Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Western Civ. > Midterm 1 > Flashcards

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
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
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
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Ziggurat

A

• Temples in Mesopotamia

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
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

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

The Nile

A

• Longest river in the world, located in Egypt

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Hieroglyphs

A

• Sacred writing by scribes, famous in Egypt

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Assyrians

A
  • Skilled armies
  • Willingness to engage in constant warfare
  • Ruled by terror
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Polytheism

A
  • Many Gods and Goddesses
  • Interaction with Gods
  • No eternal life
  • Government was a theocracy (“rule of God”)
  • Pessimism
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Fertile Crescent

A

• Moist and fertile land in Mesopotamia

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

The Hebrew Bible

A
  • Called the Old Testament by Christians
  • Three parts: Torah (laws), prophets, writings
  • Prophets
  • Ethical monotheism
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
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
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
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

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

The Ten Commandments

A

• Biblical principles relating to ethics and worship

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

YHWH

A

• Yahweh

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Chosen People

A
  • Hebrews

* The Covenant: God would make Jews his chosen people in return for their undivided worship

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
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
Q

Achilles

A

• 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
Q

Athena

A
  • 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
Q

Polis

A 
•	“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
Q

Demos

A
  • The people

* Advocated democracy

29
Q

Pre-Socratic

A
  • Thales: orderly cosmos accessible to human reason
  • Pythagoras: Pythagorean theorem
  • Challenge to the Gods
30
Q

Solon

A 
•	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
Q

Persian Wars

A 
•	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
Q

Pericles

A
  • “First citizen of Athens”
  • Appealed to demos (the people)
  • Built the acropolis
  • Advocated war with Sparta
33
Q

Peloponnesian War

A
  • War between Athens and Sparta
  • Growing power of Athens
  • Threat to Sparta
  • Socrates fought
34
Q

Aristophanes

A

• Wrote The Clouds (comedy)

o About The Trials of Socrates

35
Q

Socrates

A 
•	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
Q

Plato

A 
•	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
Q

Aristotle

A 
•	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
Q

Alexander the Great

A 
•	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
Q

Hellenism

A 
•	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

Western Civ. (1 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions