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| 7576969317 | Ahura Mazda | In Zoroastrianism, the good god who rules the world. | 0 | |
| 7576969318 | Alexander the Great | Alexander III of Macedon (356-323 B.C.E.), conqueror of the Persian Empire and part of northwest India. | 1 | |
| 7576969319 | Aryans | Indo-European pastoralists who moved into India about the time of the collapse of the Indus Valley civilization; their role in causing this collapse is still debated by historians. | 2 | |
| 7576969320 | Ashoka | The most famous ruler of the Mauryan Empire (r. 268-232 B.C.E.), who converted to Buddhism and tried to rule peacefully and with tolerance. | 3 | |
| 7576969323 | Cyrus (the Great) | Founder of the Persian Empire (r. 557-530 B.C.E.); a ruler noted for his conquests, religious tolerance, and political moderation. | 4 | |
| 7576969324 | Darius I | Great king of Persia (r. 522-486 B.C.E.) following the upheavals after Cyrus's death; completed the establishment of the Persian Empire. | 5 | |
| 7576969327 | Han dynasty | Dynasty that ruled China from 206 B.C.E. to 220 C.E., creating a durable state based on Shihuangdi's state-building achievement. | 6 | |
| 7576969328 | Hellenistic era | The period from 323 to 30 B.C.E. in which Greek culture spread widely in Eurasia in the kingdoms ruled by Alexander's political successors. | 7 | |
| 7576969329 | Herodotus | Greek historian known as the "father of history" (ca. 484-ca. 425 B.C.E.). His Histories enunciated the Greek view of a fundamental divide between East and West, culminating in the Greco-Persian Wars of 490-480 B.C.E. | 8 | |
| 7576969332 | 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. | 9 | |
| 7576969337 | Pax Romana | The "Roman peace," a term typically used to denote the stability and prosperity of the early Roman Empire, especially in the first and second centuries C.E. | 10 | |
| 7576969338 | Peloponnesian War | Great war between Athens (and allies) and Sparta (and allies), lasting from 431 to 404 B.C.E. The conflict ended in the defeat of Athens and the closing of Athens's Golden Age. | 11 | |
| 7576969340 | Persian Empire | A major empire that expanded from the Iranian plateau to incorporate the Middle East from Egypt to India; flourished from around 550 to 330 B.C.E. | 12 | |
| 7576969342 | Punic Wars | Three major wars between Rome and Carthage in North Africa, fought between 264 and 146 B.C.E., that culminated in Roman victory and control of the western Mediterranean. | 13 | |
| 7576969343 | Qin Dynasty | A short-lived (221-206 B.C.E.) but highly influential Chinese dynasty that succeeded in reuniting China at the end of the Warring States period. | 14 | |
| 7576969344 | Qin Shihuangdi | Literally "first emperor" (r. 221-210 B.C.E.) forcibly reunited China and established a strong and repressive state. | 15 | |
| 7576969346 | Wudi | Han emperor (r. 141-86 B.C.E.) who began the Chinese civil service system by establishing an academy to train imperial bureaucrats. | 16 | |
| 7576969350 | Aristotle | A Greek polymath philosopher (384-322 B.C.E.); student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. | 17 | |
| 7576969351 | Atman | The human soul, which in classic Hindu belief seeks union with Brahman. | 18 | |
| 7576969355 | Brahman | The "World Soul" or final reality in upanishadic Hindu belief. | 19 | |
| 7576969357 | Buddhism | The cultural/religious tradition first enunciated by Siddhartha Gautama | 20 | |
| 7576969358 | Confucianism | The Chinese philosophy first enunciated by Confucius, advocating the moral example of superiors as the key element of social order. | 21 | |
| 7576969359 | Confucius | The founder of Confucianism (551-479 B.C.E.); an aristocrat of northern China who proved to be the greatest influence on Chinese culture in its history. | 22 | |
| 7576969360 | Constantine | Roman emperor (r. 306-337 C.E.) whose conversion to Christianity paved the way for the triumph of Christianity in Europe. | 23 | |
| 7576969362 | Daoism | A Chinese philosophy/popular religion that advocates simplicity and understanding of the world of nature, founded by the legendary figure Laozi. | 24 | |
| 7576969363 | Filial piety | The honoring of one's ancestors and parents, a key element of Confucianism. | 25 | |
