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| 506599340 | Homer | Homer composed the two great epic poems of ancient Greece, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Some experts believe that Homer was not a real man so much as a convenient name for several otherwise anonymous scribes who committed the Iliad and the Odyssey to writing. | |
| 506599341 | Odysseus | The Odyssey recounted the experiences of the Greek hero Odysseus as he sailed home after the Trojan War. | |
| 506599342 | Agamemnon | Agamemnon, son of Atreus, who has won infinite renown throughout the whole world, by sacking so great a city and killing so many people. We therefore humbly pray you to show us some hospitality, and otherwise make us such presents as visitors may reasonably expect. | |
| 506599343 | Minos | A sophisticated society arose on the island of Crete. Scholars refer to it as Minoan society, after Minos, a legendary king of ancient Crete | |
| 506599344 | Minoans | A sophisticated society arose on the island of Crete. Scholars refer to it as Minoan society, after Minos, a legendary king of ancient Crete. Between 2000 and 1700 BCE, the inhabitants of Crete built a series of lavish palaces throughout the island, most notably the enormous complex at Knossos decorated with vivid frescoes depicting Minoans at work and play. These palaces were the nerve centers of Minoan society: they were residences of rulers, and they also served as storehouses where officials collected taxes in kind from local cultivators. Between 2200 and 1450 BCE, Crete was a principal center o Mediterranean commerce. Because of its geographic location in the east-central Mediterranean, Crete received early influences from Phoenicia and Egypt. By 2200 BCE, Cretans were traveling about advanced sailing craft of Phoenician design. Minoan ships sailed to Greece, Anatolia, Phoenicia, and Egypt, where Cretan wine, olive oil, and wool were exchanged for grains, textiles, and manufactured goods. Cretans established colonies on Cyprus and many islands in the Aegean Sea, probably to mine local copper ores and gain better access to markets where tin was available. | |
| 506599345 | Linear A | Linear A was written symbols that stood for syllables rather than words, ideas, vowels, or consonants. It is clear that Cretan administrators used the script to keep detailed records of economic and commercial matters. | |
| 506599346 | Mycenaeans | Migratory Indo-European peoples filtered over the Balkans and into the Greek Peninsula. They adapted Minoan Linear A to their language, which was an early form of Greek, and devised a syllabic script known as Linear B. They also built massive stone fortresses and palaces throughout the southern part of the Greek peninsula, known as Peloponnesus. Their society is known as Mycenaean, after Mycenae, one of their most important settlements. From 1500 to 1100 BCE, the Mycenaean's largely overpowered Minoan society, and they took over the Cretan palaces, where they established craft workshops. The Mycenaean's also established settlements in Anatolia, Sicily, and southern Italy. The Mycenaean's engage in a conflict with the city of Troy in Anatolia. This Trojan War, which Homer recalled from a Greek perspective in his Iliad, coincided with invasions of foreign mariners in the Mycenaean homeland. Invasions and civil disturbances made it impossible to maintain stable governments or even productive agricultural societies. Mycenaean palaces fell into ruin, the population sharply declined, and people abandoned most settlements. Many inhabitants of the Greek peninsula fled to the island of the Aegean Sea, Anatolia, or Cyprus. Writing in both Linear A and Linear B disappeared. Homers' works, the Iliad and the Odyssey, portray a society driven with conflict, and they recount innumerable episodes of aggression, treachery, and violence alongside heroic bravery and courage. | |
| 506599347 | Polis | Local institutions took the lead in restoring political order in Greece. The most important institution was the city-state, or polis. The term polis originally referred to a citadel or fortified site that offered refuge for local communities during times of war or other emergencies. They took on an increasingly urban character and extended their authority over surrounding regions. They levied taxes on their hinterlands and appropriated a portion of the agricultural surplus to support the urban population. By about 800 BCE, many poleis had become bustling city-states that functioned as the principal centers of Greek society. A few poleis developed as small monarchies, but most were under the collective rule of local notables. Many fell into the hands of generals or ambitious politicians—called "tyrants" by the Greeks—who gained power by irregular means. The term tyrant referred to their routes to power rather than their policies. | |
