Exam 2 Flashcards
1
Q
“Mandate of Heaven”
A
- At first the mandate was a religious contract between the Zhou people and their supreme God (“the sky god”).
- It evolved to a Chinese political doctrine
- The Zhou believed that worldly affairs aligned with those in the heavens, heavenly powers conferred legitimate rights to rule on their chosen representative.
- The ruler was then duty-bound to uphold heaven’s principles of harmony and honor. - Any ruler who failed in this duty who let instability creep into earthly affairs or who let his people suffer would lose his mandate.
2
Q
Confucius
A
- Master Kong Fuzi of China from 551-479
- Represented a new type of leader, one who used words and instruction to teach and govern their people instead of wars and conquests
. - The Analects are a collection of his trainings, stressing performance of ritual, responsibility and loyalty to the family, and perfection of moral character to become a superior man.
3
Q
Neo-Assyrians
A
- Afro-Eurasian empire that dominated around, starting with the rise of Adad-nirari in 911 BCE
- Through military expansion, the Neo-assyrians extended their control over resources and people beyond their own borders
- Their empire lasted for three centuries until Ninevah fell the Babylonians, Chaldeans, Persians, Scythians, and Cimmerians
4
Q
Helenistic Culture
A
- Hellenism is a term derived from the Greeks’ name for themselves, Hellenes.
- Process by which individual cultures of the Greek city-states gave way to a uniform culture stressing the common identity of all who embraced Greek ways
. -Common features of language, art, architecture, drama, politics, philosophy, and much more to which anyone, anywhere in the Afro-Eurasian world could have access
. - Its influence spread from Greece to all shores of the Mediterranean into parts of the subsaharan Africa, across southwest Asia, and through the Iranian Plateau, into central and south Asia. It even had echoes in China.
5
Q
Punic War, Carthagians
A
Carthagians: City in what is modern day Tunisia. Emblamatic of the trading aspirations and activities of merchants in the Mediterranean. Pottery and other archeological reamins demonstrate that trading contacts with Carthage were as far as Italy, Greece, France, and West Africa.
- Series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage from 264-146 BCE
- The name Punic comes from the word Latin word Punicus, meaning “Carthagians”
- The main conflict was over the expanision of the growing Roman empire and the existing Carthagian empire
- At the start of the first war, the Romans lacked the naval power of the Cathagians, but by the end of the Third War, had completely destroyed the city of Carthage and conquered it, making Rome the most powerful empire in the Western Mediteranean
6
Q
Latifundia
A
- A latifundium is a very extensive parcel of privately owned land
- of Roman history were great landed estates, specializing in agriculture destined for export: grain, olive oil, or wine.
- They were characteristic Greece and Sicily, of Egypt and the North African Maghreb and of Hispania Baetica in southern Spain.
- Closest approximation to industrialized agriculture in Antiquity, and their economics depended upon slave labour.
7
Q
Council of Nicae
A
- The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in Nicaea in Bithynia by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325.
- the first effort to attain consensus in the church through an assembly representing all of Christendom
- Its main accomplishments were settlement of the Christological issue of the nature of the Son of God and his relationship to God the Father, the construction of the first part of the Creed of Nicaea, establishing uniform observance of the date of Easter, and promulgation of early canon law
8
Q
Phoenicians
A
- Known as the the Caananites in the Bible, an ethnic group in Levant under Assyrian rule in the 7th century BCE
- they provided ships and sailorsfor battles in the Mediterranean
- The word Phonecian refers to the purple dye they manufactured and widely traded along with other commercial goods and services throughout the Mediterranean
- While part of the wider Mesopotamian culture, their major contribution was the alphabet .First introduced in the second millenium BCE, which made far reaching communication possible.
9
Q
YHWH
A
- A Greek tetragrammaton (meaning “four letters) for Yahweh
- Originiated in Jerusalem among the educated upper class
- Initially a “divine warrior” and the ruling god above El, Baal, and Asherah, proceeded to become more “jealous” excluded these other gods, resulting in true monotheism
- Part of a movement to enforce a single, all-powerful god and a set of strict social and moral codes, becoming laws enshrined in the Torah
- Long-lasting historical consequences because the Jewish people scattered far and wide throughout the world, as well as its influence on Christianity and Islam
10
Q
Tyrannis
A
- Greek word meaning “Tyrant,”
- it described on type of government system in place in Mediterranean self-governed staes, in which rule by a popularly approved political head of the city.
- Plato and Aristotle define a tyrant as, “one who rules without law, looks to his own advantage rather than that of his subjects, and uses extreme and cruel tactics—against his own people as well as others”.
- During the seventh and sixth centuries BC, tyranny was often looked upon as an intermediate stage between narrow oligarchy and more democratic forms of polity. However, in the late fifth and fourth centuries, a new kind of tyrant, the military dictator, arose, specifically in Sicily.
11
Q
Peliponnesian War
A
- (431–404 BC) Ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta.
- reshaped the ancient Greek world. On the level of international relations, Athens, the strongest city-state in Greece prior to the war’s beginning, was reduced to a state of near-complete subjection, while Sparta became established as the leading power of Greece.
- The economic costs of the war were felt all across Greece; poverty became widespread in the Peloponnese, while Athens found itself completely devastated, and never regained its pre-war prosperity
- The war also wrought subtler changes to Greek society; the conflict between democratic Athens and oligarchic Sparta, each of which supported friendly political factions within other states, made civil war a common occurrence in the Greek world.
12
Q
Socrates
A
- (469-399 BCE) Philosopher in Athens
- encouraged people to reflect on ethics and morality
- He stressed the importance of honor and integrity as opposed to wealth and power
- Plato was his student.
13
Q
Vedic Culture
A
- The Vedic people came from the steppes of inner Asia around 1500 BCE and entered the fertile lowlands in the Indus River Basin gradually moving as far south as the Deccan Plateau.
- They called themselves Arryan, which means “respected ones” and spoke Sanskrit and Indoeuropean language.
- They composed Vedas which were rhymes, hymns, and explanatory texts composed by their priests; the Vedas became their most holy scripture and part of their religious rituals. They were initially passed down orally in Sanskrit.
- Brahmans, priests of the Vedic culture, incorporated the text into ritual and society. The Vedas are considered the final authority of Hinduism.
14
Q
Brahmans
A
- Vedic priests performed rituals and communicated with the gods.
- Brahmans provided guidance on how to live and balanced with the forces of nature as represented by the various deities. The codification of Vedic principles into code of law took place at the hands of the Brahmans.
- They memorized Vedic works and compiled commentaries on them. T
- hey also developed their own set of rules and rituals which developed into a full scale theology.
- Originally memorized and passed on orally these may have been written down sometime after the beginning of the common era. Brahmanism was reborn as Hinduism sometime during the first half of the first millenium CE.
15
Q
Concept of Atman
A
- In the Upanishads, an eternal being who exists everywhere.
- The atman never perishes but is reborn or transmigrates into another life.
- Atman’s presence in each living being makes all creatures part of a universal soul.
- While all living beings must die, the atman guarantees eternal life, ensuring the souls are reborn and transmigrate into new lives.
