Early+Civilizations+-+Key+Terms

Early Civilizations - Key Terms: Once you have compiled your list of important terms for your topic, please post them on this page.

Be sure to include your civilization at the top of your list!

**__Sumerians__**:

**cuneiform** - the earliest known written language that involved using a stylus to create wedge-shaped pictographs to represent words **Gilgamesh**- an epic piece of literature relating the story of a Sumerian king and his quest for everlasting life; some tales mirror biblical stories (the Flood) **theocracy** - a form of government in which the political leader also controls religious matters **ziggurat** - a multi-tiered monument built to house shrines to the various Sumerian deities

__ Hittites __

Indo-European: Language spoken by Hittites that Includes English, German, Greek, Latin, Persian, and the languages of India.

Pankus: Assembly of noblemen that monitored the king's activities in relation to laws and had the power to remove and install kings.

Hattusas: Hati Capital

Teshub:Hittites Supreme deity known as the Storm God.

__Phoenicians:__ Carthage- a political power Sardinia cyprus- a name from a kingdom considered of being where the thrones of the kinds are cuneiforms- symbols/ letters in clay tablets used for writing or communicating Gibraltar- a location Lberian Peninsula, It is the British overseas territory.

__Hebrew__ <span style="color: #096868; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">__Monotheism-__ Religion that worships one God/godly being, not multiple. <span style="color: #096868; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">__David__- One of the most successful rulers of Israel. He conquered nations surrounding the Israeli civilization. <span style="color: #096868; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">__Solomon__- David's son. He was an extremely intelligent and peaceful ruler of Israel. He worked on many building projects within Israel. However, his ideas led to overspending and the Israelites demanded he lose his position as king.

__ Persian Empire __

__Darius I__ - Third king of the empire (522-486). Brought Persia to its peak in stability, territory, and power. __Garrison__ - Group of troops stationed in a strategic location for a specific/key use. __Babylonian Captivity__ - The third enslavement of the Jews in Babylon. Cyrus II of Persia releases them during his defeat of Babylon in 530. Jews are returned to Israel and allowed to rebuild the temple. __Zoroastrianism__ - The official religion of the Persian Empire. Life is a constant struggle between good and evil, but everyone must do good in order to triumph. Influences of modern-day concepts of Heaven and Hell. __Polytheism__ - Belief in more than one god.

<span style="color: #096868; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">__Abbasid__ <span style="color: #096868; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">__Caliph__- A religious leader in the Abbasid civilization <span style="color: #096868; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">__Harun al-Rashid__- considered the greatest caliph of the Abbasid golden age <span style="color: #096868; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">__al-Abbas__- the paternal uncle of Muhammad where the Abbasids derived their name <span style="color: #096868; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">__al-Razi__- a great doctor who made vast advancements in the fields of medicine <span style="color: #096868; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">__Omar Kayyam__- developed an accurate calendar and wrote the poem //The Rubaiyat// <span style="color: #096868; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">__Mawali__-Foreigners who converted to Islam

__Harappan:__

Mohenjo-Daro- the second largest city of the Harappan civilization Shiva Lingam- a greatly worshiped Hindu god similar to a highly depicted Harappan god Pashupati- god known as the lord of the cattle, depicted as a three faced being covered in bands and surrounded by animals Tidal dock- docks for boats that raise and lower with the tides t keep boats above the water Proto-dentistry- the use of flint drill heads to drill teeth in ancient times

__<span style="color: #ee2a20; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Aryans: __

<span style="color: #ee2a20; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Polytheistic - Belief or Worship of more than one god. <span style="color: #ee2a20; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Indus Valley - A valley located in current day Pakistan and Northwestern India <span style="color: #ee2a20; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Sanskrit - An ancient Indian language that is the language of Hinduism <span style="color: #ee2a20; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Soma - A hallucinogenic beverage used as an offering to various Hindu gods

Maurya Pataliputra - The capital of the Mauryan Capital. Stupas - Shrines that have remains of Buddha. Sultans - Rulers. King Chandragupta - The guy that founded the Mauryan Empire. Bindusara - The son of Kind Chandragupta Ashoka - The grandson of Kind Chandraputa.


