Midterm 1 Flashcards
1
Q
Neolithic Revolution
A
- The dawn of civilization
- Agriculture (cultivation of grains)
- Domestic animals
- Population growth
- More permanent, organized societies
- Slavery
- New, larger scale warfare over cities and goods
2
Q
Mesopotamia
A
- Greek for “land between the rivers”
- Rivers are useful for irrigation
- Fertile Crescent
- Bronze Age
- Instability: independent city-states, frequent invasions, Tigris and Euphrates flooded irregularly and at unhelpful times
- Life: loyalty to family replaced by political and religious ties, kings and priests, trade networks began to develop
- Temple: “staircase to holy heaven,” government center
- Development of writing: greater leisure and specialization allowed development, written records for trade and business, Cuneiform, written law codes
- Polytheism: many Gods and Goddesses, no eternal life, interaction with Gods, government was a theocracy (“rule of God”), pessimism
3
Q
Ziggurat
A
• Temples in Mesopotamia
4
Q
Ma’at
A
• Justice, truth, balance, “the state of things”
o Justice: something that can be counted on – part of the nature of things
• Personified as a goddess regulating the stars, seasons, and actions of morals
5
Q
The Nile
A
• Longest river in the world, located in Egypt
6
Q
Hieroglyphs
A
• Sacred writing by scribes, famous in Egypt
7
Q
Assyrians
A
- Skilled armies
- Willingness to engage in constant warfare
- Ruled by terror
8
Q
Polytheism
A
- Many Gods and Goddesses
- Interaction with Gods
- No eternal life
- Government was a theocracy (“rule of God”)
- Pessimism
9
Q
Fertile Crescent
A
• Moist and fertile land in Mesopotamia
10
Q
The Hebrew Bible
A
- Called the Old Testament by Christians
- Three parts: Torah (laws), prophets, writings
- Prophets
- Ethical monotheism
11
Q
Genesis
A
- Meaning “origin” in Greek
- The first book of the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament
- God creates the world and man, but man sins and God destroys the world through the flood
- God calls on Abraham to be the world’s salvation
12
Q
Exodus
A
• Meaning “going out” in Greek
• Second book of the Hebrew Bible
• The children of Israel leave slavery in Egypt through the strength of Yahweh
o Led by Moses
13
Q
The Ten Commandments
A
• Biblical principles relating to ethics and worship
14
Q
YHWH
A
• Yahweh
15
Q
Chosen People
A
- Hebrews
* The Covenant: God would make Jews his chosen people in return for their undivided worship
16
Q
The Babylonian Captivity
A
- 587 BCE, Jerusalem captured by Babylonians and Temple was destroyed
- 538 BCE, Persians allowed return from captivity
17
Q
Minoan
A
- Wealthiest civilization in the Mediterranean
- Places such as Knossos were labyrinths
- May have fallen to invaders
18
Q
Mycenaean
A
• The first Greeks • Settled on mountainous Greek peninsula • “War-mad Greeks” • Trade in the Aegean Sea and Mediterranean • Violence and disruption throughout the region • Society broke down in the Dark Ages o Population decline o Writing was lost o Small isolated villages
19
Q
Arete
A
- “Excellence”
- Key Greek ideal
- Demonstrated through individual competition (agon)
- Stress on one’s own glory (kleos)
- Made them the best (aristos)
20
Q
Agon
A
- Individual competition
- Ultimate agon was war
- Relates to arete
21
Q
Kleos
A
- Stress on one’s own glory
* Relates to arete
22
Q
Aristos
A
- The best
* “Aristocrat”
23
Q
Homer
A
• Author of epic poems
o Iliad
o Odyssey
• Oral tradition
24
Q
Iliad
A
• Written by Homer
• Important themes
o The Gods
o Fate or free will
o The glory and honor of war
o The heroic code
o Leadership
• The Gods
o They do everything that the Divine should not do
o They are often used as comic relief
o They are petty, argumentative and biased
o Unclear if they genuinely care about humans
o Humans often appear more noble than the gods
25
Achilles
• Greatest of the Greek warriors
• Mother was a goddess, father was a man
• His mother tried to make him immortal by dipping him in the river Styx
• Rage of Achilles against Agamemnon
