Chapter 1 Western Civilization Vocab Spielvogel, Jackson J – Flashcards

The earliest humanlike creatures existed in Africa as long as three to four million years ago.

Known as Australopithecines, they flourished in East and South Africa and were the first hominids to make simple stone tools.

A second stage in early human development occurred around 1.5 million years ago when Homo erectus ("upright human being'') emerged. Homo erectus made use of larger and more varied tools and was the first hominid to leave Africa and move into both Europe and Asia.

Around 250,000 years ago, a third—and crucial—stage in human development began with the emergence of Homo sapiens ("wise human being''). By 100,000 b.c., two groups of Homo sapiens had developed. One type was the Neanderthal, whose remains were first found in the Neander valley in Germany. Neanderthal remains have since been found in both Europe and the Middle East and have been dated to between 100,000 and 30,000 b.c. Neanderthals relied on a variety of stone tools and were the first early people to bury their dead.

The first anatomically modern humans, known as Homo sapiens sapiens ("wise, wise human being''), appeared in Africa between 200,000 and 150,000 years ago. Recent evidence indicates that they began to spread outside Africa around 70,000 years ago. Map 1.1 shows probable dates for different movements, although many of these are still controversial. By 30,000 b.c., Homo sapiens sapiens had replaced the Neanderthals, who had largely become extinct, and by 10,000 b.c., members of the Homo sapiens sapiens species could be found throughout the world. By that time, it was the only human species left. All humans today, whether they are Europeans, Australian Aborigines, or Africans, belong to the same subspecies of human being.

The earliest tools were made of stone, and the term Paleolithic (Greek for "old stone'') Age is used to designate this early period of human history (c. 2,500,000-10,000 b.c.).

The cave paintings of large animals found in southwestern France and northern Spain bear witness to the cultural activity of Paleolithic peoples. A cave discovered in southern France in 1994 (known as the Chauvet cave after the leader of the expedition that found it) contains more than three hundred paintings of lions, oxen, owls, bears, and other animals. Most of these are animals that Paleolithic people did not hunt, which suggests to some scholars that the paintings were made for religious or even decorative purposes. Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2010-01-01). Cengage Advantage Books: Western Civilization, Volume 1 (Page 4). Cengage Textbook. Kindle Edition.

The end of the last ice age around 10,000 b.c. was followed by what is called the Neolithic Revolution, a significant change in living patterns that occurred in the New Stone Age (the word neolithic is Greek for "new stone''). The name New Stone Age is misleading, however. Although Neolithic peoples made a new type of polished stone ax, this was not the major change that occurred after 10,000 b.c. Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2010-01-01). Cengage Advantage Books: Western Civilization, Volume 1 (Page 4). Cengage Textbook. Kindle Edition.

Çatal Hüyük, located in modern-day Turkey, was an even larger community. Its walls enclosed 32 acres, and its population probably reached six thousand inhabitants Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2010-01-01). Cengage Advantage Books: Western Civilization, Volume 1 (Page 4). Cengage Textbook. Kindle Edition.

the land ''between the rivers.'' The Greeks spoke of the valley between the Tigris and Euphrates (yoo-FRAY-teez) Rivers in Southwest Asia as Mesopotamia Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2014-01-01). Western Civilization: Volume I: To 1715 (Page 6). Wadsworth Publishing. Kindle Edition. Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2014-01-01). Western Civilization: Volume I: To 1715 (Page 6). Wadsworth Publishing. Kindle Edition.

The creators of Mesopotamian civilization were the Sumerians (soo-MER-ee-unz or soo-MEER-ee-unz), a people whose origins remain unclear. By 3000 B.C.E., they had established a number of independent cities in southern Mesopotamia, including Eridu, Ur, Uruk, Umma, and Lagash. There is evidence that the Sumerians were not the first people in the region. A number of Sumerian agricultural and craft terms are not Sumerian in origin, indicating that the Sumerians adopted some aspects of preexisting settlements. As the Sumerian cities grew larger, they came to exercise political and economic control over the surrounding countryside, forming city-states. These city-states were the basic units of Sumerian civilization. Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2014-01-01). Western Civilization: Volume I: To 1715 (Page 7). Wadsworth Publishing. Kindle Edition.

