world history Flashcards
alexander/alexander’s empire
-conquered Persia
-Phillip II of Macedonia’s son
-extended greek and Macedonian rule over large territory
- The creation of military monarchies by his successors was a large part of his political legacy
-Creation of hellenistic kingdoms
-Circulation of Persian gold and silver
-Standardization of currency
-Spread of Greek art and thought
-Creation of hybrid hellenistic culture
-After alexander’s death, four hellenistic kingdoms emerged as successors to the empire
hellenistic age
-After alexander’s death, four hellenistic kingdoms emerged as successors to the empire: syria, macedonia, pergamum, and egypt(they were all soon conquered by romans)
-alexander planned to intermarry his officials and commanders with native women to fuse the cultures
-Greek culture spread to the non greek world through government, language, and colonization,
- Alexandria became a cultural center
-Architecture was characteristic of the Greek homeland, but sculptors moved away from idealism to a more realistic style
-a lot of literature, art, philosophy growth
-alexandria had the biggest number of scrolls
-a lot of new decorative structure/creativity because of the new cities
-moved towards more emotional and realistic art
-athens remained center of Greek theatre and philosophy
-advances in astronomy and mathematics
-theory of the sun at the center of the universe, earth is round
-development of two philosophical beliefs: epicureanism and stoicism
trojans/trojan war
Persian empire(notes)
-originally a part of assyrian empire
-Darius strengthened the government implementing ideas such as provinces governors and tax collectors
-The persian religion was a monotheistic one in which the prophet Zoroaster was worshiped.
-religion was based on the concept of good being rewarded and evil being punished,
-the aegean islands and ionia (area of anatolia where greek and persian cultures meet)
-The ionians rebelled against persia
-Persia attacked athens in revenge
-The persians were defeated at marathon
-The Greek city-states prepared for another invasion
-The persians invaded and won at thermopylae
-delian league Attacked persian empire and liberated Greek Aegean states
-Phillips’ son Alexander invaded and came to control the Persian Empire by 331 b.c.
kush
-Kush is the south of egypt know as nubia
-Important for trade with the new kingdom of egypt
- egypt ruled over kush/nubia for a long time until after the new kingdom fell, it became independent from egypt
-kushites(using stone and bronze) conquered egypt at one point but then was driven out by the assyrians(using iron)
-kushites were forced back to their original lands in upper nile valley
- kush economy was first based on farming millet and grains on the river, as it emerged it became a major trading state in africa (its center at meroe> had a lot of iron ore>kushites made iron things)
-along with their own iron, they provided things from other places(central and east africa) to the romans
-EXPORTS:ivory, gold, ebony slaves
-IMPORTS(from india and arabia):luxury goods>jewlery, silver lamps
-Mainly urban, large merchant class, prosperity was widespread, a lot of luxurious structures and buildings (similar to the romans)
-kings were also burried in pyramids but were smaller than egyptian ones
-kush flourished for about 100 years
-began to decline possibly because of the rise of a new power called axum along the red sea
empire
a large political unit or state, usually under a single leader that controls many peoples or territories
hyksos
-middle kingdom came to an end because of their invasion from western asia
-used horse drawn war chariots to overwhelm egyptian soldiers
-the hyksos ruled egypt for almost 100 years
-egypt learned a lot from them like using bronze in tools and weapons, military skills especially the use of horse drawn war chariots
-a new dynasty of pharaohs (specifically Ahmose I) used said weapons to defeat the hyksos and reunite egypt into the New kingdom
rise of persian empire
- after the collpase of the assyrian empire, babylon rose and was the leading state in western asia but it fell to the persians
-indo-europeans
-lived in modern day southwestern iran
-primarily nomadic but were unified by one single family
-“cyrus the great” was specifically the one person of the family
-he created a powerful persian state from asia minor to india
-his treatment towards babylonia showed great restraint and wisdom
-he also allowed the jewish captives to go back to israel
-he showed wisdom and compassion in the conquest and organization of his empire
-for example, he didn’t limit government officials to only persians, he let natives rule too
-known for his mercy, & genuine respect for all civilizations
-used egyptian, assyrian, & babylonian
-was the exact oppposite of assyrian rulers and medes, babylonians, and persians accepted him as their ruler
-all of his successors wanted to extend persias territory
-his son cambyses invaded egypt
-darius added a new persian province in western india to the indus river
-darius strengthened the persian government and divided the empire into 20 provinces (satrapies) with its own governer
-the royal road-> from asia minor to susa was an efficient communication system that sustained the empire
-it had many rest stops for food, shelter, & fresh horses for the kings messengers
-in persian administration, “the great king” (persian king) held a high position where all others were his servants–he even held the power of life and death
-much of the empires power was in the military
-by the time of darius persian kings had developed a well functioning, strong and large army of 10,000 men and an elite infantry force of 10,000 men as well
-they were known as the immortals because a fallen soldier was immediately replaced by another
fall of the persian empire
-after darius persian kings isolated themselves
-as taxes increased, loyalty to persia decreased
-struggles over the throne weakened the monarchy
-persian rulers were polygamous (had many wives) and had many sons
-antixerxes II had 115 sons
-since there were so many, they didnt hold much power which made them even more willing to engage in plots to steal the throne
-of the 9 rulers after darius, 6 were murdered because of court intrigue
-the struggles for the throne weakened the empire ultimately leading to alexander the great conquering persia
persian religion
zoroastrianism by zoroaester
taught the true religion
follows the teachings of zoroaster and they put his teachings in the sacred text called zend avesta
ahuramazda was the wise lord
monotheistic
ahirman opposed him
mycenae/mycenean greeks
-indo european group that spread across europe and asia
-when they spread over the greek peninsula, they split up into a lot of monarchies(city centers built on hills with big stone walls )
-most of the population lived scattered outside the walls
-a warrior people who prided themselves on heroic deeds
-their most famous feat is recorded in homers pottery where the mycenean greeks led by agamemnon plundered troy in asia minor
-later mycenean greece was showing signs of trouble
-fights among themselves and major earthquakes
-they therefore collapsed
the trojan war
-recorded on Homers pottery
-the mycenean greeks led by agamemnon (mycenae king) plundered the city of troy on the coast of asia minor
-many believe this is a factual occurence
the dark age
-after mycenean collapse, greece had food and population deline-many greeks left the mainland and sailed to other countries
-revival of some agriculture and trade
-iron especially, making things more affordable and efficient
-adopted the pheonecian writing system
Homer
-wrote the illiad and odyssey
-many believe these as history not as just a story
-essential part of growing up as a greek
-“created not recorded history”
-the hero strives for courage and honor called arete
acropolis
-the high city
-area on top of a polis hill
-fortified with temples and important buildings
