Unit 2 Classical Empires Flashcards

Qin and Han, Greece and Rome

232420304	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 dispersed them in 1st Century. (168)	0
232420305	Gaozu	the throne name of Liu Bang, one of the rebel leaders who brought down Qin and founded Han dynasty in 202 BCE. Modest background and peasant qualities; denounced harshness and laws of Qin but was a Legalist; frugal to cut taxes; stored excess grain	1
232420306	Sima Qian	a Chinese scholar who wrote the most important history of ancient China, HISTORICAL RECORDS	2
232420307	Chang'an	City in the Wei Valley in eastern China. It became the capital of the Zhou kingdom and the Qin and early Han Empires. Its main features were imitated in the cities and towns that sprang up throughout the Han Empire. >(p. 164)	3
232420308	gentry	people of standing(rank or position); people of good family or high social position; class of people just below nobility	4
232420309	patron/client relationship	Anciant 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 their patrons	5
232420310	Principate	First period of the Roman empire started by Augustus, characterized by a concerted effort on the part of the Emperors to preserve the illusion of the formal continuance of the Roman Republic	6
232420311	Augustus	Honorific name of Octavian, founder of the Roman Principate, the empire that replaced the failing rule of the Roman Senate.	7
232420312	equites	In ancient Italy, 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	8
232420313	pax romana	A period of peace and prosperity throughout the Roman Empire, lasting from 27 B.C. to A.D. 180.	9
232420314	Romanization	The process by which the Latin language and Roman culture became dominant in the western provinces of the Roman Empire.	10
232420315	third century crisis	political, military, and economic turmoil that beset the Roman Empire during much of the third century C.E.: frequent changes of ruler, civil wars, barbarian invasions, decline of urban centers, and near-destruction of long-distance commerce.	11
232420316	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 and standardization.	12