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| 216222537 | Cyrus | founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Between 550 and 530 BCE he conquered Media, Lydia, and Babylon. Revered in the traditions of both Iran and the subject peoples, he employed Persians and Medes in his administration and respected the institutions and beliefs of subject peoples. | 0 | |
| 216222538 | Darius I | Third ruler of the Persian Empire (r. 521-486 BCE) He crushed the widespread initial resistance to his rule and gave all major government posts to Persians rather than to Medes. He established a system of provinces and tribute, began construction of Persepolis, and expanded Persian control in the east (Pakistan) and west (northern Greece) | 1 | |
| 216222539 | Satrap | the governor of a province in the Achaemenid Persian Empire, often a relative of the king. He was responsible for protection of the province and for forwarding tribute to the central administration. In outlying provinces, these enjoyed considerable autonomy | 2 | |
| 216222540 | Persepolis | A complex of palaces, reception halls, and treasury buildings erected by the Persian kings Darius I and Xerxes in the Persian homeland. It is believed that the New Year's festival was celebrated here, as well as the coronations, weddings, and funerals or the Persian kings, who were curried in cliff-tombs nearby | 3 | |
| 216222541 | Zoroastrianism | A religion originating in ancient Iran with the prophet Zoroaster. It centered on a single benevolent deity-Ahuramazda-who engaged in a twelve-thousand-year struggle with the demonic forces before prevailing and restoring a pristine world. Emphasizing truth-telling, purity, and reverence for nature, the religion demanded that humans choose side in the struggle between good and evil. Those whose good conduct indicated their support for Ahuramazda would be rewarded in the afterlife. Others would be punished. The religion of the Achaemenid and Sasanid Persians, This may have spread within their realms and influenced Judaism, Christianity, and other faiths. | 4 | |
| 216222542 | Polis | The Greek term for city-state, an urban center and the agricultural territory under its control. It was the characteristic form of political organization in southern and central Greece in the Archaic and Classical periods. Of the hundreds of city-states in the Mediterraneans and Black Sea regions settled by Greeks, some were oligarchic, others democratic, depending of the powers delegated to the Council and the Assembly | 5 | |
| 216222543 | Hoplite | A heavily armored Greek infantryman of the Archaic and Classical periods who fought in the close-packed phalanx formation. These armies-militias composed of middle and upper-class citizens supplying their own equipment-were for centuries superior to all other military forces | 6 | |
| 216222544 | Tyrant | The term the Greeks used to describe someone who seized and held power in violation of the normal procedures and traditions of the community. Appear in many Greek city-states in the seventh and sixth centuries BCE often taking advantage of the disaffection of the emerging middle class and, by weakening he old elite, unwittingly contributing to the evolution of democracy | 7 | |
| 216222545 | Democracy | A system of government in which all "citizens" (however defined) have equal political and legal rights, privileges, and protections, as in the Greek city-states of Athens in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE | 8 | |
| 216222546 | Sacrifice | A gift given to a deity, often with the aim of creating a relationship, gaining favor, and obligating the god to provide some benefit, sometimes in order to sustain the deity and thereby guarantee the continuing vitality of the natural world. The object devoted to the deity could be as simple as a cut of wine poured on the ground, a live animal slain on the altar or in the most extreme case the ritual killing of a human being | 9 | |
| 216222547 | Herodotus | Heir to the techniques of hitoria - "investigation" - developed by Greeks in the late Archaic period. He came from a Greek community in Anatolia and traveled extensively, collecting information in western Asia and the Mediterranean lands. He traced the antecedents of and chronicled the persian wars between the greek city-states and the persian empire, thus originating the western tradition of historical writing | 10 | |
| 216222548 | Pericles | Aristocratic leader who guided the Athenian state through the transformation to full participatory democracy for all male citizens, supervised construction of the Acropolis. and pursued a policy of imperial expansion that led to the Peloponesian War. He formulated a strategy of attrition but died from the plague early in the war. | 11 | |
| 216222549 | Persian Wars | Conflicts between the Greek city-states and the Persian empire, ranging from the Ionian revolt through Darius's punitive expedition that failed at Marathon and the defeat of Xerxes' massive invasion of Greece by the Spartan-led Hellenic League. This first major setback for Persian arms launched the Greeks into their period of greatest cultural productivity. Herodotus chronicled these events in the first "history" in the Western tradition | 12 | |
| 216222550 | Trireme | Greek and Phoenician warship of the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. It was sleek and light, powered by 170 oars arranged in 3 vertical tiers. Manned by skilled sailors, it was capable of short bursts of speed and complex maneuvers | 13 | |
| 216222551 | Socrates | Athenian philosopher who shifted the emphasis of philosophical investigation from questions of natural science to ethics and human behavior. He attracted young disciples from elite families but made enemies by revealing the ignorance and pretensions of others, culminating in his trial and execution by the Athenian state | 14 | |
| 216222552 | Peloponnesian war | A protracted and costly conflict between the Athenian and Spartan alliance systems that convulsed most of the Greek world. The war was largely a consequence of Athenians imperialism. Possession of a naval empire allowed Athens to fight a war of attrition. Ultimately, Sparta prevailed because of Athenian errors and Persian financial support | 15 | |
| 216222553 | Alexander | Kind of Macedonia in northern Greece. Between 334 and 323 BCE he conquered the Persian Empire, reached the Indus Valley, founded many Greek-style cities and spread Greek culture across the Middle East | 16 | |
| 216222554 | Hellenistic Age | Historians' term for the era, usually dated 323-30 BCE in which Greek culture spread across western Asia and northeastern Africa after the conquests of Alexander the Great. The period ended with the fall of the last major Hellenistic kingdom to Rome, but Greek cultural influence persisted until the spread of Islam in the seventh century CE | 17 | |
| 216222555 | Ptolemies | The Macedonian dynasty, descended from one of Alexander the Great's officers, that ruled Egypt for three centuries. From their magnificent capital at Alexandra on the Mediterranean coast, they largely took over the system created by Egyptian pharaohs to extract the wealth of the land, rewarding Greeks and Hellenized non-Greeks serving the military and administration | 18 | |
| 216222556 | Alexandria | City on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt founded by Alexander. It became the capital of the Hellenistic kingdom of the Ptolemies. It contained the famous library and the museum center for leading scientific and literary figures. Its merchants engaged in trade with areas bordering the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean | 19 |
