Social Science and History Flashcards
Why was it ideal to live in Mesopotamia (present day Iraq)
Ideal fertile land led to farming, allowed people to stay in one location
Allowed for specialization- people were able to focus on Neolithic
Geography of Mesopotamia effected
Open easy to invade, a lot of different civilizations conceded this area and took each other over
Two other civilizations that lived in Mesopotamia
Persians, babylons
First civilization on earth and their successes
Sumerians
Invented the wheel, first systems of mathematics, earliest writing systems (cuneiform), complex irrigation systems from the Tigris and Euphrates
Sumerian religious views
Polytheistic (many gods)
Who conquered Sumerians and their language
Semites
Spoke Hebrew
Babylons and their characteristics
2000-1500 BCE
Single city state ruled vast empire like a government
Culture recorded by scribes
First legal code
Ziggurat
Center of Babylonia and Sumerian cultural religious center piece in town served as temple, storehouse and meeting place
Phonecians
Dominated Mediterranean
2900 BCE - 600 CE
Made: glass, purple dye (rare expensive symbol of royalty)
Alphabetic development
Four River Valley civilizations (and geographical location)
Mesopotamia (southwest Asia)
Egypt (northeastern Africa)
India (Southern Asia)
China (east Asia)
Mesopotamian developments (5)
Writing (cuneiform)
Organized government
Written law code (Hammurabi’s code)
Systematized religion (Zoroastrianism)
Astronomy; astrology
Egyptian developments (4)
Complex religion of gods, rituals, and governance (pharaoh)
Writing (hieroglyphs)
Engineering and building (pyramids)
Mathematics
Indian developments (4)
Urban culture
Planned cities (ie: citywide sanitation systems)
Metallurgy (gold, copper, bronze, tin)
Measurement (wait, time, length, mass)
Chinese developments (3)
Writing
Commerce
Government
What comprised the ancient Near East (geography)
Tigris and Euphrates valley, the Fertile Crescent, and the Nile Valley
Cultural contributions associated with the ancient Near East (6)
The first system of independent states
The first system of writing (cuneiform and hieroglyphics)
The first massive architectural achievements (ziggurat and pyramids)
The first lasting monotheism
The beginning of science, mathematics, and astronomy
First codification of law
Six achievements of Mesopotamian civilization’s
- Sumerians were the creators of Mesopotamian civilization (3500-3000 BCE)
- Babylonians conquered Sumeria and established a new empire (2300-1750 BCE)
- The Hitties (2000-1200 BCE) conquered much of Asia minor and northern Mesopotamia; a major contribution included the inventing of iron smelting, which revolutionized warfare
- Syrians created an Empire based on military superiority, conquest and terrorism (911-500 BCE)
- The Chaldeans established the New Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzar (605-538 BCE)
- The Persians attempted to unify the Near East under one rule (500s BCE)
Samarian’s creators of Mesopotamian civilization
Achievements
3500-3000 BCE
Material progress included large scale irrigation projects, and advance system of mathematics, and the invention of the wheel
The ziggurat was the center of community life and served as a temple, storehouse and treasury
Sargon established the first empire (c. 2371 BCE)
Babylonian conquered Samaria
Achievements
The code of Hammurabi was the first universal written codification of laws in recorded history (c. 1750 BCE)
Babylonian achievements included a centralized government and advancements in algebra and geometry
Assyrians creation of empire
Achievements
Military techniques included seige warfare, intimidation, and the use of iron weapons
Assyria created a centralized government, the Postal Service, and extensive library, and a system of highways
The Chaldeans established New Babylonia under Nebuchadnezzar
Achievements
They conquered Mesopotamia, Syria and Palestine
They developed astrology, astronomy, advanced government bureaucracy, and architectural achievement such as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Persians attempt to unify near east
Achievements
Persia established international government
Zoroastrianism was an ethical religion based on concepts of good and evil
Persia failed to conquer the Greeks; Persia was eventually conquered by Alexander the Great (334-331 BCE)
Unique contributions of smaller civilizations of Near East (3)
The Phonecians became the first explorers, traders, and colonizers at the age of mild; their civilization reached its peak in 1000 BCE
The Lydia’s occupied Western Asia Minor (500s BCE)
The Israelites established the first long-lasting monotheism
Phonecian contributions (2)
Invented the first true alphabet
Dominated Mediterranean, exported manufacture glass and purple dye (royal purple)
Lydian contributions (2)
Their culture reached it’s under King Croesus (Golden King)
They were responsible for the first coinage of money
Israelite contributions (4)
Saul established the first kingdom in Palestine (c. 1030-1010 BCE)
After the death of Solomon (922 BCE) The Hebrews were divided into two kingdoms (Israel and Judah)
Disunity and conquest resulted in the destruction of Israel (722 BCE) and Judah (584 BCE)
The result of the Israelites from resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem (70 CE) and the Forst dispersal of the Jews from Palestine (Jewish Diaspora 132-135 CE)
Egyptian civilization characteristics (2)
Defensible orders generally spirit Egypt from the repeated political disruptions characteristic of Mesopotamia
Egyptian history can be broadly outlined into specific time periods that reflect the changes taking place in Egypt over a 3000-year period
Important aspects of Egyptian culture (7)
Egyptian life was dominated by concerns for the afterlife, religion, and the pharaoh
Medical advances and specialized surgery were major contributions
The Egyptians invented a hieroglyphic writing system
Commerce flourished throughout Arabia, India, and parts of Africa
Agriculture was the basis of the economy
Monumental architecture reflected remarkable building and engineering feat, as well as mathematical precision
Annual flooding of the Nile was the basis for sustained economy; the Nile had an impact on all Egyptian society
Ancient Greek geography
Islands, mountains and valleys surrounding Aegean Sea
Civilization in Ancient Greece (4)
Minoan
Mycenaean
Hellenic
Hellenistic
Ancient Greek innovations that provide foundational role in western civilization presently (5)
Arts, architecture, lecture, philosophy and government
The Greek world
Years
4000 - 323 BCE
Greek contributions to:
Warfare
Organized warfare: Mycenae; Sparta –phalanx
Greek contributions to: literature
epic poetry (Iliad, odyssey)
plays (drama, tragedy, comedy)
Greek contributions: history
Herodotus (the Persian Wars)
Thucydides (The Peliponnesian War)
Greek contributions to architecture
Columns and Colonades
Parthenon
Greek contributions to art
Theater, sculpture, decorative pottery
Greek contributions to government
Democracy (Athens)
Oligarchy (Sparta)
Bureaucracy (Alexander the Great)
Implications of geography on Greek civilization
Scarcity of good agricultural land encourage seafaring in eastern Greece
The southern Midland, with adequate agricultural resources, relied on farming
Minoan civilization of Crete
C. 4000-1400 BCE
Prosperity based on expensive commerce
Mycenaean civilization
C. 2000-1150 BCE
developed heavily fortified cities and based prosperity on trade and warfare
Dorians conquered what territory and its implications
Peloponnesus (peninsula southern Greece)
Ushered in a “dark age “characterized by violence and instability (c. 1150-800 BCE)
Ionia is the birthplace for what civilization
Hellenic
Greek civilization was dominated by Athens and Sparta
Direct democracy was established in Athens c. 507 BCE
The Age of Pericles (460-429 BCE) represented the zenith of Athenian society and the height of its democracy
Athens became a world commercial center and cosmopolitan city
Sparta develop a totalitarian and militaristic state dependent on slave labor to sustain its agricultural system
After defeating the Persians, conflict between Athens and Sparta dominated Greek politics
The Peloponnesian war and its historical implications
431-404 BCE
Devastated both Sparta and Athens (and their Greek city-state allies)
Sparta was victorious but on able to unite the Greek city-states
Greek individualism was a catalyst in the collapse of the Greek city-state alliances
Alexander the Great’s info and accomplishments
356-323 BCE, Macedonia
Established the Hellenic age (The fusion of Greek culture with the East)
Conquered Persia, Asia minor, and Egypt and established a world empire
Bureaucracy replaced the polis (city-state) as the form of government
Contributions to the Greek world (3)
Greeks founded most of the major philosophical schools, establish the systematic basis for the scientific method, and perfected advances and shipbuilding and commerce
Greek civilization establish democracy and a system of law to improve society
And architecture, sculpture, art, literature, and the performing arts, the Greeks were dominant
The Latin tribe rose to a great Republic on the Italian peninsula, and then
A great Mediterranean empire
Roman empire extended to
Western Europe, the near east, and North Africa
Roman contributions to law
Rule of law/equality before the law
Civil and contract law codes
Roman contribution to engineering and architecture
Concrete, art, Roman roads, aqueducts and cisterns, monumental buildings
Roman contributions to culture
History
Literature: Virgil (Aeneid) Ovid (Metamorphoses)
Rhetoric
Byzantine civilization accomplishments (5)
Greek language and cultural accomplishments preserved
Center for world trade and exchange of culture
Codification of Roman law (“Justinian code”)
Eastern church (Greek orthodox) converted Slavic people to Christianity
New focus on art; glorification of Christianity
Byzantine Empire success (4)
Economic prosperity by dominating commercial trade routes controlled by Constantinople and monopoly of silk trade
Used diplomacy to avoid invasions and were geographically distant from tribes who sacked Rome
Codification of Roman law by Justinian (CE 528-565) strengthened the bureaucracy
Constantinople was a fortress city with excellent defensible borders
Reasons for decline of Byzantine Empire (5)
Geographic proximity to other growing groups (Arabs, Slavs, Turks)
Loss of commercial dominance over the Italians
Religious controversy with the west and a subsequent split of the Roman Catholic Church
The sack of Constantinople during the fourth Crusade
The fall of Constantinople marking the end of the empire (CE 1453)
Byzantine achievements (4)
Preserve the heritage of Greco-Roman civilization while West was culturally stagnant
Spread civilization to all of Eastern Europe
Preserve the Eastern Orthodox Church
Economic strength based on stability of its money economy
Islamic empire included
Mesopotamia, Persia, all of north Africa and southwestern Asia
Muslim contributions to institutions
4
Hospitals, medical schools, libraries, universities
Muslim contributions to globalization
3
Exploration
Work of scholars
Trade (Atlantic, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, china sea)
Muslim contributions to agriculture
3
Cash crops, crop rotation, irrigation
Muslim contributions to science
3
Methodology; theory and experimentation
Astrolabe
Alchemy
Muscle contribution to mathematics 4
Algebra, algorithms, Arabic numerals, decimal point
Muslim contributions to arts
4
Calligraphy, illuminated manuscript, glazed pottery, Persian and Arabian mythology
Muslim Contributions to medicine
4
Foreceps, bone saw, scalpel, surgical needle
Muslim contributions to technology
4
Mechanical clocks, pointed arch, stained glass, windmill
