Ties of Jews and Arabs to the land | Jews: promised to Abraham and his descendants, Jerusalem is a holy city, once part of Jewish kingdom under David and Solomon, tradition of returning to Palestine after periods of exile, never left voluntarily, faced persecution everywhere else in world, Palestinian Arabs: promised to Abraham and descendants, Jerusalem is holy city, once part of Arab Empire founded by Muhammad, have lived here continuously since 7th century, majority of population was Arab and Muslim, not responsible for persecution of Jews |
| McMahon Correspondence | promised Arabs the right to create an independent Palestine after the war |
| Balfour Declaration | promised the Jews the right to create a Jewish national home in Palestine |
| Sykes-Picot Agreement | secret agreement between the British and French to carve up the Middle East after the war |
| anti-semitism | anti-Jew |
| U.N. Partition Plan of 1947 | mandate was to be divided into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and a small internationally-run zone including Jerusalem |
| Yasir Arafat | leader of the P.L.O. |
| Occupied Territory | Israel occupied the Sinai Pen., Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Golan Heights |
| P.L.O. | Palestinian Liberation Organization |
| zionism | a political position and movement that calls for the reestablishment of a Jewish nation in Palestine |
| Theodore Herzl | founded zionism |
| Hosni Mubarek | current president of Egypt |
| Anwar Sadat | former president of Egypt |
| Gamal Nasser | became leader of Egypt after the revolution |
| Yitzak Rabin | former prime minister of Israel |
| Ariel Sharon | current prime minister of Israel |
| Ayatollah Khomeini | Iranian leader, died |
| Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi | leader of Iran before Khomeini |
| Mossadegh | prime minister who controlled Iran's oil, nationalized oil fields |
| Hafez Assad | former president of Syria |
| Bashir Assad | current president of Syria |
| Saddam Hussein | current president of Iraq |
| King Fahd | current leader of Saudi Arabia |
| King Abdullah II | king of Jordan |
| OPEC | Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, created in 1960, original members-Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Venezuela |
| Palestinians | Arabs who lived in former Palestine |
| Coalition Forces | U.S. forces in Desert Storm |
| Desert Storm | U.S. involvement in Persian Gulf War |
| Norman Schwarzkopf | U.S. general in Persian Gulf War |
