Chapters 4-7 Vocabulary
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| 913583477 | 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 the subject peoples. | 0 | |
| 913583478 | Darius I | Third ruler of the Persian Empire (r. 521 - 486 BCE). He crushed the wide-spread initial resistance to his rule and gave all major government posts to Persians rather than 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 | |
| 913583479 | Satrap | The governor of a province in the Achaemenid Persian Empire, often a relative of the king. | 2 | |
| 913583480 | Persepolis | A complex of palaces, reception halls, and treasury buildings erected by the Persian kings Darius I and Xerxes in the Persian homeland. | 3 | |
| 913583481 | Zoroatrianism | A religion originating in ancient Iran that became the official religion of the Acharmenids. It centered on a single benevolent deity, Ahurmazda, who engaged in a struggle with demonic forces before prevailing and restoring a pristine world. It emphasized truth-telling, purity, and reverence for nature. | 4 | |
| 913583482 | Polis | The Greek term for a city-state, an urban center and the agricultural territory under its control. | 5 | |
| 913583483 | hoplite | A heavily armored Greek infantryman of the Archaic and Classical periods who fought in the close-packed phalanx formation. | 6 | |
| 913583484 | 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 talking advantage of the disaffection of the emerging middle class and, by weakening the old elite, unwittingly contributing to the evolution of democracy. | 7 | |
| 913583485 | democracy | A system of government in which "citizens" (however defined) have equal political and legal right, privileges, and protections, as in the Greek city-state of Athens in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.E. | 8 | |
| 913583486 | 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. | 9 | |
| 913583487 | Herodotus | Heir to the technique of historia ('"investigation/research") 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 and chronicled the wars between the Greek city-states and the Persian Empire, thus originating the Western tradition of historical writing. | 10 | |
| 913583488 | 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 Peloponnesian War. He formulated a strategy of attrition but died from the plague early in the war. | 11 | |
| 913583489 | Persian Wars | Conflicts between Greek city-states and the Persian Empire. | 12 | |
| 913583490 | trireme | Greek and Phoenician warship of the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.E. It was sleek and light, powered by 170 oars arranged in three vertical tiers. Manned by skilled sailors, it was capable of short bursts of speed and complex maneuvers. | 13 | |
| 913583491 | Socrates | Athenian philosopher (ca. 470-399 B.C.E.) who shifted the emphasis of philosophical investigation from questions of natural science to ethics and human behavior. | 14 | |
| 913583492 | Peloponnesian War | A war (431-404 B.C.E.) between the Athenian and Spartan alliance systems that convulsed most of the Greek world. The war was largely a consequence of Athenian 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 | |
| 913583493 | Alexander | King of Macedonia in northern Greece. Between 334 and 323 B.C.E. he conquered the Persian Empire, reached the Indus Valley, founded many Greek-style cities, and spread Greek culture across the Middle East. | 16 | |
| 913583494 | Hellenistic Age | Term for the era, usually dated 323-30 B.C.E., 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 C.E. | 17 | |
| 913583495 | Ptolemies | The Macedonian dynasty, descended from one of Alexander the Great's officers, that ruled Egypt for three centuries (323-30 B.C.E.). | 18 | |
| 913583496 | Alexandria | City on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt founded by Alexander. It became the capital of the Hellenistic kingdom of the Ptolemies. Its merchants engaged in trade with areas bordering the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean | 19 | |
| 913583497 | republic | The period from 507 to 31 B.C.E, during which Rome was largely governed by the aristocratic Roman Senate. | 20 | |
| 913583498 | senate | A council whose members were the heads of wealthy, landowning families. Originally an advisory body to the early kings, in the era of the Roman Republic the Senate effectively governed the Roman state and the growing empire. Under Senate leadership, Rome conquered an empire of unprecedented extent in the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. | 21 | |
| 913583499 | patron/client relationship | In ancient Rome, a fundamental social relationship in which the patron- a wealthy and powerful individual- provided legal and economic protection and assistance to clients, men of lesser status and means, and in return the clients supported the political careers and economic interests of their patron. | 22 | |
| 913583500 | principate | A term used to characterize Roman government in the first three centuries C.E., based on the ambiguous title princeps, ("first citizen") adopted by Augustus to conceal his military dictatorship. | 23 | |
| 913583501 | Augustus | Honorific name of Octavian, founder of the Roman Principate, the military dictatorship that replaced the failing rule of the Roman Senate. After defeating all rivals, between 31 B.C.E. and 14 C.E. he laid the groundwork for several centuries of stability and prosperity in the Roman Empire. | 24 | |
| 913583502 | equites | In ancient Italy, prosperous landowners second in wealth and status to the senatorial aristocracy. The Roman emperors allied with this group to counterbalance the influence of the old aristocracy and used the equites to staff the imperial civil service. | 25 | |
| 913583503 | pax romana | Literally "Roman peace," it connoted the stability and prosperity that Roman rule brought to the lands of the Roman Empire in the first two centuries C.E. The movement of people and trade goods along Roman roads and safe seas allowed for the spread of cultural practices, technologies, and religious ideas. | 26 | |
| 913583504 | romanization | The process by which the Latin language and Roman culture became dominant in the western provinces. Indigenous peoples in the provinces often chose to Romanize because of the political and economical advantages that it brought, as well as the allure of Roman success. | 27 | |
| 913583505 | Jesus | A Jew from Galilee in northern Israel who sought to reform Jewish beliefs and practices. He was executed as a revolutionary by the Romans. Hailed as the Messiah and son of God by his followers, he became the central figure in Christianity, a belief system that developed in the centuries after his death. | 28 | |
| 913583506 | Paul | A Jew from the Greek city of Tarsus in Anatolia, he initially persecuted the followers of Jesus but, after receiving a revelation on the road to Syrian Damascus, became a Christian. Taking advantage of his Hellenized background and Roman citizenship, he traveled throughout Syria-Palestine, Anatolia, and Greece, preaching the new religion and establishing churches. Finding his greatest success among pagans ("gentiles"), he began the process by which Christianity separated from Judaism. | 29 | |
| 913583507 | aqueduct | A conduit, either elevated or underground, that used gravity to carry water from a source to a location- usually a city- that needed it. The Romans built many aqueducts in a period of substantial urbanization. | 30 | |
| 913583508 | Third-century crisis | Historians' term for the political, military, and economic turmoil that beset the Roman Empire during much of the third century C.E.: frequent change of rulers, civil wars, barbarian invasions, decline of urban centers, and near destruction of long-distance commerce and the monetary economy. After 284 C.E. Diocletian restored order by making fundamental changes. | 31 | |
| 913583509 | Constantine | Roman emperor (r. 312 - 337). After reuniting the Roman Empire, he moved the capital to Constantinople and made Christianity a favored religion. | 32 | |
| 913583510 | Qin | A people and state in the Wei Valley of eastern China that conquered rival states and created the first Chinese empire (221 - 206 B.C.E.). The Qin ruler, Chi Huangdi, standardized many features of Chinese society and ruthlessly marshaled subjects for military and construction projects, engendering hostility that led to the fall of his dynasty shortly after his death. The Qin framework was largely taken over by the succeeding Han Empire. | 33 | |
| 913583511 | Shi Huangdi | Founder of the short-lived Qin dynasty and creator of the Chinese Empire (r. 221 - 210 B.C.E.). He is remembered for his ruthless conquests of rival states, standardization of practices, and forcible organization of labor for military and engineering tasks. His tomb, with its army of life size terracotta soldiers, has been partially excavated. | 34 | |
| 913583512 | Han | A term used to designate (1) the ethnic Chinese people who originated in the Yellow River Valley and spread throughout regions of China suitable for agriculture and (2) the dynasty of emperors who ruled from 202 B.C.E. to 220 C.E. | 35 | |
