SAT Subject Test: World History (Early Agricultural Civilizations and Societies)
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60 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Civilization | a culture characterized by advanced cities, specialized workers, complex institutions, a system of writing and advanced technology |
| Mesopotamia | land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers |
| Sumer | a delta of fertile soil |
| Fertile Crescent | land between Mesopotamia and Egypt, where the earliest civilization began |
| City-State | a city and its surrounding territory under the rule of a single government |
| Ziggurat | a multitiered pyramid that served as a temple in Sumer |
| Cuneiform | sumerian system of writing formed by pressing a wedge-shaped stylus into wet clay |
| Polytheism | the worship of many gods |
| Epic of Gilgamesh | the first epic poem, tells about the Great Flood |
| Sargon the Great | united Sumerian city-states |
| Akkadian Empire | spread Sumerian culture throughout the Fertile Crescent |
| Babylonians | overran the land of the unprotected Sumerians |
| Hammurabi | emperor of the Babylonians, enflicted laws of society: women would be punished more harshly than men; the wealthy could pay off bad deeds; an eye for an eye |
| Code of Hammurabi | Babylonian legal code that established governmental responsibility for criminal justice |
| Menes | a King who united Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, considered the first Pharoh, established the first Egyptian dynasty |
| Pharoh | ruler of Egypt |
| Theocracy | government controlled by religious rulers or by a ruler considered divine |
| Great Pyramid of Giza | constructed in The Old Kingdom |
| Grand Canal | dug from the Nile to the Red Sea, promoting trade; built in The Middle Kingdom |
| Hyksos | rulers who invaded and called themselves Pharohs, adopted the culture in The New Kingdom |
| Akhanaton | tried to convert Egypt to monotheism, he failed to have Egypt worship the god Aton |
| Hieroglyphics | an ancient Egyptian picture writing |
| Papyrus | a thin parchment made from weeds that grow on the Nile |
| Rosetta Stone | carved with three different inscriptions, one in Greek, one in a simple form of hieroglyphics and one in regular hieroglyphics |
| Jean Francois Champollion | used his knowledge of Greek to translate the hieroglyphics on the Rosetta Stone |
| Queen Ahhotep | helped defeat the Hyksos |
| Hatshepsut | named herself Queen because he son (the heir) was a child, promoted trade |
| Harappa | an Indus River Valley city, was well planned out and organized |
| Mohenjo-Daro | an Indus River Valley city, was well planned out and organized |
| Khyber Pass | located in the Hindu Kush Mountains, the Aryans used this as a passageway to the Indus Valley |
| Aryans | invaded the Indus River civilizations as a superior race, did not conquer |
| Vedas | hymns and chants that later became part of the Hindu religion |
| Brahmin | a member of the priestly class in Aryan society |
| Caste | one of the four classes of society in Aryan India |
| Pariah | an untouchable, or a person whose status is the lowest in the Hindu caste |
| Purdah | in India, public isolation of women from non-family members |
| Sati | practice in some ares of India in which widows throw themselves onto the burning funeral pyre of their husband |
| Hinduism | teaches that the tangible world is only an illusion |
| Upanishads | an ancient work that teaches about Hinduism |
| Karma | in Hinduism, a person's good or evil deeds while on Earth that determine their fate after rebirth |
| Dharma | in Hinduism, one's righteous duty; in Buddhism, the doctrines of the faith |
| Shiva | Hindu god portrayed as both creator and destroyer |
| Jainism | based on the belief in the sanctity of all life |
| Buddhism | based on the belief that suffering is due to desires |
| Siddhartha Guatama | the father of Buddhism |
| Four Noble Truths | a philosophy of life's struggles according to the Buddhist faith; everything in life is suffering; the cause of suffering is people's desire; suffering can be ended by ending desires; desires may be overcome by following the eightfold path |
| Eightfold Path | a way to achieve enlightenment in Buddhism |
| Nirvana | in Buddhism, a state of perfect peace |
| Mahayana Buddhism | Buddha is a diety |
| Shang | nomadic equestrians who had advanced tools |
| Loess | fine, yellow, windblown silt |
| Oracle Bone | a bone or shell used by ancient Chinese priests to dtermine the will of the gods |
| Yin and Yang | Female (submission and gentleness) Male (assertiveness and toughness) |
| Mandate of Heaven | divine approval used to grant authority to Chinese dynasties |
| Confucius | believed in respect for ancestors and a strong government and education |
| Daoism | seeking peace with the natural world |
| Laozi | founder of Daoism |
| Legalism | believed that a government giving people freedom was promoting disorder |
| Shang Yang | founder of legalism |
| Foraging | the process of finding food through hunting and gathering |
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