WHIST chapter 6 terms

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Herodotus

(ca. 485–425 b.c.e.) A Greek-speaking historian born in Halicarnassus. Author of The Histories, an investigation of the history, folklore, geography, plants, and customs of the known world. Known as the “father of history.”

Achaemenids

The ruling dynasty in Iran between 550 and 330 b.c.e. They, whose founder was from the region of Persia in the southwest of modern-day Iran, ruled the Persian empire and at its height in the fifth century b.c.e. governed a population estimated at 30 to 35 million people.

satrap

The third Achaemenid ruler, Darius, divided his empire into provinces called satrapies, each administered by a governor. The officials under them were recruited locally, a hallmark of the Persian system.

The Avesta

A book, probably dating to circa 1000 b.c.e. and first recorded in writing around 600 c.e., whose title means “The Injunction of Zarathushtra,” the founding prophet of Zoroastrianism. Contains hymns attributed to Zarathushtra himself, which provide our best guide to his original thought.

Zoroastrianism

Iranian religion named for Zarathushtra (in Persian; Zoroaster in Greek), who taught that a host of good deities and evil demons, all in perpetual conflict, populate the spiritual world.

Ahura Mazda

The name of the supreme deity of Zoroastrianism, the Lord of Truth, who created heaven and earth, day and night, and darkness and light.

Cyrus

(r. 558–530 b.c.e.) Founder of the Achaemenid dynasty in Iran. A native of Persis, He staffed his administration with many Persians as well as Medes, the tribe he defeated when he took power.

Lydian Coins

The first metal coins in the world, dating to around 600 b.c.e. Made from electrum, a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver collected from the riverbeds in Lydia, a region on the Aegean coast of modern-day Turkey.

Darius I

(r. 522–486 b.c.e.) The third Achaemenid Persian ruler, who succeeded to the throne by coup. He conquered much territory in Eurasia but was unable to defeat the Scythians north of the Black Sea or the Greeks. He also reformed the empire’s administrative structure.

Phoenicians

A seagoing people who, around 900 b.c.e., expanded outward from their base on the Mediterranean coast of modern-day Lebanon. Their alphabet, which used only letters with no pictorial symbols, is the ancestor of the Roman alphabet.

Artemisia

(flourished 480 b.c.e.) The woman ruler of Halicarnassus, on the Aegean coast of modern-day Turkey, who fought with the Persians against the Greeks at the Battle of Salamis.

Thucydides

(460–395 b.c.e.) Author of History of the Peloponnesian War, a pioneering work.

Socrates

(469–399 b.c.e.) A great philosopher who believed that virtue was the highest good. He developed a method of instruction still in use today, in which teachers ask students questions without revealing the answers.

Plato

(429–347 b.c.e.) A student of Socrates and a teacher of Aristotle who used the Socratic method in his teaching, which emphasized ethics. He believed that students should use reason to choose the correct course of action.

Aristotle

(384–322 b.c.e.) A Greek philosopher who encouraged his students to observe the natural world and explain logically how they proceeded from their starting assumptions. This system of reasoning shapes how we present written arguments today.

Alexander of Macedon

(r. 336–323 b.c.e.) Also known as Alexander the Great; son of Philip of Macedon. He defeated the last Achaemenid ruler in 331 b.c.e. and ruled the former Persian empire until his death.

Hellenism

Formerly seen as a one-way stream of influence in which non-Greek peoples adopted Greek language, education, sculpture, architecture, and other customs, but more recently understood as a two-way process, with non-Greeks and Greeks influencing each other.

Parthians

(247 b.c.e.–224 c.e.) The ruling dynasty of Iran, who defeated the Seleucids and took over their territory in 140 b.c.e. Famous for their heavily armored cavalry, they posed a continuous problem for the Roman empire.

Sasanians

The ruling dynasty (224–651 c.e.) of Iran who defeated the Parthians and ruled for more than four centuries until the Islamic conquest of Iran. Introduced innovations such as nonsatrap royal lands and government support of Zoroastrianism.

Persianate

Elements of the various Persian empires that lived on after the fall of the Sasanians, including ideals of rulership, truth-telling and justice, and the recitation of Persian verses and epic poems.