Western Civilization Exam 1

Why do we study history?

To be a better disciple of Christ/better human

What is the only inerrant source of history?

The Bible, but its not a complete history textbook

What are the 4 parts of the story for all time?

Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration

What is Western Civilization and why should we study it?

Not a geographic location but an idea,

legacy of Greece/Rom/Judaeo-Christianity

study to understand America/how we are governed

emphasizes codification of law

When did civilization begin according to the Bible/when did man become intelligent?

God created ex nihilo and man was intelligent day 1 (with Adam and Eve)

According to secularists, when did civilization begin?

8000 BC: man suddenly becomes intelligent, the Agricultural Revolution/when man figured out how to plant seeds

What technology did early man have?

language (Adam)

forging technology (Tubal-Cain)

Music (Jabal)

Agriculture (Cain)

City building tech (Enoch)

legal codes/punishment (Lamech)

Define civilization

community-minded life with varying aspects of agriculture, trade, specialized roles/vocations, political and religious organization, manufacturing technology, and writing

Who was the first king-like ruler?

Nimrod, "mighty hunter" conquered cities

What is a nation?

An identifiable group of people

Describe protoindoeuropean languages?

large language family, no writing, gave birth to multiple modern languages

What was the 1st writing civilization?

Sumer- (pictographic) cuneiform, approx 3000 BC

What is the 1st known written legal code?

Hammurabi's code, before 10 commandments, doesn't have redemption like Mosaic law

What was Venus of Willendorf?

statue of a fertility goddess, when cultures separated, they created own art/stopped thriving/learning from each other--tech went backwards after Babel

What did the Fall corrupt?

world's previously perfect genetic building blocks, ability to use the gifting that God provided

What is anthropomorphism?

Bible using human terms to describe infinite things

What is a diaspora?

a scattering (after flood, tower of Babel)

What are the trademarks of Western Society?

law was open--written/available to everyone

buildings--show what society values/provide identity

How did written language develop?

pictographic--ideographic--phonetic

Indo-European language family

german, greek, latin

semitic language family

hebrew, arabic, egyptian

Mesopotamia

"land btw 2 rivers" Tigris/Euphrates, began to flourish c. 3000BC, in fertile crescent

Bronze Age

began 3000BC when man rebegan forging utensils/weapons/equipment w copper/tin alloy

City states

cities that didnt have political allegiance to a larger organizational body

ppl synergized (worked together to combine resources/talents/labor)

Describe the Sumerians religion

- not revealed, tradition/stories

- polytheistic/pantheon

- gods own city states/had a ziggurat (structure w temple on top dedicated to patron god)

Describe Epic of Gilgamesh

oral sumerian poem eventually written down, possible parallel of Enkidu pre/post fall

Pre fall: noble savage, innocent, friend of animals, strong, wild, no language, unsocial

Post fall: thoughts of man, weaker, social, tamed, language

Ishtar in EoG?

fertility goddess, wants G as bf

Bull of Heaven in EoG?

Represents famine/disease as runs over crops

Flower/serpent in Eog?

represent immortality of man snatched away

Why is EoG important?

resonates w/ human condition, distorts Bible's stories

When did Abraham leave Ur and where did he go?

2000 BC, Egypt

What did development of writing allow?

codification of law, commerce, tech advance

Describe the Egyptian writing system.

hieroglyphics (pictographic)

hierate (cursive used by priestly class)

Pictographic

(writing through literal pictures)

Describe Hittite culture.

secular, relying on a king that was not divine.

Why were the Hittites feared?

The Hittites were feared for three hundred years because they were the first to employ iron technology.

What happened in the Battle of Kadesh?

In the Battle of Kadesh in 1274 B.C. between King Muwatalli II (Hittite) and Pharaoh Ramses II, both sides claim victory in their retelling of the story.

Describe the Assyrians

The Assyrians were brutal and violent. They would behead thousands of those they conquered. Then they would place the heads in piles outside the major cities to strike fear into others.

The Assyrians conquered the Hittites.

Describe how Jews became Hellenized

After Alexander the Great defeated the Persian Empire, Jewish culture became interlinked with Greek culture

The Hellenized Jews adopted Greek names and Greek became the Jews primary language, instead of Hebrew

Hellenized Jews abandoned the practice of circumcision and centered their worship around synagogues

List the periods of ancient history

Abraham, egyptian, judges, prophets, royal, exile, Zerrubabbel's temple period, hellenization

Theogeny

Women created to make trouble, insecure gods eat kids, uranos-chronos-zeus shows succession of kings

Women in polis

cant fight so cant vote, protected tho

Logos

natural law, principles for all humans

Lyric poetry in Greece

showed love of life, short poems

Archilochus: short poems abt life

Sappho: female, wrote from man perspective

Battle of Marathon

Athenians and Plataeans defeat Persians, saving WC. led by athenians Callimachus and Miltiades, Sparta offered to help but had a "religious festival"

environmental determinism

attributes all historical developments to environmental and physical factor

Torreador Fresco

Minoan wall painting showing people running toward a bull and leaping over its back

Harmodius and Aristogeiton

Two men from ancient Athens. They became known as the Tyrannicides after they killed Hipparchus

How did Greek art change?

shift from painting animals to Homeric heroes in black figures on an orange background; these bodies glorify man and arête (but tastes change: later, the Greeks did the same with red figure ware).

Mardonius

Persian general at Salamis and commander at Plataea, Xerxes left army under his control

Euripides

one of the greatest tragic dramatists of ancient Greece, had Tragedo-comedies, dark plays, main characters were women/slaves, The Bacchae, Trojan Women, Electra

Describe egypt geography

founded on Nile, khemet (black soil around Nile), deshret (red baked desert)

Who united Egypt

Scorpian, Narmer, or Menes, c. 3000BC

Describe Egyptian religion

inseparable from culture, positive afterlife, mummified dead w natron

Who built the pyramids/describe the early pyramids

Egyptian citizens, early pyramids were low rectangular structures

Describe how Egypt was ruled

pharaohs (god-like kings), responsible for maintaining cosmic order, appointed nomarchs (governors)

What are some trademarks of Western Society?

Open law--no excuse for being ignorant of law

Buildings--they show what a society values and the identity of the society

Describe Sumerians Religion.

Not revealed, tradition/stories, polytheistic

ideographic

(writing through pictures that represent something abstract that is much harder to draw)

phonetic

(writing in which symbols represent sounds)

Describe Akkadian language.

Semitic and became the lingua franca (common political and trade language of the region)

What two new threats did the hittites have to turn their attention to after the Battle of Kadesh?

Assyrians to the east and the Sea People to the west.

Describe the code of Hammurabi.

was rather unjust, but it provided stability and order to a chaotic world, written on a stele

Who created the first known empire?

Sargon the Great was an Akkadian who united his people with Sumer in 2250 B.C., creating the first known empire.

What were some of Egypt's Advancements?

surgeries, dentistry, keeping records, papyrus manuscripts

Who were the Amorites and Elamites

The Amorites and Elamites were semi-nomadic peoples who show up in the Bible. They had Babylon (powerful city-state). Hammurabi was their most famous king.

Who sacked Babylon in 1800 BC?

the Hittites

What type of language did the Hittites have?

Indo-European

What other nation existed at the same time as the Hittites/Assyrians?

The Phoenicians were a mysterious civilization that existed at the same time as Hittites and Assyrians who spoke a semitic language.

What are the Phoenicians known for?

The Phoenicians used a phonetic alphabet called the Phoenician alphabet and murex (purple dye)

How did Cyrus the Great rule?

Cyrus the Great ruled through satrapies (a Persian governor who controlled a province)

What are some accomplishments of the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian empire?

The Chaldean empire saw a cultural renaissance in the region and practiced archaeology, math, and astronomy.

Describe the persian religion

Zarathustra introduced the Persians to a dualistic religion of two cosmic forces: Ahura Mazda, wisdom, and Anger Mainyu, destruction. According to the Zarathustra sacred text, Avesta, the two spirits balanced each other and keep the universe together.

Who did God use to judge Israel in 722BC?

God used the Assyrians to judge the Kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. The Assyrians conquered the North Kingdom in 722 B.C. and spread the tribes around the empire where they fused with the empire and disappeared

Who was the Chaldean's most famous king/what did he do?

Nebuchadnezzar II, the most famous Chaldean king, destroyed the Kingdom of Judah, destroyed the Temple, deported the Jews to Babylon (Babylonian Exile).

Describe the Phoenicians.

not an empire, but city states, alphabet, seafarers, fell to greeks

What were some Persian advancements

The Persians utilized a postal system, used a common currency and weights and measures system, and connected major cities with a road network.

Who did the Chaldeans fall to?

The Chaldeans eventually fell to the Persians in the mid-600's B.C.

WHo was Cambyses/What did he do?

Cyrus the Great's son Cambyses conquered Egypt and expanded Perisan empire.

Was Israel a theocracy?

Israel was not a theocracy, the Levitical priesthood was not the primary authority but rather they were an ethno-religio-political entity

Who are the spiritual ancestors of the West/what did they pass down?

The Jews are the Spiritual Ancestors of Western Civilization

sovereign God, chosen ppl, good god, transcendent God, revealed religion

How did the jews view law/freedom?

The Jews imparted a radically different view of law and freedom to the west because they thought that laws should be just and God is justice, so we should follow divine laws, not laws of powerful men that give certain classes special treatment (Code of Hammurabi).

Who did the SK fall to?

King Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed the Temple and deported the (Southern Kingdom) Israelites back to Babylon until 539 B.C.

How did the Jews view history

The Jews saw history as linear and headed in the direction God chooses and thought that historical events have meanings and purpose because God directed them.

What is arete?

virtue and manliness in war, arose after Greek Dark ages in the orientalizing period

Diaspora

a scattering of ppl (Jews through out after Babylon, loss of tribe distinctions)

Works and days

gold=pre fall, silver= post fall pre flood pre babel, bronze=heroes/nephelim?, iron=modern

What was the earliest Greek civilization

Mycenaean along with Crete

Describe the Mycenaean civilization

lion gate, palace society, written language (Linear B), militaristic, ends when Gr dark ages begin, called themselves the Achaeans, disappeared possibly because of Dorian invaders, Sea Peoples invasions, or a natural disaster that causing an economic/political "system collapse,"

Greek Dark Ages

c. 1200BC no writing, no big tech advances, caused by sea ppl attack?, upheaval of social order (food/farms over gold), Homer reports on this time

Sea People

attack lots of major civs, Egypt survives, Troy sacked in relation to SP attacks, not necessarily by SP, changed trajectory of world (Phillistines show up at this time, possibbly SP tribe?)

Polis

emerges out of DA, based on merit, every person in polis contributes to its function, those outside polis=barbarians, Greek identity was founded in the polis

A citizen who didn't take part in government wasn't a citizen.

Meticss

foreigner from diff gr polis, free man but cant vote

slaves in polis

not even human, cant vote but can fight

How does the West fight

high tech, fast, democratic armies

How did Greeks fight

hoplite phalanx, low casualties, fast engagements

Describe Greek characteristics

Humanism, paideia, elutheria, parrhesia, logos, kritis

Humanism

man is special/close to gods, humans have value

Paideia

culture, man has to be trained to be functional polis member

Eleutheria

freedom, inherent right to act virtuously, not license