GWA Middle East Vocab.

Question 1

Oasis

Answer 1

Fertile desert area that has enough water to support plant and animal life

Question 2

Ziggurat

Answer 2

Huge, many-tiered temple; the center of life in Sumer, and early Middle Eastern civilization; A place of worship

Question 3

Scribe

Answer 3

Someone who writes copies of manuscripts and documents

Question 4

Cuneiform

Answer 4

Term used to describe the wedge shaped writing of the ancient Sumerians

Question 5

Satrap

Answer 5

Governor of a province in ancient Persia

Question 6

Messiah

Answer 6

Expected savior chosen by God to deliver the Jews from foreign rule and restore the kingdom of Israel

Question 7

Parable

Answer 7

Short story with a simple moral lesson

Question 8

Martyr

Answer 8

Someone who suffers or dies for his or her beliefs

Question 9

Pope

Answer 9

Head of the Roman Catholic Church

Question 10

Hejira

Answer 10

Migration of Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina in A.D. 622

Question 11

Hajj

Answer 11

Pilgrimage to Mecca that all Muslims who are able are expected to make once in their lifetime

Question 12

Caliph

Answer 12

Secular and religious head of a Muslim state, successor to the prophet Muhammad

Question 13

Crusade

Answer 13

Military expeditions undertaken by European Christians, beginning in the 1000’s, to recover Palestine from the Muslims

Question 14

Millet

Answer 14

Non-Muslim community in the Ottoman Empire that owed loyalty to the Ottoman sultan but was ruled by its own religious leader

Question 15

Shah

Answer 15

A title of the former monarch of Iran

Question 16

Mandate

Answer 16

Territory administered but not owned by a member of the League of Nations

Question 17

Anti-Semitism

Answer 17

Hatred or fear of Jews

Question 18

Desalination

Answer 18

Converting sea water into fresh water for drinking irrigation

Question 19

Theocracy

Answer 19

Nation ruled by religious leaders

Question 20

Refugee

Answer 20

Person who flees his or her homeland to seek safety somewhere else

Question 21

Reprisal

Answer 21

Form of government in which the people choose their leaders who represent them

Question 22

Intifada

Answer 22

Mass uprising by Palestinians in territory held by Israel