The Earth and its Peoples Chapter 4: Greece and Iran (1000-30 B.C.E.)

Question 1

Cyrus

Answer 1

• Founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire between 550 and 530 B.C.E.
• He conquered Media, Lydia, and Babylon.
• Revered in the traditions of both Iran and the subject peoples.

Question 2

Darius I

Answer 2

• Third ruler of the Persian Empire (r. 521 - 486 BCE).
• He crushed the wide-spread initial resistance to his rule and gave all major government posts to Persians rather than Medes.
• He established a system of provinces and tribute, began construction of Persepolis, and expanded Persian control in the east (Pakistan) and west (Northern Greece)

Question 3

Satrap

Answer 3

The governor of a province in the Achaemenid Persian Empire, often a relative of the king.

Question 4

Persepolis

Answer 4

• A complex of palaces, reception halls, and treasury buildings erected by the Persian kings
• Darius I and Xerxes in the Persian homeland.

Question 5

Zoroastrianism

Answer 5

• A religion originating in ancient Iran that became the official religion of the Acharmenids.
• It centered on a single benevolent deity, Ahurmazda, who engaged in a struggle with demonic forces before prevailing and restoring a pristine world.
• It emphasized truth-telling, purity, and reverence for nature.

Question 6

Polis

Answer 6

The Greek term for a city-state, an urban center and the agricultural territory under its control.

Question 7

Hoplite

Answer 7

A heavily armored Greek infantryman of the Archaic and Classical periods who fought in the close-packed phalanx formation.

Question 8

Tyrant

Answer 8

• The term the Greeks used to describe someone who seized and held power in violation of the normal procedures and traditions of the community.
• Tyrants appeared in many Greek city-states in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.E., often talking advantage of the disaffection of the emerging middle class and, by weakening the old elite, unwittingly contributing to the evolution of democracy.

Question 9

Democracy

Answer 9

A system of government in which “citizens” (however defined) have equal political and legal right, privileges, and protections, as in the Greek city-state of Athens in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.E.

Question 10

Sacrifice

Answer 10

A gift given to a deity, often with the aim of creating a relationship, gaining favor, and obligating the god to provide some benefit to the sacrificer, sometimes in order to sustain the deity and thereby guarantee the continuing vitality of the natural world.

Question 11

Herodotus

Answer 11

• Heir to the technique of historia (‘“investigation/research”) developed by Greeks in the late Archaic period.
• He came from a Greek community in Anatolia and traveled extensively, collecting information in western Asia and the Mediterranean lands.
• He traced the antecedents and chronicled the wars between the Greek city-states and the Persian Empire, thus originating the Western tradition of historical writing.

Question 12

Pericles

Answer 12

• Aristocratic leader who guided the Athenian state through the transformation to full participatory democracy for all male citizens, supervised construction of the Acropolis, and pursued a policy of imperial expansion that led to the Peloponnesian War.
• He formulated a strategy of attrition but died from the plague early in the war.

Question 13

Persian Wars

Answer 13

Conflicts between Greek city-states and the Persian Empire

Question 14

Trireme

Answer 14

• Greek and Phoenician warship of the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.E.
• `It was sleek and light, powered by 170 oars arranged in three vertical tiers. Manned by skilled sailors, it was capable of short bursts of speed and complex maneuvers.

Question 15

Socrates

Answer 15

Athenian philosopher (ca. 470-399 B.C.E.) who shifted the emphasis of philosophical investigation from questions of natural science to ethics and human behavior.

Question 16

Peloponnesian War

Answer 16

• A war (431-404 B.C.E.) between the Athenian and Spartan alliance systems that convulsed most of the Greek world.
• The war was largely a consequence of Athenian imperialism.
• Possession of a naval empire allowed Athens to fight a war of attrition.
• Ultimately, Sparta prevailed because of Athenian errors and Persian financial support.

Question 17

Alexander

Answer 17

• King of Macedonia in northern Greece.
• Between 334 and 323 B.C.E. he conquered the Persian Empire, reached the Indus Valley, founded many Greek-style cities, and spread Greek culture across the Middle East.

Question 18

Hellenistic Age

Answer 18

-Term for the era, usually dated 323-30 B.C.E., in which Greek culture spread across western Asia and northeastern Africa after the conquests of Alexander the Great. The period ended with the fall of the last major Hellenistic kingdom to Rome, but Greek cultural influence persisted until the spread of Islam in the seventh century C.E.

Question 19

Ptolemies

Answer 19

The Macedonian dynasty, descended from one of Alexander the Great’s officers, that ruled Egypt for three centuries (323-30 B.C.E.).

Question 20

Alexandria

Answer 20

• City on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt founded by Alexander.
• It became the capital of the Hellenistic kingdom of the Ptolemies. Its merchants engaged in trade with areas bordering the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean