Unit 2 Vocab - H World History

Aqueduct

A pipeline or channel built to carry water to populated areas

Plebeian

In Ancient Rome, one of the common farmers, artisans, and merchants who made up most of the population

Phalanx

A military formation of foot soldiers armed with spears and upper class

Silk Road

A system of ancient caravan routes across Central Asia, along which traders carried silk and other trade goods

Diaspora

The dispersal of the jews from their homeland in Palestine - especially during the period of more than 1,800 years that followed the Romans’ destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in A.D. 70

Mercenary

A soldier who is paid to fight in a foreign army

Aristocracy

A government in which power is in the hands of a hereditary ruling class or nobility

Civil Service

The administration departments of a government - especially those in which employees are hired on the basis of their scores on exams

Empire

A political unit in which a number of peoples or countries are controlled by a single ruler

Senate

In Ancient Rome, the legislative (Law making) body, originally made up only of aristocrats (patrician)

Direct Democracy

A government in which citizens rule directly rather than representatives

Apostle

One of the followers of Jesus who preached and spread his teachings

Hellenistic

Relating to the civilization, language, art, science, and literature of the Greek world from the reign of Alexander the Great to the late second century B.C.

Bureaucracy

A group of government officials headed by an administrator

Twelve Tables

Codification of Roman Laws that became the basis for Roman law. Established idea that all free citizens had a right to the protection of the law

Autonomous

Having the right or power of self-government i.e. the city-states of ancient Greece

Legalism

A Chinese political philosophy based on the idea that a highly efficient and powerful government is the key to social order

Oligarchy

A government in which power is in the hands of a few people - especially one on which rule is based on wealth

Polis

Greek city-state - The fundamental political unit of ancient Greece after about 750 B.C.

Philosopher

A thinker who uses logic and reason to investigate the nature of the universe, human society and morality

Republic

A form of government in which power is in the hands of representatives and leaders are elected by citizens who have the right to vote (also known as a representative democracy or indirect democracy)

Dictator

In Ancient Rome, a political leader given absolute power to make laws and command the army for a limited time

Caravan

A group of people especially traders or pilgrims, traveling together across a desert in Asia or North Africa

Pax Romana

A period of peace and prosperity throughout the Roman Empire, lasting from 27 B.C. to A.D. 180