Quiz 1 Flashcards

0
Q

Urbanization

A

Growth of cities, beginning (in Mesopotamia) around 4000 BC with the Sumerians. Began the rise of what we now call civilization.

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1
Q

Neolithic

A

An East Asian civ. in the middle region of the Yellow River Valley. Approx. 5000-3000 BC, before the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties. Ruins of the Banpo Village tell us about this civ., and because of this we know that civilization itself begins to rise ca. 3000.

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2
Q

Sumer

A

Dominant people in Mesopotamia until Semitic peoples from the north came in about 2300 BC. Had city-states and, by 5000 BC, complex irrigation systems that show them to be relatively well-advanced.

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3
Q

Ziggurat

A

Stepped pyramids built by the Sumerians (and other peoples). Built and used as temples to the gods (in contrast to the pyramid tombs of Egypt), showing how much time, money, and effort these societies put into their religious practices.

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4
Q

Mesopotamia

A

Region near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Very fertile (called the “Fertile Crescent”) and thus a high-traffic area. Often invaded and at war due to the value of the land, and thus home to many unstable societies.

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5
Q

Cuneiform

A

Wedge-shaped way of writing (not a language) used by accountants to keep debt records until they were settled. First written items were written in cuneiform, and therefore these texts are our main sources of knowledge about these ancient civilizations.

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6
Q

Hammurabi

A

Babylonian king (1792-1750 BC) who improved legislation and used local governors to maintain control. Wrote a law code so that crimes could be dealt with on the spot rather than going through him each time. Variations of this law code were used by others, changing the established method of law-giving.

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7
Q

Henotheism

A

Having one god ahead of all others. Unlike monotheism, which is having only one god. Hebrews were henotheistic, worshipping their God first but also other gods from societies around them, until they became monotheistic.

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8
Q

Indus

A

The Indus River, located in the Indus Valley, is the source of the name “India.” It was also the site of many early south Asian societies, such as Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. The frequently-flooding river most likely shaped their way of life to some extent.

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9
Q

Harappa

A

Early south Asian society ca. 2000 BC. Placed much emphasis on fertility. Disappeared, leaving unburied dead and no explanation. The society had great influence on later Indian culture in the areas of religion and technology.

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10
Q

Rig Veda

A

Rig Veda is a collection of Indian hymns giving the origins of the world. Written in the Aryan society ca. 1700 BC. Gives us insight into the culture at the time.

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11
Q

Upanishads

A

Written ca. 500-200 BC. Texts that represent blending of Aryan and Dravidian traditions. Shows us that the society valued truth and religious knowledge, and also that the caste system was part of their religion and there fore permanent in their eyes.

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12
Q

Afterlife vs. Reincarnation

A

Afterlife, such as thought of by the Egyptians, deals with the life after this one and assumes that you, or your soul, move on after you die. Reincarnation, such as the Hindu idea, is when you are born again after your death. This is a cycle that continues until you are the best you can possibly be, and then you die and no longer exist. Both ideas shed light on the societies that believe them, and on what they value.

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13
Q

Ikhnaton

A

Egyptian pharaoh (also called Akhenaten) who imposed monotheism on Egypt. He held that he was the son of Aten, the god he worshipped, and therefore had the sole right to rule. Though his plan worked for a while, it was covered up after his murder and not rediscovered until the 20th century.

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14
Q

Cosmic Man

A

The Cosmic Man (in the Rig Veda text) was a man that the gods bound and cut up to create the world. Certain parts of him became different classes of people, and this shows that the caste system was embedded in the society’s beliefs.

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15
Q

Filial Piety

A

A concept in early East Asian society that said one should have the utmost loyalty to and respect for one’s family and then take those same concepts and extend them to all others. The idea served as the society’s only law and played a large role in Confucianism.

16
Q

Fertility Cults

A

Cults in the Harappan society (ca. 2000 BC) that placed great emphasis on fertility and worshipped fertility gods and goddesses. It is possible that some of these fertility gods were adopted into Hinduism, and likely that Hinduism’s concern for fertility came from the Harappan society and its cults.

17
Q

Aryans

A

Aryans followed the Harappan society. Early Aryans wrote the Veda texts, giving us insight into their culture. Sacrifice remained important in their religion until it began to decline ca. 800 BC, and mysticism became much more prominent.

18
Q

Caste System

A

A system of hereditary social status that ruled the lives of the Aryans. At the top were the religious Brahmin, then the warrior class, then the merchants, then the low-class workers, and finally the Untouchables. The caste system had to do with keeping the status quo and reincarnation.

19
Q

Varna

A

A Sanskrit word meaning “color.” Used by the Aryans to refer to the caste system. Often, those with lighter skin were in the higher classes, and those with darker skin in the lower classes, possibly due to Aryan and Dravidian intermarriage.

20
Q

Hapi

A

The Egyptian god of the Nile, featured in the “Hymn to the Nile.” Ruled the annual flooding of the Nile River. It was extremely important to the Egyptians to keep Hapi pleased, since their agriculture relied greatly on the floods.

21
Q

Aten

A

An Egyptian god “like the sun” (not Ra, the sun god) who is worshipped monotheistically during the reign of Ikhnaton, ca. 1353-1335. Though this didn’t last long, it demonstrated the power of the pharaoh - or at least the power he attempted to have.

22
Q

Amarna

A

The new capital city Pharaoh Ikhnaton of Egypt built to honor the god Aten. Also called Akhetaten.

23
Q

Ma’at

A

Ma’at was the concept of order in Egyptian society. Egypt’s “golden rule” was to not upset Ma’at - in other words, to keep the gods happy and not overturn the normal everyday life of the society. From this we can easily infer that the status quo was something highly valued in Egyptian life.

24
Q

Indra

A

The war god in Aryan religion and a major deity in the Rig Veda text, possibly revealing that the Aryan society thought of war and warriors as great things. The worship of Indra May have something to do with the ritual sacrifices in the religion, though by ca. 800 BC sacrifice had become much less important.