Classical Civilizations Flashcards
0
Q
Most early civilizations emerged along?
A
Fertile River Valleys
1
Q
Some of the earliest civilizations on earth derive from?
A
Mesopotamia
2
Q
The fertile crescent is located between?
A
Tigris River
Euphrates River
3
Q
Egyptian civilization arose along what river?
A
The Nile River
4
Q
Chinese civilizations arose amongst what river?
A
Yellow River
5
Q
Why were the regions ripe places for civilizations to arise?
A
Rivers fed area with water
Ideal for farming
6
Q
Why did farming lead to civilization?
Examples?
A
Farming meant people stayed in one place
- instead of nomadic hunting and gathering
*** they can stay in one place for longer periods of time, thus creating great structures (ex. Great Wall of China / Pyramids)
7
Q
What is specialization in farming or agrarian based society?
A
One family can grow all the food for people
Another family can be:
Blacksmiths
Politicians
Artists
Bureaucrats
8
Q
In hunting and gathering tribes, what are the roles?
A
Everyone’s jobs are based off of some part of hunting and gathering
9
Q
Transitioning from hunting and gathering to farming was known as what?
A
Neolithic revolution / birth of civilization
Ex.
Mesopotamia
Egypt
China
10
Q
Mesopotamia is located in modern-day?
A
Iraq (Middle East)
Mesopotamia (just a region)
11
Q
Why was Mesopotamia subject to numerous invasions over the course of its existence in the ancient world?
A
Flat, open geography
Obvious land value
** easy to invade from all different directions **
- difficult to defend
12
Q
Because of the ease to invade the region, which saw many different powers constantly taking over and retaking over?
A
Mesopotamia
13
Q
What were important civilizations in Mesopotamia?
A
- Sumer
- Babylon
- Hittites
- New Babylon - taken over by Chaldeans
- Persia
- Phoenicians
- Assyrians
14
Q
When did Egyptian Civilization under the Dynastic Period last?
Where?
A
From 3100 - 500 BC
Around the fertile Nile River Valley
15
Q
Before the Dynastic Period 3100-500 BC in Egypt, we had the ?
A
5000-3100 BC
Pre-dynastic
Proto-dynastic
16
Q
What were dynasties in Egypt?
A
Periods of Unity
Rule of the region of Egypt
17
Q
What is Egypt known as?
A
The gift of the Nile
18
Q
Without the irrigation and farming from the Nile, why would it be difficult to live in Egypt?
A
It is an arid desert
19
Q
The Nile had very regular and predictable?
A
Floods - Egypt (Northern Africa)
20
Q
Why were the predictable floods of the Nile helpful to the Egyptians?
What could they do with their other time?
A
They could plan their farming around it
*Other times of years they could be building
21
Q
Why was the Nile helpful in transportation?
A
- The Nile flows South to North.
- You can sail the typical North to South wind
- You could ride the current of the Nile back North
*** Thus transporting goods & people
22
Q
Explain why Egypt had very defensible borders
A
North - Mediterranean Sea
East - Red Sea
South & West - Sahara Desert (difficult to cross)
Led to long periods of political rule and stability
23
Q
If you could not attack Egypt by sea, what would be the next best place to attack?
A
Along the isthmus of Sinai
- narrow strip of land
- Egyptians can all station their troops along this front
24
Egyptian life centered around serving?
Pharaoh - considered a living god
25
The symbol of eternal life in Egypt is?
Ankh
0
T
26
Who was Horus? (Egypt)
Falcon-god
Sometimes portrayed with a human body and falcon head
27
Who were some other important gods in Egypt to know?
Rah - the sun god
Anubis - the god of the dead
Osiris
Seth
28
What do Egyptians believe the disk in the sun is?
The sun disk was called Aton / Aten
29
When was Egypt monotheistic (believing in one god)?
Akhenaten believed they should only worship the sun disk god
Aton / Aten
*** after the death Akhenaten they went back to polytheism and all of their gods
30
Who was written out of the lineage of the Pharaohs?
Akhenaten - for creating monotheism toward the sun disk god Aton / Aten
31
What drove Egyptians to build pyramids?
1. Belief in afterlife
2. Wanting to mummify their dead
3. Built mammoth pyramids to house them
32
Explain mummification
1. Drain blood
2. Embalm with fluids to preserve body
3. Wrap it
4. Thought Pharaoh / servants would need their body in the after life
5. Thought they needed food / possessions
33
What did the Egyptians believe the pyramid served as?
A place for Pharaoh to live in the afterlife
34
With the pyramids there was amazing monumental achievements?
Architecture
Building
Engineering
35
Some argue that pyramids were built?
From the inside to the outside
1. Constantly creating newer pyramids on top of the old
Also, another theory
1. They found chambers which could have Used counterweights to get blocks up
36
How long ago is it estimated that pyramids were built?
Around 5,000 years old
37
One of the seven wonders of the ancient world is?
The pyramids at Giza
The largest pyramid there was built for Pharoah Khufu
38
Egyptians made huge advancements in what areas?
1. Mathematics
2. Medicine
3. Hieroglyphics - with Sumer
39
What is hieroglyphics?
