Ap World History Chapter 1-3

civilization

a society in an advanced state of social development (e.g., with complex legal and political and religious organizations)

culture

the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next

history

study of past events and changes in the development, transmission, and transformation of cultural practices.

stone age

(archeology) the earliest known period of human culture, characterized by the use of stone implements

paleolithic

second part of the Stone Age beginning about 750,00 to 500,000 years BC and lasting until the end of the last ice age about 8,500 years BC

neolithic

latest part of the Stone Age beginning about 10,000 BC in the middle east (but later elsewhere)

foragers

people who support themselves by hunting wild animals and gathering wild edible plants and insects

agricultural revolutions

the change from food gathering to food productions that occurred between ca. 8000 and 2000 B.C.E. Also known as the Neolithic Revolution.

holocene

The current interglaciation period, extending from 10,000 years ago to the present on the geologic time scale.

megalith

memorial consisting of a very large stone forming part of a prehistoric structure (especially in western Europe)

sumerians

People who dominated Southern Mesopotamia through the end of the 3rd Millennium BCE. Responsible for the creation of irrigation technology, cunieform, and religious conceptions.

semitic

family of related langugages long spoken across parts of western asia and northern africa. in intiquity these languages included hebrew, aramaic, and phoenician. The most widespead modern member of the semitic family is arabic.

city-state

small independent state consisting of an urban center and the surrounding agricultural territory. a characteristic political form in early mesopotamia, archaic and classical greece, phoenicia, and early italy.

hammurabi

Amorite ruler of Babylon (r. 1792-1750 B.C.E.). He conquered many city-states in southern and northern Mesopotamia and is best known for a code of laws, inscribed on a black stone pillar, illustrating the principles to be used in legal cases. (p. 34)

scribe

in the governments of many ancient societies, a professinal position reserved for men who had undergone the lengthy training required to be able to read and write uniting cuneiforms, hieroglyphics, and other early, cumbersome writing systems.

ziggurat

a rectangular tiered temple or terraced mound erected by the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians

amulet

a trinket or piece of jewelry thought to be a protection against evil

cuneiform

an ancient wedge-shaped script used in Mesopotamia and Persia

pharoah

Egyptian ruler who was believed to be the son of Re, the sun god, in human form. He had total authority over people and land.

ma'at

the Egyptian concept of truth, justice, and cosmic order, represented by a goddess, often portrayed with a feather upon her head

pyramid

a massive memorial with a square base and four triangular sides

memphis

The capital of Old Kingdom Egypt, near the head of the Nile Delta. Early rulers were interred in the nearby pyramids. (p. 43)

thebes

an ancient Egyptian city on the Nile River that flourished from the 22nd century BC to the 18th century BC

hieroglyphics

an ancient Egyptian writing system in which pictures were used to represent ideas and sounds

papyrus

ancient paper made from stem of papyrus plant

mummy

The dead body of a human or animal that has been embalmed and prepared for burial, as according to the practices of the ancient Egyptians.

harappa

Site of one of the great cities of the Indus Valley civilization of the third millennium B.C.E. It was located on the northwest frontier of the zone of cultivation , and may have been a center for the acquisition of raw materials. (p. 48)

monhenjo-daro

largest of the cities of the indus valley civilization. it was centrally located in the extensive flood plain of the indus river in contemporary pakistan. little is known about the political institutions of indus calley communities, but the large-scale of

Iron Age

the period following the Bronze Age; characterized by rapid spread of iron tools and weapons

Hittites

A people from central Anatolia who established an empire in Anatolia and Syria in the Late Bronze Age. With wealth from the trade in metals and military power based on chariot forces, the hittites vied with New Kingdom Egypt over Syria (p.64)

Hatshepsut

Queen of Egypt (1473-1458 B.C.E.). Dispatched a naval expedition down the Red Sea to Punt (possibly Somalia), the faraway source of myrrh. There is evidence of opposition to a woman as ruler, and after her death her name was frequently expunged. (p.66)

Akhenaten

early ruler of Egypt who rejected the old gods and replaced them with sun worship (died in 1358 BC)

Ramesses II

A long-lived ruler of New Kingdom Egypt (r. 1290-1224 B.C.E.). He reached an accommodation with the Hittites of Anatolia after a standoff in battle at Kadesh in Syria. He built on a grand scale throughout Egypt.