The biggest change was the shift from gathering plants and hunting animals for sustenance (food gathering) to producing food by systematic agriculture (food production). The planting of grains and vegetables provided a regular supply of food, while the domestication of animals, such as goats, cattle, pigs, and sheep, provided a steady source of meat, milk, and fibers such as wool for clothing. Larger animals could also be used as beasts of burden. The growing of crops and the taming of food-producing animals created a new relationship between humans and nature. Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2014-01-01). Western Civilization: Volume I: To 1715 (Page 4). Wadsworth Publishing. Kindle Edition.

a number of independent cities in southern Mesopotamia, Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2014-01-01). Western Civilization: Volume I: To 1715 (Page 7). Wadsworth Publishing. Kindle Edition.

THE AKKADIAN EMPIRE Located on the flat, open land of Mesopotamia, the Sumerian city-states were also vulnerable to invasion. To the north of the Sumerian city-states were the Akkadians (uh-KAY-dee-unz). We call them a Semitic people because of the language they spoke (see Table 1.1). Around 2340 B.C.E., Sargon, leader of the Akkadians, overran the Sumerian city-states and established a dynastic empire. Sargon used the former rulers of the conquered city-states as his governors. His power was based on the military, namely, his army of 5,400 men. Sargon's empire, including all of Mesopotamia as well as lands westward to the Mediterranean, inspired generations of Near Eastern leaders to emulate his accomplishment. Even in the first millennium B.C.E., Sargon was still remembered in chronicles as a king of Akkad who ''had no rival or equal, spread his splendor over all the lands, and crossed the sea in the east. In his eleventh year, he conquered the western land to its furthest point, and brought it under his sole authority.'' 4 Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2014-01-01). Western Civilization: Volume I: To 1715 (Page 9). Wadsworth Publishing. Kindle Edition.

a collection of 282 laws. The Code of Hammurabi reveals a society with a system of strict justice. Penalties for criminal offenses were severe and varied according to the social class of the victim. A crime against a member of the upper class (a noble) was punished more severely than the same offense against a member of the lower class. Moreover, the principle of ''an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth'' was fundamental to this system of justice. This meant that punishments should fit the crime: ''If a freeman has destroyed the eye of a member of the aristocracy, they shall destroy his eye.'' Hammurabi's code had an impact on legal ideas in Southwest Asia for hundreds of years, as the following verse from the Hebrew Bible (Leviticus 24:19-20) demonstrates: ''If anyone injures his neighbor, whatever he has done must be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he has injured the other, so is he to be injured.'' Hammurabi's code took the responsibilities of public offi- cials very seriously. The governor of an area and city officials were expected to catch burglars. If they failed to do so, the officials in the district where the crime was committed had to replace the lost property. If the officials did not apprehend a murderer, they had to pay a fine to the relatives of the murdered person. The law code also furthered the proper performance of work with what amounted to consumer protection laws. Builders were held responsible for the buildings they constructed. If a house collapsed, killing the owner, the builder was put to death. If the collapse caused the death of the son of the owner, the son of the builder was put to death. If the collapse destroyed goods, they had to be replaced and the house itself reconstructed at the builder's expense. Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2014-01-01). Western Civilization: Volume I: To 1715 (Page 10). Wadsworth Publishing. Kindle Edition. Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2014-01-01). Western Civilization: Volume I: To 1715 (Page 10). Wadsworth Publishing. Kindle Edition.

The most prominent building in a Sumerian city was the temple, which was dedicated to the chief god or goddess of the city and often built atop a massive stepped tower called a ziggurat (ZIG-uh-rat). Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2014-01-01). Western Civilization: Volume I: To 1715 (Page 8). Wadsworth Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Sumerians, who used a cuneiform (kyoo-NEE-uh-form) (''wedge-shaped'') system of writing. Using a reed stylus, they made wedge-shaped impressions on clay tablets, which were then baked or dried in the sun. Once dried, these tablets were virtually indestructible, and the several hundred thousand that have been found so far have provided a valuable source of information for modern scholars. Sumerian writing evolved from pictures of concrete objects to simplified and stylized signs, leading eventually to a phonetic system that made possible the written expression of abstract ideas. Sumerian was the chief spoken and written language of Mesopotamia in the third millennium B.C.E., but it was replaced in the second millennium by Akkadian. Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2014-01-01). Western Civilization: Volume I: To 1715 (Page 13). Wadsworth Publishing. Kindle Edition.

