History test 2

What is the Axial Age?

A period starting c. 500 BCE of radical intellectual shifts (new religions and philosophies) in Greece, India, China, and Israel, with profound consequences for these regions and beyond.

Name the major Greek philosophers/schools.

Sophists, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle.

Who were the "first historians" and what did each write about?

Herodotus wrote on the Greek-Persian Wars. Thucydides wrote on the Peloponnesian Wars.

Name three famous Greek plays and their authors.

Oedipus the King (Sophocles), Antigone (Sophocles), Medea (Euripides).

Who was Alexander the Great, and what was Hellenism?

A Macedonian king who conquered a huge empire from Greece/Egypt to the edge of India. Hellenism is the spread of Greek culture across the conquered lands.

What was the impact of classical Greece on Europe and beyond?

Lasting contributions in philosophy, history writing, theater, athletics (Olympics), and Hellenistic culture, which spread through Alexander's conquests.

How did Jainism and Buddhism challenge the caste system?

They stressed individual behavior and salvation over caste.

Why and how did India manage to enforce and keep its caste system?

The Vedic tradition evolved into Hinduism, which made caste part of religious duty, spread it through popular epics like the Ramayana (duty and devotion), and kept love and marriage within one's own caste.

How did Hinduism differ from Buddhism on the joys of life, love, and sex?

Hinduism embraced them (but only within one's own caste) and celebrated sexuality and female deities, as in the Kama Sutra. Buddhism did not embrace them.

Name China's three major philosophies in its "search for order."

Daoism ("The Way"), Confucianism, and Legalism.

What was Confucius's vision of society, and what are its key values?

A social hierarchy regulated not by rigid laws but by the virtuous behavior of leaders AND people. Key values: humanity, ritual, and filial piety. His teachings are collected in the Analects.

What does the Analects passage say about laws vs. virtue?

Governing by laws and punishment makes people avoid punishment but feel no shame. Governing by virtue and ritual gives people a sense of shame, and they become good.

What was Legalism, and who used it?

A philosophy of strict laws and harsh punishment. The Qin dynasty used it under Qin Shi Huangdi, the First Emperor of unified China (Great Wall, Terracotta Warriors).

How did the Han Dynasty govern?

They blended Legalist administration with Confucian ideals.

Which philosophies most influenced China's social and political structures?

Confucianism (hierarchy and virtue) and Legalism (strict laws and administration), blended under the Han. Daoism was the third tradition.

How did the ideas of Israel and Judea differ from Greece, India, and China?

Israel and Judea centered on monotheism: one God (Yahweh, "I am") who gives commands and speaks through prophets. Greece, India, and China focused on philosophy, reason, social order, or salvation without a single commanding God.

Who were patricians and plebeians?

Patricians were the wealthy upper class. Plebeians were everyone else.

Describe the Roman Senate and consuls.

An assembly of elected officials (magistrates) headed by two consuls, all originally patricians. Over time one consul represented the patricians and the other the plebeians.

What were the Punic Wars, and who was Hannibal?

Wars between Rome and Carthage. Hannibal was the Carthaginian general who famously crossed the Alps with elephants.

Who was Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE)?

A general who conquered Gaul, formed the First Triumvirate, and brought stability but was stabbed to death for his dictatorial rule.

Who was Augustus, and how did the Empire's government work?

Octavian, the first Roman emperor (Caesar Augustus, "one who rules with majesty and grandeur"). In theory the Senate was in charge, but in practice the emperor held real power based on the military's loyalty to him.

How did Romans relate to Greek religion and culture?

Romans were polytheistic and adopted Greek gods, renaming them (Zeus = Jupiter, Ares = Mars, Aphrodite = Venus). This blend is Greco-Roman culture.

What are the Twelve Tables?

Rome's earliest written law code, making laws public. Examples: deformed child killed, thief killed at night is rightly slain, bribed judge gets death penalty, no marriage between plebeians and patricians, females stay in guardianship.

What do the Twelve Tables reveal about Roman society?

A patriarchal society with strong paternal authority, class divisions (patrician/plebeian), slavery, and concern for property and legal procedure.

What was the Pax Romana, and how did roads and taxes support it?

A long period of peace and stability in the empire that allowed trade to flourish. Taxes paid for building and maintaining roads essential for trade.

What is Romanization?

The process by which Roman culture spread across the empire.

Who were Jesus of Nazareth and Paul of Tarsus?

Jesus was a Jewish teacher in Roman-ruled Judea (Sermon on the Mount). Paul was an early missionary who made journeys across the empire spreading Christianity to non-Jews.

Why was Christianity appealing as a faith?

It offered salvation and community, including to the poor, enslaved, and women. It spread easily along Roman roads, and its monotheistic message was ethical and universal.

Constantine vs. Theodosius: what did each do for Christianity?

Constantine legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire. Theodosius made it the official religion (380 CE).

What was the Council of Nicaea and the Nicene Creed?

A council of bishops (325 CE) called by Constantine that defined core Christian beliefs: one God, Jesus as Son of God, the Holy Spirit, one holy catholic and apostolic Church, resurrection.

What did the 380 CE decree say?

Everyone should follow the religion of Peter, believing in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Trinity). Followers are "Catholic Christians," and others are branded "heretics" and punished.

Why and how did Rome make Christianity official, and what were the consequences?

It moved from persecution to toleration to state religion. Consequences: heresy was punished, Church and state became closely linked, and bishops gained power.

Why did the Roman Empire collapse in the West?

The cost of running the empire was enormous. Emperors limited social and economic mobility. Peasants turned to landlords and the urban poor to bishops. Germanic tribes, pressured by the Huns, invaded.

What were the consequences of the Western Roman collapse?

Roman law continued and Christianity spread under Germanic rule. The Eastern empire stayed urban and economically successful with a distinct Byzantine culture.

To what extent does a society's literacy affect our study of it?

Written sources favor literate groups (usually urban elite men). Non-literate societies must be studied through archaeology, art, and oral tradition.

Who are "the voiceless many," and what fills the gap?

Most people, who were left out of records because literacy required training and depended on wealth and gender (men more than women; few outside cities). Archaeology helps close the gap.

Who were the Bantu?

Sub-Saharan peoples who migrated widely from west-central Africa (c. 3000 BCE-400 CE), spreading farming, herding, and ironworking.

Who were the Hopewell?

A gatherer-hunter culture of North America (c. 100 BCE-400 CE) in the Mississippi/Ohio region, known for mounds, trade, and art.

Who were the Olmec, and what is their best-known artifact?

An early Mesoamerican culture (c. 1200-400 BCE) known for colossal stone heads.

What do early Mayan glyphs and frescoes show?

The early Maya (c. 400 BCE-250 CE) had a writing system and a rich art tradition.

Name the early Andean cultures and their crops/animals.

Norte Chico, Chavin, Moche, Nazca, Paracas. Domesticated maize, potatoes, alpacas, and llamas. Textiles were an important art form.

What does Moche pottery show?

Stirrup-spout vessels with realistic portraits, animals, and scenes of daily life (including sexual scenes and childbirth), serving as a historical source in the absence of writing.

What are the Nazca Lines?

Ancient geoglyphs in the southern Peru desert depicting spiders, birds, monkeys, etc. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, they can only be fully seen from the air (possibly linked to a sky god).

Who settled the Pacific Islands, and what did they bring?

Austronesian-speakers from Taiwan/Southeast Asia into Melanesia and Polynesia (Lapita culture). They brought taro, yams, bananas, breadfruit, coconut, pigs, dogs, and chickens.

Why were Polynesian tattoos (tatau) significant?

They carried heavy social and cultural importance. Only trained priests could tattoo, using strict rituals. In Samoa tattooing played a role in religion and warfare. Western missionaries in the 19th century forced it into decline.

What do unwritten records reveal about early societies?

Livelihoods (farming, herding, trade), religion and art, social hierarchy, and migration, through artifacts, monuments, pottery, textiles, and landscapes.

What major changes swept the former Roman Empire in the four centuries after its fall?

The east survived as the Byzantine Empire, the west became Germanic successor states, the Christian Church and papacy gained power, and Islam emerged and expanded.

Who were Justinian and Theodora, and what is Hagia Sophia?

The Byzantine emperor and empress. Hagia Sophia is the "Basilica of the Holy Wisdom" in Constantinople, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

What was the Church-state relationship in the Byzantine Empire?

The Church remained closely tied to the state.

What was iconoclasm?

A movement against religious images (icons). It was defeated, and icons of Mary and Jesus continued in public and private worship.

What replaced the Western Roman Empire, and what was its culture like?

Germanic Successor States. Their culture combined Roman, Christian, and Germanic elements (as on the Frankish casket).

Who was Pope Gregory I?

A pope who expanded the power of the papacy and the Christian Church in Western Europe.

Who was Muhammad?

Muhammad ibn Abd'Allah, the Prophet of Islam, who transformed Arabia through revelations beginning c. 610 CE.

What was Islam's core message?

A return to the pure faith of Abraham. It criticized Jews for seeing themselves as a chosen people, Christians for making their prophet a god, and Arabs for idol worship. A universal call to a purer faith.

What is the Qur'an?

The Islamic holy book, believed to be the revealed word of God.

List the Five Pillars of Islam.

1) Shahadah: declare there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger. 2) Salat: pray five times daily facing Mecca. 3) Zakat: give alms to the poor. 4) Sawm: fast from food and sex in daylight during Ramadan. 5) Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca once in a lifetime.

What is the difference between Sunni and Shia?

The two main divisions of Islam, traced to a dispute over leadership after Muhammad's death. Shia backed Ali and his descendants, Sunni backed elected caliphs. Mostly Shia: Iran, Bahrain, Iraq. Mostly Sunni: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan.

How and why did the Islamic empire emerge?

Muhammad unified Arabia under Islam, and his successors (the caliphs) conquered a vast territory. The religion provided a unifying identity.

Why did the Islamic empire fragment?

Political rivalries, the Sunni-Shia split, and the empire's vast size created separate regional states, though cultural and religious unity (the "commonwealth") continued.

What are the main features of the Islamic commonwealth?

Monotheistic religion (Islam), Sharia (legal and moral code), trade and commerce, paper production, arts/literature/architecture, and scientific innovation.

What is Sharia?

The Islamic legal and moral code.

Why is Islamic art focused on calligraphy, geometry, and arabesque?

Muslim tradition forbids depicting God or Muhammad (in religious contexts, human and animal figures too), so artists developed calligraphy, geometric tiles, and arabesque floral designs. Figurative art still existed, often sponsored by wealthy elites.

How did the Islamic world influence the West?

Algebra, astronomy, mechanical devices, and music (the Spanish guitar). Paper production also spread learning.

How did Viking society and culture contrast with settled European societies?

Vikings were a seafaring, warrior-centered, non-literate culture of chiefs and raiders/traders with pre-Christian Norse religion, versus settled, Christian, literate kingdoms.

What are Viking picture stones?

Memorials (e.g., eighth-century stones from Gotland, Sweden) for dead warriors and chiefs. One interpretation: they show a warrior's death in battle and his journey to the underworld on a longboat.