HIST 101 Midterm Study Guide: Ancient Mediterranean, Greek Worlds, Roman Republic and Empire, Christianity

Vocabulary flashcards covering major political concepts, social structures, religious terms, and administrative institutions from the HIST 101 Midterm Study Guide.

Neolithic Revolution

The spread of agriculture and pastoralism (c. 9000–6000 BCE) that supported settled communities and the development of urban life.

Polis

An independent Greek city-state characterized by its own distinct political community and institutions.

Hoplite revolution

The development of citizen-soldier warfare in ancient Greece utilizing heavily armed infantry organized in a phalanx formation.

Delian League

An alliance led by Athens, founded in 478 BCE to continue the conflict against Persia following the Greco-Persian Wars.

Achaemenid Empire

The Persian Empire founded under Cyrus the Great around 550 BCE.

Satraps

Provincial governors within the Persian Empire who oversaw regions that contributed taxes and troops while retaining some local autonomy.

Consuls

Two chief executive magistrates of the Roman Republic elected annually with the authority to command armies.

Praetors

Elected Roman officials holding judicial responsibilities who also possessed the authority to command military forces.

Tribunes of the plebs

Roman officials established to represent the plebeians, possessing the authority to propose legislation and veto public actions.

Senate

An advisory council of former Roman magistrates with immense political influence, though formally lacking independent constitutional authority.

Citizen assemblies

Roman political assemblies composed of male citizens responsible for electing magistrates and voting on legislation.

Comitia centuriata

A Roman voting assembly organized into centuries structured according to wealth and military status.

Concilium plebis

The legislative assembly exclusive to Roman plebeians, which patricians were prohibited from attending.

Cursus honorum

The standard, expected sequence of ascending political offices pursued by ambitious Roman elite men.

Nobiles

Roman families distinguished by an established ancestral record of attaining high political offices.

Novus homo

A Latin term meaning 'new man,' designating the first man in his family lineage to achieve the office of consul.

Socii

Rome's conquered Italian military allies who contributed troops and later campaigned for Roman citizenship.

Patricians

Members of traditional, hereditary aristocratic families occupying the upper caste in early Roman society.

Plebeians

The general body of Roman citizens outside the patrician order, encompassing both wealthy and impoverished individuals.

First Triumvirate

An informal political alliance formed beginning in 59 BCE between Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus.

Second Triumvirate

A formal political alliance established in 43 BCE following the assassination of Julius Caesar, followed by renewed civil war.

Pax deorum

The concept of maintaining peace with the gods, denoting a favorable reciprocal relationship between the Roman civic community and its deities.

Pontiffs

Roman civic priests responsible for advising on tradition, managing sacred spaces, and regulating the calendar.

Augurs

Roman religious specialists charged with interpreting auspices and divine signs.

Vestal Virgins

Female Roman priestesses tasked with tending and preserving the perpetual sacred hearth fire of Vesta.

Lares and Penates

Traditional Roman household gods worshipped within domestic cults to protect the family and home.

Capitoline Trio

The prominent Roman triad of state deities consisting of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, Juno Regina, and Minerva.

Manumission

The formal legal process of granting freedom to an enslaved individual in Roman society.

Vernae

Enslaved persons born directly into slavery within an existing Roman household.

Latifundia

Vast agricultural estates in Italy and the provinces that made extensive use of enslaved labor during the late Republic.

Dominium

The legal concept of ownership or absolute property rights under Roman law, including dominion over enslaved persons.

Twelve Tables

Early foundational Roman codified laws demonstrating that slavery was entrenched within Roman societal and legal structures.

Familia

The Roman broad household unit, encompassing immediate family members, dependents, and enslaved people under a common authority.

Paterfamilias

The eldest living male within a Roman household who possessed absolute legal authority over all dependents.

Patria potestas

The lifelong legal power and authority exercised by the Roman paterfamilias over his children and descendants.

Castitas / pudicitia

The traditional cultural ideals of chastity and sexual modesty expected of Roman women, particularly within marriage.

Conubium

The established legal right to enter into a valid, binding Roman marriage.

Manus marriage

A form of Roman marriage in which the bride passed legally under the absolute authority of her husband or his paterfamilias.

Sine manu marriage

A form of Roman marriage in which the bride remained under her father's authority, affording her greater legal and financial independence from her husband.

Imperium

Originally the supreme personal executive command and military authority held by Roman chief magistrates.

Provincia

Originally an assigned sphere of administrative duty or command, which later came to refer to an overseas Roman administrative territory.

Publicani

Private Roman tax-farming syndicates and contractors that bid on public state contracts to collect provincial revenues.

Princeps

Meaning 'first citizen,' the supreme civil and political title adopted by Augustus and subsequent emperors of the Principate.

Five Good Emperors

The era from 96 to 180 CE characterized by imperial stability and orderly succession through adoption, which ended with Commodus.

Crisis of the Third Century

A period from 235 to 284 CE characterized by civil wars, frequent usurpers, barbarian invasions, disease, and severe economic disruption.

Tetrarchy

The administrative system of rule by four emperors established by Diocletian (284–305 CE) to stabilize succession and secure the empire.

Ekklesia

The Greek term meaning 'assembly,' used to refer to early Christian communities spreading throughout the Roman Mediterranean.

Edict of Milan

A proclamation issued in 313 CE under Constantine granting legal tolerance and official recognition to Christianity in the Roman Empire.

Edict of Thessalonica

An imperial decree issued in 380 CE by Emperor Theodosius I that established Nicene Christianity as the official state religion of Rome.

Primary source

Firsthand historical evidence produced during or directly reflecting the specific historical period under study.