Agricultural Revolutions
The change from food gathering to food production that occurred between ca. 8000 and 2000 B.C.E. Also known as the Neolithic Revolution.
Akhenaten
Egyptian pharaoh (r. 1353-1335 B.C.E.). He built a new capital at Amarna, fostered a new style of naturalistic art, and created a religious revolution by imposing worship of the sun-disk.
Amulet
a trinket or piece of jewelry thought to be a protection against evil
Anthropomorphic
suggesting human characteristics for animals or inanimate things
Babylon
The largest and most important city in Mesopotamia. It achieved particular eminence as the capital of the Amorite king Hammurabi in the eighteenth century B.C.E. and the Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in the sixth century B.C.E. (p. 29)
Bronze
an alloy of copper and tin and sometimes other elements
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 Rome in the third century B.C.E. (p. 107)
Catal Hüyük
One of first true cities in history, created in the Neolithic Era in 6500 to 5500 BC, from which were created agriculture, trading, temples, housing, and religions
Celts
Peoples sharing a common language and culture that originated in Central Europe in the first half of the first millennium B.C.E.. After 500 B.C.E. they spread as far as Anatolia in the east, Spain and the British Isles in the west, onquered by Romans
Chavin
First major urban civilization in South America. Capital is de Huantar, was located in the Andes Mountains of Peru. Has 2 distinct ecological zones, the Peruvian Costal Plain and the Andean Foothills.
City-state
A city with political and economic control over the surrounding countryside
Civilization
a society in an advanced state of social development (e.g., with complex legal and political and religious organizations)
Code of Hammurabi
the set of laws drawn up by Babylonian king Hammurabi dating to the 18th century BC, the earliest legal code known in its entirety
Confucius
Chinese philosopher, administrator, and moralist. His social and moral teachings, collected in the Analects , tried to replace former religious observances
Culture
the attitudes and behavior that are characteristic of a particular social group or organization
Cuneiform
an ancient wedge-shaped script used in Mesopotamia and Persia
Daoism
philosophical system developed by of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu advocating a simple honest life and noninterference with the course of natural events
Druids
The class of religious experts who conducted rituals and preserved sacred lore among some ancient Celtic peoples. They provided education, mediated disputes between kinship groups, and were suppressed by the Romans as potential resistance.
First Temple
A monumental sanctuary built in Jerusalem by King Solomon in the tenth century B.C.E. to be the religious center for the Israelite god Yahweh. The Temple priesthood conducted sacrifices, received a tithe or percentage of agricultural revenues.
Foragers
people who support themselves by hunting wild animals and gathering wild edible plants and insects
Hammurabi
Amorite ruler of Babylon (r. 1792-1750 B.C.E.). He conquered many city-states in southern and northern Mesopotamia and is best known for a code of laws, inscribed on a black stone pillar, illustrating the principles to be used in legal cases.
Harappa
Site of one of the great cities of the Indus Valley civilization of the third millennium B.C.E. It was located on the northwest frontier of the zone of cultivation , and may have been a center for the acquisition of raw materials. (p. 48)
Hatshepsut
Queen of Egypt (1473-1458 B.C.E.). Dispatched a naval expedition down the Red Sea to Punt (possibly Somalia), the faraway source of myrrh. There is evidence of opposition to a woman as ruler, and after her death her name was frequently expunged
Hebrew Bible
A collection of sacred books containing diverse materials concerning the origins, experiences, beliefs, and practices of the Israelites. Most of the extant text was compiled by members of the priestly class in the fifth century B.C.E.
Hieroglyphics
an ancient Egyptian writing system in which pictures were used to represent ideas and sounds
History
the discipline that records and interprets past events involving human beings
Hittites
A people from central Anatolia who established an empire in Anatolia and Syria in the Late Bronze Age. With wealth from the trade in metals and military power based on chariot forces, the hittites vied with New Kingdom Egypt over Syria
Iron Age
the period following the Bronze Age; characterized by rapid spread of iron tools and weapons
Israel
an ancient kingdom of the Hebrew tribes at the southeastern end of the Mediterranean Sea
Jericho
Oldest Neolithic community in the West Bank between Israel and Jordan
Kush
An African state that developed along the upper reaches of the Nile c. 100 B.C.E.; conquered Egypt and ruled it for several centuries.
Library of Ashurbanipal
A large collection of writings drawn from the ancient literary, religious, and scientific traditions of Mesopotamia. It was assembled by the sixth century B.C.E. Assyrian ruler Ashurbanipal. The many tablets unearthed by archaeologists constitute one of the most important sources of present-day knowledge of the long literary tradition of Mesopotamia.
Linear B
the modern name for the script, composed of signs and pictures, in which Mycenaean Greeks kept records on tablets of clay
Llama
wild or domesticated South American cud-chewing animal related to camels but smaller and lacking a hump
Loess
a fine-grained unstratified accumulation of clay and silt deposited by the wind
Ma'at
Egyptian term for the concept of divinely created and maintained order in the universe. Reflecting the ancient Egyptians' belief in an essentially beneficent world, the divine ruler was the earthly guarantor of this order.
