is the act of providing legitimacy. Legitimation in the social sciences refers to the process whereby an act, process, or ideology becomes legitimate by its attachment to norms and values within in given society. Often it is using the past to legitimize the present power (i.e. in Germany the Nazi government used the Fashi and there is the Law code of Hammurabi)

The Amarna Letters showed that Egypt had a greater political power than other countries because of the evidence of prostration formulas seen in letters written to the pharaoh but not by the pharaoh to others.

Ethnic relations

The Amarna Letters also showed that there were ethnic relations between the Apiru (Hebrews) and the rest of the city dwellers

Cultural Homogeneity

Homogeneity means of a single group. So, cultural homogeneity means having culture without diversity, or cultural environment where most is the same wothout many differences or variations; uniform and similar. 

Cultural heterogeneity

The defferences within a cultural group. Large population groups, such as Asian Americans, Native Americans or Hispanics possess many similarities, but also differ by tribe, national origin, language, geography and culture.

Pyramid

Triangular structure that converges at a point. Used in Egypt as tombs to bury Pharaohs

Step Pyramid

See Ziggurats. Step Pyramid used for temples/worshipping in Mesopotamia

Mastaba

step like subterranean tomb type of Ancient Egyptian tomb in the form of a flat-roofed, rectangular structure with outward sloping sides that marked the burial site of many eminent Egyptians of Egypt's ancient period. Mastabas were constructed out of mud-bricks or stone and were built on top of one another.

Old Kingdom

First phase of Ancient Egypt, institution of the Pharaoh, pyramid building.

Middle Kingdom

Middle Phase of Ancient Egypt

-battles between Upper and Lower Egypt were taken place

-Thebes became Capital

New Kingdom

The last phase of Ancient Egypt, between the Second Intermediate Period and the Third.  During this time Egypt went international, it was their first time working outside of Egypt

Hieroglyphics

Ancient writing system of Ancient Egypt. Phonetic meaning; the symbols were representative of distinct sounds (like the English alphabet) not full words or phrases

Pilgrimage

A long journey in search of moral significance. Many religions have them; Islam, Judaism, and Christianity travel to the Holy Land for pilgrimages. Egyptians made Pilgramages to Karnak and Thebes.

Intermediate Periods

Separate three kingdoms of Ancient Egypt (old, middle, new).  During these times there was no one leader.  The third intermediate period one where the Greek kings (Ptolemy kings) ruled

Domestication

People get involved with plants and animals to grow and produce these with key traits that humans want to see. They do this both intentionally and unintentionally (marijuana is an example of this). The earliest plants to be domesticated were wheat and barley, the earliest animals were sheep and goats.

Akkadian

One of the Semitic languages spoken in ancient Mesopotamia

Agriculture

Cultivation of animals, plants, and other life forms used to sustain life. It was the separation from the gatherers/hunters to the city

Babylonia/Babylonian

Southern part of Mesopotamia. Spoke Akkadian. 2000 - 500 BC.

Annual Flooding

the Nile and the Euphrates/Tigris would flood anually and the farmers would use this flooding to hydrate the fields. The Nile flooded at predictable times, while the Euphrates and Tigris did not. 

Assyria/Assyrian

The Assyrians lived in the N. Of Mesopotamia and spoke Akkadian.

2000 - 500 BC

Irrigation/Dry

Farming

Irrigation farming is done with lots of water and therefore is easier, where dry farming is where there is not a lot of water so it's harder to do. Lower Meso. and both Upper & Lower Egypt (along the Nile) used irrigation farming. 

The Nile flooded annually at a predictable time while Tigris and Euph. didn't.

Levant was dry farming. 

Sumer/Sumerian

First city.  It was in the lower region of Mesopotamia, below Baghdad.  It had a lot of arable land and lots of water.  It was the first agrarian society.  The Sumerian language was a language isolate. Between 3500-2000 B.C.                                                   

Law of Hammurabi

Set of 282 laws that were set by King Hammurabi. They were inscribed on a stele in 1700 BC and were found in Iran. Were written in Babylonian, which wasn't the language spoken at the found location. It had 3 parts: Prologue, epilogue, and Hammurabie seated recieving the laws from the god Shamash.

Law of Hammurabi

The King siad that the laws came to him from a god, so he legitimized the rule. The laws were never quoted or used as reasoning in the rulings of Meso. therefore it was used as a divine right of Hammurabi's rule.

Coptic

The final stage of the Egyptian language.  Coptic script is adapted greek alphabet with 6 or 7 signs from the demotic script. It's a writing system rather thn spoken language

Amarna Letters

Written by scribes that couldn't speak Akkadian (lingua franca at the time) so there were many grammar mistakes. Tells about Egypt when Amenphis est. a new capital city, Memphis. Egyptian capital that Akhenaten moved. He wrote and received the letters. 

Amarna Letters

-Written in Akkadian

- Read between the lines and interpret the different language

-Tells us about the imbalance of political powers

Language Isolate

A natural language with no demonstrable genealogical (genetic) relationship with ogher languages; one that hsn'e been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common with any other language. They are in effect language families consisting of a single language.

Apiru

Narmer Palette

Significant Egyptian arch. find. dating from about the 31st century BC. It's an artistic palette. Is representatice of the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the king Narmer who pulled a politucal cue. He is wearing the upper Egypt crown and killing the wearer of L. Egypt crown.

Shows the city and country dwellers under his rule. 

Semitic

Group of related languages spoken in the middle east. Includes Arabic, Hebrew, and Aramic

Arabic

Semitic language with a specific dialect of the S. region of the Middle East.

Hebrew

Semitic language. Considered the language of the Jewish ppl

Aramaic

Semitic language belonging to Afrosiatic language family. Language spoken by Jesus. 

Rosetta Stone

Ancient egyptian stele writtin in 3 languages: Greek, Egyptian, hieroglyps and demotic. Gave the first clues as to how to interpret Egyptian hieroglyphs

Cuneiform

Writing system that emerged in Sumer.

First began as a system of pictographs.

Cuneiform documents were usually clay tablets.

Lingua Franca

The most popular language of a time period. 

English is the lingua franca of this era.

Year eponym

Term/title given to a year, sometimes based in reference to who ruled at the time or from a significan event

Agricultural Revolution

10,000 - 12,000 years ago after the ice age there was in inc. in water and rain and the temp. increased. This was when farming began, the fertile crescent was the first place to begin farming.

Urban Revolution

The cities became more dependent on the agricultural societies and there was the rise of the state: centralized federal govt.

Fertile Crescent

This was the land between Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Meso. it recieved the most rain and has the earliest signs of farming. 

Levee Banks

Man made in lower Mesopotamia.  Because of sediment in the river the level was above the flood plain on either side of the banks.  Rivers would move all around because they would break the bank down during flooding.                                                   

Marsh Arabs

people of the marshlands in Southern Mesopotamia, they lived in the ancient Sumerian ways. They were well known for making read dwellings.                                                                              

Complex Society

A complex society is composed of three parts: (1) large population, (2) social differentiation (3) economic differentiation.  As the society becomes more complex it has more parts that are different and are interdependent

Black Legend

the idea that the Spanish were very horrible conquistadors, and there sole desire was to take gold from the Americas and leave with only that.                                                                       

Reconquista

700 years of cycles of conquest in Spain that ended in 1492

Encomienda

gave the conquistadors rights to Native American labor, and paid them with tribute (taxes) instead because the Spanish empire could not afford to pay them with any money

Nahuas

refers to the Nahuatl-speaking peoples, who compromised the bulk of the indigenous population in the central valleys of Mexico during the first century of Spanish rule. This term also refers to the Aztec people, but there is no longer an Aztec empire, so they cannot be called Aztecs anymore.

