470612606 | Cyrus the Great | (c. 576 or 590-529 B.C.E.); founded Persian Empire by 550 B.C.E.; successor state to Mesopotamian empires; died in Egypt; people are free to worship their own god as long as they recognize him as emperor | 0 | |
470612607 | Zoroastrianism | Persian religion that saw material existence as a battle between the forces of good and evil; stressed the importance of moral choice; a last judgment decided the eternal fate of each person; Zoroaster → the prophet; good = light, bad = darkness; | 1 | |
470612608 | Hellenism | culture derived from the Greek civilization that flourished between 800 and 400 B.C.E. | 2 | |
470612609 | Hellenistic culture | culture associated with the spread of Greek influence and intermixture with other cultures as a result of Macedonian conquests. | 3 | |
470612610 | Iliad and Odyssey | Greek epic poems attributed to Homer; defined relations of gods and humans that shaped Greek mythology | 4 | |
470612611 | Polis | city-state form of government typical of Greek political organization from 800 to 400 B.C.E.; means city | 5 | |
470612612 | Socrates | Athenian philosopher of late 5th century B.C.E.; condemned to death for "corrupting" minds of Athenian young; usually seen as the father of western philosophy; people should teach by asking questions; did not approve of democracy (Athens was a democracy); took poisoned hemlock as suicide | 6 | |
470612613 | Direct democracy | literally, rule of the people—in Athens it meant all free male citizens; all decisions emanated from the popular assembly without intermediation of elected representatives: "demos" means people; "cratos" means power; republic is a type of government where you vote for leaders/desicions | 7 | |
470612614 | Pericles | Athenian political leader during 5th century B.C.E.; guided development of Athenian Empire; made funeral oration; great democratic thinker (would have opposed Socrates) | 8 | |
470612615 | Olympic games | one of the pan-Hellenic rituals observed by all Greek city states; involved athletic competitions and ritual celebrations; only for men (in honor of Zeus) | 9 | |
470612616 | Persian Wars | 5th century B.C.E. wars between the Persian Empire and Greek city-states; Greek victories allowed Greek civilization to define identity. | 10 | |
470612617 | Peloponnesian War | war from 431 to 404 B.C.E. between Athens and Sparta for domination in Greece; the Spartans won but failed to achieve political unification in Greece. | 11 | |
470612618 | Macedon | kingdom of northern Greece; originally loosely organized under kings; became centralized under Philip II; conquered Greek city-states. | 12 | |
470612619 | Philip II | ruled Macedon from 359 to 336 B.C.E.; founder of centralized kingdom; conquered Greece; assassinated by his wife (she issued an order) | 13 | |
470612620 | Alexander the Great | (r. 336-323 B.C.E.); son and successor of Philip II; conquered Persian Empire and advanced to borders of India; attempted to combine Greek and Persian culture; taught by Aristotle | 14 | |
470612621 | Alexandria | Egyptian city; founded 334 B.C.E. by Alexander the Great | 15 | |
470612622 | Aristotle | Greek philosopher; teacher of Alexander; taught that knowledge was based upon observation of phenomena in material world. | 16 | |
470612623 | Stoics | Hellenistic philosophers; they emphasized inner moral independence cultivated by strict discipline of the body and personal bravery; Stoicism - name of the philosophy | 17 | |
470612624 | Sophocles | Greek writer of tragedies; author of Oedipus Rex; "rex" means king | 18 | |
470612625 | Doric, Ionic, Corinthian | three distinct styles of Hellenic architecture; listed in order of increasing ornate quality; Greeks preferred Doric while Romans preferred Corinthian | 19 | |
470612626 | Consuls | two chief executives (co-presidents) of the Roman republic; elected annually by the assembly dominated by the aristocracy. | 20 | |
470612627 | Carthage | founded by the Phoenicians in Tunisia; became a major empire in the western Mediterranean; fought the Punic wars with Rome for Mediterranean dominance; defeated and destroyed by the Romans. | 21 | |
