Humanities I - Exam 1 - Borucki at PBA

Minoan, Knossos (on Crete)

"Minoan Civilization" on the island of Crete came to dominate the region. Knossos became a palace-based city.

Socrates

(469-399 B.C.) Made clear he's not a Sophist - did believe in absolute truths that went beyond individual perceptions. He wanted individuals to think about important abstract values and concepts and how we can define them, such as truth, love, beauty, justice. He was executed by the polis in 399 B.C. largely due to popular negative perceptions of him

Peisastratos

(561-527 B.C.) Tyrant like King that commissioned building projects and started annual dramatic festivals which gave common men more of a feeling of participation in the society.

Agamemnon

(Greek mythology) King of Mycenae who lead the Greeks against Troy in the Trojan War

Sinuhe

(Middle Kingdom) court official; fled Egypt; lived in exile in Syria for years; eventually welcomed home by Pharaoh; restored to a position as court official; began arrangements for afterlife

Hippocrates

(c. 460-370 B.C.) tried to find the source of disease; he theorized the body is made up of four fundamental fluids or "humours": blood, phlegm, black bile, yellow bile - disease comes from when these fluids are out of equilibrium in the body.

Democritus

(c. 460-370 BC) theorized that all matter could be broken down into small particles ("atomism").

Euripides

(c. 480-406 B.C.) -- said to have won four of the annual competitions - 18 of 95 plays remain intact : Medea perhaps his best known.

Aeschylus

(c. 525- 456 B.C.) said to have written about 90 plays; only 7 survive in their entirety - Oresteia is his sole remaining trilogy - won thirteen of the annual competitions - had introduced second actor and set chorus at 12 prior to Sophocles' peak

Thales

(c. 570-495 BC) believed all natural phenomena could be explained with mathematical formulas.

Sophocles

(c.497-406 B.C.) - reportedly wrote over 120 plays - won twenty-four of the annual competitions - only 7 complete scripts survive. His "Theban Trilogy" is most famous: Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonnus. Introduced three actors; set chorus at 15

Archaic Age

750-550 BCE, formation of city states, return of art and culture, new forms of government

Nebuchadnezzar

A Babylonian king who conquered Jerusalem, and built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Pythagoras

A Greek philosopher and mathematician, this man was credited with the discovery that numbers are useful for more than counting physical things.

Judah

A Hebrew kingdom in Palestine, established around 922 B.C. Formed after division of Israel leaving two tribes.

agora

A central marketplace, a place for exchanging ideas as well as goods in ancient Greece

Sumer

A group of ancient city-states in southern Mesopotamia; the earliest civilization in Mesopotamia. Contained 30-40 cities

Hoplites

A heavily armed foot soldier of ancient Greece.

Sophists

A major group of philosophers emerged particularly around Athens in the early Classical Age. They were teachers of rhetoric, who asked the questions: "How can philosophy serve the state?"

Spartans

A military state, with no high culture, suspicious of outsiders. In the mid-700s B.C., they went to war with its western neighbors, the Messenians, and made them conquered slaves (helots)

Hyksos

A pastoral group of unknown ethnicity that invaded Egypt and ruled in the north from 1650 to 1535 BCE. Their dominance was based on their use of horses, chariots, and bronze technology

Ziggurats

A pyramidal temple structure consisting of successive platforms with outside staircases and a shrine at the top.

Mesopotamia

A region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that developed the first urban societies. In the Bronze Age this area included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires, In the Iron Age, it was ruled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires.

Tigris

A river in Mesopotamia that flows through the EASTERN part of the Fertile Crescent

Euphrates

A river in Mesopotamia that flows through the SOUTHERN part of the Fertile Crescent.

Persian Wars

A series of wars between the Greeks (mainly Athens) and the Persians in which the Greeks were usually victorious.

tragedy

A serious form of (originally Greek) drama dealing with the downfall of a heroic or noble character

contrapposto

A term used to describe the weight-shift stance developed by the ancient Greeks in which the sculpted figure seems to twist around its axis as a result of balancing the body over one supporting leg

cuneiform

A writing system composed of wedge shaped characters.

Mycenaean

An Indo-European people who settled on the Greek mainland around 2000 B.C.

hieroglyphics

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

Linear A

An undeciphered writing system used in Crete in the 17th century B.C., Minoa's first written language; has not been translated.

Magna Graecia

Areas in southern italy where many colonies were established.

Draco

Athenian lawmaker whose code of laws prescribed death for almost every offense (circa 7th century BC)

Solon

Athenian reformer of the 6th century; established laws that eased the burden of debt on farmers, forbade enslavement for debt

triremes

Athenian ships that are long and narrow and built to ram other ships

helots (Messenians)

Conquered Messenian slaves of Sparta

neo-Babylonians

Conquered the Assyrians. Second wave of Babylonian rule. They were led by Nebuchadnezzar II, who diffused culture, causing a golden age.

Gerousia

Council of Elders in Sparta, 60+ yrs of age, chosen for life by assembly, included 2 kings, 28 others

Akhenaten

Egyptian pharaoh (r. 1353-1335 B.C.E.). He built a new capital at Amarna, fostered a new style of naturalistic art, and created a religious revolution by imposing worship of the sun-disk.

Pericles

Famous speech given at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian War as a part of the annual public funeral for the war dead. The speech was a glorification of Athens' achievements, and was designed to stir the spirits of a state still at war. Showed appreciation for democracy and Athenian patriotism.

kouros, kore

Greek sculpture of man/woman during the Archaic Age. Improvements in the art.

Plataea

Greeks rallied to defeat and repulse Xerxes' forces on LAND

Salamis

Greeks rallied to defeat and repulse Xerxes' forces on the SEA

Hammurabi

He designed a legal code in early Babylon that gave punishment based on crime and social status. Relied on the principle of lex talionis.

Odyssey

Homer's epic that tells the story of the Greek hero Odysseus on his way home from the Trojan War

Iliad

Homer's great epic that tells the story of the Trojan War

Dorians

In about 1100 B.C. these people overcame the Mycenaean culture, Greece's earliest culture.

Cleisthenes

Instituted the first Athenian democracy, reorganized the Athenian political system into demes

Marathon

King Darius of Persia attacked Greece in 492 B.C. and was dramatically defeated outside of Athens - Persia was repulsed

Philip of Macedon

King of Macedon who united all of Greece under his leadership; father of Alexander the Great.

Alexander the Great

King of Macedonia who conquered Greece, Egypt, and Persia

Darius

King of Persia that attacked Greece in 492 B.C and started the Persian Wars

Battle of Syracuse

Most devastating defeat for Athens came in second phase of the wars, after the truce of 421 B.C. collapsed, at Battle of Syracuse in Sicily (415-413 B.C.) - Athens lost at least 10,000 men.

Linear B

Mycenaean civilization's (1450 B.C) written language (Name coined by archaeologists)

metics

People from other poleis who could gain voting rights, but only with the passage of many years.

Kassites

People who lived north of Babylon defeated the Hittites after their king was killed by an assassin and captured Babylon and ruled for almost 400 years.

Classical Age

Period marked by Great Achievements, began with the creation of city-states

Oracle at Delphi

Person representing the god Apollo; allegedly received cryptic messages from the god that had predictive value if the seeker could correctly interpret the communication

Plato, Allegory of the Cave

Prisoners who are chained down and can see nothing of their entire lives except for the shadows on the wall of the cave. There would be many side-effects if they were freed from their chains.

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.

Menes

Ruler who united the kingdoms of lower and upper Egypt and created first Egyptian dynasty

David

Second king of Israel. Made Israel flurish

Peloponnesian War

Sparta and its Allies, largely from the Peloponnesus vs. Athens and its Allies. (Athens devastated by plague) War went from 431 - 404 B.C.

ephors

Sparta's panel of five executives were chosen annually by a council of elders (men over 60), the gerousia.

Severe Style

The Early Classical style of Greek sculpture, ca. 480-450 BCE

Delian League

The alliance formed between Athens and Sparta in response to the Persian threat.

Gilgamesh

The fourth king of Uruk, ruling between 2700 & 2500 BCE. Legendary king wrote in a mythical epic.

acropolis

The gerousia passes proposed legislation to the body (of men over 30) for a simple yea or nay vote.

Hittites

The group of people who toppled the Babylonian empire and were responsible for two technological innovations--the war chariots and refinement of iron metallurgy.

Lycurgus

The legendary king that is said to have devised Sparta's system of military education and discipline.

Aristophanes

The most famous comic playwright (c. 446-386 BC) wrote The Clouds in 423 B.C., portraying Socrates in a negative light.

Thirty Tyrants

The puppet government setup by Spartans after Athens was conquered in 404 B.C.

Solomon

The son of David who inherited his kingdom.

High Classical Style

The style in Greek sculpture associated with the ideal physical form and perfected during the zenith of the Athenian Empire, about 450-400 B.C.E

Babylonians

Unified all of Mesopotamia c. 1800 B.C.E.; empire collapsed due to foreign invasion c. 1600 B.C.E.

Thermopylae

a Spartan force wiped out under King Leonidas - the legend of "the 300"

Demes

a political division of Attica in ancient Greece.

oligarchy

a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution.

Israel

an ancient kingdom of the Hebrew tribes at the southeastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. Eight of the tribes stayed after division.

Homer

ancient Greek epic poet who is believed to have written the Iliad and the Odyssey (circa 850 BC)

ostracism

deliberate social exclusion of individuals or groups

Corinthian styles

describes an ornate column style developed in ancient Greece and classified as one of the Classical Orders of Architecture. The Corinthian style is more complex and elaborate than the earlier Doric and Ionic

hubris

excessive pride or arrogance that results in the downfall of the protagonist of a tragedy

Dionysus

god of wine and fertility, early Greek drama's were dedicated to this god

Doric

one of the orders of classical architecture, characterized by a simple and austere column and capital.

Ionian

one of three column styles builders used in ancient Greece. More slender and more ornate than the masculine Doric style. Has scroll-shaped ornaments on the capital, which sits at the top of the column shaft

Nefertiti

queen of Egypt and wife of Akhenaton (14th century BC)

archons

rulers in ancient Athens who served one-year terms

Thespis

said to be among the first tragic actors.

Xerxes

son of Darius; became Persian king. He vowed revenge on the Athenians. He invaded Greece with 180,000 troops in 480 B.C.

Syracuse

the Athenian siege of Syracuse (415-413 BC) was eventually won by Syracuse

anthropomorphism

the attribution of human characteristics or behavior to a god, animal, or object.

Iron Age

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

Bronze Age

the period in ancient human culture when people began to make and use bronze

Akkadians

this civilization included Semitic people living north of Sumeria; conquered city-states of Mesopotamia; first empire in history; established by Sargon the Great

Dark Age

time period when there is no writing present. An example of a Dark Age was when the Dorians moved into the Mycenaean civilization from 1150 and 750 BC. The Dorians were far less advanced and this civilization lost the art of writing for this time.

Assyrians

very harsh people who exploited the use of iron weapons to build their Mesopotamian empire, which lasted less than 100 years. they had a king with absolute power. (700s B.C.)