Midterm 1 Content Flashcards
Pompey 63 BCE
Pompey incorporates Palestine and rest of near east (North Africa, middle east) into Roman Empire
Nero
First Roman emperor who persecuted Christians
-responsible for death of Paul
Edict of Milan 313 AD
Issue by Roman emperor Constantine
-recognized Christianity as official religion of Roman empire and officially put end to Christian persecution
330 A.D
Constantine establishes Constantinople on eastern side of Roman empire
Constantinople
Istanbul
Byzantine empire
- controlled much of near east-(Asia minor + North Africa)
- controlled Italy, Greece, and Balkans
- Constantinople was capital of empire
- Christian empire
- Spoke Greek
570 A.D
Prophet Muhammad was born
-Byzantine and Sassanids were two empires in power during this time
Sassanid empire
-religion, extend to rule, language
ancient Persian dynasty
- ruled in the Eastern part of Near East (as far as Afghanistan and Pakistan)
- founded in 226 A.D
- capital was Ctesiphon, 20 miles from current day Baghdad
- state religion: Zoroastrianism
- spoke early form of Persian language
- fought with Byzantine empire for years
Jahiliyya, adj. Jahili
what historians call the period before Islam appeared
- Age of Ignorance (principles of Islam were not yet known
- in Qur’an: known as polytheists
Arabia Felix
- today’s Yemen
- first sedentary civilization
- has own culture and distinct form of Arabic
- wealth came from agriculture
- developed irrigation systems
- frankincense grew here
Arabia Deserta
- home to hundred of nomadic Bedouin tribes (camel raising nomads of Arabia Peninsula)
- polytheists or henotheistic
nomadism
way of carving out ecological niche in harsh environment
Henotheist
recognized a higher God over other Gods
-not to be confused with monotheists
Zamzam
well in Mecca fed by an underground spring
Mecca
center of trade, how it made its money
-center of pilgrimage
avesta
book of the law
Gathas
songs or hymns composed by Zoroaster
Ahura Mazada
good guy, supreme God, creator of the universe
-fought against Ahriman
Ahriman
devil, satan, bad guy
Quazi
defined spirits, means underneath the gods
Good spirits
fall under Ahura Mazada
Dualism
dual battle between the good spirits and bad spirits
Parsis
Zoroastrians in India, ancient word for Iran
Abraham
first of three patriarchs, foundational figure plays role in Islam, Christianity, and Judaism
-born in Ur, moves to Harran (here he hears God speak to him in his dream)
Henotheist
ranking one God above the other gods
Three patriarchs
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
-jacob gets name changed to Israel
the conquest
Israel wins over Canaanites
