Western Heritage Vocab 1-3

Civilization

Any society in which political, economic, and social organizations operated on a large scale, not primarily through families and kin groups.

Paleolithic Era

The period of human history up to about 9000 BC, when tools were made from stone and bone and people foraged.

Neolithic Era

The period after 9000 BC, when people developed agriculture, domesticated animals, and used tools made of stone and wood.

Ma’at

The Egyptian belief in a cosmic harmony that embraced truth, justice, and moral integrity; it gave kings the right to govern.

Kush

Kingdom in Nubia that adopted hieroglyphics and pyramids, and later conquered Egypt.

Satraps

Administers in the Persian Empire who controlled local government, collected taxes, heard legal cases, and maintained order.

Zoroastrianism

Religion based on the ideas of Zoroaster that stressed devotion to the god Ahuramadza alone and that emphasized the individual’s responsibility to choice between good and evil.

Hoplites

Heavily armed citizens who served as infantry troops and fought to defend the polis.

Helots

Unfree residents of Sparta forced to work state lands.

Delian League

A military alliance led by Athens whose aims were to protect the Aegean islands, liberate Ionia from Persian rule, and keep the Persians out of Greece.

Gynaeceum

Woman’s quarters at the back of an Athenian house where the free and enslaved women of a family worked, ate, and slept.

Mystery Religions

Belief systems that were characterized by secret doctrines, rituals of initiation, and sometimes the promise of rebirth or an afterlife.

Sophists

A group of thinkers in fifth century BC. Athens who applied philosophical speculation to politics and language and were accused of deceit.

Platonic Ideals

According to Plato, the eternal unchanging ideal forms that are the essence of true reality.