West Civ Honors Midterm - Dr. Crawford

Minoan Civilization

An merchant civilization on the island of Crete. They had a massive palace complex. They had a redistributive community. They were not a warlike people → had no weapons.

Mycenaean Civilization

A powerful, warlike Bronze Age civilization that dominated mainland Greece and the Aegean Sea. Famous for their large walls → they were afraid of conquest. Shown in the Iliad & Odyssey. Conquered by the Sea People and Dorians.

Phalanx

A military formation used by ancient Greek armies, consisting of rows of soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder, armed with long spears and shields. They covered each other, which bonded communities together. → Evidence of importance of the Polis.

Polis

Independent self governing entity → city-state. Both the city itself and the surrounding countryside. Evidence of Greece not being united yet

Spartan Polis

They are a diarchy (rule by 2), they have 2 representative assembly (elders, and all of citizens). The mass of the population sets the agenda/legislation for the elders. Opposite of Athens. They are a military nation, they train from birth. The men live their entire life in the barracks.

Development of the Athenian Democracy

Originally the people in power were aristocratic well fathered men, the people in the phalanx (they’re fighting and dying for Athens) want their interests represented that involved into the people having more power, creating a democracy. However, this was not inevitable.

The Persian Wars

A series of conflicts between the Greek city-states and the Persian Empire, including famous battles such as Marathon and Thermopylae. These wars were pivotal in securing Greek independence and fostering unity among the city-states.

Xerxes

The king of the Persian Empire during the second invasion of Greece, leading the massive army at the Battle of Thermopylae and the naval battle at Salamis.

Thermopylae

A famous battle during the Persian Wars where a small Greek force, led by King Leonidas of Sparta, made a heroic stand against the much larger army of Xerxes. Xerxes wins, but Leonidas bought time for the other Greeks to prepare. Free men will always win because they have something to fight for, and the enslaved will always lose.

who was Herodotus?

An ancient Greek historian often referred to as the 'Father of History', famous for writing 'The Histories', which documented the origins and events of the Greek-Persian Wars. For him history means stories that are researched, He talked to eye-witnesses.

Delian League

At the and of the Greek Persian wars the victorious Greeks form an alliance of ancient Greek city-states formed under the leadership of Athens, intended to liberate eastern Greek cities from Persian rule and defend against future invasions. This is when Athens develops their naval power. Sparta refused to join, which leaves Athens as the major player. Causes tension. Peloponnesian League is Sparta’s

Peloponnesian War

A major conflict fought between the Delian League led by Athens and the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Sparta sought aid from Persia, which ruined their credibility. It ended in an Athenian defeat. Neither were true winners, both were weakened.

Thucydides

An Athenian historian and general who wrote the 'History of the Peloponnesian War,' and was known for being a very dry writer.

Pre-Socratics

Greek thinkers who tried to answer 3 major questions → What is the world made of? How do we know that? How should we live? They lead us in a difficult position of questioning our ability to know reality.

Socrates

An Athenian philosopher who developed a method of inquiry through questioning and believes in the existence of truth and opposed the Sophists. All of his writings come form his students.

Plato

A student of Socrates and founder of the Academy in Athens “allegory of cave”. He deposited that there is true reality but it is transcendent.

Aristotle

A good student of Plato, tutored Alexander the Great. He is a great systematizer/like order. He puts things into ranks and hierarchy. He will not accept the transcendent word of the forms. he thinks forms are in the things themselves. He believes a true ruler is just and virtuous.

Philip II of Macedon

Ruler of Macedon, and began Macedonian expansion. He invades Greece, and defeats Athenians Thebans, & even the Spartans in some battles. He is the father of Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great

The Macedonian ruler who conquered the Persian Empire, Egypt, and expanded Greek influence and founded the Hellenistic world. Died incredibly young. Hellenistic means Hellen ish.

Lucretia

A Roman noblewoman whose assault by the king's son sparked the uprising that overthrow the monarchy and established the Roman Republic. Represents the Roman virtue of working hard.