| 913583513 | xiongnu | A confederation of nomadic peoples living beyond the northwest frontier of ancient China. Chinese rulers tried a variety of defenses and stratagems to ward off these "barbarians," as they called them, and finally succeeded in dispersing the Xiongnu in the first century C.E. | 36 | |
| 913583514 | gaozu | The throne name of Liu Bang, one of the rebel leaders who brought down the Qin and founded the Han dynasty in 202 B.C.E. | 37 | |
| 913583515 | Sima Qian | Chief astrologer for the Han dynasty emperor Wu. He composed a monumental history of China from its legendary origins to his own time and is regarded as the Chinese "father of history." | 38 | |
| 913583516 | Chang'an | City in the Wei Valley in eastern China. It became the capital of the Qin and early Han Empires. Its main features were imitated in the cities and towns that sprang up throughout the Han Empire. | 39 | |
| 913583517 | gentry | In China, the class of prosperous families, next in wealth below the rural aristocrats, from which the emperors drew their administrative personnel. Respected for their education and expertise, these officials became a privileged group and made the government more efficient and responsive than in the past. The term gentry also denotes the class of landholding families in England below the aristocracy. | 40 | |
| 913583518 | monsoon | Seasonal winds in the Indian Ocean caused by the differences in temperature between the rapidly heating and cooling landmasses of Africa and Asia and the slowly changing ocean waters. These strong and predictable winds have long been ridden across the open sea by sailors, and the large amounts of rainfall that they deposit on parts of India, Southeast Asia, and China allow for the cultivation of several crops a year. | 41 | |
| 913583519 | vedas | Early Indian sacred "knowledge"- the literal meaning of the term- long preserved communicated orally y Brahmin priests and eventually written down. These religious texts, including the thousand poetic hymns to various deities contained in the Rig Veda, are our main source of information about the Vedic period (ca. 1500 - 500 B.C.E.). | 42 | |
| 913583520 | varna/jati | Two categories of social identity of great importance in Indian history. Varna are the four major social divisions: the Brahmin priest class, the Kshatriya warrior/administrator class, the Vaishya merchant/farmer class, and the Shudra laborer class. Within the system of varna are many jati, regional groups of people who have a common occupational sphere and who marry, eat, and generally interact with other members of their group. | 43 | |
| 913583521 | karma | In Indian tradition, the residue of deeds performed in past and present lives that adheres to a "spirit" and determines what form it will assume in its next life cycle. The doctrines of karma and reincarnation were used by the elite in ancient India to encourage people to accept their social position and do their duty. | 44 | |
| 913583522 | moksha | The Hindu concept of the spirit's "liberation" from the endless cycle of rebirths. There are various avenues- such as physical discipline, meditation, and acts of devotion to the gods- by which the spirit can distance itself from desire for the things of this world and be merged with the divine force that animates the universe. | 45 | |
| 913583523 | Buddha | An Indian prince named Siddhartha Gautama, who renounced his wealth and social position. After becoming "enlightened" (the meaning of Buddha), he enunciated the principles of Buddhism. This doctrine evolved and spread throughout India and to Southeast, East, and Central Asia. | 46 | |
| 913583524 | Mahayana Buddhism | "Great Vehicle" branch of Buddhism followed in China, Japan, and Central Asia. The focus is on reverence for Buddha and for bodhisattvas, enlightened persons who have postponed nirvana to help other attain enlightenment. | 47 | |
| 913583525 | Theravada Buddhism | "Way of the Elders" branch of Buddhism followed in Sri Lanka and much of Southeast Asia. Theravada remains close to the original principles set forth by the Buddha; it downplays the importance of gods and emphasizes austerity and the individual's search for enlightenment. | 48 | |
| 913583526 | Hinduism | A general term for a wide variety of beliefs and ritual practices that have developed in the Indian subcontinent since antiquity. Hinduism has roots in ancient Vedic, Buddhist, and south Indian religious concepts and practices. It spread along the trade routes to Southeast Asia. | 49 | |
| 913583527 | Mauryan Empire | The first state to unify most of the Indian subcontinent. It was founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 324 B.C.E. and survived until 184 B.C.E. From its capital at Pataliputra in the Ganges Valley it grew wealthy from taxes on agriculture, iron mining, and control of trade routes. | 50 | |
