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| 7255601003 | Code of Hammurabi | A series of laws publicized at the order of King Hammurabi of Babylon. Not actually a code but a number of laws that proclaim the king's commitment to social order |  | 0 |
| 7255604482 | cradle of civilization | Commonly used term for Southern Mesopotamia |  | 1 |
| 7255606923 | cuneiform | wedge-shaped writing in the form of symbols incised into clay tablets; used in Mesopotamia from around 3100 BCE to the beginning of the Common Era |  | 2 |
| 7255616924 | Egypt | Often known as the "gift of the Nile" because the region would not have been able to support a significant human population without the Nile's annual inundation, which provided rich silt deposits and made agriculture possible. |  | 3 |
| 7255622082 | Epic of Gilgamesh | The most famous extant literary work from ancient Mesopotamia, it tells the story of one man's quest for immortality. |  | 4 |
| 7255624292 | Harappa | A major city of the Indus Valley civilization; flourished around 2000 BCE |  | 5 |
| 7255626525 | Hatshepsut | Ancient Egypt's most famous queen, reigned 1472-1457 BCE |  | 6 |
| 7255630096 | Hebrews | A smaller early civilization whose development of a monotheistic faith that provided the foundation of modern Judaism, Christianity, and Islam assured them a significant place in world history. |  | 7 |
| 7255634495 | hieroglyphs | Ancient Egyptian writing system; literally, "scared carvings' - so named because the Greeks saw them prominently displayed in Egyptian temples. |  | 8 |
| 7255638101 | Hittites | An Indo-European civilization established in Anatolia in the 18th BCE. |  | 9 |
| 7255640964 | Hyksos | A pastoral group of unknown ethnicity that invaded Egypt and ruled in the north from 1650 to 1535 BCE. Their dominance was based on the use of horses, chariots, and bronze technology |  | 10 |
| 7255865908 | Indus Valley | home of a major civilization that emerged in what is now Pakistan during the 3rd millennium BCE in the valleys of the Indus and Saraswati rivers, noted for the uniformity of the elaborately planned cities over a large territory. |  | 11 |
| 7255871274 | Mandate of Heaven | The ideological underpinning of Chinese emperors, this was the belief that a ruler held authority by command of divine force as long as he ruled morally and benevolently. |  | 12 |
| 7255874802 | Mesopotamia | The "land between the rivers" of the Tigris and Euphrates, in what is now Iraq |  | 13 |
| 7255876694 | Minoan Civilization | An advanced civilization that developed the island of Crete around 2500 BCE. |  | 14 |
| 7255878454 | Mohenjo Daro | A major city of the Indus Valley civilization; flourished around 2000 BCE |  | 15 |
| 7255880853 | Norte Chico | A region along the central coast of Peru, home of a civilization that developed int he period 3000-1800 BCE |  | 16 |
| 7255886700 | Caral | The largest of some 25 urban centers that emerged in the Norte Chico civilization |  | 17 |
| 7255888422 | Nubia | A civilization to the south of Egypt in the Nile Valley, noted for development of an alphabetic writing system and a major iron-working industry by 500 BCE |  | 18 |
| 7255891589 | Olmec civilization | An early civilization that developed along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico around 1200 BCE |  | 19 |
| 7255893953 | oracle bones | In Chinese civilization, animal bones that were heated and the cracks then interpreted as prophecies. The prophecies were written on the bone and provide our earliest written sources for ancient China. |  | 20 |
| 7255898709 | patriarchy | Literally "rule of the father:; a social system of male dominance | 21 | |
| 7255900095 | pharaoh | A king of Egypt. The term literally means "the palace" and only came into use int he New Kingdom, but it is generally employed in reference to all ancient Egyptian rulers |  | 22 |
| 7255903521 | Phoenicians | A civilization in the area of present-day Lebanon, creators of the first alphabetic writing system. |  | 23 |
| 7255906035 | pyramid | Monumental tomb for an Egyptian pharaoh; mostly built during the Old Kingdom (2663-2195 BCE) Pyramids are also found in Meroe to the south of Egypt. |  | 24 |
