| A | B |
|---|
| Prehistory | History dating before a written language. |
| Development of Language | 1) Pic represents a thing; 2) Pic stands for an idea; 3) Pic stands for a sound, usually a syllable; 4) Sign represents a letter |
| River Valley Civilizations | 1) Nile in Egypt; 2) Tigris/ Euphrates in S.W. Asia; 3) Indus in S. Asia; 4)Huang He in E. Asia |
| Calendar | Used to determine when flood season was in river valleys, based on moon cycle |
| Civilization | 1) Irrigation/ Government/ Cities; 2) Division of Labor; 3) Calendar; 4) Written Language; 5) Technical skills |
| Irrigation | Ditches dug to transport water to fields, and control floods. |
| Development of Government | Once farming became more efficient, division of labor was possible, center group would divide tasks. |
| Archaeologist | study artifacts from the past. |
| Anthropologist | study people (bones) from the past. |
| Culture | What humans aquire by living together- language, knowledge, skills, art, literature, lifestyles |
| Neolithic Revolution | Important shift from food gathering to food producing; Made tools/ weapons; ~10000 BC |
| Sumer | Located in SE Fertile Crescent; |
| Egyptians | Located around the Nile River |
| Hammurabi | Military leader who conquered upper Tigris/Euphrates River Valley; Created strict and harsh written laws. |
| Geography of Fertile Crescent | Surrounded by mts, and deserts, with grass and herds; Med. Sea coast, Armenia to Persian Gulf |
| Sumer> Social Structure | 1) Priviledged nobles; 2) Merchants/ Artisans; 3) Peasants/ Slaves |
| Egyptian Social Structure | Women ranked as equals of their husband, could own property and leave it to daughter, |
| Scribe | People who were educated in Egypt to be a clerk |
| Arisan | Skilled craftworker |
| Cuneiform | Sumerian style of writing using a stylus to make combos of wedge shapes. |
| Hieroglyphics | Egyptian writing method that uses pictures of symbols to indicate words or sounds. |
| Polytheism | Belief in more than one god. |
| Monotheism | Belief in only one god. |
| Nebudchadnezzar | Chaldean> enormous and elaborate palace with hanging gardens; great leader |
| Chaldeans | Conquered Assyrians; brought little to civilization except timed a year within 7 minutes. |
| Darius | Added regions to the south and east of Persia; son of Cyrus |
| Cyrus | Persian; great leader; revolted against Medes; captured Babylon, Fertile Crescent and Asia Minor. |
| Menes | United Egypt into one kingdom; crushed rebellions; gained new land; regulated irrigation; encouraged trade & prosperity. |
| Tutankhamen | Successor to Akhenaton; moved capital back to Thebes; Polytheism reinstated; priests of Amon regained power |
| Pharaohs | Leaders of Egypt; Regarded as gods because they must've been sent by one. |
| Hatshepsut | First woman ruler; able ruler; interested in welfare of country than war and conquest; constructed buildings to gods. |
| Akhenaton | Changed Egypts religion to monotheistic; Previously named Amenhotep; Moved capital from Thebes to Tell el Amarna, where Amon priests couldn't resist as easily. |
| Ramses II | 1304BC; Held empire in tact; Last leader to keep Egypt together. |
| Osiris | Egyptian god or the Nile and Realm of the Dead |
| Howard Carter | Discovered King Tut's tomb; most intact tomb ever found due to grave robbers |
| Epic of Gilgamesh | see my English Midterm Review site. |
| Fertile Crescent | A fertile land inbetween the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Stretches from the Persian Gulf to the Armenian Hills. |
| Empire | form of government that unites groups of territories under one ruler. |
| Moses | Leader of the Hebrews; led them out of slavery; delivered the Ten Commandments |
| Saul | First king of the united Hebrew kingdom. |
| David | Made Jerusalem capital and religious center |
| Solomon | Built great temple, but could never really be completed due to large debts |
| Ten Commandments | Moral laws the Hebrew god Yahweh revealed to Moses atop Mt Sinai |
| Saul | Successor of Solomon; Hebrew kingdom was split in two- the north was Samaria, the south was Judah. |
| Judaism | Religion of the Hebrews; prevailed through minor adaptations in the prophets speeches, and scriptures |
| Geography of India | Himalayas on the north; dense rain forests; fertile plains, high plateaus (Deccan plateau) ; dry deserts; vast rivers (indo-gangetic plain) ; narrow coasts (coastal plain) |
| Himalayas | Gigantic mountains on the northern borders of India; home of the largest mountains |
| Siddhartha Guatama | Buddha; "Enlightened One" |
| Vedas | carried Aryan knowledge; literature of the Aryan religion; gods are elements of nature, represented as people; constantly changed and developed |
| Brahmans | could reade and write Sanskrit; only people who were educated enough to perform the rituals properly |
| Upanishads | Complex philosophical explanations of the Vedic relgion; Brahmans gained became more important b/c of it |
| Aryans | nomadic tribe that invaded India through the Khyber Pass; Vedas religion; farmers; bartered; contributed a new language, social structure, and religion |
| Confucius | Taught importance of life, respect for elders, and reverence for past |
| Sanskrit | block letter language used in ancient times- ~1500's |
| 4 Noble Truths | 1) There is suffering and sorrow; 2) Greed is bad; 3) Renouncing desire helps one attain nirvana; 4) do the 8-fold path |
| 8-fold Path | 1) See life w/ imperfections; 2) right intentions; 3) right speech; 4)right action; 5)Right Living; 6) Right effort; 7) right mindfulness; 8) right concentration in meditation |
| Mohenjo-Daro | Miracle of city planny and design; water-system, public baths, brick sewer system, 2-story buildings, bathrooms, garbage chutes (oooh), buildings built for use |
