Earliest humans to think

Homo sapiens

taming of plants and animals

domestication

Inter-related groups which survived by following and

finding food

Hunter-gatherers

The way in which people live

(art, science, government, etc.)

Culture

Wandering lifestyle following food and water

Nomadic

Items such as rocks or sticks used to accomplish

work

Simple Tools

Inter-related groups of people

Clans

Communication which developed in the

Paleolithic (OLD) age

Oral language

Living in one place and raising food

Settled agriculture

Tools which require reshaping or combining

parts to work

Complex tools

Person who uses artifacts and fossils to determine

past human events

Archaeologist

Animal and plant matter which has been preserved

in nature

Fossil

Method of telling the approximate age of an

artifact or fossil

Carbon dating

Giant circles of stone in England probably used for

religious ceremonies

Stonehenge

Shift from hunting-gatherer societies to settled agriculture

Neolithic Revolution

Tool Age following the Stone Age

Bronze Age

“U” shaped area stretching from the eastern

Mediterranean coast through Syria into Mesopotamia

Fertile Crescen

t

Area in between and around the Tigris and Euphrates

River Valleys

Mesopotamia

Geographic term for the Indian sub-continent

South Asia

Geographic term for China

East Asia

Jewish people

Hebrews

phrase describing river valleys as the beginning of

civilization

Cradles of Civilization

Passing of leadership from father to son

(rule stays in the family)

dynasty

Independent cities and their surrounding lands (small kingdoms)

City-state

Moral law code of Christianity and Judaism

Ten Commandmen

ts

Early civil law code of Babylon

Code of Hammurabi

Working at or creating only one item or good in order to

meet ones needs

Specialization of labor

Holy scriptures of Judaism

Torah

Banished from a land

exiled

Scattering of Jewish communities

Diaspora

Earliest form of writing by man

pictograms

Pictograms used in Egypt

hieroglyphics

Pictograms used in Sumeria

cuneiform

Symbols used to represent sounds created by the

Phoenicians

alphabet

A political unit composed of the kingdom and all of its

conquered lands

empire

Organization of people who complete the day to day

tasks of government

bureaucracy

Early Persian religion with a belief in the forces of good

and evil

Zoroastrianism

Race of people who controlled the Indian subcontinent with a

caste system

Aryan

Period of time when a civilization enjoys a rapid advancement in culture

Golden Age

Rigid system of India which placed people in a particular social class from which they

could not move

Caste (Varna) System

Movement of people from one location to another

migration

Belief that a person will return after their death in

another form

reincarnation

Idea that one’s actions in life determines one’s

destiny and future

karma

Religious scriptures for Hinduism

Vedas

Main ideas of the religious philosophy of Buddhism

Four Noble Truths

The course in Buddhism that would lead to freedom

from the cycle of rebirth

Eightfold Path to

Enlightenment

Fortified barrier constructed to protect East Asian people

from attacks

Great Wall of China

Approval needed in order for Chinese rulers to hold

power

Mandate of

Heaven

Overland trade route that connected China to Western

Europe

Silk Road

Professional government organization which required testing in order to work in

government

Civil Service

Belief that deceased relatives continued to guide

the family

Ancestor worship

Representation of good and evil in Daoism

Yin and yang

Exchange of goods for goods

barter

Exchange of goods for coins

Money economy

Settling of foreign lands to produce materials for the

home country

colonization

Tales and legends of a civilization usually centered on

nature and creation

mythology

Form of government in which citizens hold power

democracy

Form of government in which a few hold power

oligarchy

Person who can take part in the governing of society

citizen

Form of democracy in which each citizen has DIRECT

input into decision making

Direct democracy

Wars fought between Persians and Greeks

Persian Wars

Wars fought between Spartans and Athenians

Peloponnesian Wars

Outdoor center of government in ancient

Greece

agora

Form of government where one person seizes power

and established a one-man rule

tyranny

Epic poem by Homer about the Trojan Wars

Iliad & Odyssey

The manner in which people meet their needs

economy

Form of government where the upper class nobility

rules

aristocracy

Codified, harsh, law code of ancient Greece

Code of Draco

Alliance created under Pericles to free Ionia and

protect Greeks from Persia

Delian League

Temple to Athena

Parthenon

Period where Greece reached its cultural height

Golden Age of Pericles Classical

Age

Mixture of Greek and Persian cultures under Alexander the Great

Hellenistic

Group of Greek citizens who met in the agora to govern

Assembly

Lower class of Roman society, majority of free

Romans

plebeians

Upper class of Roman society

patricians

Governing body in Rome composed of the patrician

class

Senate

2 elected officials in Rome who administered the government in Rome

consuls

The codified law of Rome

Twelve Tables

Wars fought between Rome and Carthage

Punic Wars

Internal warfare of a kingdom or empire

Civil War

Situation in which prices rise and the value of money

decreases

inflation

A three person ruling group

triumvurate

200 year period of Roman peace

Pax Roman

a

Holy scriptures of Christianity

Holy BibleOld & New Testamen

ts

Teachings of the Christian Church

doctrine

Temple to all gods in Rome

pantheon

Arena for gladiator battles

Colisseum

Center of government in ancient Rome

forum

Epic poem by Virgil about the founding of Rome

Aeneid

The mixture of Greek and Roman culture

Greco-Roman

Group of languages derived from Latin including French

and Italian

Romance languages

Codified law of the Byzantine Empire

Justinian Code

Religious images used in Christianity

icons

Form of artwork using pieces of tile and glass to

create images

mosaics

Early Christian Church incorporating the dome on a

rectangular building

Hagia Sophia

Eastern Church of early Christianity

Greek/Eastern

Orthodoxy

Western Church of early Christianity

Roman Catholic

Alphabet adapted from the Greek alphabet to represent

Slavic languages

Cyrillic

Holy scriptures of Islam

Koran/Quran

Basic concepts of Islam

Five Pillars

Islamic sect believing the caliphate should be a

descendant of Muhammad

Shi’a / Shiite

Islamic sect believing the caliphate could be held by

any Muslim

Sunni

Ended the expansion of Islam into Western Europe

Battle of Tours

Holy mosque built on the site where Muhammad ascended to Heaven

Dome of the Rock

Muslims of Spain

Moors

Religious wars to re-conquer Middle Eastern holy sites by

Christianity

Crusades

Islamic group which conquered Constantinople

around 1300 AD

Ottoman Turks

Religious community of men who have taken religious

vows

monastery

People who spread a religious message

missionaries

Local congregation of Catholicism with a priest in

charge

parish

Estate with peasant workers granted to a noble in exchange for loyalty and military service

Manor / fief

Noble who held land and served a higher ranking lord

vassal

Medieval peoples living in the area of present day

France

Franks

Document restricting the powers of the English king

and listing individual freedoms for English people

Magna Carta

Non-religious

secular

Belief in more than one god

polytheism

Belief in one god

Monotheism

Medieval building designed to protect the manor/fief

from invasion

castle

Ethnic religion of Japan

Shintoism

Group or chain of islands

archipelago