Western Civilizations - Midterm

Hellenistic World

• Spread of Greek culture across the west after Alexander the Great's conquest

Koine

• Common Greek language spoken across the Hellenistic empire

Alexander the Great

• Successor of Philip of Macedon

• Conquered rest of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Persia

• Dies from fever on the way back like a loser

• Build a city called Alexandria

Philip of Macedon

• Conquered Greek City-States

Timeline of Conquest

Philip conquers Greece -> dies. -> Alexander (son) takes over -> he wants Persia -> conquers Egypt -> conquers Mesopotamia ->finally gets Persia -> goes home and dies from fever on the way back

Ptolemy

• Alexander's general

• Stays in Egypt after conquest -> crowns himself pharaoh

• Starts new Egyptian dynasty

Archimedes

• Studied Geometry of spheres and cylinders

• Value of Pi

• Hydrostatics

• Practical inventions (ie. improve pull/ levy system)

Romulus and Remus

• Twin brothers connected to story of founding Rome

• Mom abandoned them -> brothers raised by she-wolf -> brothers argue -> get into a fight -> Romulus kills Remus -> Romulus creates Rome

Etruscans

• Group in Northern Italy

• Ruled/ took over Rome but fused culture

• Rome took alphabet/ letters, language, Toga (type of dress), and symbol (fasces)

Senate

• After Etruscans, Romans created republic

• 300 men were selected for life

• Elite families

• Imperial group

• ADVISORY body

• Stayed through the empire but just lost power

Consuls

• Commanding body

• 1-year terms

• Generals, Praetors

Roman Republic Council thing

Senate advised, Consuls commanded

Roman Republic

• Rule of the people

Patricians

• Nobles, aristocrats, wealthy

Plebians

• Commoners

Paterfamilies

• Male head of household; dad typically

Imperium

• Right to rule

Struggle of the Order

• Plebians resist = more rights (yay!)

Twelve Tables

• Allowed commoners to see laws

• Legal code; applied to all citizens not just plebs

Tribunes

• "Tribunes of the Pleb"

• Protected commoners -> veto laws and magistrate decisions

Carthage

• Enemy to Rome

• Enemy side in 3 Punic Wars

Three Punic Wars

• Called that because Punic derives from "Phoenician"

1) Rome vs Carthage -> Rome won

2) Hannibal -> Carthage used war elephants; Rome won

3) Cato the Elder -> "Carthage must be destroyed"; Romans raid to eliminate Carthage for good

Julius Ceasar

• 100 to 44 BCE

• Dictator for life -> Empire

• Worked with 2 other generals -> one died _> Julius and other general fight -> Julius won

• Julius got assassinated; "Threat to Republic"

Octavian/ Agustus

• Octavian = Nephew to Julius

• Fights Brutus + assassinators and their supporters

• Octavian brings true empire

Mark Anthony

• General under Julius; helps Octavian take out Brutus

• Ends up fighting Octavian for power -> loses

Cleopatra

• Wife to Julius

• Ends up with Anthony

• Dies when Anthony loses/ Octavian kills everyone that is a threat to his rule (+ children)

Roman Empire

• Imperial system

• Pretended to still be Republic at first to keep peace

Princeps

• "First Citizen"

• Title so to not disturb republic/ people

• Make it seem like it's still a republic when it isn't

Tiberius

• Roman Ruler during Jesus Christ

• Executed Jesus

Nero

• Bad emperor

• Wanted to perform instead

• Set Rome afire

• Persecution of Christians

Claudis

• Uncle of Caligula; made emperor after guard killed his nephew

• Expanded Rome into England

Five Good Emporers

• Turned away hereditary system; focused on war generals

• Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antonius, Marcus Aurelvis

Pax Romona

• Roman peace era

Spartacus

• Roman Gladiator

• Slave rebellion leader

Pompeii

• Roman village by volcano -> got covered in ash

• Romans believed sign from Gods -> abandoned village

Pantheon

• Built for Roman Gods

• Famous for dome

Colosseum

• Amphitheater

• Used for entertainment (ie. gladiator fights)

Aqueducts

• Way to transport water from spring to city

• Used gravity with gentle slope

Appian Way

• Roman road

• Trade route

• Ancient Rome to southeast Italy

Virgil

• Wrote "The Aenid"

• Mythical story over history of Rome

Tacitus

• Wrote "Annals"

• About how Romans treated people they've conquered

Crisis of the Third Century

• Went back to hereditary system for emperors

• Guard killed any unfit ruler -> instability

• 27 rulers in 50 years

• Led to increase barbarian invasions + economic trouble

Diocletian

• Military general

• Split up Rome

• Military dictatorship, army expansion

• Create casts-like system

Constantine

• Diocletian sucessor

• Converts to christianity

• Wears symbol he saw in a dream on his shield to battle -> wins

• Builds new Rome (Constantinople????)

Constantinople

• New Rome

• Built by Constantine

Edict of Milan

• Made Christianity legal

Council of Nicaea

• Created Nicaea creed -> unified church

• One route to belief

Jesus of Nazareth

• Son of God; human

• Undermined Roman rule/ religion -> gets executed

• Believed to be resurrected

Theodosius

• Declared Christianity to be official religion in Rome

St. Augustus

• City of God

• Focus on salvation over material world

City of God

• By St. Augustus after sack of Rome

• Focus on God's spiritual kingdom

St. Jerome

• Took Hebrew bible/ old testament + Greek bible/ New Testament = created one unified bible in Latin

Vulgate

• Newly translated Christian bible

St. Paul

• Wrote influential letters

• Spread how Christianity was open to anyone (any class, any gender, any religion including non-jews)

St. Peter

• First pope

Petrine Doctorine

• Jesus gave Peter authority of church

• "Keys to the Kingdom"

Goths

• Germanic barbarian tribes

• Visigoths: western goths

• Ostrogoths: eastern goths

Justinian

• Roman ruler

• Tried to take back territory of old Rome (west)

Belisarius

• General under Justinian

• Defeated ostrogoths???

Theodora

• Wife to Justinian

• Helped him rule

• Started out as a actress/ prostitute; not born nobility

Corpus Lurius Civilis

• Codification of Roman Law; Body of civil law

• Justinian wrote down laws in Latin -> everyone can read

Hagia Sofia

• Church for Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire

• Eastern Rome Remains

• Fused Rome + Greek traditions

• Christian -> Islam (at very end)

Mohammed

• Last prophet of God; NOT a God

• Founder of Islam

5 Pillars of Islam

• Foundation principles

1) One God

2) Prayer 5x a day

3) Charity to poor and needy

4) Ramadan fasting

5) Make pilgrimage

Hejira

• Mohammed migration from Mecca to Medina

• Beginning of Islam calander

Mecca, Medina

• Mohammed starts in Mecca -> exiled -> goes to Medina -> returns to Mecca -> spreads Islam

Ka' Aba

• House of God

• Sacred building in Mecca; Muslims pray towards as a symbol of God/ Allah

Caliphs

• Successor of Mohammed

• Leader of Islam

Jihad

• Holy war; justify actions against enemies of Islam?

Qur'an

• Islamic holy text

Sunnis, Shi'ites

• Sunnis: Accept Umayyad dynasty, community should pick Mohammed successor

• Shi'ites: Want Mohammed descendant as leader

Umayyad Dynasty

• First ruler over Islam

• Expanded empire from Spain to India

Germanic Tribes

• Franks

Germanic Kingdom

• Bro idk Rome in the east ig?

Pope Gregory the Great

• Missionary work -> spread Christianity to Anglo-Saxons

• Papal State: Church owned/ governed land

Charlemagne

• Son of Peppin

• Crowned Roman emperor (in the east) by Pope Leo III

• Of Germanic origin; NOT roman

• "Charles the Great"

Carolingian Empire

• Frankish dynasty in the east

• Started when Charlemagne was crowned

Carolingian Renaissance

• Cultural revival

• Encouraged learning

• Copying Greek + Roman text

• Aachen palace school

• Carolingian Minuscle -> New form of writing that was understandable across the empire

Einhard

• Wrote biography over Charlomagne