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AP World History - Naruta's Class Flashcards

Terms related to the Classical and Foundations Era

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203338093city-stateA small independent state consisting of an urban center and the surrounding agricultural territory. A characteristic political form in early Mesopotamia, Archaic and Classical Greece, Phoenicia, and early Italy.0
203338100HieroglyphicsA system of writing in which pictorial symbols represented sounds, syllables, or concepts. It was used for official and monumental inscriptions in ancient Egypt. Because of the long period of study required to master this system, literacy in hieroglyphics was confined to a relatively small group of scribes and administrators. Cursive symbol-forms were developed for rapid composition on other media, such as papyrus.1
203338102HomonidThe biological family that includes humans and humanlike primates.2
203338110MonotheismBelief in the existence of a single divine entity. Some scholars cite the devotion of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten to Aten (sun-disk) and his suppression of traditional gods as the earliest instance. The Israelite worship of Yahweh developed into an exclusive belief in one god, and this concept passed into Christianity and Islam3
203338111NeolithicThe period of the Stone Age associated with the ancient Agricultural Revolution (s). It follows the Paleolithic period.4
203338112NomadismA way of life, forced by a scarcity of resources, in which groups of people continually migrate to find pastures and water.5
203338117PharaohThe central figure in the ancient Egyptian state. Believed to be an earthly manifestation of the gods, he used his absolute power to maintain the safety and prosperity of Egypt.6
203338123ScribeIn the governments of many ancient societies, a professional position reserved for men who had undergone the lengthy training required to be able to read and write using cuneiforms, hieroglyphics, or other early, cumbersome writing systems.7
4760900996Tigris and EuphratesTwo rivers around which Mesopotamian civilization arose, beginning withe Sumeria8
4760902434Fertile CrescentGeographic region including Mesopotamia and the eastern coastline of the Mediterranean Sea9
4760903429SumeriaEarliest known civilization dating back to at least 5000 BCE and featuring a cuneiform writing system, large ziggurats, and a complex political system.10
4760906605PolytheismThe belief and worship of more than one god/goddess11
4760907694ZigguratLarge, steppe pyramids built in Mesopotamia as temples12
4760908578CuneiformWorld's oldest known writing system from Sumeria comprised of wedge-shaped marks made in wet clay tablets13
4760910554Epic of GilgameshArguably the world's oldest written story, this epic tale concerns the tale of a Sumerian king and his interaction with the gods.14
4760913915HammurabiBabylonian ruler best known for his legal code and reorganized tax system15
4760916039patriarchalDominated by men16
4760916480PhoeniciansCivilization of city-states located in the Western Fertile Crescent; best known as great merchants and sailors; founded the first alphabetic script17
4760920801HebrewsPastoralists from Canaan once enslaved by the Egyptians; later known as Israelites or Jews18
4760922527Jewish DiasporaSpreading out or scattering of Jews throughout the Middle East and Mediterranean regions19
4760923224NileRiver serving as the geographic center of Egyptian civilizatiion20
4760924695MummificationEgyptian religious rite involving the preservation of the dead21
4760925495PapyrusNile plant that was mashed into an early form of paper for record keeping22

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