| A | B |
|---|
| Indo-Europeans | a group of seminomadic peoples who came from the steppes north of the Caucasus mountains |
| steppes | dry grasslands |
| migrations | movements of a people from one region to another |
| Anatolia | also called Asia Minor, a huge peninsula in modern-day Turkey |
| Hittites | a group of Indo-European speakers from Anatolia |
| Brahmins | priests in Aryan culture |
| castes | social system in India, very ingrained in society, religiously based in the Hindu religion |
| Mahabharata | a great epic of India, reflects the struggles that took place in India as the Aryans moved relentlessly south |
| reincarnation | rebirth of an individual soul or spirit is born again and again until maksha is achieved |
| karma | good or bad deeds |
| Jainism | Mahavira founded this religion, believed that everything in the universe has a sould and so should not be harmed |
| Siddhartha Gautama | foudner of Buddhism |
| enlightenment | wistdom in the religion of Buddhism |
| nirvana | the Buddha's word for release from selfishness and pain |
| Minoans | seafaring people, who dominated trade in the eastern Mediterranean from about 200-1400 BC |
| Knossos | Minoan capitol city |
| King Minos | civilization of Minao is named after him, according to a legend, he was a king who kept half-human, half-bull monster called hte Minotaur |
| Phoenicians | the most powerful traders along the Mediterranean |
| Palestine | the Phoenicians lived in a region at the eastern end of teh Mediterranean Sea that was later called this |
| Canaan | this wa the ancien home of the Hebrews |
| Torah | most of what we know about the early history of the Hebrews is contained in teh first five books of the Hebrew Bible, the Jews call it this |
| Abraham | In the Torah, God chose him to be the father of the Hebrew people |
| monotheism | belief in only one god |
| Moses | According to the Torah, he was the man who led the Hebrews out of Slavery |
| covenant | mutual promise between God and the founder of the Hebrew people |
| Israel | from about 1020-922 BC, the Hebrews united under three able kins, the new kingdom was called this |
| Judah | by 922, the kingdom of Israel had split in two, he was the leader of the South |
| tribute | peace money paid by a weaker power to a stronger one |
