Pre-AP Final Review Flashcards

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering social sciences, early civilizations, classical empires, major belief systems, the Byzantine Empire, and the Middle Ages as described in the lecture notes.

Culture

A common way of life shared by a group of people, which includes language, religion, and traditions.

History

The social science primarily concerned with the study of written records.

Economist

The study of how people satisfy seemingly endless needs and wants.

Geography

The study of settlement patterns and the impact climate has on people and the development of culture.

Sociology

The study of how people interact in groups, concerning topics such as racism and sexism.

Archeology

The study of the past, before written records, through the examination of physical remains such as bone fragments, tools, and pottery.

Artifacts

Physical remains from the past, such as tools and pottery, used by archeologists to recreate history.

Paleolithic Era

The Old Stone Age (2 million BC - 10,000 BC) characterized by small, nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes of 20-30 people and simple tools.

Neolithic Era

The period marked by the domestication of plants and animals, the emergence of permanent civilizations, and more advanced culture.

Hammurabi code of law

One of the first written law codes from Mesopotamia based on the principle of "An eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth."

Cuneiform

A system of writing developed in ancient Mesopotamia.

Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro

Two major cities of the Indus River Valley civilization known for organized grid systems and possibly being an early democracy.

Polis

The name for Greek city-states that developed in isolation due to mountainous topography, such as Athens and Sparta.

Direct democracy

A system of government in Athens where all male citizens could vote.

Alexander the Great

The son of King Phillip who extended the Macedonian Empire and created the Hellenistic culture.

Hellenistic culture

The culture created and spread by Alexander the Great following the conquest of Greece and the expansion of the Macedonian Empire.

Roman Republic

A system of government considered a "thing of the people" featuring a 300 member senate with 2 consuls.

12 tablets

The written law code of the Roman Republic.

Pax Romana

A period of peace and prosperity when the Roman Empire was at its height, characterized by achievements in engineering, law, and art.

Constantinople

The capital of the Eastern half of the Roman Empire, established by Emperor Constantine in 312 AD.

Diaspora

A key term in Judaism referring to the dispersion of the Jewish people.

Five pillars

The basic practices followed by Muslims in the religion of Islam.

Siddhartha Gautama

The founder of Buddhism, also known as the "enlightened one" ($553 BC$).

Four Noble Truths

The Buddhist belief that desire is the cause of all suffering and that ending desire ends suffering.

Eightfold path

The practice in Buddhism used to end suffering and achieve nirvana.

Moksha

The end of the cycle of death and rebirth in Hinduism.

Dharma

In Hinduism, the religious and moral duties that ensure good karma.

Karma

The sum of a person's actions in Hinduism which determines their fate in the next existence.

Filial piety

A key concept in Confucianism meaning respect for one's parents and ancestors.

Yin yang

A symbol in Daoism representing balance and living in harmony with nature.

Asoka

A Maurya leader who promoted religious toleration and posted Rock Edicts throughout the empire.

Rock Edicts

Laws and sermons posted throughout the Maurya empire by Asoka to promote religious toleration.

Byzantine Empire

The surviving eastern portion of the Roman Empire after the fall of the west in 476 AD, which lasted until 1453 AD.

Justinian Code

A written system of laws created by Emperor Justinian based on Roman laws, later adopted by various European civilizations.

Cyrillic Alphabet

The writing system used in Russia, originally received through contact with the Byzantine Empire.

Feudalism

A decentralized political system of the Middle Ages based on exchange of land for loyalty and military service.

Chivalry

A code of behavior for knights in the Middle Ages that stressed loyalty and bravery.

Manorialism

An economic system where people lived on self-sufficient manors owned by nobles.

Serfs

Peasants in the manorial system who could not leave the land and performed farm labor for the noble.

Crusades

Religious wars ($1100-1300$) in which European Christians fought to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims.