exam one Flashcards
what is history?
History is the events of the past, a story that leads us to where we currently are and helps lead us to better places in the future (hopefully).
what is an epoch?
time period that connects to people, places and development
what is an era?
same as epoch (time pd)
what is contemporary?
living or occurring at the same time
what does chronological mean?
account of events in the order of occurrence
what is anachronistic?
out of order (proper historical time)
what is archaeology?
the study of culture, stuff that humans made (weapons, tools, buildings etc)
what is anthropology?
the study of culture, examining the physical remains and people of the age
what is culture?
“way of life” of a specific group of people (food, music, though process etc)
what is a civilization?
a complex, developed culture usually associated with specific achievements such as agriculture, urban life, specialized labor, and a system of writing.
what is a theist?
(comes from Greek word, Theos, meaning gods) someone who believes in a supernatural god or gods. Atheist is a belief in no god. Polytheist is a belief in many gods
what is historiography?
recording history (history in its written form)
what does BC and AD mean?
Before Christ and Anno Domini (Year of our Lord)
what is prehistory?
that which occurred prior to the written record (before 4,000 BC)
what is the scientific world view?
evolution, humans got smarter and smarter
what is the Early Paleolithic Age?
3 Million - 30,000 BC
People were making unrefined tools (stone, wood) and stone tools made by flaking, chipping and fracturing
what is the Late Paleolithic Age?
(30,000 BC - 10,000 BC)
Making advanced tools like fishhooks, bow and arrows and atlatls (spear/dart)
what is the Neolithic Age?
(10,000 BC - 7,000 BC)
Radical, revolutionary period, major transitional period
Making tools by grinding and polishing
knitting and weaving
Permanent settlements
Intentional, planned agriculture
Made fire by friction
Made animals pets (dogs then cows)
what were humans during this time?
Neanderthals then Denisovans
where did Homo sapien sapiens come from?
southern/eastern Africa
through modern-day Israel into Mesopotamia (Iraq/Iran), Europe, Asia, and the Americas
Where is Istanbul? Why is it cracked? What two seas did it make?
Istanbul is the capital of Turkey
It is cracked because of a flood and it created the black sea from the Mediterranean
Why did large nomadic groups in the middle east abandon their nomadic lifestyles to build permanent settlements in the 15000s?
Because of natural occurrences that were out of their control like…
Global warming (11,000 BC) Younger Dryas Event - travel was restricted and people were split in small groups and had to avoid water sources
Human Ingenuity - discovery of consistent water sources and plant reproduction and migration patterns and routes
what is the neolithic agricultural revolution?
expanding population living in permanent settlements, privately owned property, specialization of labor (trade between families), creating property rules and regulations/laws, inheritance rights, irrigation
settlements were building in Jericho (west of the Jordan) and Catahoyuk (Turkey)
who were the first farmers? what were they big on?
Natufians (lived in Palestine and Southern Syria)
big on crop cultivation and animal domestication
what does Mesopotamia mean? Why? Where is it now?
“little rivers” in Greek because it is in the middle of Tigris and Euphrates
modern day Iraq
intensive agricultural techniques (mesopotamia) WHERE?
fertile crescent (top of Iraq, Syria and Israel)
irrigation channels (6000BC) on a small scale, leads to food production which leads to population growth
BARLEY, WHEAT, PEAS
What is Ur?
(built around 2100 BC) Ur is the Sumerian capital of Mesopotamia
power extended beyond the city walls (economic, cultural, political, military, religion, and edu)
specialization of labor (mesopotamia) what comes out of it?
Not everyone has to farm!
People began to specialize in non-ag tasks like pottery, tool making, textile manufacturing, woodworking, leather production, brick making, stonecutting etc)
Out of it comes social hierarchy
social hierarchy (mesopotamia)
someone became king because of community “election” (who was the largest, tallest, strongest)
someone became a noble by being a friend or fam of the king
someone became a priest by being able to “predict the future” and perform supernatural things OR being in a family of nobles
what is a dependent client?
taxpayer, peasant
worked on farms owned by others, step above slaves
what is a free commoner?
taxpayer, cultivated family-owned land, city dweller
how did someone become enslaved? (4 ways)
In debt
A prisoner of war
Born into slavery
Convicted criminal
patriarchal society (mesopotamia)
male domination
men had authority over public and private affairs under the law (legally)
education (mesopotamia)
education = all formal edu was either for the wealthy or the religious leader’s children
the only edu that the less fortunate got was learning skill and trade from parents
religion (mesopotamia)
polytheism!
all mesopotamians worshipped 100s of gods and goddesses (family gods, ancestorial gods)
Kings were portrayed as offspring of gods and priest received offerings from people of the city, lived in temple communities and temples generated income and work
what are ziggurats?
large, stepped structure with temple on the top
intended to reach closer to the heavens/gods
code of hammurabi (mesopotamia)
hammurabi was the king of OLDDDD babylonian empire (1792-1750 BC)
there was a high standard of behavior and stern punishments for violators of the law- DEATH PENALTY for… murder, theft, fraud, false accusations, sheltering of runaway slaves, failure to obey royals, adultery and incest
Civil laws regulating… prices wages, commercial dealings, marital relationships and the conditions of slavery
what did hammurabi’s code rely on?