| 7255910394 | quipu | A series of knotted cords, used for accounting and perhaps as a form of writing in the Norte Chico civilization. |  | 25 |
| 7255912701 | rise of the state | A process of centralization that took place in the first civilizations, growing out of the greater complexity of urban life in recognition of the need for coordination, regulation, adjudication, and military leadership. | 26 | |
| 7255917909 | salinization | the buildup of minerals in soil, decreasing its fertility; can be caused by long-term irrigation |  | 27 |
| 7255922337 | Sanxingdui | An ancient city of China that developed independently from the Shang dynasty |  | 28 |
| 7255925960 | Shang dynasty | Period of Chinese history from 1766-1122 BCE |  | 29 |
| 7255927409 | Son of Heaven | Title of the ruler of China, first known from the Zhou dynasty. It acknowledges the ruler's position as intermediary between heaven and earth. | 30 | |
| 7255929962 | Teotihuacan | The largest city of ancient Mesoamerica; flourished around 500 CE |  | 31 |
| 7255934485 | Uruk | The largest city of ancient Mesopotamia. |  | 32 |
| 7255935729 | Xia dynasty | A legendary series of monarchs of early China, traditionally dated to 2200-1766 BCE |  | 33 |
| 7255938684 | Zhou dynasty | Period of Chinese history from 1122-256 BCE |  | 34 |
| 7255940376 | ziggurat | A Mesopotamian stepped pyramid. Unlike an Egyptian pyramid, this was a solid structure of baked brick, an artificial hill at the summit of which stood a temple. |  | 35 |
| 7255948194 | Sumer | The world's first civilization, founded in Mesopotamia, which existed for over 3,000 years |  | 36 |
| 7255950805 | Chavin | A pre-Incan South American civilization developed in Peru; famous for their style of architecture and drainage systems to protect from floods. |  | 37 |
| 7255954696 | Cahokia | A commercial center for regional and long-distance trade in North America. Its hinterlands produce staples for urban consumers. In return, its crafts were exported inland by porters and to North American markets in canoes. |  | 38 |
| 7255958900 | Slavery | A system of enforced servitude in which some people are owned by other people. Practiced by people in civilizations everywhere until contemporary times. | 39 | |
| 7255962492 | sanskit | A ancient language of India (the language of the Vedas and of Hinduism) |  | 40 |
| 7255963862 | Bureaucracy | A large, complex governing organization composed of appointed officials in hierarchical levels. | 41 | |
| 7255968501 | Qin Shihuangdi | (ruled 221-210 BCE) The first emperor of the Qin Dynasty who believed strongly in Legalism and sought to strengthen the centralized China through public works |  | 42 |
| 7255971575 | Tikal | The largest ancient Mayan city in the norther part of Guatemala. Home to the Maya Temple of the Giant Jaguar |  | 43 |
| 7255974996 | Akkadians | The empire that conquered the Sumerians and brought a Semitic language to the fertile crescent around 2440 BCE |  | 44 |
| 7255977199 | Assyrians | Known as a warrior people who ruthlessly conquered neighboring countries their empire stretched from east to north of the Tigris River all the way to central Egypt; used ladders, weapons like iron-tipped spears, daggers and swords, tunnels and fearful military tactics to gain strength in their empire (900-612 BCE) |  | 45 |
| 7255985364 | Mesopotamian-Indus trade | was established by at least 2300 BCE. Sea lanes were opened in the Arabian Seas that traded gold, silver, copper, tin, salt, etc. | 46 | |
| 7255990894 | Mesopotamian-Egyptian trade | Wheat and barley were staples that were trade. Donkeys, gourds, and watermelons were exchanged for commodities such as gold, manufactured products and salt. | 47 | |
| 7255995666 | Egyptian-Nubian trade | Donkeys, cattle (which emerged in Sudan) elephant tusks, panther skins, throw sticks, and gold were exchanged between the two countries | 48 | |
| 7256001041 | Kush | An African state that developed along the upper reaches of the Nile c. 100 BCE; conquered Egypt and ruled it for several centuries. | 49 |