The most famous piece of Mesopotamian literature was The Epic of Gilgamesh, an elaborate poem that records the exploits of a legendary king of Uruk. Gilgamesh (GILL-guhmesh), wise, strong, and perfect in body, part man, part god, abused the citizens of Uruk: Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2014-01-01). Western Civilization: Volume I: To 1715 (Page 14). Wadsworth Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Around 3100 B.C.E., during the Early Dynastic Period, the first Egyptian royal dynasty, under a king called Menes (MEE-neez), united both Upper and Lower Egypt into a single kingdom. Henceforth, the king would be called ''King of Upper and Lower Egypt,'' and one of the royal crowns would be the Double Crown, combining the White Crown of Upper Egypt and the Red Crown of Lower Egypt. Just as the Nile united Upper and Lower Egypt physically, kingship united the two areas politically. Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2014-01-01). Western Civilization: Volume I: To 1715 (Page 18). Wadsworth Publishing. Kindle Edition.

THE OLD KINGDOM According to the Egyptians' own tradition, their land consisted initially of numerous populated areas ruled by tribal chieftains. Around 3100 B.C.E., during the Early Dynastic Period, the first Egyptian royal dynasty, under a king called Menes (MEE-neez), united both Upper and Lower Egypt into a single kingdom. Henceforth, the king would be called ''King of Upper and Lower Egypt,'' and one of the royal crowns would be the Double Crown, combining the White Crown of Upper Egypt and the Red Crown of Lower Egypt. Just as the Nile united Upper and Lower Egypt physically, kingship united the two areas politically. The Old Kingdom encompassed the fourth through eighth dynasties of Egyptian kings, lasting from around 2575 to 2125 B.C.E. It was an age of prosperity and splendor, made visible in the construction of the greatest and largest pyramids in Egypt's history. The capital of the Old Kingdom was located at Memphis, south of the delta. Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2014-01-01). Western Civilization: Volume I: To 1715 (Page 18). Wadsworth Publishing. Kindle Edition.

A decline in centralized authority, a drought caused by low levels of the Nile and a decline in rainfall, and economic troubles brought about the collapse of the Old Kingdom, ushering in the First Intermediate Period (c. 2125-2010 B.C.E.). Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2014-01-01). Western Civilization: Volume I: To 1715 (Page 19). Cengage Learning. Kindle Edition.

The Hyksos, a Semitic-speaking people, infiltrated Egypt in the seventeenth century B.C.E. and came to dominate much of Egypt ending the Middle Kingdom Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2014-01-01). Western Civilization: Volume I: To 1715 (Page 22). Cengage Learning. Kindle Edition.

Expelling the Hyksos - During the period of the New Kingdom, Egypt became the most powerful state in the ancient Near East Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2014-01-01). Western Civilization: Volume I: To 1715 (Page 22). Cengage Learning. Kindle Edition.

Amenhotep IV introduced the worship of Aten, god of the sun disk, as the supreme god and later in his reign as the only god Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2014-01-01). Western Civilization: Volume I: To 1715 (Page 24). Cengage Learning. Kindle Edition.

the boy-pharaoh Tutankhamun returned to the old religion and the capital back to thebes Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2014-01-01). Western Civilization: Volume I: To 1715 (Page 24). Cengage Learning. Kindle Edition.

a female pharoah after her son died (new kingdom)

The nineteenth dynasty managed to restore Egyptian power one more time. Under Ramesses (RAM-uh-seez) II (c. 1279-1213 B.C.E.), Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2014-01-01). Western Civilization: Volume I: To 1715 (Page 24). Cengage Learning. Kindle Edition.

invaders who spelled the end of the new kingdom