| 506599348 | tyrant | Many poleis fell into the hands of generals or ambitious politicians—called "tyrants" by the Greeks—who gained power by irregular means. The term tyrant referred to their routes to power rather than their policies. | |
| 506599349 | helots | In doing so, the Spartans reduced neighboring peoples to the status of helots, servants of the Spartan state. They could from families, but they could not leave the land. Their role in society was to provide agricultural labor and keep Sparta supplied with food. | |
| 506599350 | Lycurgus | But Lycurgus [of Sparta] instead of allowing each citizen to set slaves as guardians over his children, appointed a man to have the care of them all . . .. He invested this man with full authority to assemble the boys, and, if he found that any one was negligent of his duties, to punish him severely. He enacted that they should harden them by going without sandals; thinking that, if they exercised themselves in this state, they would go up steep places with far greater ease, and descend declivities [slopes] with greater safety. He made it a practice that they should accustom themselves to one dress throughout the year; thinking that they would thus be better prepared to endure cold and heat. As to food, he ordained that they should exhort the boys to take only such a quantity as never to be oppressed with repletion. Lycurgus ordained that each should have authority not only over his own children, but over those of others. Thus they trust to one another to impose nothing disgraceful on the children. | |
| 506599351 | Sparta | Sparta was situated in a fertile region of the Peloponnesus. As their population and economy expanded during the eighth and seventh centuries BCE, the Spartans progressively extended their control over the Peloponnesus. | |
| 506599352 | Athens | Athenians relieved tensions by establishing a government based on democratic principles. Whereas Sparta sought to impose order by military means, Athens sought to negotiate order by considering the interests of the polis's various constituencies. Only free adult males form Athens played a role in public affairs, leaving foreigners, slaves, and women with no direct voice in government. | |
| 506599353 | Solon | Athens, however, an aristocrat named Solon served as a mediator between classes, and he devised a solution to class conflict in Attica. He allowed aristocrats to keep their lands—rather than confiscate them and redistribute them to landless individuals, as many of the less privileged preferred—but he cancelled debts, forbade debt slavery, and liberated those already enslaved for debt. He also provided representation for the common classes in the Athenian government by opening the councils of the polis to any citizen wealthy enough to devote time to public affairs, regardless of his lineage. | |
| 506599354 | Pericles | Those reforms gradually transformed Athens into a democratic state. The high tide of Athenian democracy came under the leadership of the statesman Pericles, the most popular Athenian leader. He supported building programs that provided employment for thousands of construction workers and laborers. Under the leadership of Pericles, Athens became the most sophisticated of the poleis, with a vibrant community of scientists, philosophers, poets, dramatists, artists, and architects. Pericles boasted that Athens was "the education of Greece." | |
| 506599355 | Persian Wars | In 490 BCE, Darius sent an army and a fleet of ships to attack Athens. The Athenians routed the Persian army at the Battle of Marathon and then marched back to Athens in time to fight off the Persian fleet. In 480 BECE, Xerxes dispatched a force consisting of perhaps one hundred thousand troops and a fleet of one thousand ships to subdue the Greeks. The Persian army succeeded in capturing and burning Athens, but a Greek fleet led by Athenians shattered the Persian navy at the battle of Salamis. Xerxes himself viewed the conflict from a temporary throne set up on a hillside overlooking the narrow strait of water between Athens and the island of Salamis. The following year a Greek force at Plataea routed the Persian army, whose survivors retreated to Anatolia. he Persian rulers were unwilling to invest resources in the effort to conquer small and distant Greece, and after Xerxes' reign they faced domestic problems that prevented them from undertaking foreign adventures. For their part, the Greeks had neither the resources nor the desire to challenge the Persian Empire, and they remained content with maintaining their independence. | |
