| A | B |
|---|
| Indo-Europeans | came from the steppes in Euasia and invaded India |
| migration | the movement of people from one region to another |
| caste system | class system developed in India based on what people did for a job |
| varna | also known as jati; the divisions of the caste system |
| Aryans | the Indo-European people who invaded India |
| Untouchables | considered the lowest people in Indian society because they did the dirtiest jobs |
| Mahabharata | a famous long epic poem in Indian culture; it is about a war between two sets of cousins |
| Hinduism | most widespread religion in India; supports the caste system |
| karma | the sum of one's past lives that helps to decide one's next life |
| transmigration | the idea of reincarnation that is common to Hinduism and Buddhism |
| Siddhartha Gautama | founder of Buddhism; the Buddha |
| dharma | the moral code that one must follow in their life |
| moksha | Hindu belief of becoming one with the universal soul and achieving a state of all knowing |
| atman | Hindu belief of a universal soul that is part of all living things |
| Jainism | Indian religion that carries the idea of non-violence to an extreme |
| ahisma | the Hindu practice of non-violence |
| Nirvana | Buddhist idea of heaven when one is released from the cycle of death and rebirth |
| guru | a Hindu holy man |
| monk | a Buddhist holy man |
| Phoenicians | merchant people who also founded our alphabet based on sounds (phonics) |
| Judaism | the Jewish religion is called this |
| Jerusalem | holy city for the Jews |
| Abraham | considered to be the founder of Judaism |
| monotheism | belief in one God, as in Judaism |
| Ten Commandments | social rules in the Jewish and Christian faith |
| Torah | the holy book of the Jews (called the Old Testament in Christian religions) |
| Moses | freed the Jews from slavery in Egypt |
| Canaan | the "Promised Land" of the Jews |
| Covenant | Jewish idea that there was an agreement between themselves and God |
| Hebrews | another name for the Jews who lived in Canaan or Palestine |
| Diaspora | name for the event in 70 AD when the Romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem and scattered the Jews |
| Assyrians | used a great deal of force and cruelty to rule an empire in Mesopotamia |
| Nineveh | the Assyrian capital city |
| Cyrus the Great | founded the Persian empire around 550 BC |
| roads | the Persians used built these to connect their empire and communicate quickly |