Picture-writing form
Logographic - symbols represented ideas
40
China history alternates between periods of?
Unity - called dynasties
Also periods of disunity
41
What does periods of unity mean?
Rule by a single family
- in secession
42
Invaders of China?
Assimilated into the Chinese Han population
**did not overtake but conformed**
43
What does Buddhism emphasize?
The middle path
The release of all cares as a route to nirvana
44
What is the middle path (Buddhism)?
```
Process of self-denial
Not going after possessions
Not being greedy
Simple life
No excess
```
45
Who created Buddhism?
Siddhartha Gautama - prince
46
What did Siddhartha Gautama (Buddhism) see?
1. Was a sheltered prince
2. Age of 17 travels out to see the world
3. Saw poverty and disease
4. Under the Bodhi tree, he received enlightenment
47
What is another name for Buddha?
"Enlightened One"
1. release all your cares / strife
2. Transcend suffering
3. Achieve bliss - nirvana
48
Why did people portray Buddha as hefty?
B/c in that time period being wealthy was important
If he was wealthy he would be fat
Portray hefty
49
Taoism emphasized?
1. A natural way of living
| 2. Connectedness to the universe
50
Who taught in China that everything in the Universe is connected?
Lao Tzu (similar to Henry David Thoreau)
1. Best way to live lives is to be connected to land & nature
51
Who wrote the Tao Te Ching?
Lao Tzu
1. Was loved in China
2. Was leaving and stopped at the border
3. Was told to write a religious text
52
What is the Tao Te Ching?
1. Short book with Poems on how to live your life
| 2. Basis of Taoism (important religion in China and many other parts of the world)
53
What was Confucianism and who taught it?
Social Doctrine - importance of roles in society
Taught by Confucius
54
Each relationship in Confucianism has a ?
Mentor - care for
Mentored - respect / look up to
55
Why was Confucianism influential in the government?
If the ruler was not caring for his subjects properly, they could overthrow him
56
What is reciprocity (Confucius + Confucianism)
Golden Rule - Do unto others as you would want done unto you
57
Greece was hilly and not ideal for ________ , which led to Greece becoming a ?
1. Not ideal for farming
2. Became a seafaring culture that dominated
Aegean Sea
&
Majority of the Mediterrean
58
Where was the farming section of Greece?
Pilipinas
59
Literature & Mythology of Classic Greece was based off of?
The sea
Literature -
Iliad & Odyssey
Homeric Epics by: Homer
Focused on seafaring battles
Trojan War with Odysseus
60
The Greeks practiced what type of religion?
Polytheism - many gods
Complex mythology surrounding their gods
61
Where did the Olympian gods live?
Mount Olympus
62
What is the story of how the Olympians (greek gods) came to be?
They vanquished
the Titans - giants that ruled the earth
Entonces - high era of Ancient Greece
63
What was considered the god of thunder & lightning?
Who were his children?
Zeus - king of the gods
Apollo & Athena
64
Who was considered the goddess of wisdom?
Athena
65
Who was considered the god of love?
Aphrodite
66
Who was considered the god of the underworld?
Hades
67
Who was considered the god of war?
Ares
68
The Greek gods symbolized different aspects of ?
Life
Universe
Responsible for natural phenomena
69
The Greek gods were very humanistic in what way?
Petty - not perfect
Made deals behind each others backs
Stabbed each other in the back
70
The Minoans
(Ancient Greece - Pre Classical Era)
was what kind of society?
Trade & Commerce-based society
71
The Mycenaeans & Creed
(Ancient Greece - Pre-Classical Era)
were what kind of society?
War & Conquest based society
72
What were the most powerful
| city-states in Greece?
Athens
| Sparta
73
What is a city-state?
City is seat of power
Rules itself
Controls surrounding regions
74
The Acropolis is a famous hill in ?
The Parthenon is located here also. Who was it dedicated to?
Commonly in Greece temples are dedicated to gods and goddesses
Athens (Democracy)
Parthenon is dedicated to
Athena - patron goddess of Athens
75
What type of government was Athens?
Democracy
- one of the 1st world's democracy
76
The democracy in Athens is said to have spread to?
1. Western politics
2. Art
3. Architecture
77
What did Athenians (democracy) place great value on?
What philosophers came from Athens?
Learning
Intellectual Discourse
1. Socrates
Taught
2. Plato
Taught
3. Aristotle
Taught
Alexander the Great
- famous Macedonian
78
Socrates gave us the idea of?
Dialectics - debating viewpoints and finding the truth
79
What did Plato give us the idea of?
Forms - perfect form for everything
To understand things, compare them to its perfect form
80
What did Aristotle give us?
The idea of poetics -
how to write a play.
Influenced writing to this day
Final Cause - to understand something, you must understand its final purpose
81
Where was Athens located?
What type of town was it?
Coast of the Aegean Sea
** Cosmopolitan
** Large Population - trade cultural exchange with others from the Mediterranean region
82
Where was Sparta located?
What type of population did they have?
Small population - Totalitarian
Land-locked - Located in Southern Greece in the Pilipinas
83
What does totalitarian (Sparta) mean?