Cincinnatus

A retired Roman statesman appointed dictator during a military crisis who defeated the enemy and immediately resigned power to return to his farm, serving as an ideal of civic virtue.

Civic Virtues (virtus, pietas, mos maiorum, auctoritas)

The core ideals of Roman society: courage & bravery (virtus), giving respect to important things (pietas), ancestral custom (mos maiorum), and authority (auctoritas).

Struggle of the Orders

This conflict which occurs between the Patricians & Plebians. The process where it turns into a true republic. They want the same things as Athens, and want representation.

Consuls

The two chief executive magistrates of the Roman Republic, elected annually to lead armies.

Senate

Older experienced men who are elected and also magistrates who have finished their 1 year term. They give speeches that start with age order.

Tribunes

Elected Roman officials tasked with protecting plebeian rights, possessing the power to veto actions of magistrates and the Senate.

Carthage

A North African maritime empire that fought three major wars against Rome for dominance of the Western Mediterranean.

Hannibal

A Carthaginian general who led an invasion of Italy across the Alps during the Second Punic War, inflicting major defeats on Roman forces.

Cato the Elder

A conservative Roman senator and statesman known for defending traditional Roman values and insisting that Carthage must be completely destroyed.

Gracchi brothers

Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, Roman tribunes who pushed for a reduction of taxation and give land to farmers. people say “ they’re only doing this to get votes” so they were both assassinated along with their supporters. we see that Roman politics are getting violent.

Marius

A man not from a patrician (not well fathered). He comes to power as a military man, led Roman armies to a string of victories. He was elected consul and made the Roman army a profession. Before, all roman men had to serve. Now, they work for a paycheck.

Sulla

A Roman general who marched on Rome, defeated his political rivals, declared himself dictator, and instituted conservative constitutional reforms.

First Triumvirate

People learned that you need an army to have power. An informal political alliance formed in 60 BCE among Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus to control Roman politics. Julius Caesar has reputation, Pompey has votes, and Crassus has money.

Julius Caesar

A Roman general who conquered Gaul, emerged victorious in a civil war, declared himself dictator for life, and was assassinated on the Ides of March. Creating a power vacuum where the 2nd triumvirate formedKnowing he has been plotted against, he returns to Rome w/ his army. So he could go back alone and die, or go back with an army like Sulla.

Second Triumvirate

An official legal alliance formed by Octavian, Mark Antony, and Lepidus. Augustus & Octavian are the same person. The main goal of the 2nd triumvirate is to defeat the senators. Augustus defeats Mark Antony and takes everything for himself.

Augustus

The first emperor of Rome (originally Octavian) who transitioned Rome from Republic to Empire and established the Principate. He makes a big show of giving all the power back to the senators, and the senators know they can’t wield the power so they give it back to him. Therefore, legitimizing him.

Pax Romana

A roughly 200-year era of relative stability, internal peace, and economic expansion throughout the Roman Empire initiating under Augustus. (go to slide)

The Five Good Emperors

A series of Roman rulers (Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius) who presided over the empire's height of power and prosperity in the 2nd century CE. The reason we get 5 in a row, the first 4 don’t have sons, so they adopt sensible heirs.

The Tetrarchy

An imperial administrative system created by Diocletian that divided governance of the Roman Empire among two senior emperors (Augusti) and two junior emperors (Caesares). Had 50-70 years of crisis, so the Tetrarchy provides stability.

Diocletian

The Roman emperor who ended the Crisis of the Third Century through political reforms, economic controls, and the establishment of the Tetrarchy.

Constantine

The Roman emperor who legalized Christianity, presided over the Council of Nicaea, and moved the imperial capital to Byzantium.

Battle of the Milvian Bridge

A battle in 312 CE where Constantine defeated Maxentius after receiving a vision of a Chiro in the sky, giving him sole control of the Western Roman Empire.

Edict of Milan

A proclamation issued by Constantine granting Christian tolerance throughout the Roman Empire.

Constantinople

Constantine’s polis. The city he built for himself. Constantinople sits on the trade routes from east to west. Important trade center.