Pre-AP Vocab Chapter 3

Indirect Democracy

citizens vote for a representative to make choices for them

Direct Democracy

citizens vote directly on laws rather than voting for someone to make those choices for them

Alexander the Great

an ancient Greek king of Macedon and one of history's most successful military commanders (created an empire from Greece & Egypt to India)

Hellenism

ancient Greek culture, language, and ideals, or the modern revival of ancient Greek polytheistic religion

Pax Romana

200-year period of relative stability and order across the Roman Empire, 27 BCE - 180 CE, “Roman Peace” is the translation

Satrap

governor of a province in ancient Median and Persian Empires, served as a viceroy for the king

Matriarchal

a government system where women hold primary power, authority or central leadership roles

Twelve Tables

 earliest written legislation of ancient Roman law, created between 451 and 450 BCE, inscribed on twelve bronze tablets and was posted on Roman Forum for all citizens to see the rules

Filial Piety

showing deep respect, obedience and care for one’s parents and elderly family members core Confucian virtue

Plebeian

a person of low social standing or common people, usually carry a formal or disapproving connotation of being unsophisticated and lacking refinement

Patrician

a person of high social rank, nobility or refined upbringing and manners

Assertion

a confident, forceful statement of claim of fact belief of opinion made with strong conviction, usually presented without immediate proof 

Bias

favoring one side of or against an idea in a way that is prejudiced or unfair

Contentious

 likely to cause disagreement or controversy, describing a person who is fond of arguing

Conduit

a pipe, tube, figurative means or channel used to convey water, electrical wires, goods or information

Constituent

 a part that makes up a larger whole or voter represented by an elected official 

Decentralized

 the transfer or power or decision-making from a central source or head office to regional, local or distributed entities

Dearth

serious lack or scarcity of a supply of something needed or wanted 

Depict

to represent, show or describe something/someone through a visual image 

Derive

to receive or obtain from a source of origin

Detract 

 to take away 

Digress

to temporarily leave the main subject when reading or writing to discuss something else before returning to the original point