Minoan

Prosperous civilization on the Aegean island of Crete in the second millennium B.C.E. The Minoans engaged in far-flung commerce around the Mediterranean and exerted powerful cultural influences on the early Greeks. (p. 73)

Mycenae

Site of a fortified palace complex in southern Greece that controlled a Late Bronze Age kingdom. In Homer's epic poems Mycenae was the base of King Agamemnon, who commanded the Greeks besieging Troy.

Shaft graves

A term used for the burial sites of elite members of Mycenaean Greek society in the mid-second millennium B.C.E. At the bottom of deep shafts lined with stone slabs, the bodies were laid out along with gold and bronze jewelry, implements, and weapons (75

Linear B

the modern name for the script, composed of signs and pictures, in which Mycenaean Greeks kept records on tablets of clay.

Neo Assyrian Empire

an empire extending from western iran to syria-palestine, conquered by the assyrians of norther mesoptamia between the tenth and sevent centuries B.C.E they used force and terro and exploited the wealth and lobor of their subjects. they also preserved and

Mass deportation

Removal of entire peoples used as terror tactic by Assyrian and Persian Empires. (95)

Library of Ashurbanipal

A large collection of writings drawn from the ancient literary, religious, and scientific traditions of Mesopotamia. It was assembled by the sixth century B.C.E. Assyrian ruler Ashurbanipal. (98)

Israel

an ancient kingdom of the Hebrew tribes at the southeastern end of the Mediterranean Sea

Hebrew Bible

A collection of sacred books containing diverse materials concerning the origins, experiences, beliefs, and practices of the Israelites. Most of the extant text was compiled by members of the priestly class in the fifth century B.C.E. (99)

First Temple

A monumental sanctuary built in Jerusalem by King Solomon in the tenth century B.C.E. to be the religious center for the Israelite god Yahweh. The Temple priesthood conducted sacrifices, received a tithe or percentage of agricultural revenues. (102)

monotheism

belief in a single God

Diaspora

the dispersion or spreading of something that was originally localized (as a people or language or culture)

Phoenicians

Semitic-speaking Canaanites living on the coast of modern Lebanon and Syria in the first millennium B.C.E. From major cities such as Tyre and Sidon, Phoenician merchants and sailors explored the Mediterranean, and engaged in widespread commerce. (103)

Carthage

`, City located in present-day Tunisia, founded by Phoenicians ca. 800 B.C.E. It became a major commercial center and naval power in the western Mediterranean until defeated by Rome in the third century B.C.E. (p. 107)

Neo-Babylonian Kingdom

Under the Chaldaeans kinship groups that settled in southern mesopotamia in the early millennium, Babylon again became a major political and cultural center in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.E. After participating in the destruction of Assyrian power

Loess

a fine-grained unstratified accumulation of clay and silt deposited by the wind

Shang

The dominant people in the earliest Chinese dynasty for which we have written records (ca. 1750-1027 B.C.E.). Ancestor worship, divination by means of oracle bones, and the use of bronze vessels for ritual purposes were major elements of Shang culture.

Divination

a prediction uttered under divine inspiration

Zhou

The people and dynasty that took over the dominant position in north China from the Shang and created the concept of the Mandate of Heaven to justify their rule. Remembered as prosperous era in Chinese History. (p. 61)

Mandate of heaven

a political theory of ancient China in which those in power were given the right to rule from a divine source

Legalism

strict conformity to the letter of the law rather than its spirit

Confucius

chinese philosphere and teacher; his belifs,known as confusoinism greatly influenced chinese life

Daoism

philosophical system developed by of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu advocating a simple honest life and noninterference with the course of natural events

yin yang

the representations of balance and harmony, symbol of Taoists; YIN=feminine, dark, cold, negativity YANG=masculine, light, heat, motivation

Kush

An African state that developed along the upper reaches of the Nile c. 100 B.C.E.; conquered Egypt and ruled it for several centuries.

Meroe

center of the kush dynasty from about 250 B.C. to A.D. 150; known for its manufacture of iron weapons and tools.

Olmec

a member of an early Mesoamerican civilization contered around Veracruz that flourished between 1300 and 400 BC

Chavin

First major urban civilization in South America. Capital is de Huantar, was located in the Andes Mountains of Peru. Has 2 distinct ecological zones, the Peruvian Costal Plain and the Andean Foothills.

Llama

wild or domesticated South American cud-chewing animal related to camels but smaller and lacking a hump