Unit 1 vocabulary .

Temple Communities

In Mesopotamia, each town and city was believed to be protected by its own, unique deity or god. The temple was the center of worship in every city.

Cities of the Nile Valley

Populations clustered mostly in numerous agricultural villages that traded regularly with their neighbors up and down the river.

The Archaic Period and the Old Kingdom

-The Old Kingdom is the name given to the period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization - the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley (the others being Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom). The term itself was coined by eighteenth-century historians and the distinction between the Old Kingdom and the Early Dynastic Period is not one which would have been recognized by Ancient Egyptians. Not only was the last king of the Early Dynastic Period related to the first two kings of the Old Kingdom, but the 'capital', the royal residence, remained at Ineb-Hedg, the Ancient Egyptian name for Memphis. The basic justification for a separation between the two periods is the revolutionary change in architecture accompanied by the effects on Egyptian society and economy of large-scale building projects. The Old Kingdom is most commonly regarded as the period from the Third Dynasty through to the Sixth Dynasty (2686-2181 BC). Many Egyptologists also include the Memphite Seventh and Eighth Dynasties in the Old Kingdom as a continuation of the administration centralized at Memphis. While the Old Kingdom was a period of internal security and prosperity, it was followed by a period of disunity and relative cultural decline referred to by Egyptologists as the First Intermediate Period.[2] During the Old Kingdom, the king of Egypt (not called the Pharaoh until the New Kingdom) became a living god, who ruled absolutely and could demand the services and wealth of his subjects.[3] The numerous references to the Old Kingdom kings as pharaohs in this article stems from the ubiquitous use of the term "pharaoh" to describe any and all Ancient Egyptian Kings.

Nubian Religious Beliefs

-The most prominant of nubian dieties was the lion god, apedemak and was often depicted with bows and arows. Another was sebiumeker who was the creator god. Nubian peoples did not mummify but they did build pyramids.

Astronomy and Mathmatics

Astronomy: They created a calendar similar to the Mayan's, except they added their own religious days.

Religious Beliefs

Conceptions about the nature of the sacred and supernatural as well as the entities and forces in the supernatural realm

Bronze Metallurgy and Horse- Drawn Chariots

Copper and tin became rare and expensive. Once Bronze was invented ( by joining bother copper and tin together) it helped many ; military began to use bronze swords, spears, axes,shields, and armour. Farmers used bronze knives and bronze-tipped plows.

Social Distinctions

..., caste system -> hereditary, unchangeable social classes, subcaste (jati) created to accommodate a more socially diverse population (foreign peoples could find a role within the caste system), social mobility very difficult not impossible, patriarchal and patrilineal society

Hyksos

A foreign people that invaded Egypt and ended the Middle Kingdom.

Sumer

A group of ancient city-states in southern Mesopotamia; the earliest civilization in Mesopotamia.

Phoenician Trade Networks

The Phoenicians influenced societies throughout the Mediterranean basin because of their maritime trade and communication networks.

Indo-Migrations to the West

One wave of migration took Indo European speakers into Greece after 2000 BCE with their descendants moving into central Italy by 1000 BCE

Sargon of Akkad

Sargon of Akkad, also known as Sargon the Great "the Great King" meaning "the true king" or "the king is was a Semitic Akkadian emperor famous for his conquest of the Sumerian city-states in the 23rd and 22nd centuries BC. The founder of the Dynasty of Akkad, Sargon reigned during the last quarter of the third millennium BC. Cuneiform sources agree that he was cup-bearer (official in charge of wine) of king Ur-Zababa of Kish, and some later historians have speculated that he killed the king and usurped his throne before embarking on the quest to conquer Mesopotamia. He was originally referred to as Sargon I until records concerning an Assyrian king also named Sargon (now usually referred to as Sargon I) were unearthed.

Education

Schools were run by the priests and school was very tough. Only boys could go to school. (If a girl wanted to learn to read and write she had to be taught by her parents) if a student was disobedient they were whipped. The Sumerians believed that you only learned something if the lesson was reinforced with a beating.

Shang Political Organization

Shang rulers also relied on a large corps of political allies. The Shang state rested on the vast network of walled towns whose local rulers recognized the authority of the Shang kings. Shang China included advisors, ministers, craftsmen, and metalsmiths who in their various ways helped Shang rulers shape policy or spread their influence thoughout their realm.