Aztecs

an extensive empire that was only 89 years old, drew on the accomplishments and institutional developments achieved by a succession of prior civilizations. Located on the coast of present day Mexico. Was filled with large populations, volatile political and military relations with their neighbors, ethnic diversity, social stratification, widespread economic ties, willingness to adopt new materials and concepts, and had a polytheistic religion.                                                                                   

Altepetl

refers to the people occupying a specific territory, and also appears to have applied to the place itself. It is the fundamental unit of political and territorial organization in Central Mexico on the eve of the Spanish Conquest. Also known as City-state. Represented noteworthy markets, patron deity, and ethnic identity. Or even a pilgrimage destination. Composed of a large community or city, divided into territorial subdivisions called calpulli or tlaxilcalli.

Mexica

culture that dominated all of the Nahua-speaking peoples in the Valley of Mexico.

Term used for Aztec rulers of tenochtitlan

Syncretism

A merging of cultures like the Spanish and the Aztecs merging their cultures

Mesopotamia

land between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris.  Believed to be where the first state was created  

Deir al Bahri

city of Queen Hatshepsut’s temple in Egypt.                   

Jericho

is a city located near the Jordan River in the West Bank of the Palestinian territories. One of the oldest inhabited locations on earth.

Is the lowest permanently inhabied site on earth. More than 20 successive settlements in Jericho about 9000 BC

Assyria

N. Mesopotamia

Babylonia

S. Mesopotamia

Uruk

super nova of ancient Mesopotamian cities. The city began as a religious center with the ziggurats as a center spot in the city.  This was the seen of the Epic of Gilgamesh

Tigris

Euphrates

one of the two rivers that run through present day Iraq, ancient Mesopotamia. West River.

Nile

river that runs from Upper Egypt to lower Egypt.

Lower Egypt

Nile Delta. North of the Nile  

Upper Egypt

flood plane of the Nile, South of the Nile       

Eridu

was considered the earliest city in southern Mesopotamia, and is one of the oldest cities in the world. Located 12 km southwest of Ur, Eridu was the southernmost of a conglomeration of Sumerian cities that grew about temples, almost in sight of one another.

-Tells were popular here

-This was believed to be the mound of creation, the first land to rise from the water.

-One of the first cities and it is a pilgrimage site (the temple was destroyed19 times and rebuilt).

Memphis

First metropolitan center/capital, located near where modern day Cairo is, on border of Lower and Upper Egypt.  It was an administrative capital, where other cities in Egypt were not.                 

Giza

The third largest city in Egypt. It is located on the west bank of the Nile River. The site of some of the most impressive ancient monuments in the world, including a complex of ancient Egyptian royal mortuary and sacred structures, including the Great Sphinx, the Great Pyramid of Giza, and a number of other large pyramids and temples.

Giza

The Giza Plateau is also home to many other ancient Egyptian monuments, including the tomb of Pharaoh Djet of the First Dynasty, as well as that of Pharaoh Ninetjer of the Second Dynasty

Nimrud

In Iraq.

Is an ancient Assyrian city located S. of Ninevveh on the river Tigris

Abydos

is the common English name of one of the most ancient cities of Upper Egypt, and also of the eight Upper Nome of which it was the capital city.

Considered one of the most important archaeological sites of Ancient Egypt, the sacred city of Abydos was the site of many ancient temples where early pharaohs were entombed. These tombs began to be seen as extremely significant burials and in later times it became desirable to be buried in the area, leading to the growth of the town's importance as a cult site.

Valley of the Kings

Is a valley in Egypt where from 16th - 11th century BC, tombs were made for Pharaohs and nobles of the New Kingdom. 

Stands on W. Bank of Nile, opposite Thebes.

was the principal burial place of the major royal figures of the Egyptian New Kingdom. 