Mandate of Heaven
a political theory of ancient China in which those in power were given the right to rule from a divine source
Mass deportation
The forcible removal and relocation of large numbers of people or entire populations
Matrilineal
based on or tracing descent through the female line
Megaliths
Structures and complexes of very large stones constructed for ceremonial and religious purposes in Neolithic times.
Memphis
The capital of Old Kingdom Egypt, near the head of the Nile Delta. Early rulers were interred in the nearby pyramids
Minoan
Prosperous civilization on the Aegean island of Crete in the second millennium B.C.E. The Minoans engaged in far-flung commerce around the Mediterranean and exerted powerful cultural influences on the early Greeks.
Mohenjo-Daro
Largest city of the Indus Valley civilization. It was centrally located in the extensive floodplain of the Indus River. Little is known about the political institutions of Indus Valley communities, but the large-scale implies central planning.
Monotheism
belief in a single God
Meroe
Capital of a flourishing kingdom in southern Nubia from the fourth century B.C.E. to the fourth century C.E.. In this period Nubian culture shows more independence from Egypt and the influence of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Mummy
a body embalmed and dried and wrapped for burial (as in ancient Egypt)
Mycenae
Site of a fortified palace complex in southern Greece that controlled a Late Bronze Age kingdom. In Homer's epic poems Mycenae was the base of King Agamemnon, who commanded the Greeks besieging Troy.
Neo-Assyrian Empire
A major Mesopotamian empire between 934-608 BCE. They used force and terror and exploited the wealth and labor of their subjects. They were an iron-age resurgence of a previous bronze age empire.
Neo-Babylonian Kingdom
Under the Chaldaeans (nomadic kinship groups that settled in southern Mesopotamia in the early first millennium B.C.E.), Babylon again became a major political and cultural center in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.E. After participating in the destruction of Assyrian power, the monarchs Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar took over the southern portion of the Assyrian domains.
Neolithic
latest part of the Stone Age beginning about 10,000 BC in the middle east (but later elsewhere)
Newgrange
ca 3,300- 2,900 BCE ireland. it is the most famous neolithic site in ireland. at dawn on the shortest day of the year the winter solstice a narrow beam of sunlight for a very short time illuminates the floor of the chamber at the end of the long passageway. it is 500 years older than the pyramids in egypt. it was discovered by a farmer. they found the entrance and it was facing east and it is circular. there is a long hall way that leads to a chamber at the end with a alter. it was made of stone. the beam of light that shines through is a very bright light.
Olmec
a member of an early Mesoamerican civilization contered around Veracruz that flourished between 1300 and 400 BC
Paleolithic
second part of the Stone Age beginning about 750,00 to 500,000 years BC and lasting until the end of the last ice age about 8,500 years BC
Papyrus
paper made from the papyrus plant by cutting it in strips and pressing it flat
Patrilineal
based on or tracing descent through the male line
Pharaoh
the title of the ancient Egyptian kings
Phoenicians
located on eastern Mediterranean coast; invented the alphabet which used sounds rather than symbols like cuneiform
Ramesses II
A long-lived ruler of New Kingdom Egypt (r. 1290-1224 B.C.E.). He reached an accommodation with the Hittites of Anatolia after a military standoff. He built on a grand scale throughout Egypt.
Scribe
a sharp-pointed awl for marking wood or metal to be cut
Semitic
of or relating to or characteristic of Semites
Shaft graves
A term used for the burial sites of elite members of Mycenaean Greek society in the mid-second millennium B.C.E. At the bottom of deep shafts lined with stone slabs, the bodies were laid out along with gold and bronze jewelry, implements, weapons, and masks.
Shang
The dominant people in the earliest Chinese dynasty for which we have written records (ca. 1750-1027 B.C.E.). Ancestor worship, divination by means of oracle bones, and the use of bronze vessels for ritual purposes were major elements of this culture.
Stone Age
The historical period characterized by the production of tools from stone and other nonmetallic substances. It was followed in some places by the Bronze Age
Sumerians
People who dominated Southern Mesopotamia through the end of the 3rd Millennium BCE. Responsible for the creation of irrigation technology, cunieform, and religious conceptions.
Thebes
Capital city of Egypt and home of the ruling dynasties during the Middle and New Kingdoms. Amon, patron deity of Thebes, became one of the chief gods of Egypt. Monarchs were buried across the river in the Valley of the Kings
Yin/yang
In Daoist belief, complementary factors that help to maintain the equilibrium of the world. One is associated with masculine, light, and active qualities while the other with feminine, dark, and passive qualities.
Zhou
The people and dynasty that took over the dominant position in north China from the Shang and created the concept of the Mandate of Heaven to justify their rule. Remembered as prosperous era in Chinese History.
Ziggurat
a rectangular tiered temple or terraced mound erected by the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians