Midterm Flashcards
civilization
Ways of life especially connected with life in urban societies.
hierarchy
The system of ranking people in society according to their status and authority.
hunter-gatherers
Human beings who roam to hunt and gather food in the wild and do not live in permanent, settled communities.
city-state.
An urban center exercising political and economic control over the surrounding countryside.
Patriarchy
Dominance by men in society and politics.
redistributive economy.
A system in which state officials control the production and distribution of goods.
polytheism,
The belief in and worship of multiple gods.
cuneiform
The earliest form of writing, invented in Mesopotamia and done with wedge-shaped characters.
Empire
A political state in which one or more formerly independent territories or peoples are ruled by a single sovereign power.
Hammurabi
King of Babylonia in the eighteenth century b.c.e., famous for his law code.
hieroglyphic
The ancient Egyptian pictographic writing system for official texts.
Maat
The Egyptian goddess embodying truth, justice, and cosmic order. (The word maat means “what is right.”)
wisdom literature
Texts giving instructions for appropriate behavior.
palace society
Minoan and Mycenaean social and political organization centered on multichambered buildings housing the rulers and the administration of the state.
Mediterranean polyculture
The cultivation of olives, grapes, and grains in a single, interrelated agricultural system.
Linear B
The Mycenaeans’ pictographic script for writing Greek.
Sea Peoples
The diverse groups of raiders who devastated the eastern Mediterranean region in the period of violence 1200–1000 b.c.e.
Cyrus
Founder of the Persian Empire in 557 b.c.e.
moral dualism
The belief that the world is the arena for an ongoing battle for control between the divine forces of good and evil.
Torah
The first five books of the Hebrew Bible, also referred to as the Pentateuch. It contains early Jewish law.
Diaspora
The dispersal of the Jewish population from their homeland.
Spangler
Wrote about the world in 1911, establishing the Faustian cycle and the decline of the west.
Herodotus
The “Father of History” that wrote down and documented events, and gave credit to opposing factions.
Thucydides
Continued the works of Herodotus, and wrote extensively about the Peloponnesian War. Used systematic observation for history much like Hippocrates
Anaximander
Greek philosopher who suggested that humans evolved from fish that had moved onto land. Speculated on the earth, and astronomy.
Pythagoras
Greek philosopher and mathematician who believed that numbers dictated the universe.
Socrates
Athenian philosopher that contemplated the ideal vs material world. Taught people critical thinking and challenged the fundamentals of society.
Mesopotamia
Early human civilization that formed between the Tigris and Euphrates, housing the first urban centres.
Plato
Student of Socrates that did not reject the material world, but separated the terrestrial from the celestial. Wrote of a utopia to criticize the world, and founded The Academy.
Aristotle
Rejected ideas of the ideal world, focusing on the material. Divided the world into four elements, and sought to explain the world without divine intervention. Heavy influenced later Western philosophers.
Epicures
Greek philosopher that believed in the theory of atoms; that when you died, your atoms were simply scattered.
Latium
A plain on the west coast of Italy on which the city of Rome was built. Conquered by Rome because of its rich fertile land.
Punic Wars
A series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage, resulting in the sacking and destruction of Carthage.
Latifundia
Large estates brought up by wealthy Romans.
Gaius Marius
Roman consul, he was a popular general who encouraged the unemployed poor to join the Roman army. Introduced sweeping reforms to the Roman military.
Hasidim
Members of a mystical Jewish movement that emerged in eastern Europe in the eighteenth century which focuses on the love of and a personal relationship with God.
Zealots
People who banded together during the time of Christ to violently resist Roman occupation.
Jesus
A Jew from Galilee in northern Israel who sought to reform Jewish beliefs and practices. He was executed as a revolutionary by the Romans. He is the basis of the world’s largest religion.
Paul the Apostle
A Roman who had been sent to persecute the Christians, but had a revelation and was converted. He then helped spread Christianity through writing epistles, and wrote down Jesus’ teachings.
The Eucharist
A Christian sacrament commemorating the Last Supper by consecrating bread and wine.
Bishops
Local church leaders within the Roman Catholic Church.
Christian Canon
list of books considered holy and authoritative in the life of the church.
Gnostics
Denied Jesus’ humanity because they believed that the body is evil.
Donatists
Heretical group who claimed that only “saints” can belong to the Church.
Mecca
City in western Arabia. Birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, and ritual center of the Islamic religion.
Medina
City in western Arabia to which the Prophet Muhammad and his followers emigrated in 622 to escape persecution in Mecca.
Muhammad Ibn Abdullah
The Prophet of Islam (570-632 CE)
Umma
The community of all Muslims. A major innovation against the background of seventh-century Arabia, where traditionally kinship rather than faith had determined membership in a community.
Five Pillars of Islam
Declaration of faith, prayer, alms, fasting, and pilgrimage.
Jihad
A holy struggle or striving by a Muslim for a moral or spiritual or political goal. Sometimes referred to as the sixth pillar of Islam.
Sharia
Body of Islamic law that includes interpretation of the Quran and applies Islamic principles to everyday life.
Feudalism
A political system in which nobles are granted the use of lands that legally belong to their king, in exchange for their loyalty, military service, and protection of the people who live on the land.
Manorialism
An economic system based on the manor and lands including a village and surrounding acreage which were administered by a lord. It developed during the Middle Ages to increase agricultural production.
Feudal Compact
An arrangement between a lord and his vassal involving the exchange of property for personal service.
Renaissance
A period of intense artistic and intellectual activity, said to be a ‘rebirth’ of Greco-Roman culture. Usually divided into an Italian Renaissance, from roughly the mid-fourteenth to mid-fifteenth century, and a Northern Renaissance 1400-1600.
Humanism
A Renaissance intellectual movement in which thinkers studied classical texts and focused on human potential and achievements
Protestant
A member of a Christian church founded on the principles of the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
Martin Luther
95 Thesis, posted in 1517, led to religious reform in Germany, denied papal power and absolutist rule. Claimed there were only 2 sacraments: baptism and communion.
Patron Client System
Relations in which “Patron” gains support of “Client” through mutual exchange of benefits and obligations.
Sulla
Powerful commander – earned his men’s loyalty; general who used his army for his political advantage – started a civil war in Rome; killed his enemies; reduced power of tribunes, more power to patricians.
Julius Caesar
100-44 B.C. Roman general who became the republic’s dictator in 45 B.C. Started the transition of the republic to empire.
Augustus
Roman statesman who established the Roman Empire and became emperor in 27 BC.
Diocletian
Roman emperor who divided the empire into a West and an East section
Great Schism
A conflict between popes Clement VII and Urban VI
Visigoths
A member of the western Goths that invaded the Roman Empire in the fourth century A.D. and settled in France and Spain, establishing a monarchy that lasted until the early eighth century.
Carolingian Dynasty
A Frankish dynasty founded by Charlemagne’s father that ruled from 751 to 987.
Charlemagne
King of the Franks (r. 768-814); emperor (r. 800-814). Through a series of military conquests he established the Carolingian Empire, which encompassed all of Gaul and parts of Germany and Italy. Illiterate, though started an intellectual revival.
Justinian I
Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565; he reunited the parts of the Roman empire, simplified Roman laws with Justinian’s Code, and ordered Hagia Sophia built.
Hajj
A pilgrimage to Mecca, performed as a duty by Muslims.
Caliph
A supreme political and religious leader in a Muslim government.
Dynatoi
The “powerful men” who dominated the countryside of the Byzantine Empire in the tenth and eleventh centuries, and to some degree challenged the authority of the emperor.
Commercial Revolution
A dramatic change in the economy of Europe at the end of the Middle Ages. It is characterized by an increase in towns and trade, the use of banks and credit, and the establishment of guilds to regulate quality and price.
Investiture Conflict
The confrontation between Pope Gregory VII and Emperor Henry IV that began in 1075 over the appointment of prelates in some Italian cities and grew into a dispute over the nature of church leadership. It ended in 1122 with the Concordat of Worms.
Franciscans
A religious order founded by St. Francis and based on simplicity and poverty.
Crusades
A series of holy wars from 1096-1270 AD undertaken by European Christians to free the Holy Land from Muslim rule.
Seljuk Turks
Nomadic invaders from central Asia via Persia; staunch Sunnis; ruled in name of Abbasid caliphs from mid-11th century.
Scholasticism
A philosophical and theological system, associated with Thomas Aquinas, devised to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy and Roman Catholic theology in the thirteenth century.
Peter Abelard
(1079-1142) Author of Yes and No; university scholar who applied logic to problems of theology; demonstrated logical contradictions within established doctrine.
Magna Carta
The royal charter of political rights given to rebellious English barons by King John in 1215. Gave the English barons more power and established rights to all free men and women.
Frederick Barbarossa
Holy Roman Emperor that defined the German princes’ loyalty to him, making his power concrete. Ultimately, because his officials in Italy were German, the Italians formed the Lombards and drove him out to Italy. He continued to rely on vassalage while Europe was moving to state ownership.
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Queen of France and England, she was one of the most powerful women in Europe in the Middle Ages.
Albigensians
Heretics who saw all material things as evil, spurred the Inquisition.
Fourth Crusade
A Crusade from 1202 to 1204 that was diverted into a battle for Constantinople and failed to recapture Jerusalem causing damage to Byzantine Empire. The Venetians profited greatly.
Spanish Inquisition
An organization of priests in Spain that looked for and punished anyone suspected of secretly practicing their old religion instead of Roman
Innocent III
Pope who led the Church at the height of its power in the Middle Ages. Formed the Fourth Lateran Council
St. Thomas Aquinas
Dominican and church’s greatest theologian, formed Catholics understanding of natural law. Most famous scholastic.
Great Schism
The seperation of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church (1054 CE). Caused because of a conflict between Pope Clement VII and Urban VI.
Babylonian Captivity
The temporary relocation of the papacy from Rome to Avignon. Caused by the weakening of the papacy during the conflict between Pope Boniface VIII and King Philip IV. Highly controversial and a source of many conflicts.
Signori
Lords of Italian cities. As the Italian communes of the 13th century became increasingly fractiious, regional nobles saw this friction as politically advantageous and offered to become the lords of the cities. Their accession to power was often accomplished peacefully, as most communes were willing to accept repression for a lasting peace.
Great Famine
A terrible famine in 1315-1322 that hit much of Europe after a period of climate change. Led to heavy persecution of Jews.
Black Death
A deadly plague that swept through Europe between 1347 and 1351.
Hundred Years War
Joan of Arc
French heroine and military leader inspired by religious visions to organize French resistance to the English and to have Charles VII crowned king.
Jacquerie
A massive uprising by French peasants in 1358 protesting heavy taxation. The peasants claimed Paris for a short time.
Ottoman Empire
A Muslim empire based in Turkey that lasted from the 1300’s to 1922.
Cardinals
Catholic officials ranking next below the pope.
Council of Constance
The council in 1414-1418 that succeeded in ending the Great Schism in the Roman Catholic Church.
Christopher Columbus
Italian navigator who discovered the New World in the service of Spain while looking for a route to China (1451-1506).
Hernan Cortes
Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztecs and conquered Mexico (1485-1547).
Colombian Exchange
The trading of various animals, diseases, and crops
John Calvin
1509-1564. French theologian. Developed the Christian theology known as Calvinism. Attracted Protestant followers with his teachings.
Anabaptists
A Protestant sect that believed only adults could make a free choice regarding religion; they also advocated pacifism, separation of church and state, and democratic church organization.
Catholic Renewal
The counter-reformation the church went through in light of the Renaissance. They prohibited certain books and spread their message even more powerfully.
Dynastic Wars
Led by chivalrous aristocratic officers, which inflict fewer civilian casualties that 17th century wars of religion.
Suleiman the Magnificent
The most illustrious sultan of the Ottoman Empire (r. 1520-1566); also known as ‘The Lawgiver.’ He significantly expanded the empire in the Balkans and eastern Mediterranean.
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the mother church of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Charles V
Holy Roman Emperor and Carlos I of Spain, tried to keep Europe religiously united, inherited Spain, the Netherlands, Southern Italy, Austria, and much of the Holy Roman Emperor from his grandparents, he sought to stop Protestantism and increase the power of Catholicism. He allied with the pope to stamp out heresy and maintain religous unity in Europe. He was preocuppied with struggles with Turkey and France and could not soley focus on the rise of Protestantism in Germany.
Huguenots
French Protestants influenced by John Calvin.
Dutch Revolt
(1566-79) Caused for religious reasons; Protestant Region in Northern Spanish Netherlands/Dutch Republic; they revolted against Spanish authority for political and religious independence from Spain.
Thirty Years War
(1618-1648 CE) War within the Holy Roman Empire between German Protestants and their allies (Sweden, Denmark, France) and the emperor and his ally, Spain; ended in 1648 after great destruction with Treaty of Westphalia.
Puritans
Protestant sect in England hoping to “purify” the Anglican church of Roman Catholic traces in practice and organization.
Peace of Westphalia
The. peace treaty that ended the Thirty Years’ War in 1648. Changed the landscape of Europe, establishing the interest of a state over that of religion.
Secularization
The process through which religion’s influence on other social institutions diminishes. Favoured the rise of the scientific method.
Spanish Fury
The greatest atrocity of the war between Spain and the Netherlands. Spanish mercenaries ran amok in Antwerp, leaving 7,000 people dead.
Concordat of Worms
A compromise between the king and the Pope that started that the church alone could grant a bishop his ring and staff (church power) but his power could be vetoed by the king.
Dante Alighieri
Italian poet who wrote the Divine Comedy. One of the first poets to incorporate a deeper meaning in his works.