| 506599356 | Cyrus | As the Persian emperors Cyrus and Darius tightened their grip on Anatolia, the Greek cities on the Ionian coast became increasingly restless. | |
| 506599357 | Darius | In 490 BCE, Darius sent an army and a fleet of ships to attack Athens. The Athenians routed the Persian army at the Battle of Marathon and then marched back to Athens in time to fight off the Persian fleet. | |
| 506599358 | Xerxes | In 480 BECE, Xerxes dispatched a force consisting of perhaps one hundred thousand troops and a fleet of one thousand ships to subdue the Greeks. The Persian army succeeded in capturing and burning Athens, but a Greek fleet led by Athenians shattered the Persian navy at the battle of Salamis. | |
| 506599359 | Salamis | Xerxes himself viewed the conflict from a temporary throne set up on a hillside overlooking the narrow strait of water between Athens and the island of Salamis. | |
| 506599360 | Marathon | The Athenians routed the Persian army at the Battle of Marathon and then marched back to Athens in time to fight off the Persian fleet. | |
| 506599361 | Delian League | After the Persian Wars, the poleis created an alliance known as the Delian League to discourage further Persian actions in Greece. Because of its superior fleet, Athens became the leader of the alliance. In effect, Athens supplied the league's military force, and the other poleis contributed financial support, which went largely to the Athenian treasury. Indeed, those contributions financed much of the Athenian bureaucracy and the vast construction projects that employed Athenian workers during the era of Pericles' leadership. | |
| 506599362 | Peloponnesian War | The tensions resulted in a bitter and destructive civil conflict known as the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE). Both in peninsular Greece and throughout the larger Greek world, poleis divided into two armed camps under the leadership of Athens and Sparta. The fortunes of war favored first one side, then the other, but by 404 BCE, the Spartans and their allies had forced the Athenians to unconditional surrender. Athenians bullied smaller communities, disregarded the interests and concerns of other poleis, insisted that allies resolutely toe the Athenian line, and subjected insubordinate communities to sever punishments. Athens lost its reputation as the moral and intellectual leader of the Greek people and gained notoriety as an arrogant, insensitive imperialist power. | |
| 506599363 | King Philip II | King Philip II (359-336 BCE) built a powerful military machine that enabled him to overcome ht traditional clans and make himself the ruler of Macedon. His military force featured an infantry composed of small landowners and a cavalry staffed by aristocrats holding large estates. | |
| 506599364 | When Philip had consolidated his hold on Macedon, he turned his attention to two larger prizes | Greece and the Persian Empire. Philip moved into northern Greece, annexing poleis and their surrounding territories. The poleis recognized the Macedonian threat, but the Peloponnesian War had poisoned the atmosphere so much that the poleis could not agree to form an alliance against Phillip. By 338 BCE, he had overcome all organized resistance and brought Greece under his control. | |
| 506599365 | Alexander the Great | Philip intended to use his conquest of Greece as a launching pad for an invasion of Persia. He did not have the opportunity to carry out his plans, however, because an assassin brought him down in 336 BCE. The invasion of Persia thus fell to his son, the young Alexander of Macedon, often called Alexander the Great. He soon began to assemble an army of about forty-eight thousand men to invade the Persian Empire. Alexander was a brilliant strategist and an inspired leader, and he inherited a well-equipped, well-disciplined, highly spirited veteran force from his father. By 333 BCE, Alexander had subjected Ionia and Anatolia to his control; within another year he held Syria, Palestine, and Egypt; by 331 BCE, he controlled Mesopotamia and prepared to invade the Persian homeland. He took Pasargadae and burned the Achaemenid palace at Persepolis. Alexander established himself as the new emperor of Persia in 330 BCE. By 327 BCE, he took his army into India and crossed the Indus River, entering the Punjab. He subjected local rulers and probably would have continued to campaign in India except that his troops refused to proceed any farther from home. By 324 BCE, Alexander and his army had returned to Susa in Mesopotamia, where they celebrated their exploits in almost continuous feasting. In June of 323 BCE, however, after an extended round of feasting and drinking, he suddenly fell ill and died at age thirty-three. He established cities throughout the lands he conquered and reportedly named about seventy of them Alexandria in his own honor. Alexander also toyed with some intriguing ideas about governing his empire, notably a scheme to marry his officers to Persian women and create a new ruling class of Greek, Macedonian, and Persian ancestry, but his early death prevented him from turning that plan into a coherent policy. | |
| 506599366 | Hellenistic Kingdoms (Ptolemaic and Seleucid Empires) | Perhaps the wealthiest of the Hellenistic empires was Ptolemaic Egypt. Greek and Macedonian overlords contented themselves with the efficient organization of agriculture, industry, and tax collection. They maintained the irrigation networks and monitored the cultivation of crops and the payment of taxes. They also established royal monopolies over the most lucrative industries, such as textiles, slat making, and the brewing of beer.It was in the Seleucid realm, however, that Greek influence reached its greatest extent. The principal channels of that influence were the numerous cities that Alexander and his successors founded in the former Persian Empire. Greek and Macedonian colonists flocked to these cities, where they joined the ranks of imperial bureaucrats and administrators. Emperor Ashoka of India had his edicts promulgated in Greek and Aramaic, the two most commonly used languages of the Hellenistic empires. | |
| 506599367 | Alexandria | Much of Egypt's wealth flowed to the Ptolemaic capital of Alexandria. Founded by Alexander at the mouth of the Nile, Alexandria served as the Ptolemies' administrative headquarters. Alexandria's enormous harbor was able to accommodate 1,200 ships simultaneously, and it became the most important port in the Mediterranean. The city was indeed an early megalopolis, where peoples of different ethnic, religious, and cultural traditions conducted their affairs. Under the Potlemies, Alexandria also became the cultural capital of the Hellenistic world. It was the site of the famous Alexandrian Museum—a state-financed institute of higher learning where philosophical, literary, and scientific scholars carried on advanced research—and of the equally famous Alexandrian Library, which supported the scholarship sponsored by the museum and which, by the first century BCE, boasted a collection of more than seven hundred thousand works. | |
| 506599368 | Ai Khanum | The Hellenistic colony at Ai Khanum on the Oxus River in ancient Bactria (modern-day Afghanistan) was founded either by Alexander of Macedon or by Seleucus shortly after Alexander's death. While honoring Greek gods at Greek shrines, residents of AI Khanum also welcomed Persian and central Asian deities into their midst. | |
| 506599369 | Olympic Games | Best known of the panhellenic festivals were the Olympic Games. Greek communities from all parts of the Mediterranean sent their best athletes to the polis of Olympia to engage in contests of speed, strength, and skill. Winners of events received olive wreaths. The ancient Olympic Games took place every four years for more than a millennium before quietly disappearing from Greek life. By the sixth century BCE Greek communities had nevertheless established a sense of collective identity. During the Hellenistic era, trade drew the Greeks into an even larger world of commerce and communication as colonists and traders expanded the range of their operations throughout Alexander's empire and the realms that succeeded him. Caravan trade linked Persia and Bactria to the western regions of the Hellenistic world. Dependent on horses and donkeys, caravans could not transport heavy or bulky goods but, rather, carried luxury products such as gems and jewelry, perfumes and aromatic oils. | |
| 506599370 | Sappho | Literacy was common among upper-class Greek women. Most famous of them was the poet Sappho, who composed nine volumes of poetry around 600 BCE. Sappho, probably a widow from an aristocratic family, invited young women into her home for instruction in music and literature. Critics charged her with homosexual activity, ad her surviving verse speaks of her strong physical attraction to young women. Greek society readily tolerated sexual relationships between men but frowned on female homosexuality. | |