Thebes

Upper egypt

Greek name for a city in Ancient Egypt located about 800 Km S. of Mediterranean on the E bank of Nile. 

Theban Necropolis is located nearby on W. nile. 

Was a festival city, not one in the traditional sense. Includes Luxor and Karnak.

Baghdad

Located in present day Iraq.  It was founded as a purposeful location because it divided the politics and geographic areas perfectly.                  

luxor

temple complex in Upper Egypt in Thebes where   kings were buried or celebrated.                                    

Karnak

Amarna

ancient Akhenaten           

In egypt

Alexandria

located in Egypt, names after Alexander the Great. Was the best example of the Greek and Mediterranean influence in Egypt. The town morphed a lot of Egyptian and Greek art, gods, and ways of life.  It was a melting pot city where there were many religions living at peace with one another. This was made after the new kingdom era

Ur

In iraq

Hierakonpolis

The first establishment of pharaohs. Narmer Palate was found here                                    

Levant

Modern Israel, Jordan and ... (it is in between Egypt and Mesopotamia near the Mediterranean).  This is the land with very few rivers so dry farming is used, and this is a mountainous region.  The population is low but there are cities, but no states

Susa

- area of the Elamite, Persian and Parthinian empires, east of Mesopotamia, in the lower areas of the Zargos Mountains 

In Iran          

Elam

an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province, as well as a small part of southern Iraq.

Tenochtitlan

Fell in 1521, was An island city, five miles square, Tenochtitlan was surrounded by Lake Texcoco, one of the five lakes in the Valley of Mexico. Three great earth bridges, or causeways, led into the city. (Present Day Mexico City).

Lake Texcoco

in Mexico in Aztec territory where the city Tenochtitlan was located, one of the five rivers of the Valley of Mexico

Manetho

Apiru

Hatshepsut

Female pharaoh of Ancient Egypt for about 20 years. Her brother died and her nephew Tutmosis III was too young so she ruled “temporarily”, was very successful but when Tutmosis III finally took over he delegitimized her (he destroyed her image and reputation to make himself look better in comparison)                      

Lesser Egyptian Pharaoh.  His burial chamber was found intact in the Valley of the Kings.           

Ankhenaten (Amenophis IV)

Hammurabi

King, Ruler of Babylonia 1700 BC, he was imperialistic and tyrannical

            Law Code of Hammurabi - example of Legitimation

Narmer

V. Gordon Childe

wrote about the pyramids in Giza and how they were thought to allow the Pharaohs to move between heaven and earth.           

He was supposed to rule after his father but was too young, so his aunt, Hatshepsut ruled for 19 years.  When she finally died and he ruled he delegitimized her tomb at Dier al-Bahri by removing her name from the temple.

Emperor of the Aztec empire at the time of the Spanish conquest.

The Spanish conquistador that came to conquer the Aztecs in the new world

was a Franciscan friar, missionary priest and pioneering ethnographer participating in the Catholic evangelization of colonial New Spain (now Mexico). He was born in what is now Spain in 1499, travelled to New Spain in 1529, and spent more than 50 years interviewing and documenting Aztec beliefs, culture and natural history.

His primary motivation was to evangelize indigenous Mesoamerican peoples. Had three goals in his research: first, to describe and explain ancient Indigenous religion, beliefs, practices, deities.

This was to help friars and others understand their “idolatrous” religion. Second, to create a vocabulary of the Aztec language, Nahuatl. This provides more than definitions from a dictionary, but rather an explanation of their cultural origins, with pictures. This was to help friars and others learn Nahuatl. Third, to record and document the great cultural inheritance of the Indigenous peoples of New Spain.

Dominican Priest

resisted change and wrote about it

Some of the writings became laws.

Wrote Black Legend. 

first Bishop of Chiapas

Thomas Charlton

one of the earliest Colonial archaeologists just died last

year. Looked beyond the Spanish conquest, realized colonies didn’t just stop

functioning, but rather still continued living on.