Terms : Hide Images
| 84057408 | Cyrus | Founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Between 550 and 530 B.C.E. he conquered Media, Lydia, and Babylon. Revered in the traditions of both Iran and its subject peoples, he employed Persian and Medes in his administration and respected the institutions and beliefs of subject peoples. | 84057408 | |
| 84057409 | Darius I | Third ruler of the Persian Empire. he crushed the widespread initial resistance to his rule and gave all major government posts to Persians rather than Medes. He established a system on provinces and tribute, began construction of Persepolis, and expanded Persian control east (Pakistan) and west (northern Greece). | 84057409 | |
| 84057410 | Satrap | The governor of a province in the Achaemenid Persian Empire, often a relative to the king. He was responsible for protection of the province and for forwarding tribute to the central administration. Satraps in outlying provinces enjoyed considerable autonomy. | 84057410 | |
| 84057411 | 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 of the Persian kings, who were buried in cliff-tombs nearby. | 84057411 | |
| 84057412 | 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 the pristine world. Emphasizing truth-telling, purity, and reverence for nature, the religion demanded that humans choose sides in the struggle between good and evil. Those whose good conduct indicated their support for Ahuramazda would be rewarded in the afterlife. Other's would be punished. The religion of the Achaemenid and Sasanid Persians, Zoroastrianism may have spread within their realms and influenced Judaism, Christianity, and other faiths. | 84057412 | |
| 84057413 | Polis | The Greek term for a city-state, an urban center and 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 Med. and Black Sea regions settled by the Greeks, some were oligarchic, others democratic, depending on the powers delegated to the Council and the Assembly. | 84057413 | |
| 84057414 | Hoplite | A heavily armored Greek infantryman of the Archaic and Classical periods who fought in the close-packed phalanx formation. Hoplite armies-militias composed of middle and upper class citizens supplying their own equipment-were for centuries superior to all other military forces. | 84057414 | |
| 84057415 | 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. Tyrants appeared in many Greek city-states in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.E., often taking advantage of the dissatisfaction of the emerging middle class and, by weakening the old elite, unwittingly contirbuting to the evolution of democracy. | 84057415 | |
| 84057416 | Democracy | A system of government in which all "citizens" have equal political and legal rights, privileges, and protections, as in the Greek city-state of Athens in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.E. | 84057416 | |
| 84057417 | 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 to the sacrificer, 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 cup 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. | 84057417 | |
| 84057418 | Dark Age | Time period when there is no writing present. An example of a Dark Age was when the Dorians moved into the Mycenaean civilization from 1150 and 750 BC. The Dorians were far less advanced and this civilization lost the art of writing for this time. | 84057418 | |
| 84057419 | Acropolis | A large hill in ancient Greece where city residents sought shelter and safety in times of war and met to discuss community affairs. | 84057419 | |
| 84057420 | Agora | A central area in Greek cities used both as a marketplace and as a meeting place. | 84057420 | |
| 84057421 | Barbaroi | The Greek word for people who did not speak Greek and were below them. | 84057421 | |
| 84057422 | Hellenes | Collective name of the ancient Greeks for themselves. | 84057422 |
