Unit A Terms

Paleolithic Age

The Old Stone Age ending in 12,000 B.C.E.; typified by use of evolving stone tools and hunting and gathering for subsistence.

Neolithic Revolution

The succession of technological innovations and changes in human organization that led to the development of agriculture, 8500-3500 B.C.E.

Neolithic Age

The New Stone Age between 8000 and 5000 B.C.E.; period in which adaptation of sedentary agriculture occurred; domestication of plants and animals accomplished.

Bronze Age

From 4000 to 3000 B.C.E.; increased use of plow, metalworking development of wheeled vehicles, writing

Civilization

Societies distinguished by reliance on sedentary agriculture, ability to produce food surpluses, and existence of non farming elites, as well as merchant and manufacturing groups.

Mesopotamia

Literally “between the river”; the civilizations that arose in the alluvial plain of the Tigris Euphrates river valleys

Cuneiform

A form of writing developed by the Sumerians using a wedge-shaped stylus and clay tablets.

Ziggurats

Massive towers usually associated with Mesopotamian temple complexes.

City-State

A form of political organizations typical of Mesopotamian civilizations; consisted of agricultural hinterlands ruled by an urban based king.

Hammurabi’s Code

This code was one of the earliest and most complete written legal codes, proclaimed by Hammurabi, and was known from being strict towards social relations and family structures within this ancient Indian civilization.

Patriarchal

All parts of society, political, economic, and cultural, are ran by men.

Mandate of Heaven

Created by Zhou Dynasty, the mandate proposed that there could be only one legitimate ruler of China at given time, and that this ruler had the blessing of the gods. To “lose” the Mandate of Heaven means that one has fallen out of the grace of the gods and is therefore unfit to rule China.

Monotheism

The exclusive worship of a single fog; introduced by the Jews into Western civilization

Confucianism

Major Chinese philosophy centered on respecting and obeying patriarchal authorities to create societal harmony.

Buddha

Creator of a major Indian and Asian religion; born in the 6th century B.C.E.; taught that enlightenment could be achieved only by abandoning desires for earthly things.

Hellenism

Hellenistic culture blending Indian, Persian, Egyptian, and Greek beliefs together as a result of Alexander the Great’s conquests in Afro Eurasia.

Ashoka

Greatest Mauryan ruler; grandson of Chandragupta Maurya; extended conquests of the dynasty; converted to Buddhism and sponsored its spread through his empire.

Scholar-gentry

Chinese class of noble landowners who were educated to hold positions in government.

Roman republic

The balanced constitution of Rome from c. 510 to 47 B.C.E.; featured an aristocratic Senate, a panel of magistrates, and several popular assemblies.

Julius Caesar

Dictator of the Roman republic who effectively ended the republic and, with his successor Augustus, transformed it into a empire.

Constantine

Roman emperor from 312 to 337 C.E.; established second capital at Constantinople; attempted to use religious force of Christianity to unify empire spiritually.

Polis

City-state form of government typical of Greek political organization from 800 to 400 B.C.E.

Axum

A Kingdom in the Ethiopian highlands; converted to Christianity after trading with the Roman Empire