Semitic Migrants

nomadic herders from arabian/syrian deserts who come in to mesopotamia. semitic languages=akkadian, hebrew, phoenecian)

Changing Political Organizations

They began to rely more on agriculture than herding, the Aryans gradually lost the tribal political organization that they had brought into India and evolved more formal political institutions; between 1000 and 500 B.C.E, tribal chiefs worked increasingly from permanent capitals and depended on the services of professional administrators; no imperial states were built;

The Wheel

While some craftsmen used iron and bronze , some preferred transportation based on the wheeled vehicles and sailing ships. The wheel quickly diffused from Sumer to other close lands and then became the standard source for transporting goods.

Sumerian KIng

ancient manuscript listing kings of sumer, from sumer and neighboring dynasties. includes reign lengths and locations of kinship. When cities arose assemblies yielded their power to individuals who possessed full authority during the period of emergency. These rulers gradually usurped the authority of the assemblies and established themselves as monarchs.

Religion and Vedic Society

Samasara & Karma reinforced caste & social heirarch

Political Organization

The Zhou state was much larger than the Shang. it

Bantu Migrations

(1500BCE to 500CE) As the Bantu people migrated, they spread the Bantu family of languages and culture. The Bantu also spread the use of iron, which improved farming techniques and agricultural efficiency, the greater food supply sparked economic development and population growth. The changes instigated by the Bantu migration increased the vitality of sub-Saharan Africa.

Hammurabi and the Babylonian Empire

(1792 B.C.) Babylonians are conquerors of Mesopotamia and Hammurabi appeared to be their leader. They were outsiders; united the Mesopotamian city-states.Also, Wrote the Code of Hammurabi (eye for an eye)

Relations between Egypt and Nubia

..., -Egyptians were wary of strong Nubian kingdoms, but also desired gold, ivory, ebony, and precious stones available only in southern land.Nubia was conquered by Egypt circa 1500 B.C. and was incorporated into its provinces, helping to make up the "New Kingdom" of Egypt. Nubia would eventually rebel under Piye and rule Egypt in part or in whole during the 25th dynasty (760 B.C.-656 B.C.).Nubia's geography was different from Egypt because Nubia had tall cliffs of granite rock and there soil was rockier. -- Nubians language was different from Egyptians;

Fertility Cults

..., ... were also popular in ancient Greece because of the amount of stress placed on women to produce many healthy children

The Revived Kingdom of Kush

..., After Egypt was once again forced out, Nubia formed a new kingdom and invaded Egypt. They ruled for almost a century before being invaded by the Assyrians. What was this kingdom?

Spirituality

..., An awareness of one's inner self and a sense of higher connection to a higher being, nature, or some purpose greater than oneself. (Seeking to find understanding; can be more than just a belief in God.)

Amon and Re

..., Egyptians and Nubians believed that their gods were essential to the world and that they demanded respect. Amon and Re were the primary gods worshipped in Egypt. Originally Amon was associated with the sun and fertility, whereas Re was worshipped as a god of the sun at Heliopolis. Throughout the Old and Middle Kingdoms people started to combine the two gods into one. Eventually, the gods began to be worshipped together in one cult called Amon-Re. In Heliopolis there was a huge temple dedicated to the worship of Amon-Re. During the New Kingdom, some even thought of Amon-Re as a universal god who ruled the entire world. Amon and Re were important because they set up Egypt as a polytheistic community, and also provided an opportunity for people to challenge polytheism with monotheism.

Specialized Labor and Trade

..., Harrappa depended on a successful agricultural economy; They also engaged in trade, (both domestic and foreign), Pottery, tools, and decorative items; the Harappans abtained gold, silver, copper, lead, gems, and some semiprecious stones; They traded with Mesopotamia, exchanging Indian copper, ivory, beads, and semiprecious stones for Sumerian wool, leather, and olive oil.

The Shang Capital at Ao

..., One of the earlist capitals of the Shang Dynasty. Walls of this city stood 10 meters (33 feet) and a width of 20 meters (66 feet) thick.

Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro

..., The Indus River valleys supported a thriving civilization between 3000 B.C. and 1500 B.C. that was based on what two major cities?

The Middle Kingdom

..., The next kingdom after the Old Kingdom. It took power in 2055 B.C. Strong leadership was formed and trade by land and sea was opened up which allowed for much prosperity. Thebes became the capital. The Middle Kingdom fell around 1650 B.C to radiers from Syria called the Hyksos.

The Hyksos

..., The people who invaded Egypt thus beginning the second Intermediate period during which the Hyksos a word meaning "foreigner) ruled as pharaohs in Lower Egypt and exacted tribute from the royal families in Thebes. they had vertical looms, bronze, bows made of bone and wood, as well as horses and chariots also forced egyptians to pay them for protection

The Bantu

..., The tribes which, as early as 3000 B.C.E., began to spread their language and agricultural techniques throughout Africa were the (p. 81)

Aten and Monotheism

..., There was a brief period in time in which there was thought of only one god.

The Yellow River

..., Which River gave birth to 2 neolithic societies known as the Yangshao and the Longshan cultures

Spread of Agriculture

...Migrations was the establishment of agricultures societies throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa. between 1000 and 500 BCE, cultivators extended the cultivation of yams and grains deep into east and south Africa while herders introduced sheep and cattle to the region.By the late centuries BCE agriculture had reached almost all of sub-Saharan Africa except for densely forested regions and deserts.

Merolitic Writing

..The Meroïtic script was used in the Kingdom of Kush, from the 2nd century BCE onwards until the 5th century CE, in an area of the Nile Valley stretching from Philae in Nubia to near Khartoum in Sudan. The form of this script was borrowed from Egyptian, but the way the system worked was quite different..

Hammurabi's Laws

282 laws that were written by Hammurabi. Laws were organized in different categories, including trade, labor, property, and family. The code had laws for adopting children, practicing medicine, hiring wagons or boats, and dangerous animals. The code was essentially governed the people of Babylonia, and helped settle conflicts in all areas of life.

Early Sudanic Agriculture

9000 BCE people of the eastern Sudan domesticated cattle and became nomadic herders, while they continued to collect wild grain. The Sudanic agriculture became increasingly diverse over the following centuries: sheep and goats arrived from the south-west Asia.

Mummification

A process of embalming and drying corpses to prevent them from decaying

Patriarchal Society

A society where the father is the head of the family. Southern families became more patriarchal when families became more secure. This dampened some of the power the female population in the South had.

Indo- European Migrations to the South

A wave of migrations established an Indo European presence in Iran and India. About 1500 BCE the Medes and Persians migrated into the Iranian plateau while the Aryans began filtering into northern India.

Sati

A work that reveals a critical attitude toward some element of human behavior by portraying it in an extreme way.

Iron and Migration

After 1000 BCE the pace of Bantu migrations quickened as Bantu peoples began to produce iron tools and weapons. Iron tools enabled Bantu cultivators to clear land and expand the zone of agriculture more effectively than before while iron weapons strenghthened the hand of Bantu group against adversaries and competitors for lands or other resources.

Horses

Animal introduced by Europeans that transformed the Indian way of life on the Great Plains.

Menes

An Egyptian leader that united both upper and lower Egypt into one kingdom

Hieroglyphic Writing

An ancient form of Egyptian writing, more stylized than pictograms but not based on an alphabet.

Cuneiform Writing

An early form of writing with wedge-shaped characters; impressed into wet clay with a stylus, used by the ancient Mesopotamian's. Once the clay was dry it was a permanent record of the Scribes message.

The Epic of Gilgamesh

An epic poem from Mesopotamia,about a traveler and his quest for immortality. This poem is among the earliest surviving works of literature.

Indo-EuropeanLanguages

Ancient languages displaying Sanskrit, Old Persian, Greek and Latin. Modern descendants of these languages include Hindi, and other languages of northern India, Farsi and most European languages, excepting only a few. Because of the geographic regions where the tongues are found, scholars refer to them as Indo Eurpoenean langauages.

Aryan Migrations in India

Aryan groups settled in the Punjab the upper Indus River valley that straddles the modern day border between northern India and Pakistan. Aryan migrants spread east and south and established communities throughout much of the Indian subcontinent.

