history

Hominins

Hominins

Term referring to all humans and their ancestors but not to chimpanzees, gorillas, or orangutans

Carbon-14

Isotope of carbon whose presence in organic material can be used to determine the approximate age of archaeological samples.

Homo Sapien

Name that means “wise man”

Paleolithic

Means “old stone”

Neolithic

“New Stone Age,” the archaeological term for societies that used stone tools and practiced agriculture.

Prehistory

Time before the written language.

Domestication

Changing the behavior of plants or animals for human use.

Mesopotamia

Greek for “between the rivers”: the region between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in today’s Iraq and eastern Syria.

Cuneiform

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

Pharaoh

A king of Egypt

Hieroglyphics

The writing system of ancient Egypt, which consisted of different symbols, some pictorial and some phonetic, used on official inscriptions.

Papyrus

A convenient but perishable writing material made from a reed that grew naturally along the Nile. Where the word paper comes from.

Hittites

A people based in Anatolia, Turkey, and Syria who spoke the Indo-European language of Hittite and learned to work iron around 2000 BCE. The Hittite empire reached its greatest extent between 1322 and 1220 BCE, and ended around 1200 BCE

Monothesism

Belief in only one god

Gilgamesh

Legendary king of Uruk

Ziggurats

Pyramid shaped brick towers used as temples in Mesopotamia.

Sargon

He built the world’s first Empire, He was the first world conqueror, a river basket baby.

Hammurabi’s code

one of the first, and best known law codes

Pharoah

Means Pink House

Amon-Re

Most powerful Egyptian god

Ramses II

considered Egypt’s greatest pharaoh

Abraham

Father of three major religions

Assyrian

Warlike civilization, its capital was in Ninevah

The Torah

First 5 books in the Hebrew Bible

Ashoka

The third king of the Mauryan dynasty, the first Indian ruler to support Buddhism.

Dharma

A Sanskrit term meaning correct conduct according to law or custom; Buddhists, including Ashoka, used this concept to refer to the teaching of the Buddha.

Monsoon

A term referring both to seasonal winds in South Asia blowing northeast in Spring and early summer and southwest in fall and winter, and to the heavy seasonal rains they bring.

Rig Veda

A collection of 1028 Sanskrit hymns, composed around 1500-1000 BCE, but written down around 1000 CE One of the most revealing sources about Indo Europeans who settled in north India.

Karma

The sum of one's deeds in this and all earlier existences that determines one's rebirth in the next life

Jainism

An Indian religion founded around the same time as Buddhism that emphasizes right faith, right knowledge, and right conduct, a key tenet is not to harm any living things.

Buddha

The founder of the Buddhist religion, Siddhartha Gautama also called the Buddha or the enlightened one.

Nirvana

A Sanskrit word that literally means extinction as when the flame on a candle goes out, In Buddhism the term took on broader meaning, those who followed the Eightfold path and understood the Four Noblet Truths would gain true understanding..

Dhows

Small sailboats used in the Indian Ocean made from teak planks laid edge to edge, fastened together with coconut fiber twine and caulked to prevent leaking

Brahmin

The priestly class in the Vedic Religions.

Dalits

Means the untouchables

Gurus

Teachers thinkers

Ramayana

This told the story of Rama and his wife Sita, reinforced the important of Dharma.

Mahabharata

World's longest poem. It told the story of the Pandavas fight to regain their kingdom.

Bhagavad-Gita

The most widely read section of the Mahabharata

Chandragupta Maurya

Founder of the Mauryan empire. Paranoid

Oracle bones

The earliest surviving written records in China, scratched onto cattle shoulder blades and turtle shell bottoms, or plastrons, to record the diviner's interpretations of the future.

Mandate of heaven

The Chinese belief that Heaven, the generalized forces of the cosmos (not the abode of the dead), chose the rightful ruler. China's rulers believed that Heaven would send signs before withdrawing its mandate.

Confucianism

The term for the main tenets of the thought of Confucius, which emphasized the role of ritual in bringing out people's inner humanity (a quality translated variously as "benevolence," "goodness," or "man at his best")

Daoism

A Chinese belief system dating back to at least 300 BCE that emphasized the "way," a concept expressed in Chinese as "Dao." The way of the early Daoist teachers included meditation, breathing techniques, and special eating regimes.

Legalism

A school of thought, originating in the fourth century BCE and associated with QWin dynasty rulers, that emphasized promotion for officials and soldiers alike on the basis of merit and job performance, not heredity.