| 7576969364 | Greek rationalism | A secularizing system of scientific and philosophic thought that developed in classical Greece in the period 600 to 300 B.C.E.; it emphasized the power of education and human reason to understand the world in nonreligious terms. | 26 | |
| 7576969365 | Hinduism | A word derived from outsiders to describe the vast diversity of indigenous Indian religious traditions. | 27 | |
| 7576969368 | Jesus of Nazareth | The prophet/God/founder of Christianity(ca. 4 B.C.E.-ca. 30 C.E.). | 28 | |
| 7576969370 | Karma | In Hinduism, the determining factor of the level at which the individual is reincarnated, based on purity of action and fulfillment of duty in the prior existence. | 29 | |
| 7576969371 | Laozi | A legendary Chinese philosopher of the sixth century B.C.E.; regarded as the founder of Daoism. | 30 | |
| 7576969372 | Legalism | A Chinese philosophy distinguished by an adherence to clear laws with vigorous punishments. | 31 | |
| 7576969374 | Moksha | In Hindu belief, liberation from separate existence and union with Brahman. | 32 | |
| 7576969375 | Nirvana | The end goal of Buddhism, in which individual identity is "extinguished" into a state of serenity and great compassion. | 33 | |
| 7576969376 | Plato | A disciple of Socrates whose Dialogues convey the teachings of his master while going beyond them to express Plato's own philosophy; lived from 429 to 348 B.C.E. | 34 | |
| 7576969378 | Paul of Tarsus | The first great popularizer of Christianity (10-65 C.E.). | 35 | |
| 7576969379 | Siddhartha Gautama | The Indian prince turned ascetic (ca. 566-ca. 486 B.C.E.) who founded Buddhism. | 36 | |
| 7576969380 | Socrates | The first great Greek philosopher to turn rationalism toward questions of human existence (469-399 B.C.E.). | 37 | |
| 7576969383 | Upanishads | Indian mystical and philosophical works, written between 800 and 400 B.C.E. | 38 | |
| 7576969384 | Vedas | The earliest religious texts of India, a collection of ancient poems, hymns, and rituals that were transmitted orally before being written down ca. 600 B.C.E. | 39 | |
| 7576969385 | Warring States Period | Period in China from 403 to 221 B.C.E. that was typified by disorder and political chaos. | 40 | |
| 7576969386 | Yin and Yang | Expression of the Chinese belief in the unity of opposites. | 41 | |
| 7576969387 | Zarathustra | A Persian prophet, traditionally dated to the sixth or seventh century B.C.E. (but perhaps much older), who founded Zoroastrianism. | 42 | |
| 7576969388 | Zoroastrianism | Persian monotheistic religion founded by the prophet Zarathustra. | 43 | |
| 7576969389 | caste as varna | The system of social organization in India that has evolved over millennia; it is based on an original division of the populace into four inherited classes, with the addition of thousands of social distinctions based on occupation, which became the main cell of social life in India. | 44 | |
| 7576969392 | karma | In Indian belief, the force generated by one's behavior in a previous life that decides the level at which an individual will be reborn. | 45 | |
| 7576969397 | scholar-gentry class | A term used to describe members of China's landowning families, reflecting their wealth from the land and the privilege that they derived as government officials. | 46 | |
| 7576969406 | Bantu expansion | Gradual migration of peoples from their homeland in what is now southern Nigeria and the Cameroons into most of eastern and southern Africa, a process that began around 3000 B.C.E. and continued for several millennia. The agricultural techniques and ironworking technology of thesefarmers gave them an advantage over the gathering and hunting peoples they encountered. | 47 | |
| 7576969420 | Semi-sedentary | Term frequently used to describe the peoples of the eastern woodlands of the United States, Central America, the Amazon basin, and the Caribbean islands who combined partial reliance on agriculture with gathering and hunting. | 48 | |
| 7576969421 | Teotihuacán | The largest city of pre-Columbian America, with a population between 100,000 and 200,000; seemingly built to a plan in the Valley of Mexico, flourished between 300 and 600 C.E., during which time it governed or influenced much of the surrounding region. The name is an Aztec term meaning "city of the gods." | 49 |