Ritual Sacrifices

Aryans practiced ritual sacrifices that involved slaughter of animals, chants, and hallucinogenic concoctions that produced sensations of power and divine inspiration.

Assyrian and Babylonian Conquests

Assyrians replaced by Babylonians, but practiced deportation of newly conquered people. Josiah was an important figure between the transition of the two empires, and based reform from laws of Deuteronomy. The Babylonian exile displaced not only upper classes of Jewish society, but anyone who might pose an immediate threat to rule of Babylon. It also represents a decisive change where the Judeans not only survived in the exile, but reconstructed their faith.

Brahaman, the Universal Soul

Brahman is an eternal unchanging permanent foundation for all things that exist hence the only genuine reality.

Shipbuilding

By the first millennium BCE merchant ships had adapted to react to any possible enemy attack by placing iron on the front of the boats. By the second millennium BCE merchant ships were broad-beamed crafters, which enabled them to have a large cargo space.

Climate Change

Change in the statistical properties of the climate system when considered over periods of decades.

Alphabetic Writing

Each symbol, ideally, represents one specific phoneme.

The Early Hebrews

Earliest Hebrews were pastoral nomads who inhabited lands between Mesopotamia and Egypt during the second millennium., According to Hebrew scripture, Abraham migrated to northern Mesopotamia ca. 1850 BCE.

The New Kindom

Expansion period northward (Present day Israel) and east (as far as Euphrates) Nubia traded with Kush and punt.

The Indus River

Flows east and west into the the arabian sea.

Moses and Monotheism

Freud claimed that Moses was an Egyptian outsider who, for reasons of his own, led the Jews out of bondage and tried to organize them around a set of laws that would keep them out of trouble.

Nebuchadneezar and the New Babylonian Empire

From 600 to 550 B.C.E., Babylon once again dominated Mesopotamia during the New Babylonian empire, sometimes called the Chaldean Empire. King Nebuchadnezzar (reigned 605-562 B.C.E.) lavished wealth and resources on his capital city. Babylon occupied some 850 hectares (more than 2100 acres) and the city's defensive walls were reportedly so thick that a four-horse chariot could turn around on top of them. By the mid-sixth century B.C.E. Mesoptamians largely lost control of their affairs, as foreign conquerors absorbed them into their own empires.

Indo-European Migrations to East

Group of seminomadic people who, about 1700 B.C., began to migrate from what is now southern Russia to the Indian subcontinent, Europe, & Southwest Asia.

Migrations and Settlement in Palestine

Hebres migrated from Palestine to Egypt during the 18th century B.C.E. About 1300 B.C.E. this branch of the Hebrews departed under the leadership of Moses and went to Palestine. Organized into a loose federation of twelve tribes, these Hebrews, known as the Israelites, fought bitterlywith other inhabitants of Palestine and carved out a territory for themselves.

Iron Meatallurgy

Hittities produced effective weapons cheaply and in large quantities.

The Upanishads

Means "to seat near". Sacred texts that explain the ideas within the Vedas. They use stories, parables, and poems to help the common people understand the "truths" contained within the Vedas.

Trade Networks

Mesopotamia was a region that didn't have many natural resources so they traded with neighboring countries . They exported Grain, oils and textiles . Merchants used several different methods for transporting their goods

The Early Phoenicians

North of the Israelites kingdom in Palestine the Phoenicians occupied a narrow coastal plain between the Mediterranean Sea and the Lebanon Mountains. They spoke a Semitic language referring to themselves as Canaanites and their land as Canaan.

Cult of Osiris

Osiris becomes associated with the Nile, crops, mortality, and immortality after his wife, Isis, gathers his fallen body and allows the gods to restore him to life in the underworld.

Patriachal Society

Patriarchy is a social system in which males are the primary authority figures central to social organization, occupy roles of political leadership, moral authority and control of property, and where fathers hold authority over women and children. It implies the institutions of male rule and entails female subordination. Many patriarchal societies are also patrilineal, meaning that property and title are inherited by the male lineage.

Aryan Gods

Similar to Greek and Persian gods: Agni- fire, Indra- thunderbolt/war, Rudra- archer who spread disaster, Varuna- order of universe, Ushas, gentle goddess of dawn. Core of religion was sacrifice.