lex talionis – the law of retaliation (offenders suffered punishments resembling their violations) “eye for an eye”
economic exchange (mesopotamia)
TRADE
logistics = ships, camels/donkey caravans
sumerians (southern iraq today) traded wooden textiles, leather goods, sesame oil and jewelry with India
they wanted Spain’s IVORY pearls
Babylonian imported silver from Anatolia, CEDAR WOOD from Lebanon, copper from Arabia, gold from Egypt
what was the main form of commerce?
barter (trading stuff for stuff)
new tech (mesopotamia)
metallurgy - manipulation through heat or pressure of metals, one of the most important aspects of tech and specialization today and back then!
copper was the first to manipulate but then evolved to bronze (mix of copper and tin) by 1000BC
evented the wheel around 3500 BC
sumerians building wheeled carts by 3000 BC which increased mobility of the society and allowed heavy loads to be moved at great distances
art and writing (mesopotamia)
CUNEIFORM was the 1st ever writing system used (2900 BC) Sumerians develop flexible writing system which combined pictographs and other symbols
scribes used reed stylus to make symbols on wet clay leaving lines and wedge-shaped marks
Babylonians, Assyrians and others adapted the Sumerians script to their own language since it was picture based
Cuneiform continued for 3000 years
what was the status on women in mesopotamia?
early equality - labor and equality were initially equal as well as the punishments for adultery
men began to lead due to militarism, heavy ag. implements, and private property, inheritance and legitimacy
divorce was initiated by the males because arranged marriages were the normal and there was a bride price
women were property so they didn’t make their own decisions
Upper and Lower Egypt
lower was the delta region (more north)
upper was south of the delta region (elevated)
the Nile runs from south to north
what is Nubia?
A region south of Egypt that Egypt traded with
It wasn’t agriculturally as productive as Egypt
who is herodotus?
the father of history - he was a greek historian who traveled a lot and recorded things that he saw
he referred to Egypt as the “gift of the Nile” (If the Nile didn’t exist, there would be no Egypt, pure desert, no agriculture)
agriculture (egyptians)
farmers would take advantage of the Nile’s annual floods (the river did most of the work for them)
Very agriculturally productive (still is)
Cultivators moved beyond Nile’s immediate floodplains and built levees to protect fields from floods, catchment basins to store water for irrigation, and used shaduf to move water from the river to the irrigation channel
specialization (egyptians)
Brewing and bread-making (both wheat based)
plowing and sowing
sailing
harvesting papyrus
herding
pyramid building
egyptians were slower to adopt metal tools and weapons because they didn’t need weapons
cities (egyptians)
(few major cities, but the ones that did exist were for religion and government purposes)
MEMPHIS = founded by Menes around 3100 BC, capital of Egypt
THEBES = administrative center of Upper Egypt
religion and education (egyptians)
edu = only for the religious leaders and wealthy
religion = polytheistic
two main gods - Amon and Re (sun gods)
there was a brief pd of monotheism (15-1400BC) “Akhenaten” where Aten proclaimed that we was the one true god. After Aten died, Amon-Re was restored
mummification (egyptians) / what was “the judgement”?
preparing the death for the afterlife
the judgement = (they believed the heart was the seat of intellect and emotion, not the brain) so they took out the heart and put in a jar and Anubis (the god of death) weighed the person’s heart against the Ma’at (the goddess of justice and truth) represented but a feather. If the heart wasn’t as light as the feather, Amat, a lion/tiger/animal would eat you.
what was the egyptian hierarchy?
gods
pharaoh
vizier (right hand man of the pharaoh)
priests
bureaucrats (government workers – paid well, enforce the will of the pharaoh)
craftspeople and merchants
peasant farmers
slaves
economic exchange (egyptians)
the Nile provided GREAT transportation which facilitated trade (boats, currents, sails, oars)
Egypt had few natural resources so needed to trade
needed CEDAR WOOD from Lebanon
much trade between nubia and egypt!
new tech (egyptians)
pyramid building!!
papyrus = the raw material came from the plant “cyperus papyrus” which grew along the banks of the Nile, very versatile and was used for boats, ropes, baskets etc
shipbuilding = wooden boats, multiple-oars, sails
art and writing (egyptians)
pyramids (bunch of gravestones) were considered the “art of Egypt”
HIEROGLYPHS = people in high positions knew this, but not the commoners
early culture (indians)
indian culture spread further than the india modern day political boundary
the early assumptions were that there were no indian culture until the 1st century AD but in the 1850s, they found evidence of advanced civilizations from 2500 BC (MOHENJO-DARO and HARAPPA)
who were the Dravidians?
the original indians of india (prior to the invasion of Aryan people)
agriculture (indians)
FLOODS like crazy, unpredictably, irrigated farms
cities (indians)
2 sizes of bricks, 2 types of streets, houses were almost identical in both cities (Harappa and Mohenjo) which was evidence of a powerful religiously dictated/controlled society
when/why was there a decline of the harappan society?