| 913583528 | Ashoka | Third ruler of the Mauryan Empire in India (r. 273 - 232 B.C.E.). He converted to Buddhism and broadcast his precepts on inscribed stones and pillars, the earliest surviving Indian writing. | 51 | |
| 913583529 | Mahabharata | A vast epic chronicling the events leading up to a cataclysmic battle between related kinship groups in early India. It includes the Bhagavad-Gita. | 52 | |
| 913583530 | Bhagarad-Gita | The most important work of Indian sacred literature, a dialogue between the great warrior Arjuna and the god Krishna on duty and the fate of the spirit. | 53 | |
| 913583531 | Tamil Kingdoms | The kingdoms of southern India, inhabited primarily by speakers of Dravidians languages, which developed in partial isolation, and somewhat differently, from the Arya north. They produced epics, poetry, and performance arts. Elements of Tamil religious beliefs were merged into the Hindu synthesis. | 54 | |
| 913583532 | Gupta Empire | A powerful Indian state based, like its Mauryan predecessor, on a capital at Pataliputra in the Ganges Valley. It controlled most of the Indian subcontinent through a combination of military force and its prestige as a center of sophisticated culture. | 55 | |
| 913583533 | theater-state | Historians' term for a state that acquires prestige and power by developing attractive cultural forms and staging cultural forms and staging elaborate public ceremonies (as well as redistributing valuable resources) to attract and bind subjects to the center. Examples include the Gupta Empire in India and Srivijaya in Southeast Asia. | 56 | |
| 913583534 | Funan | An early complex society in Southeast Asia between the first and sixth centuries C.E. It was centered in the rich rice-growing region of southern Vietnam, and it controlled the passage of trade across the Malaysian isthmus. | 57 | |
| 913583535 | Silk Road | Caravan routes connecting China and the Middle East across Central Asia and Iran. | 58 | |
| 913583536 | Parthians | Iranian ruling dynasty between ca. 250 B.C.E. and 226 C.E. | 59 | |
| 913583537 | Sasanid Empire | Iranian empire, established ca. 224, with a capital in Ctesiphon, Mesopotamia. The Sasanid emperors established Zoroastrianism as the state religion. Islamic Arab armies overthrew the empire ca. 640. | 60 | |
| 913583538 | Stirrup | Device for securing a horseman's feet, enabling him to wield weapons more effectively. First evidence of the use of the stirrup was among the Kushan people of northern Afghanistan in approximately the first century C.E. | 61 | |
| 913583539 | Indian Ocean Meritime System | In premodern times, a network of seaports, trade routes, and maritime culture linking countries on the rim of the Indian Ocean from Africa to Indonesia. | 62 | |
| 913583540 | trans-saharan caravan routes | Trading network linking North Africa with sub-Saharan Africa across the Sahara. | 63 | |
| 913583541 | Sahel | Belt south of the Sahara; literally "coastland" in Arabic. | 64 | |
| 913583542 | sub-saharan Africa | Portion of the African continent lying south of the Sahara. | 65 | |
| 913583543 | steppes | Treeless plains, especially the high, flat expanses of northern Eurasia, which usually have little rain and are covered with coarse grass. They are good lands for nomads and their herds. Living on the steppes promoted the breeding of horses and the development of military skills that were essential to the rise of the Mongol Empire. | 66 | |
| 913583544 | savanna | Tropical or subtropical grassland, either treeless of with occasional clumps of trees. Most extensive in sub-Saharan Africa but also present in South America. | 67 | |
| 913583545 | tropical rain forest | High-precipitation forest zones of the Americas, Africa, and Asia lying between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. | 68 | |
| 913583546 | "great traditions" | Historians' term for a literate, well-institutionalized complex of religious and social beliefs and practices adhered to by diverse societies over a broad geographical area. | 69 | |
| 913583547 | "small traditions" | Historians' term for a localized, usually nonliterate, set of customs and beliefs adhered to by a single society, often in conjunction with a "great tradition." | 70 | |
| 913583548 | Bantu | Collective name of a large group of sub-Saharan African languages and of the peoples speaking these languages. | 71 | |
| 913583549 | Armenia | One of the earliest Christian kingdoms, situated in eastern Anatolia and the western Caucasus and occupied by speakers of the Armenian language. | 72 | |
| 913583550 | Ethiopia | East African highland nation lying east of the Nile River. | 73 |
