HIS 104 Midterm Study Guide

Mesopotamia

The region between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers where some of the earliest complex civilizations developed. It is important because the course uses it to introduce the development of civilization, writing, social hierarchy, religion, and connections between different ancient peoples.

Bronze Age

A period in which bronze became an important material for tools and weapons and increasingly complex civilizations developed. In this class, it helps establish the broader period in which civilizations such as the Sumerians and Babylonians emerged.

Sumerians

One of the earliest major civilizations of Mesopotamia, flourishing roughly from 4500-1900 BC. They are important because of major developments in writing, language, religion, mathematics, and social organization.

Babylonians

A major Mesopotamian civilization that flourished roughly from 1894-539 BC. They are part of the larger sequence of civilizations the course uses to show how Mesopotamian cultures developed and influenced one another.

Hammurabi

A Babylonian king famous for establishing a written law code. He is important because his rule demonstrates the development of organized government, social hierarchy, and written law in early Mesopotamian civilization.

Assyrians

A powerful Mesopotamian people and empire that became especially prominent in the first millennium BC. They represent another major civilization that rose and fell within the larger history of the ancient Near East.

Persians

A people from the Iranian plateau who built one of the largest empires of the ancient Near East. They become especially important because their expansion brought them into conflict with the Greek city-states.

Israelites

A people whose history is connected to the wider ancient Near East through figures such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. Their history shows connections between political conquest, migration, and religion.

Cuneiform

A writing system developed in ancient Mesopotamia, originally by the Sumerians, using wedge-shaped marks pressed into clay. It matters because writing allowed ancient societies to record laws, economic activity, government, and other aspects of complex civilization.

Aegean Sea

The body of water around which the earliest Greek civilizations developed. Its geography shaped Greek settlement, trade, communication, and the development of separate communities.

Minoans

An early Greek civilization centered on Crete that flourished roughly from 2900-1400 BC. They are important as one of the earliest civilizations discussed in the development of Greek civilization and are associated with palaces, artwork, pottery, and Linear A.

Mycenaeans

A civilization of mainland Greece that flourished roughly from 1600-1150 BC and conquered the Minoans. They represent another major stage in the development of Greek civilization and are associated with Linear B.

Hoplite

A heavily armed Greek infantry soldier who fought as part of a closely organized formation. Hoplite warfare helped shape Greek military organization and was closely connected to the development of the polis.

Polis

The Greek city-state, functioning as a political community centered on a city and its surrounding territory. Its development was fundamental to Greek political organization and explains why ancient Greece consisted of many independent communities.

Battle of Thermopylae

A battle in 480 BC during the second Persian invasion of Greece in which Greek forces, famously led by Leonidas of Sparta, resisted the much larger Persian army. It became an important symbol of Greek resistance.

Sparta

A Greek city-state known especially for its military society and control over the Helots and Messenians. It became one of the two dominant Greek powers and later led the Peloponnesian League against Athens.

Athens

A major Greek city-state that developed a distinctive political system and became a center of culture, philosophy, literature, and learning. It also formed the Delian League and eventually came into conflict with Sparta.

Solon

An Athenian statesman who introduced important political and economic reforms in the early 6th century BC. His reforms were an early step in the political development that eventually led toward Athenian democracy.

Cleisthenes

An Athenian reformer whose changes around 508-507 BC helped establish the foundations of Athenian democracy. He represents another major step in the development of citizen participation in government.

Xerxes I

The Persian ruler who launched the second major Persian invasion of Greece in 481-479 BC. His invasion led to major battles such as Thermopylae and became a defining external threat in Greek history.

Leonidas of Sparta

The Spartan king who led Greek forces at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. His death became a major symbol of Greek resistance to Persian expansion.

The Iliad

An ancient Greek epic poem attributed to Homer that tells part of the mythic story of the Trojan War. The course uses it as evidence for studying ancient Greek values, including honor, courage, family relationships, gender roles, and ideas of manliness.

Hector

The foremost Trojan warrior in The Iliad and son of King Priam. His encounters with Helen and his wife Andromache provide evidence about family relationships, gender roles, honor, and expectations of Greek men.

Andromache

The wife of Hector in The Iliad. Her conversations with Hector are important for understanding family life and relationships between men and women in the Homeric world.

History Lesson

A 1949 science-fiction story by Arthur C. Clarke about future historians discovering an ancient civilization. The course uses it to question how historians reconstruct the ancient past from incomplete surviving evidence, including sources such as The Iliad.

Alexander the Great

The Macedonian conqueror who lived from 356-323 BC and created a vast empire stretching from Greece through Persia, Egypt, and into parts of Asia. His conquests spread Greek language and culture and helped create the Hellenistic world.

Gordian Knot

A legendary story connected to Alexander the Great in which he supposedly solved an extremely difficult knot by cutting through it. It illustrates the legendary image that developed around Alexander and his extraordinary reputation.

Delian League

An alliance formed by Athens and other Greek states after the Greco-Persian Wars. It became a major source of Athenian power and wealth and helped create tensions with Sparta.

Great Peloponnesian War

The major conflict between Athens and Sparta and their respective alliances from 431-404 BC. The war weakened the Greek city-states and helped create conditions for Macedonia to rise.

Philip of Macedon

The Macedonian king who ruled from 382-336 BC and greatly strengthened Macedonia's power over Greece. His rise established the foundation for the later conquests of his son, Alexander the Great.

Hellenistic

The period and culture that developed after the conquests of Alexander the Great. It refers especially to the expansion and blending of Greek language, learning, and culture across the territories he conquered.

Socrates

An Athenian philosopher and teacher of Plato who wrote nothing himself, so knowledge of his ideas comes primarily through his students and other writers. The course uses him to explore Greek philosophy, questioning, education, and society.

Plato

A Greek philosopher and student of Socrates who founded the Academy in Athens around 387 BC. His writings, including The Republic, explore justice, political society, gender relationships, and the ideal state.

Aristotle

A Greek philosopher who studied under Plato and wrote Politics, examining the polis and relationships between individuals and the political community. His work explores politics, family, slavery, property, and society.

Aristophanes

A Greek comic playwright who lived roughly 446-386 BC. His plays show how Greek comedy could comment on contemporary politics, public figures, philosophy, war, and social relationships.

The Babylonians (Play)

A comedy by Aristophanes performed in 426 BC. It is part of the course's examination of Greek comedy as commentary on contemporary Athenian society and politics.

The Knights

A comedy by Aristophanes performed in 424 BC and associated with the Athenian political figure Cleon. It demonstrates how Greek comedy could engage directly with contemporary political figures and public issues.

The Clouds

A comedy by Aristophanes performed in 423 BC that features Socrates. It shows how Greek comedy could portray and criticize philosophers and intellectual life.

The Frogs

A comedy by Aristophanes from 406 BC involving Dionysus and a debate over Greek tragedians, particularly Euripides and Aeschylus. It demonstrates the importance of drama and literary criticism in Greek culture.

Euripides

A major Greek tragedian associated with works such as Medea and with The Frogs. His works explore human relationships, gender, conflict, and difficult moral choices.

Aeschylus

An influential Greek tragedian associated with the development of Greek tragedy and featured alongside Euripides in The Frogs. His work illustrates the lasting influence of Greek drama.

Lysistrata

A comedy by Aristophanes from 411 BC in which women use a sexual and social protest to try to end war. It explores gender relations and how comedy could address serious political and social issues.

Medea

A tragedy by Euripides from 431 BC centered on Medea and her response to betrayal by her husband. It explores gender, marriage, family relationships, and the extreme consequences of social conflict.

Sophocles

A major Greek tragedian whose work is represented by Oedipus Rex. His plays demonstrate how Greek tragedy examined human relationships, suffering, fate, and difficult moral questions.

Oedipus Rex

A tragedy by Sophocles concerning Oedipus and the discovery of the truth about his past. It is an example of Greek tragedy's exploration of human behavior, fate, and responsibility.

Romulus and Remus

The legendary twin brothers associated with the traditional founding of Rome. Their story is important because Roman identity was built partly around legendary accounts of the city's origins.