Ruled by a king
Government controls all
84
What was Spartan culture highly dependent on?
Why?
1. Highly militaristic
2. Emphasized physical & mental strength
3. Practiced eugenics to ensure physical superiority
*** to control the nearby farmland ***
85
What is eugenics?
When do Spartans begin to train?
Getting rid of "inferior" babies - in turn everyone can breed physical specimens
Want everyone to be a great physical specimen to battle for their property
*** They began training at a very young age ***
86
What rights did the Spartans give that no one else was giving at the time?
Explain
Many rights to women
(held high-honor)
- own & inherit property
- divorce husbands
** gave birth to the important warrior **
87
During the Persian War who united against people like Darius, Xerxes, Persians?
Athens
Sparta
*other Greek city-states
88
Although some of the Persian attacks were successful, were they every able to totally overtake the Greeks?
No
* stopped by Spartans at Thermopylae
89
What happened after the Greeks defeated the Persians?
Athens and Sparta divided against one another
Other city-states pick sides
*** 13 years fought the Peloponnesian War
90
How did the Peloponnesian War (13 years) treat Greek society?
It was devastated - Sparta won
B/c of the war majority of society saw so much destruction
- was not as valuable
91
What age was Alexander the Great from, area, and what did he do?
1. Hellenic Age
2. From Macedonia
3. Conquered and united the Greek and Persian worlds
92
How do you find Greece on a map?
```
Find Italy (the boot)
& look southeast to find Greece
```
93
Whose rule would you find that ran from GREECE to Egypt out to the Middle East?
Whose rule did not include Greece?
Look at the Map!!
Included Greece: Alexander the Great
Did not Include Greece: Persian Empire (Xerxes never full beat the Greeks - headed by the Athenians and Spartans)
Look at the Map!!
94
When was the Roman Republic?
How did it emerge as the dominant world power?
500-27 BC
Emerged After the Punic Wars with Carthage (Northern Africa)
- solidified control of the Mediterrean
95
Who was the famous military leader who battled the Romans in the Punic Wars?
Hannibal - eventually Rome won
- Roman Republic
96
How did the Roman Republic incorporate Greek Society?
1. Architecture
2. Art
3. Used similar mythology
- Roman gods borrowed
Ex. Poseidon (Greek) -
Neptune (Roman)
Ex. Zeus (Greek) -
Jupiter (Roman)
97
Explain the architecture similarities of Rome and Greece
Doric columns - simple
Ionic columns - slightly more complex
Corinthians - lavish columns
98
How was society divided in Rome?
Patricians
- Upper class / nobility / aristocrats
Plebeians
- commoners
Slaves
99
The seat of Roman Government was?
The Senate under the Republic
100
What is a republic?
Representatives represent the people - by districts
*** The US is considered to be both a democracy & a republic
101
What qualification would you need to be considered in the Roman Senate?
To be in the Senate, you must be from the Patrician class
** Plebeians also got representation **
102
What famous leader was assassinated in the Roman Empire and who took his place?
1. Julius Caesar was assassinated
| 2. Augustus (Octavian) took his place as the first emperor of the Roman Empire
103
How did Julius Caesar establish himself into power?
How did he lead?
1. Militarily - was a general
| 2. Alongside the Senate
104
Around what sea did the Roman Empire control most of its land in its biggest Empire?
Check the Map!!
Mediterranean Sea - wanted to control trade routes
* controlled the entire Western World
Check the Map!!
105
What kind of architectural achievements did Rome boast?
Coliseum - battles
Aqueducts - moving waters thru wells and throughout the city
106
What monumental thing happened in 286 in the Roman Empire?
Diocletian divided the empire into
(Diocletian ruled) east &
west (key-general ruled)
** difficult for one person to rule such a vast land **
107
Roman prosperity and peace was called?
Pox-Romano
- controlled all of the world
- no1 had a chance to stop them
108
What awesome thing happened in 313?
Constantine made Christianity (was becoming more popular) legal
Prior Jews and Christians were severely persecuted
** disagreements of religion occurred
109
Who did Emperor Nero blame for the setting fire to Rome?
Christians
** were hated
110
What was The capital of the Eastern Roman Empire?
Constantinople - named after Constantine
111
Why did Rome fall (specifically the West)?
1. Not enough Roman army-men to control huge land
| 2. Hired mercenaries (people who fight for money)
112
What were the problems of the late Roman Empire?
That eventually devastated Rome?
1. Political Instability - rulers were not treating ppl correctly and so murdered
* a lot of murders to support putting their own guy into power
2. Mercenary Armies
3. Inflation
4. Excessive Taxation - to pay for armies
5. Decreased Agricultural Production
6. Division Over Christianity
7. Continuous Barbarian Invasions
113
Eventually the _______ picked off the Roman Empire piece by piece
Barbarians
** from all over (Africa, Middle East, Germic)
114
When did the Ancient Roman Empire fall and what did it signify?
Late 400s AD
- marked the end of ancient civilization
- next medieval civilization
115
The ________ Roman Empire continued after the fall of the Ancient Roman Empire?
Eastern
