Vocabulary c. 8,000BCE - 600CE Flashcards by Will Miller

“Wisdom,” early collections of prayers and hymns that provide information about the Indo-European Aryans who migrated to India around 1500BCE

Vedas

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A government ruled by God or by church leaders

Theocracy

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A class of persons holding exceptional rank and privileges, especially the hereditary nobility

Aristocracy

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A craftsman

Artisan

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A cultural group with advanced cities, complex institutions, skilled workers, advanced technology, and a system of recordkeeping

Civilization

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A document that made Christianity one of the religions allowed in the Roman Empire

Edict of Milan

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A Greek city-state

Polis

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A group of semi-nomadic people who, around 2000BCE began to migrate from central Asia to India, Europe, and the Middle East

Indo-Europeans

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A member of the social class of priests in Aryan society

Brahmin

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A Mesoamerica legend of a god who would someday return to rule his people in peace

Quetzalcoatl

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A nomadic group believed to be from Central Asia, who invaded Europe near the end of Rome

Huns

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A political system in which the people rule

Democracy

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A seasonal wind

Monsoon

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A series of rulers from the same family

Dynasty

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A system of picture writing used in Egypt

Hieroglyphics

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A system of writing originating in Mesopotamia in which a wedge-shaped stylus was used to press symbols into clay

Cuneiform

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A term for hunting and gathering

Foraging

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Agreement; in the Judeo-Christian heritage, an agreement between God and humankind

Covenant

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An agricultural method in which farmers clear fields by cutting and burning trees, then use the ashes as fertilizer

Slash-and-burn cultivation

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An Egyptian monarch

Pharaoh

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An object made by human hands

Artifact

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Animal bones or shells used by the Chinese priests to receive messages from the gods

Oracle Bones

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Buddhist holy men who accumulated spiritual merits during their lifetime; Buddhists prayed to them in order to receive some of their holiness.

Bodhisattvas

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Caravan routes and sea lanes between China and the Middle East

Silk Roads

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Collection of teachings and sayings made by Confucius

Analects

The complicated system of subcastes in the Hindu caste system

Jati

Dry grassland

Steppe

During the Hellenistic age, religions that promised their faithful followers eternity a state of bliss

Mystery religion

God of the monotheistic religion of Judaism that influenced later religions of Christianity and Islam

Yahweh

Greek philosopher who rejected the theory of forms and ideas, he believed that people could depend on their senses and reason to answer the mysteries of the world

Aristotle

In ancient Chinese belief, the opposing forces that bring balance to nature and life

Yin & Yang

In Buddhism, a state of perfect peace that is the goal of reincarnation

Nirvana

In China, respect for one's parents and other elders

Filial piety

In Hindu belief, the spirit's liberation from the cycle of reincarnation

Moksha

In the Hindu tradition, the good or evil deeds done by a person

Karma

Large landholdings in the Roman Empire

Latifundia

Macedonian King who led an army eastward and conquered land from Greece to India. He was known as a brilliant military leader and his death marked the beginning of the Hellenistic Era

Alexander the Great

Mesopotamian Temples

Ziggurat

One of the 12 followers of Christ, or any of the professed followers of Christ in his lifetime

Disciple

Persian religion based on the teaching of the 6th century BCE prophet Zarathustra; its emphasis on the duality of good and evil and on the role of individuals in determining their own fate would influence later religions

Zoroastrianism

Pertaining to a social system in which the father is the head of the family

Patriarchal

Rebirth; a belief of both Buddhism and Hinduism

Reincarnation

Referring to a social system in which descent and inheritance are traced through the mother

Matrilineal

The codification of Roman law during the Republic

Twelve tables

The "will of gods" that granted a ruler the right to rule

Mandate of heaven

The belief held by many before the Scientific Revolution that the earth is the center of the universe

Geocentric theory

The belief in many gods

Polytheism

The belief in one god

Monotheism

The belief that spirits inhabit the features of nature

Animism

The Central Nomadic people who invaded China in the ancient world

Hsiung-nu

The custom among the higher castes of Hinduism of a widow throwing herself on the burning funeral pyre of her husband

Sati

The division of labor that aids the development of skills in a particular type of work

Specialization of labor

The era in which Greek culture blended with Persian and other Eastern influences and spread throughout the former empire of Alexander the Great

Hellenistic age

The exile of an ethnic or racial group from their homeland

Diaspora

The first five books of the Jewish scripture

Torah

The head of the Roman Catholic Church

Pope

The Hindu word for caste

Varna

The idea that ancient civilizations were able to achieve characteristics of civilization without contact

Independent invention

The introduction of agriculture, domestication of animals, and a more sedentary life during the Neolithic Age

Neolithic Revolution

The moral law of the Hebrews

Ten Commandments

The most popular Hellenistic philosophy; it involved strict discipline and an emphasis on helping others

Stoicism

The New Stone Age that was marked by the discovery and mastery of agriculture

Neolithic Age

The pattern of temperature and precipitation over a period of time

Climate

The portion of the Christian Bible that contains the Gospels that relate the account of the life of Jesus; letters from the followers of Jesus to the early Christian churches and the book of Revelation, a prophetic text

New Testament

The position in the Hindu caste system that was determined by one's birth

Dharma

The practice of herding

Pastoralism

The religious term for "any expected deliverer"

Messiah

The Roman Peace; the period of prosperity and stability throughout the Roman Empire in the first two centuries CE

Pax Romana

The social division in Hindu society that fell in rank below the caste system; it was occupied by those who carried out undesirable occupations such as undertaking, butchering, and waste collection

Untouchables

The transition from foraging to the cultivation of food occurring about 8000 - 2000BCE; also known as the Neolithic revolution

Agricultural Revolution

The transmission of ideas and products from one culture to another

Cultural diffusion