Etruscans

A people who controlled Rome during its early history before the establishment of the Roman Republic in 509 BC. Their influence is part of the explanation of how Rome developed from a small settlement into an organized political community.

Patricians

Members of Rome's traditional elite social class. Their privileges placed them in conflict with the Plebeians during the Struggle of the Orders.

Livy

A Roman historian whose History of Rome recounts Roman history from its legendary beginnings onward. His work is important because the course uses it as both a historical source and an example of how historians reconstruct the Roman past.

Pyrrhus

A Greek king who fought Rome in the 3rd century BC. His costly victories against Rome produced the expression "Pyrrhic victory" and illustrate the difficulty of Rome's early expansion into Italy.

Gauls

Celtic peoples who fought Rome during its early expansion in Italy. Their conflicts demonstrate the military challenges Rome faced before becoming a Mediterranean power.

Struggle of the Orders

The long political and social conflict between Patricians and Plebeians during the Roman Republic, roughly 500-287 BC. Plebeians gradually gained greater political rights, transforming Roman republican institutions.

Punic Wars

Three major wars between Rome and Carthage from 264-146 BC. Rome's eventual victory destroyed Carthage and transformed Rome into the dominant power in the western Mediterranean.

Carthage

A powerful North African city-state and Rome's major rival in the western Mediterranean. Its defeat in the Punic Wars was a turning point that helped make Rome a Mediterranean superpower.

Hannibal

The famous Carthaginian general who led Carthage during the Second Punic War. His invasion of Italy and victories against Rome demonstrated the seriousness of the threat Carthage posed before Rome defeated it.

Gaius Julius Caesar

A Roman general and politician who rose to enormous power during the final decades of the Republic. His conquest of Gaul, defeat of Pompey, and assassination in 44 BC accelerated the collapse of the Roman Republic.

Ides of March

March 15, 44 BC, the date on which Julius Caesar was assassinated. The event became a symbol of the violent political crisis that brought the Roman Republic toward its end.

Marcus Brutus

A Roman senator involved in the conspiracy to assassinate Julius Caesar. His participation illustrates the conflict between republican ideals and Caesar's concentration of political power.

Tiberius Gracchus

A Roman politician whose attempted reforms in 133 BC sought to address major social and economic problems. His violent death illustrates the growing political conflict that weakened the Republic.

Gaius Marius

A Roman general and politician whose rise demonstrated the growing political influence of powerful military commanders. His career contributed to instability in the late Republic.

Sulla

A Roman general who marched his army on Rome and became dictator. His actions demonstrated how military force could be used directly in Roman political struggles.

Pompey

A powerful Roman general and politician who became one of the most important figures of the late Republic. His rivalry with Julius Caesar led to civil war and Caesar's victory.

Crassus

A wealthy Roman politician and general who joined Julius Caesar and Pompey in the First Triumvirate. His wealth and political influence demonstrate the concentration of power among powerful Roman elites.

First Triumvirate

An informal political alliance between Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus formed in 59 BC. Their cooperation helped Caesar gain power, while their eventual rivalry contributed to the civil wars that destroyed the Republic.

Cloaca Maxima

Rome's major sewer and drainage system, associated with the city's early development. The sanitation reading emphasizes that it may have functioned largely as storm drainage rather than as a modern waste-disposal system.

Oppian Law

A law established in 215 BC during the Second Punic War that restricted Roman women's ability to possess and display wealth. Its repeal in 195 BC, discussed in Livy's reading, reveals tension between theoretical restrictions on women and their practical roles in Roman society.

Mark Antony

A powerful Roman politician and supporter of Julius Caesar who became a major figure competing for power after Caesar's assassination. His alliance and rivalry with Octavian helped lead to the establishment of the Roman Empire.

Caesar Augustus

Julius Caesar's grand-nephew and heir who became Rome's first emperor. His victory over rivals transformed Rome from a republic into an empire and began a long period of Roman prosperity.

Marcus Lepidus

A Roman politician who joined Mark Antony and Octavian in the Second Triumvirate. His participation illustrates the temporary alliances formed by competing leaders during the transition from Republic to Empire.

Second Triumvirate

An alliance between Mark Antony, Octavian, and Marcus Lepidus formed after Julius Caesar's assassination. It allowed the three men to defeat political enemies before rivalry eventually left Octavian dominant.

Cleopatra

The queen of Egypt who became politically and personally allied with Mark Antony. Her alliance with Antony brought Egypt into the final Roman civil wars and ended with both of their deaths in 30 BC.

Caesarion

The son of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. His existence mattered politically because he represented another possible claimant to Caesar's legacy during the struggle between Antony and Octavian.

Proscription

The practice of publicly declaring political enemies outside the protection of the law, allowing them to be killed and their property seized. During the Second Triumvirate, they became a tool for eliminating enemies and obtaining wealth.

Princeps

A title meaning roughly "first citizen" that Augustus used rather than openly calling himself king. It is important because Augustus maintained the appearance of the Roman Republic while establishing a system dominated by one ruler.

What Have the Romans Done for Us?

A reference to the Monty Python scene that humorously lists the benefits the Romans brought to the peoples they conquered. For this class, it connects to the larger question of Rome's legacy, including infrastructure, engineering, government, law, cities, and culture.

Pax Romana

A long period of relative peace and stability across much of the Roman Empire, conventionally dated from 27 BC to AD 180. It is associated with the prosperity and stability that followed Augustus's rule.

Jesus of Nazareth

The Jewish religious teacher whose birth and ministry form the foundation of Christianity. His crucifixion around AD 30-33 and the movement that developed around his teachings became central to the transformation of the Roman world.

Zealots

A Jewish group associated with strong resistance to Roman rule. Their presence helps explain the political and religious tensions in the Jewish world that contributed to rebellion against Rome.

Paul

An early Christian missionary who spread Christianity beyond its Jewish origins into the wider Greco-Roman world. His missionary activity was crucial to Christianity's expansion among Gentiles.

The Great Revolt

The major Jewish rebellion against Roman rule in the 1st century AD. It demonstrates political tensions between Rome and its Jewish subjects and forms part of the context in which early Christianity developed.

Nero

Roman emperor from AD 54-68 associated with the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64 and persecution of Christians. His reign is important to the course's discussion of early Christianity's difficult relationship with Roman authority.

Apostolic Succession

The Christian idea that authority in the Church was passed down from the apostles through successive generations of church leaders. It is important because Christianity developed from a movement centered on Jesus into an organized institution with established authority and doctrine.

Koine Greek

The common form of Greek widely used throughout the eastern Mediterranean during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. It mattered because Christianity spread through a world where this common language helped ideas travel across regions.

Diocletian

Roman emperor from AD 284-305 who reorganized the Roman Empire and divided its administration. His reforms attempted to stabilize the empire, while his reign also included the Great Persecution of Christians.

Tetrarchy

Diocletian's system of government that divided imperial authority among four rulers. It was designed to make the enormous Roman Empire easier to govern and defend during political instability.

Constantine the Great

Roman emperor who ruled from AD 306-337 and became a major supporter of Christianity. He also founded Constantinople, helping establish the eastern Roman Empire as a major center of political and Christian power.

Constantinople

The city founded by Constantine as a "New Rome." It became the capital and major center of the Roman Empire in the East and preserved Roman political and cultural traditions long after the western empire declined.

Augustine of Hippo

A Christian thinker who lived from AD 354-430 and became one of the most influential thinkers of late antiquity. His work The City of God responded to questions about Christianity and the decline of Rome.

Trajan

Roman emperor to whom Pliny the Younger wrote in AD 112 about how to deal with Christians in his province. The letter provides evidence of how Roman officials understood and responded to Christianity during the early empire.

Justin Martyr

A 2nd-century Christian born in Samaria around AD 100 who became a Christian missionary and defended Christianity in writing. His First Apology shows how early Christians used Greco-Roman intellectual traditions to defend their beliefs.

Perpetua

A young Christian woman in Carthage who was imprisoned and eventually executed during an anti-Christian purge in the early 3rd century AD. Her account provides a personal perspective on Christian persecution, faith, family relationships, and early Christian community.