History Ch 3

Front 1

Code of Hammurabi

Back 1

A series of laws publicized at the order of King Hammurabi of Babylon. Not actually a code, but a number of law that proclaim the king's commitment to social order

Front 2

cradle of civilization

Back 2

Commonly used term for southern Mesopotamia

Front 3

cuneiform

Back 3

Wedge-shaped writing in the form of symbols incised into clay tablets; used in Mesopotamia from around 3100 BCE to the beginning of the Common Era

Front 4

Egypt "The gift of the nile"

Back 4

egypt is often known as the gift of the nile because the religion would not have been able to support a significant human population without the nile's annual inundation, which provided rich silt deposits and made agriculture possible

Front 5

Epic of Gilgamesh

Back 5

the most famous extant literary work from ancient Mesopotamia, It tells the story of one man's quest for immortality

Front 6

Harappa

Back 6

a major city of the Indus Valley civilization; flourished around 2,000 BCE

Front 7

Hatshepsut

Back 7

Ancient Egypt's most famous queen; reigned 1472-1457 BCE

Front 8

Hebrews

Back 8

a smaller early civilization whose development of a monotheistic faith that provided the foundation of modern Judaism, Christianity, and Islam assured them a significant place in history

Front 9

hieroglyphs

Back 9

ancient Egyptian writing system; literally "sacred carvings"- so named because the greeks saw them prominently displayed in Egyptian temples

Front 10

Hittites

Back 10

an Indo-European civilization established in Anatolia in the 18th century BCE

Front 11

Hyksos

Back 11

a pastoral group of unknown ethnicity that invaded Eygpt and ruled in the north from 1650 to 1535BCE their dominance was based on their use of horses, chariots, and bronze technology.

Front 12

Indus Valley

Back 12

home of a major civilization that emerged in what is now Pakistan during the third millennium BCE, in the valleys of the Indus and Saraswati rivers, noted for the uniformity of its elaborately planned cities over a large territory

Front 13

Mandate of Heaven

Back 13

the ideological underpinning of Chinese emperors, this was the belief that a ruler held authority by command of divine forces as long as he ruled morally and benevolently

Front 14

Mesopotamia

Back 14

the "Land between the rivers" of the Tigris and Euphrates, in what is now Iraq

Front 15

Minoan civilization

Back 15

an advanced civilization that developed on the island of Crete around 2500BCE

Front 16

Mohenjo Daro

Back 16

a major city of the Indus Valley civilization; flourished around 2000BCE

Front 17

Norte Chico/ Caral

Back 17

a region along the coast of Peru, home of a civilization that developed in the period 3000-1800BCE. Caral was the largest of some 25 urban centers that emerged in the area at the time

Front 18

Nubia

Back 18

a civilization to the south of Egypt in the Nile Valley, noted for development of an alphabetic writing system and a major ironworking industry by 500 BCE

Front 19

Olmec civilization

Back 19

an early civilization that developed along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico around 1200 BCE

Front 20

oracle bones

Back 20

in Chinese civilization, animal bones that were heated and the cracks then interpreted as prophecies. The prophecies were written on bone and provide our earliest written sources for ancient China

Front 21

patriarchy

Back 21

literally "Rule of the father" a social system of male dominance

Front 22

pharaoh

Back 22

a king of Egypt. the term literally means "the palace" and only came into use in the New Kingdom, but it is generally employed in reference to all ancient Egyptian rulers

Front 23

Phoenicians

Back 23

A civilization in the area of person-day Lebanon, creators of the first alphabetic writing system

Front 24

pyramid

Back 24

Monumental tomb for an Egyptian pharaoh; mostly build during the Old Kingdom (2663-2195 BCE). Pyramids are also found in Meroe to the south of Egypt.

Front 25

quipu

Back 25

a series of knotted cords, used for accounting and perhaps as a form of writing in the Norte Chico civilization

Front 26

rise of the state

Back 26

a process of centralization that took place in the First Civilizations, growing out of the greater complexity of urban life in recognition of the need for coordination, regulation, adjudication, and military leadership

Front 27

salinization

Back 27

the buildup of minerals in soil, decreasing its fertility; can be caused by long-term irrigation

Front 28

Sanxingdui

Back 28

an ancient city of China that developed independently from the Shang dynasty

Front 29

Shang dynasty

Back 29

Period of Chinese history from 1766 to 1122 BCE

Front 30

Son of Heaven

Back 30

Title of the ruler of China, first known from the Zhou dynasty. It acknowledges the ruler's position as intermediary between heaven and earth.

Front 31

Teotihuacán

Back 31

the largest city of ancient Mesoamerica; flourished around 500 CE

Front 32

Uruk

Back 32

the largest city of ancient Mesopotamia

Front 33

Xia dynasty

Back 33

a legendary series of monarchs of early China, traditionally dated to 2200-1766 BCE

Front 34

Zhou dynasty

Back 34

Period of Chinese history from 1122-256 BCE

Front 35

ziggurat

Back 35

a Mesopotamian stepped pyramid. Unlike an Egyptian pyramid, a ziggurat was a solid structure of baked brick, an artificial hill at the summit of which stood a temple