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| Site in northwest Anatolia, overlooking the Hellespont strait, where archaeologists have excavated a series of Bronze Age cities. One of these may have been destroyed by Greeks ca. 1200 BCE, as reported in Homer’s epic poems |
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Prosperous civilization on the Aegean island of Crete in the second millennium BCE. The Minoans engaged in far-flung commerce around the Mediterranean and exerted powerful cultural influences on the early Greeks. |
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| 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 Greek’s besieging of Troy. Contemporary archaeologists call the complex Greek society of the second millennium BCE “Mycenaean”. |
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| The Greek term for city-state, an urban center and the agricultural territory under its control. It was the characteristic form of political organization in southern and central Greece in the Archaic and Classical periods. Of the hundreds of city-states in the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions settled by the Greeks, some were oligarchic, others democratic, depending on the powers delegated to the Council of the Assembly. |
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| A heavily armored Greek infantryman of the Archaic and Classical periods who fought in close-packed phalanx formation. Hoplite armies – militias composed of middle- and upper-class citizens supplying their own equipment – were for centuries superior to all other military forces. |
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| The term the Greeks used to describe someone who seized and held power in violation of the normal procedures and traditions of the community. Tyrants appeared in many Greek city-states in the seventh and sixth centuries BCE, often taking advantage of the disaffection of the emerging middle class and, by weakening the old elite, unwittingly contributing to the evolution of democracy. |
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| A system of government in which all “citizens” (however defined) have equal political and legal rights, privileges, and protections, as in the Greek city-state of Athens in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.E. |
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| Heir to the technique of historia—“investigation”—developed by Greeks in the late Archaic period. He came from a Greek community in Anatolia and traveled extensively, collecting information in western Asia and the Mediterranean lands. He traced the antecedents of and chronicled the Persian Wars between the Greek city-states and the Persian Empire, thus originating the Western tradition of historical writing. |
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| Aristocratic leader who guided the Athenian state through the transformation to full participatory democracy for all male citizens, supervised construction of the Acropolis, and pursued a policy of imperial expansion that led to the Peloponnesian War. He formulated a strategy of attrition but died from the plague early in the war. |
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| One of the two great Greek city states in the late Archaic and Classical periods. Encompassed a large and populous territory. After a period of political turmoil, Athens became the birthplace of democracy (citizen run government). |
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| One of the two great Greek city states in the late Archaic and Classical periods. Located in the Peloponnesus (southern Greece), relied on military tactics and conquest to expand territory. Lived in a constant state of military preparedness, largely due to fear of helot uprising. |
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| The exercise of political privilege by only the wealthiest members of society. Tyrants of ancient Greece tended to pursue this practice; evolution of Athenian democracy was a response to aristocracy exercising control over the other classes in Greece. |
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| Location of famous oracle of Apollo (central Greece); Apollo would communicate through priestess Pythia, whose words/actions were then interpreted by male priests. Greeks were looking for information, advice, and predictions about the future. |
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| Highest mountain in Greece; in Greek mythology Mt. Olympus is regarded as the home of the gods, specifically the twelve Olympians (principal gods of Greek world) |
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| Third ruler of the Persian Empire (r. 521 – 486 BCE). He crushed the widespread initial resistance to his rule and gave all major government posts to Persians rather than Medes. He established a system of provinces and tribute, began construction of Persepolis, and expanded Persian control in the east (Pakistan) and west (northern Greece). |
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| A religion originating in ancient Iran with the prophet Zoroaster. It centered on a single benevolent deity – Ahuramazda – who engaged in a twelve-thousand-year struggle with demonic forces before prevailing and restoring a pristine world. Emphasizing truth-telling, purity, and reverence for nature, the religion demanded that humans choose sides in the struggle between good and evil. Those whose good conduct indicated their support for Ahuramazda would be rewarded in the afterlife. Others would be punished. The religion of the Achaemenid and Sasanid Persians, Zoroastrianism may have spread within their realms and influenced Judaism, Christianity and other faiths. |
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| The governor of a province in the Achaemenid Persian Empire, often a relative of the king. He was responsible for protection of the province and for forwarding tribute to the central administration. Satraps in outlying provinces enjoyed considerable autonomy. |
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| Conflict between Greek city-states and the Persian Empire, ranging from the Ionian Revolt (499-494 BCE) though Darius’s punitive expedition that failed at Marathon and the defeat of Xerxes’ massive invasion of Greece by the Spartan-led Hellenic League (480-479 BCE). The first major setback for Persian armies launched the Greeks into their period of greatest cultural productivity. Herodotus chronicled these events in the first “history” in western tradition. |
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| Athenian philosopher (ca. 470 – 399 BCE) who shifted the emphasis of philosophical investigation from questions of natural science to ethics and human behavior. He attracted young disciples from elite families but made enemies by revealing the ignorance and pretensions of others, culminating in his trial and execution by the Athenian state. |