1900-1200 BC, there was no human remains found, abandonment of the area (was discovered covered in mud)
aryan invasion (indians)
aggressive, war-like people, USED HORSES IN BATTLE
What is the vedas?
very important, primary source of information to the Indians
“wisdom literature”
rules for the priest, prayers and hymns for the Aryans
what teachings did hinduism form out of?
dravidian and aryan teachings
indian caste system
still used today!
Brahmins (priests, high ranked government officials)
Kshatrijas (warriors, governors, military leaders)
Vaishyas (average/middle class, farmers, traders)
Shudras (serfs, peasants)
Pariahs (outcastes)
Untouchables (treated worse than animals)
what does “dark ages” mean?
either a lack of information, bad things are happening (famine and disease) or art advancements
what was the dominant religion of india?
Hinduism
what did the Vedas require the Aryans to do daily?
perform numerous sacrifices to please the gods
what happened in the 900s-800s BC (aryans)? What did that lead to?
Aryans became dissatisfied with sacrificing animals - sacrifices weren’t seen as a genuine means of communicating to the gods which lead to the Ganges Valley Forests
What was the Ganges Valley forests used for?
Aryans retreat to pursure spiritual enlightment (800BC)
they lived as hermits and focused on meditation
this developed new concepts…
what new concepts came from the retreat inspired by the dravidians?
Atman (soul) = human souls take on new physical forms after death
Reincarnation = transmigration of the soul
Upanishads
What is the Upanishads?
body of literature that combined the aryan and dravidians values and indians reflections and dialogues from 800 BC - 400 BC
it reflected basic Hindu concepts
What did the Upanishads teach?
Looks are deceiving = the physical world is a place of change, instability, and illusion
Individual people are not separated but part of one “universal world soul” called the Brahman
what was the Brahman?
the universal world soul, the unchanging foundation of all things that exist and the only genuine reality
soul view (upanishad)
souls - born into the world many times as either humans, animals, or plants
the highest goal of the soul is to escape the cycle of birth and rebirth (Samsara) and enter into the permanent union (Moksha) with the universal world soul (Brahman)
How do you enter the permanent union (Moksha) with Brahman and stop the cycle of reincarnation (Samsara)? (upanishad)
Live according to your Dharma (code of morals prescribed to your caste) and you will have Kama, Artha, Karma (good things happen to you
then you will escape Samsara (cycle) and enter into Moksha!
what was bhagavad gita?
hinduism texts, promised salvation to those who were good people and followed their caste rules
made it easier for the lay class (not religious leaders/authorities)
emphasis on standing up against evildoers
still followed today
what was the beginning of Buddhism (india)?
It was founded by Siddhartha Gautama around 563 BC in Lumbini, Nepal (Himalayans)
What was the story of Siddhartha Gautama?
He was a son of a noble man, raised in a pampered lifestyle, wealthy but one day he encountered an old man, a sick man, a corpse, and a monk. It made him realize that “life’s full of suffering” and became guilty with his wealth and status. He was impressed by the monk bc it seemed that he learned to deal with suffering.
what did Siddhartha Gautama do in 524 BC?
He abandons his wife and children and becomes a monk to help him understand suffering. He committed to intense meditation and extreme asceticism (denying pleasures of the world) which still didn’t enlighten him.
He then resolves to sitting under a large bodhi tree for 49 days and withstood temptations and threats from demons and after that, he recieved enlightment.
result - he became THE Buddha, “the enlightened one”
does buddhism have gods?
Buddhism rejects the ideas of “gods” and doesn’t believe in any of them but still believes in the universal soul (Brahman)
They look up to Gautama as a teacher, but not a god.
what did Siddhartha Gautama do in 528 BC?
he starts sharing his newfound enlightenment to the people with the 4 Noble Truths
What were the 4 Noble Truths (buddhism)?
- Dukkha = all life involves SUFFERING
- Tanha = DESIRE is the cause of all suffering
- Nirodha = ELIMINATION of desire brings end to
suffering (Nirvana) - by following Noble Eightfold Path
what is the Noble Eightfold Path?
it means if you live a balanced life, reject luxury and through meditation, you can be at peace and separate yourself from suffering.
- Right ideas/beliefs
- Right thoughts
- Right speech
- Right action
- Right living
- Right effort
- Right consciousness
- Right meditation
did buddhism follow the caste system?
No, they threw out the caste system and appealed strongly to the members of low caste
What are the two types of Buddhism?
Theravada (the narrower vehicle)
Mahayana (the larger vehicle)
What is Theravada Buddism?
Theravada (the narrower vehicle) = Big in Cambodia, strict version of Buddhism, purest form, monastic life emphasis (you must be a monk)
What is Mahayana Buddhism?
Mahayana (the larger vehicle) = Vietnam, China, Japan and Korea… monastic life is fine, but you don’t have to, there are many buddhas