| 506599371 | Socrates | The pivotal figure in the development of philosophy as Socrates (470-399 BCE), a thoughtful and reflective Athenian driven by a powerful urge to understand human beings and human affairs in all their complexity. Socrates did not commit his thought to writing, but his disciple Plato later composed dialogues that represented Socrates' views. He posed questions that encouraged reflection on human issues, particularly on matters of ethics and morality. He scorned those who preferred public accolades to personal integrity, and he insisted on the need to reflect on the purposes and goals of life. "The unexamined life is not worth living." In elaborating those views, Socrates often played the role of a gadfly who subjected traditional ethical teachings to critical scrutiny. This tactic outraged some of his fellow citizens, who brought him to trial on charges that he encouraged immorality and corrupted the Athenian youths who joined him in the marketplace to discuss moral and ethical issues. A jury of Athenian citizens decided that Socrates had condemned him to death. In 399 BCE, Socrates drank a potion of hemlock sap and died in the company of his friends. | |
| 506599372 | Plato | Socrates' influence survived in the work of his most zealous disciple, Plato (430-347 BCE), and in Plato's disciple Aristotle (384-322 BCE). Plato largely represented his mentor's views. AS time passed, Plato gradually formulated his thought into a systematic vision of the world and human society. The cornerstone of Plato's thought was his theory of Forms or ideas. Plato developed his belief that the world in which we live was not the only world—indeed, it was not the world of genuine reality, but only a pale and imperfect reflection of the world of Forms or Ideas. Only by entering the world of Forms or Ideas was it possible to understand the true nature of virtue and other qualities. The secrets of that world were available only to philosophers—those who applied their rational faculties to the pursuit of wisdom. | |
| 506599373 | Plato sketched an ideal state that reflected his philosophical views in the dialogue Republic. He held that the best state was one where either philosopher ruled as kings or kings were themselves philosophers. In effect, then, Plato advocated an intellectual aristocracy | the philosophical elite would rule, and other, less intelligent, classes would work at functions for which their talents best suited them. | |
| 506599374 | Aristotle | Though originally a disciple of Plato, Aristotle came to distrusts the theory of Forms or Ideas, which he considered artificial intellectual constructs unnecessary for understanding the world. Aristotle believed that philosophers could rely on their senses to provide accurate information about the world and then depend on reason to sort out its mysteries. Aristotle explored the nature of reality in subtle metaphysical works, and he devised rigorous rules of logic in an effort to construct powerful and compelling arguments. But he also wrote on biology, physics, astronomy, psychology, politics, ethics, and literature. His later disciples, the Christian scholastic philosophers of medieval Europe, called him "the master of those who know." Christian and Islamic theologians alike went to great lengths to harmonize their religious convictions with the philosophical views of Plato and Aristotle. | |
| 506599375 | Cult of Dionysus | Women were also the most prominent devotees of Dionysus, the god of wine, also known as Bacchus, although men sometimes joined in his celebration.The dramatis Euripides offered an account of one such Dionysian season in his play the Bacchae. Spirited music and dance brought the devotees to such a state of frenzy that they fell on a sacrificial goat—and also a man hiding in the brush in an unwise effort to observe the proceedings—ripped the victims apart, and presented them as offerings to Dionysus. Euripides nonetheless recognized that powerful emotional bonds held together the Dionysian community. As the poleis strengthened their grip on public and political life, the religious cults became progressively more tamed. The venue of the rituals shifted from the mountains to the polis, and the nature of the observances changed dramatically. he Dionysian season saw the presentation of plays that honored the traditions of the polis, examined relations between human beings and the gods, or reflected on problems of ethics and morality. | |
| 506599376 | Thucydides | Thucydides wrote a detailed history of the war, and even though he was himself a loyal native of Athens, he did not hide the fact that Athenians as well as other parties to the conflict adopted brutal tactics. | |
| 506599377 | 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" | |
| 506599378 | Confucianism | The system of ethics, education, and statesmanship taught by Confucius and his disciples, stressing love for humanity, ancestor worship, reverence for parents, and harmony in thought and conduct. | |