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| Disciple of Socrates. Representative of the first literate generation in Athens; transition from oral to written transmission of knowledge. Gained information from books and wrote down many of his thoughts and beliefs. Started a school of philosophy called The Academy. |
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| A protracted (431 – 404 BCE) and costly conflict between the Athenian and Spartan alliance systems that convulsed most of the Greek world. The war was largely a consequence of Athenian imperialism. Possession of a naval empire allowed Athens to fight a war of attrition. Ultimately, Sparta prevailed because of Athenian errors and Persian financial support. |
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| King of Macedonia in northern Greece. Between 334 and 323 BCE, he conquered the Persian Empire, reached the Indus Valley, founded many Greek-style cities, and spread Greek culture across the Middle East. Later known as Alexander the Great. |
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| Historians term for the era, usually dated 323-30 BCE, in which Greek culture spread across western Asia and northeastern Africa after the conquests of Alexander the Great. The period ended with the fall of the last major Hellenestic kingdom to Rome, but Greek cultural influence persisted until the spread of Islam in the seventh century CE. |
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| The period from 507 to 31 BCE, during which Rome was largely governed by the aristocratic Roman Senate. |
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| Rome’s most brilliant general; won fame and power in his campaigns in France and Spain versus the Gauls. Marched on Rome, starting a civil war with a rival general, Pompey. Made dictator in 45 BCE. Assassinated by jealous senators on the steps of the senate on March 15, 44 BCE (Ides of March). |
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| Honorific name of Octavian, founder of the Roman Principate, the military dictatorship that replaced the failing rule of the Roman Senate. After defeating all rivals, between 31 BCE and 14 CE he laid the groundwork for several centuries of stability and prosperity in the Roman Empire. |
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| Patron/Client Relationship |
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| In ancient Rome, a fundamental social relationship in which the patron – a wealthy and powerful individual – provided legal and economic protection and assistance to clients, men of lesser status and means, and in return the clients supported the political careers and economic interests of their patron. |
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| In ancient Italy, prosperous landowners second in wealth and status to the senatorial aristocracy. The Roman emperors allied with this group to counterbalance the influence of the old aristocracy and used the equites to staff the imperial civil service. |
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| Literally, “Roman Peace”, it connoted the stability and prosperity the Roman rule brought to the lands of the Roman Empire in the first two centuries CE. The movement of people and trade goods along Roman roads and safe seas allowed for the spread of cultural practices, technologies, and religious ideas. |
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| A council whose members were the heads of wealthy, landowning families. Originally an advisory body to the early kings, in the era of the Roman Republic the Senate effectively governed the Roman state and the growing empire. Under Senate leadership, Rome conquered an empire of unprecedented extent in the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. In the first century BCE, quarrels among powerful and ambitious senators and failure to address social and economic problems led to civil wars and the emergence of the rule of the emperors. |
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| Roman Principate (Empire) |
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| A term used to characterize Roman government in the first three centuries CE, based on the ambiguous title princeps (“first citizen”) adopted by Augustus to conceal his military dictatorship. |
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| A Jew from Galilee in northern Israel who sought to reform Jewish beliefs and practices. He was executed as a revolutionary by the Romans. Hailed as the Messiah and son of God by his followers, he became the central figure in Christianity, a belief system that developed in the centuries after his death. |
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| A Jew from the Greek city of Tarsus in Anatolia, he initially persecuted the followers of Jesus but, after receiving a revelation on the road to Syrian Damascus, became a Christian. Taking advantage of his Hellenized background and Roman citizenship, he traveled throughout Syria-Palestine, Anatolia, and Greece, preaching the new religion and establishing churches. Finding his greatest success among pagans (“gentiles”), he began the process by which Christianity separated from Judaism. |
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| Historians’ term for the political, military, and economic turmoil that beset the Roman Empire during much of the third century C.E.: frequent changes of ruler, civil wars, barbarian invasions, decline of urban centers, and near-destruction of long-distance commerce and the monetary economy. After 284 C.E. Diocletian restored order by making fundamental changes. |
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| A conduit, either elevated or underground, using gravity to carry water from a source to a location—usually a city—that needed it. The Romans built many aqueducts in a period of substantial urbanization. |
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| Roman emperor (r. 312–337). After reuniting the Roman Empire, he moved the capital to Constantinople and made Christianity a favored religion. |
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| In medieval Europe, an agricultural laborer legally bound to a lord’s property and obligated to perform set services for the lord. In Russia some serfs worked as artisans and in factories; serfdom was not abolished there until 1861. |
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| In medieval Europe, a sworn supporter of a king or lord committed to rendering specified military service to that king or lord. |
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| In medieval Europe, land granted in return for a sworn oath to provide specified military service. |
