Early World History

• Who were the Normans?


  A people from France who invaded Great Britain in 1066 CE
• Who divided the Roman Empire and when?

  Emperor Diocletian divided it in 285 CE
• Who was Pericles?


  The leader of Greece during its Golden Age
• What was the Edict of Thessalonica?


  An edict passed by Roman Emperor Theodosius in 380 CE making Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire
• Why was the Nile River important to Ancient Egyptian civilization?


  It was the major river in Egypt, promoting farming and influencing religious beliefs
• What was the Peloponnesian War?


  A conflict between the Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta fought between 431 and 404 BCE
• What was the outcome of the Peloponnesian War?


  Sparta won the war and became the most powerful city-state in Greece
• What was the Enlightenment?


  A 17th-century intellectual movement centered on reason, science, and progress
• Who were the key philosophers of the Enlightenment?

  Locke, Rousseau, Voltaire, and Montesquieu
• What characterized the Middle Ages?


  A period in Europe after the Fall of Rome up to the Fall of Constantinople (476 CE to 1453 CE)
• What was the impact of the Black Death during the Middle Ages?


  It caused significant population decline and social upheaval
• What were the Crusades?


  Religious wars fought to recover the Holy Lands from the Muslims
• Who was Charlemagne?


  Ruler of Western Europe who united Germanic countries and converted them to Christianity
• What was the Scientific Revolution?


  Advances in European scientific and mathematical thought based on experimentation and belief in progress
• What is a city-state?


  A sovereign political entity consisting of a single independent city and its surrounding territories
• What is polytheism?


  The belief in and worship of more than one god
• What are the Great Pyramids?


  Large geometrically perfect monuments in which pharaohs were buried
• What was the Renaissance?


  The rebirth of Europe's interest in ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome, including art and literature
• Who was Eratosthenes?


  A Greek mathematician and geographer who founded the science of geography
• What was the Edict of Milan?


  A religious tolerance edict passed by Roman Emperor Constantine in 313 CE
• Who is known as the "Father of Geometry"?


  Euclid
• What is the Eastern Orthodox Church?


  It began in CE 1054 when the Church of the Eastern Roman Empire split
• Who is Socrates?


  The "Father of Western Philosophy"
• What are the Dark Ages?


  The first part of the Middle Ages (476 CE to 1050 CE) characterized by a decline of Western civilization
• What is the geocentric theory?


  An ancient theory of an Earth-centered universe put forth by Ptolemy
• What is the Acropolis?


  An ancient citadel on a high hill of Athens containing several ancient buildings
• Who was Galileo Galilei?


  An Italian mathematician and scientist who furthered the idea of heliocentricism
• Who was Pope Urban II?


  The Pope who called for a Holy Crusade to drive the Muslim Turks away from Constantinople and take back the Holy Land of Jerusalem.
• Who were the Pharaohs?


  The Egyptian rulers who were often called god-kings
• Who was Menes?


  The pharaoh who unified Upper and Lower Egypt in 3150 BCE
• Who was Copernicus?


  The first to discredit the church-accepted theory of an Earth-centered universe
• What was Constantinople?


  The capital of the Byzantine Empire, captured by the Ottoman army in 1453
• What was the Byzantine Empire?


  A vast, ancient empire; the eastern portion survived until conquered by the Ottoman army in 1453
• Who was Sophocles?


  A Greek playwright of dramas and comedies still performed today
• What was the Silk Road?


  A trade route that ran from China through Afghanistan and into Persia and Eastern Europe
• Who was Isaac Newton?


  An English mathematician and scientist who formulated the Laws of Motion and Universal Gravitation
• What is feudalism?


  A social system in Europe divided by class, where kings allowed lords to own land
• Who was Pythagoras?


  A Greek mathematician and philosopher who developed the Pythagorean theorem
• Who was Aristotle?


  A Greek philosopher and pupil of Plato who influenced many philosophers
• Who was Constantine?


  Emperor of Rome (306 - 337 CE) who legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire