World History

cuneiform

Sumerian writing made by pressing a wedge-shaped tool into clay tablets

Nebuchadnezzar

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

ziggurat

a large temple located in the centers of ancient Sumerian cities. dedicated to the God

Naram-Sin

(ca. 2,190 - 2,154 B.C.E.) grandson of Sargon, ruled Akkad

pontoon

(nautical) a floating structure (as a flat-bottomed boat) that serves as a dock or to support a bridge

Anatolia

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Mursalis

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Sumerian "Revival"

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capped ram

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Old Kingdom

2700 BC - 2200 BC. Upper and Lower Egypt kept separate kingdoms, but later built unified government. Developed basic features of its civilization. BUILT THE PYRAMIDS: an eternal resting place for their god-kings.

Ur

A city of ancient Sumer in southern Mesopotamia on a site in present-day southeast Iraq. One of the oldest cities in Mesopotamia, it was an important center of Sumerian culture after c. 3000 B.C. and the birthplace of Abraham.

code of Hammurabi

A collection of 282 laws which were enforced under Hammurabi's Rule. One of the first examples of written law in the ancient civilizations.

Royal Road

A road for the government use built by the ancient Persian ruler Darius which helped unite the empire

siege tower

A tower that was built higher than the enemies walls, and was wheeled on logs.

Hamurabi

Babylonian ruler, conquered Sumer and Akkad in Mesopotamia, made a law code of 282 laws, 1792 BCE=start of rule,

Persians

Conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. Cyrus captured Babylon Asia Minor to Western India 20 provinces Depended on military (Immortals) Zoroastrianism Fell in 330s B.C.

Cyrus the Great

Established massive Persian Empire by 550 B.C.E.; successor state to Mesopotamian empires., c. 530 B.C.E. A Persian ruler who captured Babylon. He was known for his mercy. He was tolerant of other religions and culture, and even incorporated different architectural styles into his buildings.

Hattusas

Hittite capital, founded by Hattusilis I in the 16th century

Hattusalis

Hittite religious reformer

Narmer

King of Upper Egypt who united Upper and Lower Egypt, King of Upper Egypt about 3000 BC. Conquered lower Egypt and set up first government that ruled all Egypt. Built captial at Memphis. First Egyptian dynasty.

Menes

King who united upper and lower Egypt, Legendary Egyptian ruler, he unified The kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt and built the new capital city of Memphis

Nile

Longest river, flows north, fertile land around it due to flooding in Egypt

Ahura-Mazda

Main god of Zoroastrianism who represented truth and goodness and was perceived to be in an eternal struggle with the malign spirit Angra Mainyu.

Semites

Nomadic people speaking the same language mostly from the middle east, like the Arabs, Aramaeans, Assyrians, Babylonians, Chaldeans, Sabaeans, and Hebrews, etc.

scribe

One of the professional record keepers in early civilizations

Indo-European

People from around the the Black Sea and the Caspian sea; Between 2500 and 2000 BC, they migrated all over Eurasia; known as Hittites or Aryans, became ancestors of Romans and Greeks

Djoser

Pharoh who had the first pyramid built for him

Gudea of Lagash

Southern Mesopotamian ruler of Lagash who built many temples. He was famous for receiving an assignment from the gods to build a temple and was given the plans how to do it.

Enki

Sumerian god; "lord of Earth." he ruled the groundwater beneath the soil. Also god of wisdom and magic, instructing humankind in arts and crafts.

Inanna

Summeria goddess of heaven, love and war; with Dumuzi, she is the other half of the Mesopotamian cycle-of-nature myth.

Mithras

The Persian god embodying the ancient spirit of light of Mithraism, a Persian religion popular in the Roman Empire that exalted fraternity and loyalty, appealing to soldiers.

Sumeria (Sumer)

The first civilization in Mesopotamia, introduced city-states. First to use cuneiform, and advanced the general knowledge of mankind. 3000BC to 2331BC

Darius

The great king of Persia. He was able to become a king after a year of a civil war following the death of someone. He is responsible for the expansion of Persia. He made a province in western India and expanded Persia as far north as Macedonia

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.

Babylon

The largest and most important city in Mesopotamia. It achieved particular eminence as the capital of the Amorite king Hammurabi in the eighteenth century B.C.E. and the Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in the sixth century B.C.E. (p. 29)

Marduk

The main state god of the Babylonians during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. It was to his temple in the city of Babylon that the Temple furnishings and vessels from the Temple of Solomon were carried following the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem in 587 B.C.

Epic of Gilgamesh

The most famous piece of Mesopotamian literature. Sumerian in origin but written in Akkadian, it is the story of the Uruk King Gilgamesh and Enkidu, their adventures, and the search for everlasting life.

Chaldeans

The new Babylonians, their king was king Nebuchadnezzar, they burned Nineveh and were a combined army with the Medes

Amorites

The old Babylonians, they were a people the ended the Sumerian Civilization and created a new empire.

Mesopotamia

The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; birthplace of the Sumerian and Babylonian Civilizations.

Zoroaster

a Persian prophet, lived around 600 B.C. taught that the earth is a battleground where a great struggle if fought between the spirit of good and the spirit of evil, founder of Zoroasterianism

Medes

a Southwest Asian people who helped to destroy the Assyrian empire

city-state

a city and its surrounding lands functioning as an independent political unit

Akkad

a city-state in northern Mesopotamia, the ruler of which conquered all the city-states of Mesopotamia and formed the world's first empire of Sargon

Pankus

a general assembly

Assyria

a major ancient near Eastern empire, located in Mesopotamia, which dominated Israel and the entire region from the ninth through the seventh centuries B.C.

Ashur

an ancient Assyrian city on the Tigris and traditional capital of Assyria;chief god of the Assyrians EX. god of military prowess and empire; identified with Babylonian Anshar

Uruk

an ancient Sumerian city in Southern Iraq, near the Euphrates, important before 2000 b.c. : exclusive archaeological excavations, notably of a ziggurat and of tablets with very early Sumerian script. home of Gilgams

Ur

an ancient city of Sumer located on a former channel of the Euphrates River

Egypt

an ancient empire west of Israel

sapping

digging a hole under a castle's curtain wall to sneak in

Ten Thousand Immortals

group of elite persian soldiers who helped darius take throne in 522 B.C.

Sennacherib

king of Assyria who invaded Judea twice and defeated Babylon and rebuilt Nineveh after it had been destroyed by Babylonians (died in 681 BC)

Sargon

leader of the Akkadians, overran the sumerian city-states and set up the first empire in world history

scale mail

metal scales (like fish scales) attached to a garment for protection

satrap

official who ruled a state in the Persian Empire under Darius

Enlil

one of the most important gods in the Mesopotamian pantheon; supreme lord; in the Mesopotamian flood myths, it is he who wishes to destroy humanity

Xerxes

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

irrigation

supplying land with water through a network of canals

Ishtar

the daughter of Anu, who offers herself to Gilgamesh after he kills Humbaba and is rejected, to get revenge she begs her father to unleash the Bull of Heaven to destroy Gilgamesh and Uruk. Godness of love , fertility and war

Imhotep

the greatest administrative offical

Saqqara

the location of the stepped pyramid, the earliest pyramid constructed in Egypt. USed later as a sacred burial area.

tigris

the north-eastern of the two Mesopotamian rivers

Euphrates

the south-western of the two Mesopotamian rivers

Ahriman

the spirit of evil in Zoroastrianism