Fertile Crescent
An arc of rich farmland in southwest Asia, between the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea .
City State
A city and it's surrounding lands functioning as an independent political unit.
Dynasty
A series of rulers from a single family.
Polytheism
The belief in more than one God.
Cuneiform
A system of writing with wedge shaped symbols, invented by the Sumerians around 3000 B.C.
Hammurabi's Code
A single, uniform code of laws that would unify a diverse group within his empire.
Delta
A marshy region formed by a deposits of silt at the mouth of a river.
Menes
Egyptian pharaoh, reigned C. 3100 B.C. he founded the first dynasty that ruled Egypt. The first king of united Egypt.
Pharaoh
Egyptian God-kings who were thought to be as powerful as the gods of the heavens.
Theocracy
A type of government in which rule is based on religious authority.
Book of David
The second book of Samuel in the king James Bible. David and Bath-Sheba.
Hieroglyphics
An ancient Egyptian writing system in which pictures were used to represent ideas and sounds.
Rosetta Stone
A polished black stone that contained three different languages and a message, that was written three times using a different language each time. (Hieroglyphics, Simpler Hieroglyphics and Greek).
Jean Champollion
A French scholar who broke the code of Hieroglyphics.
Howard Carter
An English archaeologist known for the discovery of the tomb on 14th century B.C. pharaoh Tutankhamun.
Indo-Europeans
A group of nomadic people who may have come from the steppes (dry grasslands that stretched north of the Caucasus).
Hattusas
The Hitties occupied Anatolia. Hattusas is the capital of Hitties.
Anatolia
A large peninsula in modern day Turkey that sticks out into the Black and Mediterranean seas. A high rocky plateau that is rich in timber and agriculture.
Punic
The language of ancient carthage, a form of late phoenician.
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
One of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean king restored it to please his wife.
Yahweh
The god of Abraham who made a covenant that if Abraham obeyed him, he would offer Abraham and his descendents production.
Judah
The only large tribe left of the 12 tribes. As a result the Hebres came to be called Jews, and their religion Judaism.
Canaan
The ancient home of the Hebrews, later called the Jews. This is the area where history legends and moral laws are a major influence on western culture. Begun a tradition shared by Christianity and Islam.
Covenant
The mutual promise between God and the founder of the Hebrew people.
Abraham
The man chosen by god to the the "father" of the Hebrew people.
Moses
The man who led the Hebrews out of slavery
Exodus
The departure of the Israelites from Egypt
Torah
The first five books of the Hebrew Bible
Monotheism
Praying to only one God
Diaspora
The Jews living outside Isreal
Babylonian Captivity
The captivity of the Israletites in Babylon.
Gospel
The first four books of the New Testament of the Bible, the reaching or revelation of Christ.
Apostle
Each of the twelve chief diciples of Jesus Christ. An important Christian teacher.
Jesus
The central figure of the christian religion.
Messiah
The savior that God promised that would restore the kingdom of the Jews.
Beatitudes
Blessings listed by Jesus in the Sermon on the mount sepreme blessedness.
St. Paul
The apostle who interpreted Jesus' techings and taught them to believers.
Gentiles
Characteristic of non-Jewish people.
Satrap
A governer Darius installed in each of his provinces.
Royal Road
A road that ran from Susa in Persia to Sardis in Anatolia, a distance of 1677 miles.
Cycrus the Great
Persia's king in 550 B.C. who controlled an empire that spanned 2000 miles. He was well liked for his tolerant view of empires.
Darius the Great
Cambysses's successor, and the new king of Persia, who established a well organized and efficient administration.
Zoroaster
A persian prophet who offered an answer to the suffering and choaos in the world.
Ahura-Mazda
The only God in the Zoroastrian religion, who at the end of the time would judge everyone on how good they acted for the battle of good.
Zend-Avesta
A collection of Zoroastrian texts gathered druing the 4th or 6th centuries.
Magi
The Zoroastiran priests of the ancient Medes and Persians.
Kings Eyes and Ears.
Inspectors sends out by Darius the persian king to ensure the loyalty of this officals in each of his provinces.
New Rome
When Rome's empire collapsed in 476 AD (the western part) the Eastern part (Byzantium) continued on with it's capital constaninopole. Byzantium was rebuilt and regained its previous prosperity.
Justinian Code
The body of Roman Law collected by order of the Byzanine emperor, Justinian around 534 AD.
Hagia Sophia
The church destroyed by mobs or rioters in 532 and rebuilt Justinian.
Theodroa
Justinian's Empress who improved womans legal rights.
Golden Hora
A body of water that seperates the two sections of Constantipole.
Constantinopole
Named after Constantine the Great, and was the capital city of the Eastern Roman Byzantine empire.
Byzantium
A continuation of the Roman Empire, that was ruled by Justinian.