Qin Dynasty

(221-207 BCE) The first dynasty to rule over a unified China; heavily influenced by Legalist teachings that promoted soldiers and officials strictly on the basis of accomplishment, not birth.

SunTzu

He wrote "The Art of War"

Confucius

Also known as Master Kong, born to a poor, but noble family. Wanted a return to a simpler time.

Filial Piety

Confucius said this was the most important relationship.

Laozi

Founder of Daoism may have been mythical.

Wu(Wudi)

Considered to be the greatest Emperor of the Han dynasty, he ruled 54 years.

Cai Lun

Invented the process of making paper that is still basically in use today.

Mesoamerica

The region that includes the southern two-thirds of modern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.

Olmec

A complex society(1200-400 BCE) that arose on the Gulf of Mexico coast from modern-day Veracruz to Tabasco. Known particularly for the massive colossal heads when from basalt.

Maya

Indigenous people living in modern-day Yucatan, Belize, Honduras, and Guatemala. Their complex society reached its height during the classic period when they used a fully developed written language.

Mississippi peoples

The first northern people (800-1450) to build large urban centers in the Mississippi River Valley.

Maize

First domesticated wild grain in the Americas

Three sisters farming

Corn, beans, and squash. Agricultural planting system employed by various Native American communities.

Ulama

An ancient ball game played by moving the ball with your hips, spread through Mesoamerica.

Nazca

Culture famous for its lines

Chimu

They were great engineers, developed an early telephone.

Easter Island

Also known as Rupa Nui

Herodotus

Zoroastrianism

Iranian religion named for Zarathustra(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) Founder of the Achaemenid dynasty in Iran. A native of Persis, Cyrus staffed his administration with many Persians as well as Medes, the tribe he defeated when he took power.

Croesus

King of Lydia, known for his wealth. Became Cyrus’s friend and advisor.

Minoan

City named after mythical king minos.

Minos

Mythical King of a Greek Civilization. Son of Zeus and Europa. Became judge of the underworld.

Knossos

Minoan Capital

Mycenaeans

Greek civilization associated with the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Helen

The face that launched a thousand ships; kidnapped.

Paris

A prince of Troy, kidnapped Helen.

Homer

He wrote both the Iliad, and the Odyssey.

The Illiad

Epic poem about the Trojan war.

The Odyssey

Told of Odysseus voyage home.

Phoenicians

Means “Purple people”

Polis

Greek city state

Zues

Chief god of the Greeks

Athena

Goddess of wisdom, and protector of cities. She gave Athens the olive tree.

Helots

Messenian person forced to work as lowly farmer by Sparta; state slave.

Hoplite

Heavily armed Greek infantryman

Socrates

His teaching method involved asking questions

Plato

A student of Socrates, he wrote The Republic, he taught at the Academy.

Aristotle

One of Plato’s most famous students, founded a school called the Lyceum, tutored Alexander III.

Philip II

King of Macedonia, assassinated in 336 BC

Alexander III

He was known as Alexander the Great

Euclid

Mathematician who wrote the elements of Geometry

Eratosthenes

He calculated that the circumference of the earth was 24675 miles(actually was 24860 mi)

Roman Republic

Roman government between 509 and 27 b.c.e. Ruled by two elected executives who consulted regularly with the senate.

Roman Senate

Roman governing body during the Roman republic, composed of some three hundred patricians. Later became an advisory body.

Carthage

A city in modern-day Tunisia originally founded by the Phoenicians. Rome’s main rival for control of the Mediterranean.

Punic Wars

Three wars that Rome and Carthage fought between 264 and 146 b.c.e., all won by Rome.

Julius Caesar

Rome’s most successful military commander in the first century b.c.e. who was named dictator by the senate in 49 b.c.e.

Roman Participate

The system of government in Rome from 27 b.c.e. to 284 c.e., in which the princeps, a term meaning “first citizen,” ruled the empire as a monarch in all but name.

Augustus

The name, meaning “revered,” that Octavian (63 b.c.e.–14 c.e.) received from the senate when he became princeps, or first citizen, of Rome in 27 b.c.e.

Etruscans

Early settlers of Italy, the Romans got much of their culture (like the Senate, the toga, and the Fasces)

Patricians

The upper class of Rome

Plebians

The lower class of Rome

Cincinnatus

He gave up the office of Dictator to return to the farm