World History Fall Final 2025

Etruscans

A people who inhabited early italy, before Romans

Republic

A form of government in which the people select representatives to govern them and make laws.

Patrician

In ancient Rome, a member of the privileged upper class.

Consul

Under the Roman Republic, one of the two magistrates holding supreme civil and military authority. Nominated by the Senate and elected by citizens in the Comitia Centuriata, the consuls held office for one year and each had power of veto over the other.

Dictator

A ruler who has complete power over a country

Plebeian

A commoner in Rome

Legion

A military unit of the ancient Roman army, made up of about 5,000 foot soldiers and a group of soldiers on horseback.

Imperialism

A policy in which a strong nation seeks to dominate other countries poitically, socially, and economically.

Census

the official count of a population

Aqueduct

A structure that carries water over long distances

Jesus Christ

A teacher and prophet whose life and teachings form the basis of Christianity. Christians believe Jesus to be Son of God.

Messiah

Savior

Apostle

Pioneer of a reform movement (originally, an early follower of Jesus)

Paul

(New Testament) a Christian missionary to the Gentiles

Martyr

A person who is killed because of their religious or other beliefs

Heresy

(n.) an opinion different from accepted belief; the denial of an idea that is generally held sacred

Diocletian

Roman emperor who divided the empire into a West and an East section.

Inflation

a general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money.

Constantinople

City founded as the second capital of the Roman Empire; later became the capital of the Byzantine Empire

Huns

Warlike people who migrated from Eastern Europe into territory controlled by Germanic tribes, forcing them to move into areas controlled by Rome

Mercenary

a professional soldier hired by a foreign army

Julius Caesar

Part of the first triumvirate who eventually became "dictator for life". Chose not to conquer Germany. Was assassinated by fellow senators in 44 B.C.E.

Augustus Caesar

The first empreror of Rome, the adopted son of Julius Caesar, help Rome come into Pax Romana, or the Age of Roman Peace

Tiberius

second emperor of Rome; ruled during the time of Jesus' death

Caligula

Only ruled for four years, mentally unstable. He had an affair with his sister and named them both as Gods. He also named his horse a consul.

Nero

First Roman emperor to persecute Christians

Marcus Aurelius

Last of the "Good Emperors", Wrote "Meditations" personal reflections of his beliefs, End of the Pax Romana

Constantine I

Emperor of Rome who adopted the Christian faith and stopped the persecution of Christians (280-337)

Gladiators (types)

thracian was the most popular

Roman Innovations/Inventions

Roads, bound books, aqueducts, concrete, etc.

Pompeii

Roman town destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius

Mesopotamia

A region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that developed the first urban societies. In the Bronze Age this area included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires, In the Iron Age, it was ruled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires.

Sumer

The world's first civilization, founded in Mesopotamia, which existed for over 3,000 years.

Gilgamesh

A legendary Sumerian king who was the hero of an epic collection of mythic stories

Cuneiform

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

Ziggurat

A rectangular tiered temple or terraced mound erected by the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians

Sargon

2340 B.C. leader of the Akkadians who overran the Sumerian city-state and set up the first empire

Hammurabi

He designed a legal code in early Babylon that gave punishment based on crime and social status. Eye for an eye

Nebuchadnezzar

A Babylonian king who conquered Jerusalem,and built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Zoroaster

The founder of Persia's classical pre-Islamic religion, Zoroastrianism.

Darius I

Third ruler of the Persian Empire (r. 521-486 B.C.E.).

Hatshepsut

First female pharaoh who expanded Egypt through trade

Thutmose III

Stepson of Hatshepsut; considered a great pharaoh of the New Kingdom of Egypt

Ramses II

A long-lived ruler of New Kingdom Egypt (r. 1290-1224 BCE). He reached an accomodation with the Hittites of Anatolia after a standoff in battle at Kadesh in Syria. He built on a grand scale throughout Egypt.

Amun Re

God of the sun, sailed across the heavens. considered King of gods

Osiris

Egyptian god of the underworld and judge of the dead

Isis

Egyptian goddess of fertility

Akhenaton

early ruler of Egypt who rejected the old gods and replaced them with sun worship (died in 1358 BC)

Hieroglyphs

pictures, characters, or symbols standing for words, ideas, or sounds; ancient Egyptians used instead of an alphabet like ours

Papyrus

Egyptian paper

Rosetta Stone

a huge stone slab inscribed with hieroglyphics, Greek, and a later form of Egyptian that allowed historians to understand Egyptian writing.