| 506599379 | Daoism | Chinese philosophy based on the teachings of Laozi; taught that people should turn to nature and give up their worldly concerns | |
| 506599380 | Legalism | Chinese philosophy developed by Hanfeizi; taught that humans are naturally evil and therefore need to be ruled by harsh laws | |
| 506599381 | Confucius | chinese philosphere and teacher; his belifs,known as confusoinism greatly influenced chinese life | |
| 506599382 | Analects | a record of the words and acts of the central Chinese thinker and philosopher Confucius and his disciples | |
| 506599383 | Junzi | Confucian "superior individuals" took an active role in public affairs | |
| 506599384 | Ren | An attitude of kindness and benevolence or a sense of humanity for Confucianism. | |
| 506599385 | Li | Propriety - You should behave in an appropriate fashion treating everyone equally with special respect towards elders or superiors | |
| 506599386 | Xiao | Filial Piety - You should show respect to yur ancestors | |
| 506599387 | Mencius | major follower of Confucius; stressed that humans were essentially good and that governments required the consent of their subjects. | |
| 506599388 | Xunzi | follower of Confucius; stressed that humans were inherently lazy and evil and required an authoritarian government. | |
| 506599389 | Laozi | the "Old Master" who encouraged people to give up worldly desires in favor of nature; he founded Taoism (Daoism) | |
| 506599390 | Daodejing | The central text of Daoism; translated as The Way and Its Power. | |
| 506599391 | Wuwei | Non-action, the preferred Daoist path of least resistance, allowing things to run their natural course | |
| 506599392 | Zhuangzi | The author of a book of the same name. Shared many of the central ideas of the Laozi, such as the usefulness of the useless and the relativity of ordinary distinctions. | |
| 506599393 | Shang Yang | founder of legalism, minister to the duke of qin | |
| 506599394 | The Book of Lord Shang | A book consisting of Shang Yang's policies | |
| 506599395 | Han Fezi | wrote the book on Legalistic philosophy. | |
| 506599396 | Qin Dynasty | the Chinese dynasty (from 246 BC to 206 BC) that established the first centralized imperial government and built much of the Great Wall | |
| 506599397 | Qin Shihuangdi | united China, hated by people, buried himself with the terracotta soldiers. Built roads, and during his 14 year rein, China thrived and made spectacular progress, Ruler of China who united China for the first time. He built road and canals and began the Great Wall of China. He also imposed a standard system of laws, money, weights, and writing. | |
| 506599398 | Han Dynasty | imperial dynasty that ruled China (most of the time) from 206 BC to 221 and expanded its boundaries and developed its bureaucracy | |
| 506599399 | Liu Bang | helped overthrow Qin dynasty, 1st emperor of the Han dynasty, was born a peasant and worked way up to emperor | |
| 506599400 | Han Wudi | The most important Han Emperor. Expanded the Empire in all directions. Created the Civil Service System. Established Public Schools. | |
| 506599401 | Xiongnu | nomads who terrorized the border and were defeated by Wudi. Lived in the steppes or grasslands north of China. Were the biggest threat to security of the Han Dynasty | |
| 506599402 | Maodun | The most successful leader of the Xiongnu. He brought strict military discipline. | |
| 506599403 | Ban Zhao | one of the best known women who achieved a position of status in Han China. A Confucian scholar and writer who wrote poems and essays and the history of the Han dynasty. | |
| 506599404 | Wang Mang | interrupted Han rule for around 15 years to rule China; tried helping the poor by establishing granaries and land reform. | |
| 506599405 | The Yellow Turban Uprising | was a serious revolt that raged throughout china and tested the resilience of the Han state during the late second century ce | |
| 506599406 | Persia | Is now what is known as Iran. | |
| 506599407 | Cyrus | (Achaemenid) Reigned Persia from 558 BCE to 530 BCE; he came from the mountain regions of what is now Iran; he conquered most of what was the Achaemenid Empire. | |
| 506599408 | Darius | A kinsman of Cyrus, he is said to have expanded Cyrus's empire East and West from Macedonia to the Indus river. | |
| 506599409 | Xerxes | Reigned Persia from 486 BCE to 465 BCE; he failed to follow the policy of toleration and caused chaos. | |
| 506599410 | Seleucus | He took over the Persian Empire after Alexander the Great died and reigned from 305 BCE to 281 BCE. | |
| 506599411 | Persepolis | The capital of the Persian empire built by Darius; in 330 BCE it served as the nerve center of the Persian Empire. | |
| 506599412 | Achaemenids | Dynasty ruling in Persia from Cyrus I to Darius III (558-330 BC). | |
| 506599413 | Seleucids | They controlled Persia after the death of Alexander the Great. Their king, Seleucus, was one of Alexander's generals. | |
| 506599414 | Parthians | Iranian ruling dynasty between 250 B.C.E. and 226 C.E.; their empire was based in Iran and extend to Mesopotamia. | |
| 506599415 | Satrap | a governor of a province in the Ancient Persian empire | |
| 506599416 | Persian Royal Road | Major road of the Persian empire; it stretched from Lydia to Susa and allowed for the king to travel and communicate quickly with his empire. | |
| 506599417 | Ionia | A Greek occupied region in Anatolia under Persian Rule until the Persian Wars | |
| 506599418 | Persian Wars | Conflicts between Greek city-states and the Persian Empire, ranging from the Ionian Revolt (499-494 B.C.E.) through Darius's punitive expedition that failed at Marathon. Chronicled by Herodotus. (131) | |
| 506599419 | Zarathustra | the mythical founder of chief prophet of the Ancient Persian religion known as Zoroastrianism, which influenced Jewish and later Christian belief | |
| 506599420 | Zoroastrainism | Persian religion founded by Zoroaster; taught that humans had the freedom to choose between right and wrong, and that goodness would triumph in the end. View Ahura Mazda as the supreme deity but still acknowledged other minor deities. | |
| 506599421 | Shapur I | Lived from 239 C.E. to 272 C.E. He stabilized the western frontier and created a series of buffer states between Persia and Rome | |
| 506599422 | Gathas | Hymns or poems written by Zarathustra; considered to be the most authoritative expressions of the Zoroastrian religion. | |
| 506599423 | Ahura Mazda | Main god of Zoroastrianism who represented truth and goodness and was perceived to be in an eternal struggle with the malign spirit Angra Mainyu. | |
| 506599424 | Paul of Tarsus | A Jew from Asia Minor that played the most influential role in the spread of Christianity. Paul never met Jesus but he had a vision one day of speaking to him. Executed because spreading of Christianity was a threat to the government. | |
| 506599425 | Etruscans | Beginning in the 700s BCE, first rulers of Roman Republic and Empire; Laid the foundation for Rome and Roman civilization. | |
| 506599426 | Consul | One of two officials who led the government in the ancient Roman republic. | |
| 506599427 | Patrician | Of the hereditary aristocracy or ruling class of ancient Rome. | |
| 506599428 | Plebeian | An ordinary citizen in the ancient Roman Republic. | |
| 506599429 | Tribune | In ancient Rome, an official elected by the plebeians to protect their rights. | |
| 506599430 | Carthage | City located in present-day Tunisia, founded by Phoenicians ca. 800 B.C.E. It became a major commercial center and naval power in the western Mediterranean until defeated by the expanding Roman Republic in the third century B.C.E. | |
| 506599431 | Punic Wars | The three wars waged by Rome against Carthage, 264-241, 218-201, and 149-146 b.c., resulting in the destruction of Carthage and the annexation of its territory by Rome. | |
| 506599432 | Gracchi Brothers | Brothers Tiberius and Gaius who tried to reform the Roman Empire by giving back Latifundias to the small farmers but were assassinated. | |
| 506599433 | Latifundia | Large farming estates in ancient Rome. Enjoyed economies of scale. | |
| 506599434 | Gaius Marius | Roman general and politician; he eliminated property restrictions for acceptance into the army and began to accept anyone who wished to join the Roman army. He made armies into private forces that became devoted to their generals. | |
| 506599435 | Lucius Cornelius Sulla | General elected consul in 88 B.C.E; Wanted to restore power to the Senate and aristocracy; Proved a ruler with strongest army could control Rome. | |
| 506599436 | Julius Caesar | Roman general, statesman, and historian who conquered Gaul. Liberal in politics. Declared himself "emperor for life." Was assassinated in 44 B.C.E. | |
| 506599437 | Augustus | In 27 BC, he became the first emperor of Rome and took command, creating the Pax Romana—a 200-year period of peace. He ruled from 27 B.C.E. to 14 C.E.. During his reign, the Romans constructed many buildings and built roads, bridges, and aqueducts. | |
| 506599438 | Romulus | Founder and first king of Rome. Legend has it that he and his twin brother were rescued by a she-wolf. | |
| 506599439 | Twelve Tables | The earliest written collection of Roman laws, drawn up by patricians about 450B.C., that became the foundation of Roman law. | |