o Agamemnon demands that Achilles hand over Briseis
• The embassy to Achilles
o They beg Achilles to return to war but he refuses
• Achilles and Patroclus
o The death of Patroclus becomes the prime motivation for Achilles to return to battle
26
Athena
* Greek goddess of wisdom and strategy
* Daughter of Zeus
* She leapt from the head of Zeus, already adult, dressed with her armour
* Patron goddess of Athens
* Protectress of civilized life
27
Polis
```
• “City-state” (plural poleis)
• Independent of higher authority
• Geographically separated
• Not quite a city, not quite a state
• Compromised of citizens
o Extended kin groups
o Founded by a single person, such as Theseus
o Restricted citizenship
o Aristocratia (rule by the best)
• 800-400 BCE population grew from 800,000 to 10-13 million
• Hoplite armies (citizen soldiers)
• Conflict between Aristoi (the best) and Demos (the people)
• Examples: Athens and Sparta
```
28
Demos
* The people
| * Advocated democracy
29
Pre-Socratic
* Thales: orderly cosmos accessible to human reason
* Pythagoras: Pythagorean theorem
* Challenge to the Gods
30
Solon
```
• From Athens
• Reforms:
o Outlawed debt slavery for Athenian citizens
o Increased democracy
o All adult male citizens could vote
o Created mass juries
```
31
Persian Wars
```
• 490-479 BCE
o Causes of war:
• Greek cities in Asia Minor rebelled
• Received aid from Athens
• Persians invaded Greece in retaliation
o Battle of Marathon
• 480 BCE
o Second invasion
o Battle of Thermopylae
• Sparta’s famous stand
o Greek naval victory
```
32
Pericles
* “First citizen of Athens”
* Appealed to demos (the people)
* Built the acropolis
* Advocated war with Sparta
33
Peloponnesian War
* War between Athens and Sparta
* Growing power of Athens
* Threat to Sparta
* Socrates fought
34
Aristophanes
• Wrote The Clouds (comedy)
| o About The Trials of Socrates
35
Socrates
```
• Son of a stone mason
• Fought in Peloponnesian War
• Central character in Plato’s dialogues
• The Socratic Method
o A form of inquiry and discussion based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to illuminate ideas
```
36
Plato
```
• Wrote The Apology
o About The Trials of Socrates
• Denial of the reality of the material world
• Theory of Forms
o Ideal Forms
• Ideas possess the highest and most fundamental kind of reality
• The Republic
o Allegory of the Cave
o Philosopher Kings
```
37
Aristotle
```
• Student of Plato
• Differed from Plato
• Grounded in the material world
o Found the universal in particular things
o Observe and study actual entities
• First comprehensive system of Western Philosophy
o Ethics: knowing good and doing good
o Natural history: the study of nature
o Metaphysics: the fundamental nature of being
• Politics
o Ideal state was the polis
o Mixed constitution
o Balance: “the Golden Mean”
```
38
Alexander the Great
```
• Raised to rule
o Student of Aristotle
• King at 20, dead at 32
• Conquered much of the known world
• Legacy:
o Rule over unified rather than conquered people
o Founded cities
o Intercultural marriages
o Resentments
o The Hellenistic world = not Greek but “Greekish”
```
39
Hellenism
```
• Not Greek but “Greekish”
• Armies:
o Huge armies needed to rule
o Largely mercenary armies
o War elephants
o Slavery
• Learning:
o Focus on education
o Efforts to spread Greek ideas
o Intellectual and cultural blending = great achievements and struggles of cultural identity
• Thought – Cosmopolitan philosophy:
o Cynics: rejection of material goods
o Epicureans: seek pleasure, avoid pain
o Stoics: live according to rational order, indifference to external things
• Religion:
o New religions of hope
• “Mystery religions”
• Various cults
• Science:
o Medical advances
o Mathematics and astronomy
• Euclid and geometry
• Hipparchus and trigonometry
• Archimedes: value of pi
• Resistance by Judaism
o Wanted to preserve their identity
o Hellenized Jews
• Hebrew Scriptures translated into Greek
o Maccabean revolt
o Independent Judea
```