470612628 | Punic Wars | three wars (264-146 B.C.E.) between Rome and the Carthaginians; saw the transformation of Rome from a land to a sea power. | 22 | |
470612629 | Hannibal | Carthaginian general during the second Punic War; invaded Italy but failed to conquer Rome. | 23 | |
470612630 | Republic | the balanced political system of Rome from circa 510 to 47 B.C.E.; featured an aristocratic senate, a panel of magistrates, and popular assemblies. | 24 | |
470612631 | Julius Caesar | general responsible for the conquest of Gaul; brought army back to Rome and overthrew republic; assassinated in B.C.E.by conservative senators. | 25 | |
470612632 | Octavian | later took name of Augustus; Julius Caesar's grandnephew and adopted son; defeated conservative senators after Caesar's assassination; became first Roman emperor. | 26 | |
470612633 | Cicero | conservative senator and Stoic philosopher; one of the great orators of his day. | 27 | |
470612634 | Vergil | a great Roman epic poet during the Golden Age of Latin literature; author of the Aeneid. | 28 | |
470612635 | Axum | a state in the Ethiopian highlands; received influences from the Arabian peninsula; converted to Christianity; later part of Ethiopia | 29 | |
470612636 | Shinto | religion of the early Japanese court; included the worship of numerous gods and spirits associated with the natural world. | 30 | |
470612637 | Pastoral nomads | any of the many peoples, from the steppes of Asia that herded animals; migrants (Mongols); use of gunpowder ended them | 31 | |
470612638 | Celts | early migrants into western Europe; organized into small regional kingdoms; had mixed agricultural and hunting economies. | 32 | |
470612639 | Germans | peoples from beyond the northern borders of the Roman Empire; had mixed agricultural and pastoral economies; moved into the Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries C.E. | 33 | |
470612640 | Slavs | Indo-European peoples who ultimately dominated much of eastern Europe; formed regional kingdoms by the 5th century C.E. | 34 | |
470612641 | Olmec | cultural tradition that arose at San Lorenzo and La Venta in Mexico circa 1200 B.C.E.; featured irrigated agriculture, urbanism, elaborate religion, beginnings of calendrical and writing systems. | 35 | |
470612642 | Polynesia | islands contained in a rough triangle with its points at Hawaii, New Zealand, and Easter Island. | 36 | |
470612643 | Yellow Turbans | Chinese Daoists who launched a revolt in 184 C.E, promising a golden age to be brought about by divine magic. | 37 | |
470612644 | Sui | dynasty succeeding the Han; grew from strong rulers in northern China; reunited China. | 38 | |
470612645 | Tang | dynasty succeeding the Sui in 618 C.E | 39 | |
470612646 | Rajput | regional military princes in India following the collapse of the Gupta Empire. | 40 | |
470612647 | Devi | mother goddess within Hinduism; devotion to her spread widely after the collapse of the Gupta and encouraged new emotionalism in religious ritual. | 41 | |
470612648 | Diocletian | Roman emperor (284-305 C.E); restored later empire by improved administration and tax collection. | 42 | |
470612649 | Constantine | Roman emperor (321-337 C.E); established his capital at Constantinople; used Christianity to unify the empire. | 43 | |
470612650 | Byzantine Empire | eastern half of the Roman Empire; survived until 1453; retained Mediterranean, especially Hellenistic culture. | 44 | |
470612651 | Mahayana | version of Buddhism popular in China; emphasized Buddha's role as a savior. | 45 | |
470612652 | Bodhisattvas | Buddhist holy men who refused advance toward nirvana to receive prayers of the living to help them reach holiness. | 46 | |
470612653 | Saints | holy men and women in Christianity; their merit could be tapped by ordinary Christians. | 47 | |
470612654 | Pope | Bishop of Rome; head of the Catholic church in western Europe. | 48 | |
470612655 | Augustine | North African Christian theologian; made major contributions in incorporating elements of classical philosophy into Christianity. | 49 | |
470612656 | Benedict | founder of monasticism in the former western half of the Roman Empire; established the Benedictine rule in the 6th century. | 50 | |
