Term
|
Definition
| Generally translated as “city-state,” it was the basic political and institutional unit of ancient Greece. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Heavily armed citizens who served as infantrymen and fought to defend the polis.A type of Greek government in which all citizens administered the workings of government. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A type of Greek government in which a small group of wealthy citizens, not necessarily of aristocratic birth, ruled. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A type of Greek government in which a small group of wealthy citizens, not necessarily of aristocratic birth, ruled. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Rule by one man who took over an existing government, generally by using his wealth to gain a political following. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A grand naval alliance created by the Athenians aimed at liberating Ionia from Persian rule. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Religious systems in the Hellenistic world that incorporated aspects of both Greek and Eastern religions; they were characterized by secret doctrines, rituals of initiation, and the promise of an afterlife. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A Greek system of philosophy founded on the teachings of Epicurus that viewed a life of contentment, free from fear and suffering, as the greatest good. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The most popular of Hellenistic philosophies, it considered nature an expression of divine will and held that people can be happy only when living in accordance with nature. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Members of the family Hominidae that contains humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Period during which humans used tools of stone, bone, and wood and obtained food by gathering and hunting. Roughly 250,000–9,000 b.c.e. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A style of life in which people gain food by gathering plant products, trapping or catching small animals and birds, and hunting larger prey. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Period beginning in 9000 b.c.e. during which humans obtained food by raising crops and animals and continued to use tools primarily of stone, bone, and wood. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Group of Homo erectus with brains as large as those of modern humans that flourished in Europe and western Asia between 150,000 and 30,000 years ago. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Die-off of large animals in many parts of the world about 15,000–10,000 b.c.e., caused by climate change and perhaps human hunting. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Differentiation of tasks by gender, age, training, status, or other social distinction. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Idea that animals, plants, natural occurrences, and other parts of the physical world have spirits. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Spiritually adept men and women who communicated with the unseen world. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Dramatic transformation in human history resulting from the change from foraging to raising crops and animals. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Plants and animals modified by selective breeding so as to serve human needs; domesticated animals will behave in specific ways and breed in captivity. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Crop-raising done with hand tools and human power. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An economic system based on herding flocks of goats, sheep, cattle, or other animals. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Divisions between rich and poor, elites and common people that have been a central feature of human society since the Neolithic era. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Social system in which men have more power and access to resources than women and some men are dominant over other men. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Temple in the form of a step-pyramid built in the center of a Mesopotamian city to honor the gods. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The wedge-shaped writing system that developed in Sumeria, the first writing system in the world. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Narrations of the achievements and sometimes the failures of heroes that embody a people’s or a nation’s conception of its own past. This type of writing first developed in ancient Sumeria. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The leader of religious and political life in the Old Kingdom, he commanded the wealth, the resources, and the people of Egypt. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A book that preserved Egyptians’ ideas about death and the afterlife. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Egyptian letters, including both ideograms and phonetic signs, written with a brush on papyrus sheets or on walls. |
|
|
Term
| Indo-European language family |
|
Definition
| A large family of languages that includes English, most of the languages of modern Europe, Greek, Latin, Persian, Hindi, Bengali, and Sanskrit, the sacred tongue of ancient India. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| People of the prosperous city-states in what is now Lebanon who dominated trade throughout the Mediterranean and spread the letter alphabet. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| All-powerful god of the Hebrew people and the basis for the enduring religious traditions of Judaism. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The religion based on the teachings of Zoroaster, who emphasized the individual’s responsibility to choose between good and evil. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The first Indian civilization; also known as the Indus Valley civilization. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The dominant people in north India after the decline of the Indus Valley civilization; they spoke an early form of Sanskrit. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The earliest collection of Indian hymns, ritual texts, and philosophical treatises, it is the central source of information on early Aryans. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Priests of the Aryans; they supported the growth of royal power in return for royal confirmation of their own religious rights, power, and status. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The Indian system of dividing society into hereditary groups whose members interacted primarily within the group, and especially married within the group. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The transmigration of souls by a continual process of rebirth. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The tally of good and bad deeds that determines the status of an individual’s next life. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The unchanging ultimate reality, according to the Upanishads. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The Buddha’s message that pain and suffering are inescapable parts of life; suffering and anxiety are caused by human desires and attachments; people can understand and triumph over these weaknesses; and the triumph is made possible by following a simple code of conduct. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The code of conduct set forth by the Buddha in his first sermon, beginning with “right conduct” and ending with “right contemplation.” |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A state of blissful nothingness and freedom from reincarnation. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The written teachings of the Buddha, first transcribed in the second or first century b.c.e. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The “Great Vehicle,” a tradition of Buddhism that aspires to be more inclusive. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Buddhas-to-be who stayed in the world after enlightenment to help others on the path to salvation. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The Sanskrit word for moral law, central both to Buddhist and Hindu teachings. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The codification of early Indian law that lays down family, caste, and commercial law. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Soil deposited by wind; it is fertile and easy to work. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| One of the Shang Dynasty capitals from which the Shang kings ruled for more than two centuries. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A stylized animal face commonly seen in Chinese bronzes. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A system of writing in which each word is represented by a single symbol, such as the Chinese script. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The theory that Heaven gives the king a mandate to rule only as long as he rules in the interests of the people. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The lower ranks of Chinese aristocracy; these men could serve in either military or civil capacities. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The period of Chinese history between 403 and 221 b.c.e. when states fought each other and one state after another was destroyed. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A powerful mechanical bow developed during the Warring States Period. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Reverent attitude of children to their parents extolled by Confucius. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The ultimate Confucian virtue; it is translated as perfect goodness, benevolence, humanity, human-heartedness, and nobility. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The Way, the whole natural order in Daoist philosophy. In Confucianism it means the moral order. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Political theorists who emphasized the need for rigorous laws and laid the basis for China’s later bureaucratic government. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A concept of complementary poles, one of which represents the feminine, dark, and receptive, and the other the masculine, bright, and assertive. |
|
|