| Deccan Plateau | Plateau located in mid-southern India; lots of grass land |
| Nirvana | Escape from Karma> recycling of the soul |
| Karma | Present life reflects the actions of a past. (Hinduism) |
| Dharma | Fulfillment of one's moral duty so soul can go to next level of life (Hinduism) |
| Lao Tzu | developed Daoism; shunned politics; said to harmonize with nature |
| Analects | Confucius' writings; recorded by his students |
| Hinduism | India's m ajor religion; built on monism; reincarnation; see related cards |
| Buddhism | Taught by Buddha; wondered about great problems of life; salvation comes from 4 truths and 8fold path; spread throughout Asia |
| Taoism | developed by Lao Tzu; shunned politics; said to harmonize with nature |
| Caste System | Social orginization used in India; warriors> priests/ scholars/ Brahmans> merchants/ traders > peasants > "untouchables" |
| Hinayana | traditional Buddhism |
| Mahayana | Branch of Buddhism that worshisps Buddha as god |
| Naturalism | Summed up as the yin and yang |
| Polis | Term that in Greece originally meant a fort, but later included the surrounding city. |
| Aristocracy | Cyti-state in ancient Greece governed by nobles; today, means a priviledged social class |
| Tyrant | In ancient Greece, someone who seized power by force, rather than inheriting it |
| Democracy | Government in which all citizens take part and limit the power of rulers |
| Solon | 594BC; freed those enslaved for debt; set up courts to limit judges power; (Athens) |
| Parthenon | Great temple dedicated to Athena; on top of Acropolis of Athens |
| Acropolis | A fort in the center of a city-state of Greece |
| Greek Religion | Had many gods and attributed human qualities to them; used myths to explain their world; used oracles |
| Sparta | Large, pugnacious city-state located on Peloponesus |
| Lycurgus | Created a written code of laws |
| Greek Unity | Due to the mountains and large water bodies seperating the islands, the Greeks never truly unified. The closest they came was the Delian League |
| Delian League | A league controlled by Athens designed to unite the Greeks against Persia, but never truly came together and there was constant in-fighting |
| Marathon | 490BC;Darius landed there to fight 20 miles north of Athens, but lost. |
| Thermopylae | Only victory of Persians against the Greeks; won by Xerxes; narrow mountain pass |
| Salamis | Greeks lured Persians into narrow strait and defeated their gigantic ships with their nimble ships. |
| Pericles | Enlarged Delian League; moved treasury of League to Athens; underminded city. |
| Herodotus | First Greek to take history seriously and rocord it all; avid traveller; "Father of History" |
| Cleisthenes | Made Athens more of a democracy; gave Assembly more power; direct-democracy. |
| Xerxes | Son of Darius; conquered Thermopylae, but eventually lost the war |
| Peloponnesian War | War between Athens and Sparta; faught over control economics and testosterone |
| Plataea | 479BC; Greeks destroyed the last hopes of Persian victory. |
| Hellenism | The culture of the ancient Greeks; spread throughout the Med. Sea by Alexander |
| Philip of Macedon | Unified the Greeks;created organized army |
| Alexander the Great | Spread Hellenistic Culture throughout the empire; spanned Greece, Egypt, Asia Minor, and Persia; |
| Demosthenes | Orator who warned Athens about the invasionof Philip |
| Aeschylus | Wrote Greek tragedies about old religious beliefs |
| Sophocles | Wrote Greek tragedies defending the traditional values |
| Plato | Recorded Socrates teachings; thought an aristocracy of education was the best government |
| Socrates | Criticized Athenian education; philosopher; "know thyself;" Asked Socratic questions to make people think. |
| Aristotle | Founded own school in Athens in 335BC; grouped related terms; wrote Ethics, Poetics, Logic; Thought middle class should rule. |
| Cynicism | Taught that people should seek virtue; means someone selfish and insincere |
| Diogenes | Best known cynic. |
| Epicurus | Epicurean philosophy; "Eat, drink and be merry;" live for the moment. |
| Zeno | Established Stoic philosophy; the divine control the world, so don't complain. |
| Golden Mean | Greece; "Nothing in excess, everything in proportion" |
| Muhammad | Prophet of Islam; born ~570BC; no education; had vision that Gabriel told him to spread the word of Allah; |
| Ka'aba | Islam's holiest shrine; stone building filled with statues of many gods. |
| Hijra | Muhammad's pilgrimage from Mecca to Medina; moved because locals feared him because they thought he would take attn away from the Ka'aba, or central merchants. |
| Abu-Bakr | Muhammad's father-in-law; succeded him as caliph |
| Islam | The religion preached by Muhammad |
| Muslims | one who practices Islam |
| Jihad | Struggle to defend the faith; anyone who dies doing this is a martyr who is blessed by God. |
| Qur'an | Holy book of Muslims; "Recital;" contains God's ordinances and teachings |
| Mecca | The epicenter of Islam; location of the Ka'aba. |
| Five Pillars | 1) Recite the words of witness- "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is his prophet;" 2) Worship 5 times daily facing Mecca; 3) Give alms; 4) Fast during Ramadan; 5) Make pilgrimage to Mecca |
| Tamerlane | Harsh Delhi sultan; 1336; career of conquest; captured Delhi in 1398; Defeated Ottoman Turks |
| Nanak | Mystic prophet who attempted to bring about a total union of Hinduism and Muslinm to creat Sikhism |
| Ramadan | 9th month of Muslim year; sacred because it was when Muhammad had vision. |
| Caliph | "Successor to the prophet;" whenever control shifted, the had a conquest to divert attn. |
| Themes | UNITY; tolerance; prayer |