 * Gupta Civilization**

__Chandragupta II__- a ruler of the Gupta empire who is accredited for being the driving force behind accelerating and expanding cultural and artistic development. __Gupta Golden Age__-a period of Indian history that is characterized by achievements in the arts, literature, mathematics, and science fields, which helped to create a flourishing economy __Aryabhatta__-a famous mathematician and scientist who developed the concept of zero, the 9-digits we still use today, and the decimal system. __Shakuntala__- a drama written by Kalidasa that is about a king and the daughter of the river goddess, Shakuntala, who fall in love, are separated, and later reunited. __Metallurgy__-the study of metals and their reactions with other elemental influences. __Huns__-a nomadic group from Central Asia that launched waves of invasions into Gupta, which later resulted in the eventual decline of the civilization. __Ajanta Caves-__ Buddhist cave monuments that illustrated their religion, skill, and other characteristics.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff9200; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Shang Daynasty <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff9200; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">__ideographs__: symbols to express love, joy, excitement, etc. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff9200; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">__Oracle Bones:__ priest that consult their ancestors by writing on bones some important question, then they would heat up the bones and tell by the cracks. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff9200; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">__oracle scripts:__ records on astronomy and solar and lunar eclipses. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff9200; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">__bronze vessels:__ were used for drinking in ritual ceremonies

Mandate of Heaven- Showed how the power went from one civilization to the next civilization Tian- Worship of the heaven, helped universe to function. Confusion-Stressed values, children respected parents, humanity, importance of ritual.
 * __<span style="color: #096868; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Zhous __**

<span style="color: #096868; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Qin <span style="color: #096868; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Qin Shi Huangdi- Ruler of the Qin city state who took over neighboring city states and united them. <span style="color: #096868; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Qin Shi Huangdi- Means First emperor <span style="color: #096868; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Banned confusian ideas and practices <span style="color: #096868; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Legalistic government <span style="color: #096868; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Built the Tera Cotta Warriors

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #7cbb9f; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Han Dynasty <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #7cbb9f; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">__Liu Bang__-founder of the Han Dynasty <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #7cbb9f; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">__Confucianism__- Philosophies that originated from Confucius on how to live life, <span style="color: #7cbb9f; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">sometimes used, although arguably, as a religion. <span style="color: #7cbb9f; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">__Seismograph__-device that monitors seismic (earthquake) activity. <span style="color: #7cbb9f; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">__The Silk Road__- trade route that connected the Roman Empire to the Chinese

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">__**Mongols:**__

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> __Ghengis Khan__ - Means "world emperor" - A man who united the fighting Mongolian clans and started the Mongolian conquest of Asia and Europe. His real name was Temujin. <span style="color: #800080; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">__Kublai Khan__ - Ghengis's grandson - Finished the conquest of China and established a government in the massive empire. <span style="color: #800080; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">__Yuan Dynasty__(1279 - 1368) - The period of Mongolian rule of Asia and Europe

__<span style="color: #7a7a06; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Yamato __

<span style="color: #7a7a06; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Shintoism- religion originally created by Yamato civilization; polytheistic religion <span style="color: #7a7a06; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Nintoku Tomb- Biggest burial mound in the world. Built for emperor Nintoku one of the first emperors of Japan <span style="color: #7a7a06; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Amaterasu- The sun-goddess in shinto belief. She is the main god of worship in this religion <span style="color: #7a7a06; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Uji- Noble clans of Yamato civilization. Each clan was given a single responsibilty or task ex. farming, warriors, or merchants <span style="color: #7a7a06; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Prince Shotoku- prince of Japan who personally traveled to China to learn about their beliefs and brought them back to Japan to promote Chinese ideas <span style="color: #7a7a06; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Kami- spiritual entities or dieties which are the focus of Shinto worship

Heian
kana - Japanese syllabaries used mostly by Japanese women of the time period. They are easily dechipered today yamato-e- Japanese painting style used to depict native scenes or illustrate native literature monogatari- narrative tales nikki- diaries shogun- military generals samurai- warriors loyal to their warlord.

**Kamakura**

__Nichiren__- A japanese buddhist monk. __Fief__- Land. __Fuedal Government-__ Lords, Vassals, Fiefs. A lord is a person of higher authority or power. The lords owned the land and would give the Vassals, or samurai, land as a wage for their work. The samurai would then have the people of lower social status work on their land. __Kamikaze-__ Divine wind. __Shogunate__- A ruler of the shogun. __Gokenin-__ Samurai that worked for Yoritomo Minamoto. __Yoritomo Minamoto__- Founder of Kamakura.

__ Ko r ea __


 * __ Buddhism __** is a religion indigenous to the Indian subcontinent that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs, and practices largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, who is commonly known as the Buddha


 * __ Celadon __** is a term for ceramics denoting both a type of glaze and a ware of celadon.


 * __ Confucianism __** A system of philosophical and ethical teachings founded by Confucius and developed by Mencius.