Slaves

Slaves came from 3 main sources: prisonersof war, convicted criminals and heavily indebted individuals who sold themselves into slavery in order to satisfy their obligations. Some slaves worked as agricultural laborers on the estatesof nobles ortemple communitiesm, but most were domestic servants in wealthy households.

Social Classes

Social classes were mainly depending on your wealth. Main two were Priest and nobles. the ruling classes consisted of kings and nobles who won their positions because of their success as warriors. Nobles were mostly members of royal families and close supporters of the king.

Harappan Decline

Sometime after 1900 B.C.E., Harrapan society entered a period of decline. One cause was ecological degradation: Harappans deforested the Indus valley to clear land for cultivation and to obtain firewood. Deforestation led to erosion of topsoil and also reduced amounts of rainfall.

Yangshao Society and Banpo Village

The Banpo was a neolithic village that was part of the Yangshao Society.

Political Organazation

The Harappan cities were economics and political centers for their own regions. Harappan and Mohenjo daro were especially prominant in Harappan society even if they did not dominate the Indus valley politically or militarily.

War Chariots

The Hitties improved the heavy Summerian chariot. They created a lighter chariot that was more maneuverable and speedy by using wheels with spokes in 200 BCE.

The Hittiites

The Hittites were an ancient Anatolian people who established an empire at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia around 1600 BC. This empire reached its height during the mid-14th century BC under Suppiluliuma I, when it encompassed an area that included most of Asia Minor as well as parts of the northern Levant and Upper Mesopotamia. After c. 1180 BC, the empire came to an end during the Bronze Age collapse, splintering into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some of which survived until the 8th century BC. The Hittite language was a member of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. They referred to their native land as Hatti. The conventional name "Hittites" is due to their initial identification with the Biblical Hittites in 19th century archaeology. Despite the use of Hatti for their core territory, the Hittites should be distinguished from the Hattians, an earlier people who inhabited the same region (until the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC) and spoke a language possibly in the Northwest Caucasian languages group known as Hattic

Indo-European Homeland

The Homeland was from the Ukraine/Belarus northern area, around the Black Sea.The Southern part, near the Mediterranean Sea such as Bulgaria, Italy, and Greece were subjected to three waves of Indo-European expansion. Around 2500 -2300 B.C. the Indo-Europeans spread to the British Isles. Areas such as Portugaul, Spain, France, and Iceland, and some of Russia had not been infiltrated by 2300 B.C.

The Vedos

The Vedas are considered the earliest literary record of Indo-Aryan civilization, and the most sacred books of India. They are the original scriptures of Hindu teachings, and contain spiritual knowledge encompassing all aspects of our life. Vedic literature with its philosophical maxims has stood the test of time and is the highest religious authority for all sections of Hindus in particular and for mankind in general.

The Vedic Age

The Vedic Age was a period from about 1500BC-600BC during which the oldest scripts of Hinduism were composted- the Vedas. The people of this age excelled in farming and herding, eventually settling down as farmers when the population grew. This age formed a platform for the rise of Hindu principles, and contributed to Indian philosophy and literature.

The Xia Dynasty

The Xia dynasty made one of the first efforts to organize public life in China on a large scale. The Xia dynasty is the first dynasty in China to be described in ancient historical chronicles such as Bamboo Annals, Classic of History and Records of the Grand Historian. The dynasty was established by the legendary Yu the Great after Shun, the last of the Five Emperors, gave his throne to him. The Xia was later succeeded by the Shang dynasty. According to the traditional chronology based upon calculations by Liu Xin, the Xia ruled between 2205 and 1766 BC; according to the chronology based upon the Bamboo Annals, it ruled between 1989 and 1558 BC. The Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project concluded that the Xia existed between 2070 and 1600 BC. The tradition of tracing Chinese political history from heroic early emperors to the Xia to succeeding dynasties comes from the idea of the Mandate of Heaven, in which only one legitimate dynasty can exist at any given time, and was promoted by the Confucian school in the Eastern Zhou period, later becoming the basic position of imperial historiography and ideology.