| 506599440 | Pater Familias | Roman term for the "father of the family," a theoretical implication that gave the male head of the family almost unlimited authority. | |
| 506599441 | Cicero | Conservative Roman senator; Stoic philosopher; one of great orators of his day. | |
| 506599442 | Spartacus | Slave, trained as a gladiator, who led a rebellion against the Roman army for slave freedom. | |
| 506599443 | Mithras | The Persian god embodying the ancient spirit of light of Mithraism, a Persian religion popular in the Roman Empire that exalted fraternity and loyalty, appealing to soldiers. | |
| 506599444 | Essenes | Monastic Jews who were living communally, apart from the world, about the time of Jesus. Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls. | |
| 506599445 | Jesus of Nazareth | Prophet and teacher among the Jews; believed by Christians to be the messiah; executed c. 30 C.E. | |
| 506599446 | Who was the Greek ambassador in India? | Megasthenes | |
| 506599447 | Who wrote the Indika? | Megasthenes | |
| 506599448 | How did the Indika portray India? | wealthy, fertile land | |
| 506599449 | What is Pataliputra? | Indian capital | |
| 506599450 | What were the most prominent features of India? | a well defined hierarchical social structure | |
| 506599451 | What power filled the vacuum after the fall of Alexander the Great? | The Kingdom of Magadha | |
| 506599452 | Who was the founder of the Mauryan empire? | Chandragupta Maurya | |
| 506599453 | Describe the Mauryan Empire. | centralized; bureaucratic administration; used spies; | |
| 506599454 | Who wrote the Arthashastra? | Kautalya | |
| 506599455 | Who conquered the kingdom of Kalinga? | Ashoka Maurya | |
| 506599456 | Describe Ashoka's rule. | tighter centralization than Chandragupta's. used pillar edicts to spread laws; | |
| 506599457 | What is the kingdom in northern India? | Bactria | |
| 506599458 | What dynasty arose after the recession of the Kushan empire? | Gupta dynasty; | |
| 506599459 | Who founded the Gupta dynasty? | Chandra Gupta | |
| 506599460 | What was different between Gupta rule and Maurya rule? | Chandra Gupta used regional administration; gained power through alliances rather than conquests; | |
| 506599461 | Whose ideas did Chandra Gupta base his political structure after? | Darius | |
| 506599462 | Who was a pottery manufacturer that displayed the expansion of businesses? | Saddalaputta | |
| 506599463 | What functioned as subcastes based on occupation? | guild | |
| 506599464 | What was the strictest of new religions in India? | Jainism | |
| 506599465 | What was the main principle of Jainism meaning non-violence? | Ahimsa | |
| 506599466 | Who was the founder of Buddhism? | Siddhartha Gautama | |
| 506599467 | Why was Buddhism popular? | it rejected the notion of the caste system; it did not use Sanskrit; | |
| 506599468 | Why was Jainism popular? | It did not recognize the caste system | |
| 506599469 | Why did Jainism lose popularity to Buddhism? | it was too strict and unrealistic | |
| 506599470 | What were the Four Noble Truths? | all life involves suffering; desire causes suffering; elimination of desire ends suffering; a disciplined life ends desire and thus ends suffering; | |
| 506599471 | What is Dharma? (Buddhism) | the basic doctrine of Buddhism | |
| 506599472 | What is the Noble Eightfold Path? | part of teh Buddhist Dharma which gives 8 stops to a balanced life | |
| 506599473 | What is the state of spiritual independence in Buddhism? | nirvana | |
| 506599474 | What were Buddhist shrines housing Buddha's relics? | stupas | |
| 506599475 | What were the 3 new developments in Mahayana Buddhism? | the transformation of Buddha to a deity; the notion of boddhisatvas; ability to reach salvation without giving up possessions; | |
| 506599476 | What were the Buddhist equivalents of Saints? | Boddhisatvas | |
| 506599477 | What religion caused the decline of Buddhist popularity? | Hinduism | |
| 506599478 | Why was Hinduism popular? | it recognized the castes and advocated that by fulfilling caste duties one could reach salvation; | |
| 506599479 | What is Dharma according to Hinduism? | one of the 4 principal aims of life; called for obedience to moral and religious laws | |
| 506599480 | What is Artha? | one of the 4 principal aims of life; involves the pursuit of economic well-being and honest propriety; | |
| 506599481 | What is Kama? | one of the 4 principal aims of life; calls for the enjoyment of social, physical, and sexual pleasure; | |
| 506599482 | What is Moksha? | one of the 4 principal aims of life; the salvation of the soul which all humans should strive for; |