470612657 | Bedouin | nomadic pastoralists of the Arabian peninsula with a culture based on herding camels and goats; most valuable animals were horses, camels, and goats | 51 | |
470612658 | Shaykhs | leaders of tribes and clans within bedouin society; usually possessed large herds, several wives, and many children; today, they would be multi-millionaires | 52 | |
470612659 | Mecca | Arabian commercial center; dominated by the Quraysh; the home of Muhammad and the future religious center of Islam | 53 | |
470612660 | Medina | town northeast of Mecca; asked Muhammad to resolve its intergroup differences; Muhammad's flight to this town is called the hijra, in 622 AD, began the Muslim calendar; means "town" | 54 | |
470612661 | Umayyad | clan/tribe that dominated Mecca; later an Islamic dynasty (first Muslim dynasty) | 55 | |
470612662 | Muhammad | (570-632); prophet of Allah; originally a merchant of the Quraysh; "the seal of the prophets" | 56 | |
470612663 | Khadijah | the wife of Muhammad; first Muslim, or disciple of Muhammad | 57 | |
470612664 | Ka'ba | revered pre-Islamic shrine in Mecca; incorporated into Muslim worship; most holy place in Islam; Muslims believed that Abraham built it; "Black Box" | 58 | |
470612665 | Qur'an | the word of god as revealed through Muhammad; made into the holy book of Islam; "recitations of God" | 59 | |
470612666 | Umma | community of the faithful within Islam | 60 | |
470612667 | Zakat | tax for charity obligatory for all Muslims; like "tithe" | 61 | |
470612668 | Five pillars | the obligatory religious duties for all Muslims: confession of faith, prayer (five times a day), fasting during Ramadan, zakat, and hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) | 62 | |
470612669 | Caliph | the successor to Muhammad as head of the Islamic community; religious king | 63 | |
470612670 | Ali | cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad; one of the orthodox caliphs; focus for the development of shi'ism (branch of Islam) | 64 | |
470612671 | Abu Bakr | succeeded Muhammad as the first caliph | 65 | |
470612672 | Jihad | Islamic holy war | 66 | |
470612673 | Siffin | battle fought in 657 between Ali and the Umayyads; led to negotiations that fragmented Ali's party | 67 | |
470612674 | Copts, Nestorians | Christian sects of Egypt and Syria; gave their support to the Arabic Muslims | 68 | |
470612675 | Sunnis | followers of the majority interpretation within Islam; included the Umayyads | 69 | |
470612676 | Shi'a | followers of Ali's interpretation of Islam; 10% live in Iraq and Iran | 70 | |
470612677 | Mawali | non-Arab converts to Islam | 71 | |
470612678 | Jizya | head tax paid by all non-Muslims in Islamic lands (Christians, Jews, etc.) | 72 | |
470612679 | Dhimmis | "the people of the book," Jews, Christians; later extended to Zoroastrians and Hindus | 73 | |
470612680 | Abbasids | dynasty that succeeded the Umayyads in 750; their capital was at Baghdad | 74 | |
470612681 | Hadiths | "traditions" of the prophet Muhammad; added to the Qur'an, form the essential writings of Islam; not as important as the Qur'an | 75 | |
470612682 | Baghdad | Abbasid capital, close to the old Persian capital of Ctesiphon | 76 | |
470612683 | Wazir | chief administrative official under the Abbasids; Vizier → like prime minister of England, but in Muslim culture | 77 | |
470612684 | Dhows | Arab sailing vessels; equipped with lateen sails; used by Arab merchants; Columbus uses this design later in his ships | 78 |
AP World History Unit 2 Vocabulary Flashcards
Primary tabs
Need Help?
We hope your visit has been a productive one. If you're having any problems, or would like to give some feedback, we'd love to hear from you.
For general help, questions, and suggestions, try our dedicated support forums.
If you need to contact the Course-Notes.Org web experience team, please use our contact form.
Need Notes?
While we strive to provide the most comprehensive notes for as many high school textbooks as possible, there are certainly going to be some that we miss. Drop us a note and let us know which textbooks you need. Be sure to include which edition of the textbook you are using! If we see enough demand, we'll do whatever we can to get those notes up on the site for you!