Tutankhamen

a 10 year old pharaoh who ruled for nine years and then died unexpectantly; restored the old gods, tomb completely intact

Torah

The first five books of Jewish Scripture, which they believe are by Moses

Abraham

the first of the Old Testament patriarchs and the father of Isaac

Moses

Led the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt; received the 10 commandments

David

(Old Testament) the 2nd king of the Israelites

Solomon

(Old Testament) son of David and king of Israel noted for his wisdom (10th century BC)

Diaspora

the dispersion of the Jews outside Israel

Fertile Crescent

A geographical area of fertile land in the Middle East stretching in a broad semicircle from the Nile to the Tigris and Euphrates

Old, Middle, New Kingdoms

A series of dynasties in Ancient Egypt from 2700-1050 B.C.

Howard Carter

Discovered King Tut's tomb

Khufu

Egyptian pharaoh who built the great pyramid

Horus

God of the sky

Major Greek Gods

Zeus, Poseidon, Hades

Herodotus

Greek Historian, considered the father of History. He came from a Greek community in Anatolia and traveled extensively, collecting information in western Asia and the Mediterranean lands.

Pericles

Athenian leader noted for advancing democracy in Athens and for ordering the construction of the Parthenon.

Delian/Persian League

Association of Greek city-states for the sole purpose of fighting back against Persia

Peloponnesian/Persian/Trojan Wars

A series of wars involving the Greek city-states, most notable Sparta and Athens

Leonidas

king of Sparta and hero of the battle of Thermopylae where he was killed by the Persians (died in 480 BC)

Alexander the Great

King of Macedonia who conquered Greece, Egypt, and Persia

Euclid

(circa 300 BCE), Greek mathematician. Considered to be the father of modern geomertry.

Archimedes

(287-212 BCE) Greek mathematician and inventor. He wrote works on plane and solid geometry, arithmetic, and mechanics. He is best known for the lever and pulley.

Pythagoras

Greek philosopher and mathematician who proved the Pythagorean theorem

Homer

A Greek poet, author of the Iliad and the Odyssey

Plato

Socrates' most well known pupil. Founded an academy in Athens.

Aristotle

A Greek Philosopher, taught Alexander the Great, started a famous school, studied with Plato

Socrates

Greek philosopher; socratic method--questioning; sentenced to death for corrupting Athens youth

Hippocrates

"Founder of Medicine" During the Golden Age in Greece he was a scientist that believed all diseases came from natural causes. He also had high ideals for physicians & an oath was made that is still used today.

Battle of Thermopylae

(480 B.C.E.) Battle in which Spartan king Leonidas and his army of 300 Spartans and other Greeks refused to surrender to the numerically superior Persian army at the pass of Thermopylae; they were annihilated to the man but allowed the other Greek forces to prepare for the Persian invasion.

Persian Empire

Mesopotamian empire that conquered the existing Median, Lydian, and Babylonian empires, as well as Egypt and many others. Also known as the Achaemenid Empire.

Helen of Troy

A beautiful Greek woman, daughter of Zeus and Leda, who was kidnapped by Paris of Troy. The Trojan War began when the Greeks tried to get her back.

Achilles

Greatest Greek warrior, only vulnerable place is his heel, prophecy that he would die in the Trojan war, which he does at the hand of Paris

Hector

Trojan prince and the greatest fighter for Troy in the Trojan War

Trojan Horse

a large hollow wooden figure of a horse (filled with Greek soldiers) left by the Greeks outside Troy during the Trojan War

Monarchy

A government ruled by a king or queen

Oligarchy

a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution.

Tyranny

Cruel and oppressive government or rule

Direct democracy

Government in which citizens vote on laws and select officials directly.

Hellenistic Age

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.

Lucy

A forty percent complete skeleton discovery of an Australopithecus afarensis, or a species within the category of hominid. She was rediscovered on November 24, 1974 in Hadar, Ethiopia.

Donald Johanson

anthropologist who searched for fossils in Ethiopia; found the skeleton of Lucy

Hominid Groupings

Homo habilis, Homo sapian, Homo erectus, Australopithecus

Daoism

A religion in China which emphasizes the removal from society and to become one with nature.

Hinduism

A religion and philosophy developed in ancient India, characterized by a belief in reincarnation and a supreme being who takes many forms

Buddhism

A religion based on the teachings of the Buddha.

Buddha

Means "Enlightened One." He is said to have found a path for overcoming suffering.

Aryans

nomads from Europe and Asia who migrated to India and finally settled; vedas from this time suggest beginning of caste system

Louis Leakey

English paleontologist whose account of fossil discoveries in Tanzania changed theories of human evolution (1903-1972)