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| King of the Franks (r. 768–814); emperor (r. 800–814). Through a series of military conquests he established the Carolingian Empire, which encompassed all of Gaul and parts of Germany and Italy. Though illiterate himself, he sponsored a brief intellectual revival. |
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| A rotational system for agriculture in which one field grows grain, one grows legumes, and one lies fallow. It gradually replaced two-field system in medieval Europe. |
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| Pirates from Scandinavia that plundered and terrorized northern and central Europe in the 8th and 9th centuries. Sought wealth of the Christian institutions and oftentimes slaughtered monks and other church officials to take church assets. |
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| Device for mounting a horseman’s feet, enabling him to wield weapons more effectively. |
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| Began his pious career as a hermit in a cave but eventually organized several monasteries, each headed by an abbot. He wrote rules that governed the monks’ behavior in deference to the abbots, some of which are still used today. |
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| The forgiveness of the punishment due for past sins, granted by the Catholic Church authorities as a reward for a pious act. |
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| A formal split within a religious community, usually resulting from a disagreement over doctrine. |
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| Loose federation of mostly German states and principalities, headed by an emperor elected by the princes. It lasted from 962 to 1806. |
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| Dispute between the popes and the Holy Roman Emperors over who held ultimate authority over bishops in imperial lands. |
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| Living in a religious community apart from secular society and adhering to a rule stipulating chastity, obedience, and poverty. It was a prominent element of medieval Christianity and Buddhism. Monasteries were the primary centers of learning and literacy in medieval Europe. |
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| The central administration of the Roman Catholic Church, of which the pope is the head. |
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| State established at Kiev in Ukraine ca. 879 by Scandinavian adventurers asserting authority over a mostly Slavic farming population. |
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| Historians’ name for the eastern portion of the Roman Empire from the fourth century onward, taken from “Byzantion,” an early name for Constantinople, the Byzantine capital city. The empire fell to the Ottomans in 1453. |
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| Iranian empire, established ca. 226, with a capital in Ctesiphon, Mesopotamia. The Sasanid emperors established Zoroastrianism as the state religion. Islamic Arab armies overthrew the empire ca. 640. |
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| Office established in succession to the Prophet Muhammad, to rule the Islamic empire; also the name of that empire. |
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| City in western Arabia; birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, and ritual center of the Islamic religion. |
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| Book composed of divine revelations made to the Prophet Muhammad between ca. 610 and his death in 632; the sacred text of the religion of Islam. |
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| Muslims belonging to the branch of Islam believing that God vests leadership of the community in a descendant of Muhammad’s son-in-law Ali. |
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| Arab prophet; founder of religion of Islam. |
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| First hereditary dynasty of Muslim caliphs (661 to 750). From their capital at Damascus, the Umayyads ruled an empire that extended from Spain to India. Overthrown by the Abbasid Caliphate. |
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| Muslims belonging to branch of Islam believing that the community should select its own leadership. The majority religion in most Islamic countries. |
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| The community of all Muslims. A major innovation against the background of seventh-century Arabia, where traditionally kinship rather than faith had determined membership in a community. |
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| Trading network linking North Africa with sub-Saharan Africa across the Sahara. |
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| First known kingdom in sub-Saharan West Africa between the sixth and thirteenth centuries C.E. |
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| Descendants of the Prophet Muhammad’s uncle, al-Abbas, the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate and ruled an Islamic empire from their capital in Baghdad (founded 762) from 750 to 1258. |
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| Tradition relating the words or deeds of the Prophet Muhammad; next to the Quran, the most important basis for Islamic law. |
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| Harnessing method that increased the efficiency of horses by shifting the point of traction from the animal's neck to the shoulders; its adoption favors the spread of horse-drawn plows and vehicles. |
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Armed pilgrimages to the Holy Land by Christians determined to recover Jerusalem from Muslim rule. The Crusades brought an end to Western Europe's centuries of intellectual and cultural isolation. |
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| Iranian ruling dynasty between ca. 250 B.C.E. and 226 C.E. |
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| Caravan routes connecting China and the Middle East across Central Asia and Iran. |
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| In pre-modern times, a network of seaports, trade routes, and maritime culture linking countries on the rim of the Indian Ocean from Africa to Indonesia. |
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| Collective name of a large group of sub-Saharan African languages and of the peoples speaking these languages. |
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| Belt south of the Sahara; literally “coastland” in Arabic. |
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| Portion of the African continent lying south of the Sahara. |
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| One of the earliest Christian kingdoms, situated in eastern Anatolia and the western Caucasus and occupied by speakers of the Armenian language. |
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