| Term | Definition |
|---|
| city-states | self-governing cities, such as those of ancient Greece |
| polis | Greek city-state |
| acropolis | Greek polis built around a fort on a high hill |
| agora | marketplace of Greek city that was used for economic, religious, and political activities |
| aristocrats | small group of wealthy landowners |
| oligarchy | government in which power lies in the hands of the people's support |
| democracy | a political system in which a country's people elect their leaders and rule by majority |
| citizenship | the right to participate in government |
| league | an alliance of state joined together for protection |
| Hellinistic | Greek-like |
| republic | government in which voters elect leaders to run the state |
| patricians | the heads of a smaller number of Roman aristocratic families |
| plebeians | common people who took part in Roman government |
| consuls | Roman magistrates who ran the government and commanded the army |
| forum | public gathering place in Roman society |
| dictator | person who rules a country with complete authority |
| empire | a sustem in which a central power controls a number of territories |
| Pax Romana | peaceful time in Roman history that lasted more than 2oo years |
| disciples | small group of followers |
| gladiators | slaves in the Roman empire who fought to death as entertainment |
| aqueduct | artificial channels for carrying water |
| medieval | refers to period from collapse of the Roman empire to about 1500 |
| feudalism | a system after the 1900's under which most of Europe was organized and governed by local leaders based on land and service. |
| nobles | people who were born into wealthy powerful families |
| fief | a grand of land |
| vassals | people who held land from a fuedal lord and recieved protection in return for service to the lord, usually in battle |
| knight | a noble man who serves a a professional warrior |
| chivalry | a code of behavior including braveness, fairness, loyalty and integrity |
| manors | large farm estates of the Middle Ages that were owned by nobles who ruled over the peasants living in the land |
| serfs | people who were bound to the land and worked for the lord |
| clergy | officials of the church, including the priests, bishops and the pope |
| cathedral | huge churches sometimes decorated with elaborate stained class windows |
| crusades | a long series of battles starting in 1096 between Christians of Europe and the Muslums to gain control of Palestine |
| Middle Class | class of skilled workers between the upper class and the poor unskilled workers |
| vernacular | everyday speech which varies from place to place |
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