Caste and Varna

The ancient culture of India was based upon a system of social diversification according to spiritual development. Four orders of society were recognized based upon the four main goals of human beings and established society accordingly. These four groups were the Brahmins, the priests or spiritual class; the Kshatriya, the nobility or ruling class; the Vaishya, the merchants and farmers; and the Shudras or servants.

The Nature Of Indo-European Migrations

The earliest Indo European society began to break up about 3000 BCE as migrants took their horses and other animals and made their way to new lands. These were not mass migrations so much as gradual and incremental processes that resulted in the spread of Indo European langauges and ethics communites as small groups of people established settlements in new lands which then became foundations for furtherexpansion.

Sumerian City-States

The earliest known people of the Fertile Crescent were the Sumerians. About 4000 B.C. they lived in southern Mesopotamia in a number of independent city-states. Each consisted of a small city and its surrounding area

The Early Jewish Community

The exiles who returned to Judea after the Babylonian conquest did not abandon hope for a state of thier own, and indeed they organized several small Jewish states as B.C.E. But the returnees also built a distinctive religious community basedon their conviction that they had a special relationship with Yahweh, their devotion to Yahweh's teachings as expressed in the Torah and their concern for justice and right eousness.

The Nile River Valley

The fertile land located on both sides of the Nile River in Africa; sight of one of the earliest civilizations. (Egypt)

The Assyrian Empire

The later Mesopotamian people around 1000BCE that built a large empire based on a powerful army with iron weapons and made extensive use of terror . Mainly based near the Tigris River and was a dominant force throughout the Near East for three hundred years .

Transportation

The process by which passengers or goods are moved or delivered from one place to another.

Social Distinctions in the Late Vedic Age

There was a defined hierarchy between wealth and poverty. Planters ruled the regions economy and monopolized political power. Ruled mostly by "first families of Virginia". Landowners, small farmers, landless whites, indentured servants, slaves

Early Agriculture in the Nile Valley

There were a lot of cultivated crops, but not as many animals as the River Valley civilizations. They couldn't domesticate large animals because the ones in the Americas were not able. Without the presence of work animals, most of the labor was done by humans.

The Early Aryans

They depended much on heavily on a pastoral economy; They kept sheep and goats; they prized their horses and herds of cattle; Horses were very valuable because they did not breed well in India; The Aryans consumed both dairy and beef cattle was not sacred; cattle was often used to determine price calcualtions.

egyptian imperialism

Used to prevent invasions- pharaohs looked for threats to extinguish.

The Lapita People

e. were the earliest Austronesian migrants to establish human settlements in the Pacific Ocean.

The Lawbook of Manu

manual that dealt with the place of proper moral behavior and social relationships, as well as sexual and gender relationships and their place in Vedic Society; reflects the ideals of the time

Teachings of the Upanishads

samsara: upon death, ind. souls go temp. to World of the Fathers and then return to earth in a new incarnation. karma: accounted for the specifi

Caste and Social Mobiltiy

the caste system never functioned in an absolutely rigid or inflexible manner but, rather, operated so as to accommodate social change; if the system lacked the the capacity to change and reflect new social conditions, it would have disappeared; vaishyas or shudras occasionally turned to new lines of work and prospered on the basis of their initiative, for example, and individual Brahmins or kshatryas sometimes fell on hard times, lost their positions of honor, and moved down in the social hierarchy; the possibility of improving individual or group status helped to dissipate tensions that otherwise might have severely tested in Indian society; the caste system also enabled foreign people to find a place in Indian society; caste distinctions had become central institutions in Aryan India; Individuals had often identified more closely with their jati than with their cities or states, and castes have played a large role in maintain social discipline in India.

Subcastes and jati

the four varnas described Vedic society reasonably well; they did not live in cities and did not yet pursue many specialized occupations; their offspring joined them in occupation and jati membership; Occupation largely determined an individual's jati: people working at the same or similar tasks in a given area belonged to the same subcaste; Brahmins alone divided themselves into some 1,800 jati, even the untouchables belonged to the jati; Castes and subcastes deeply influenced the lives of individual Indians through much of history; Violations of jati rules could results in expulsion from the larger group; the penalty was serious, since an outcaste individual could not function well and sometimes could not even survive when shunned by all the members of the larger society.

Women's Roles

women were not considered equal to men. They had some rights but not all rights. They were not allowed a say in the government or assembly.