Western Civilization I – People, Places, and Things
STUDY GUIDES
Below is a list of the people and events which are among the most important in each section of
the course. Look for these in the e-book and in class discussion. Some of the below will appear
on the examinations.
SECTION ONE – Prehistory through the Greeks
Australopithecus
Prehistory
Primate
"Lucy"
Paleolithic (Old Stone Age)
homo sapiens
Neanderthal
Cro-Magnon
Neolithic Revolution
Jericho
The Fertile Crescent
Mesopotamia
Cuneiform writing
Sumer
Ziggurats
Epic of Gilgamesh
Hammurabi’s Code
Herodotus
Egypt’s Old Kingdom
Pharaohs
pyramids
Hieroglyphics
Middle Kingdom
Hyksos
New Kingdom/Empire
Akhenaten
King Tut
Howard Carter
Sea Peoples
Abraham
Moses
Ethical Monotheism
Phoenicians
Babylonian Captivity
Cyrus the Great
Minoan Civilization on Crete
Mycenaean civilization
Greek "dark ages"
Polis
arete and agon
Homer's Iliad and Odyssey
Arthur Evans and Heinrich Schliemann
Dorians
Ionians
Phalanx
Hoplite Revolution
Draco and Solon
Pisistratus
Darius the Great
Xerxes
Battle of Marathon
Battle of Thermopylae
Battles of Salamis and Platea
Pericles
The Parthenon
Socrates
Plato
Aristotle
Aeschylus
Sophocles
Euripides
Aristophanes
Thucydides
Peloponnesian League
Delian League
Peloponnesian War
Hubris
SECTION TWO – Rome and Christianity
Philip of Macedon
Alexander the Great (a.k.a. Alexander of Macedon)
Successor states
Hellenistic
Hellenistic Period
Skeptics
Cynics
Epicureans
Stoics
Sadducees
Pharisees
Essenes
Hellenistic Alexandria
Cincinnatus
Etruscans
“res publica”
paterfamilias
patricians and plebians
latifundia
Twelve Tables of the Law
Patron and client/patroni and clientes
Carthage
Punic Wars and Hannibal
Dido and Aeneas
The Gracchi
Marius
Spartacus
Pompey the Great
First Triumvirate
Julius Caesar
Gaul
Octavian/Augustus Caesar
Mark Antony and Cleopatra
Battle of Actium
Pax Romana
Virgil's Aeneid
Principiate
Jesus of Nazareth (a.k.a. Jesus Christ)
St. Paul (a.k.a. Paul/Saul of Tarsus)
Masada
Jewish Wars
Edward Gibbon
"the good emperors"
Hadrian
Diocletian
Constantine
Battle of the Milvian Bridge
Edict of Milan
Constantinople (a.k.a. Byzantium)
St. Augustine of Hippo
St. Simeon Stylites
St. Ambrose
St. Jerome's Vulgate Bible
Attila the Hun
Pope Leo I
“City of God”
Council of Nicea
Arians
SECTION THREE – The Middle Ages
Angles and Saxons
King Arthur
Lombards, Burgundians, and Vandals
St. Benedict of Nursia
Clovis
Franks
Merovingians
Justinian
Theodora
Gothic War
Hagia Sophia
“Corpus Juris Civilis”
Cyril and Methodius
Monophysites
Iconoclasm
Prince (or Saint) Vladmir
caesaropapism
Mohammed
Hijra
Five Pillars of Islam
Umayyads and Abbasids
Charles Martel/the Hammer
Battle of Tours
Moors
Pepin the Short
Donations of Pepin and Constantine
Lorenzo Valla
Charlemagne
Alcuin of York
Carolingian script
"Song of Roland"
Christmas Day 800 CE.
Vikings
Treaty of Verdun
Oath of Strasburg
feudalism
fief
serfs
manor
excommunication
interdict
demense
William the Conqueror (a.k.a. William the Bastard)
Bayeux Tapestry
Merchant and craft guilds
Investiture Controversy
Canossa
Pope Gregory VII and “Dictatus Papae”
Henry II and Thomas Becket
Common law
"Canterbury Tales"
Magna Carta
Pope Innocent III
Albigensians
Dominican Order
Franciscan Order
Reconquista
Pope Urban II and Clermont
Crusader States
Saladin
Fourth Crusade
Dante Alighieri
medieval universities
Gothic cathedrals
Thomas Aquinas
Capetians and Valois kings
Plantagenet or Angevin Kings
Pope Boniface VIII
vernacular literature
SECTION FOUR – Beginnings of the Modern World
Black Death
Genghis Khan and the "pax mongolica"
Marco Polo
Yersinia pestis
100 Years War
commercial revolution
Battles of Crecy and Agincourt
Joan of Arc
Longbow and gunpowder
Wars of the Roses
Second Babylonian Captivity/Babylonian Captivity of the Church
Avignon
Great Schism
John Wycliffe
Lollards
Jan Hus
“Malleus Maleficarum”
Renaissance
secular humanism
Petrarch
Niccolo Machiavelli's “The Prince”
Medici family--Cosimo and Lorenzo il magnifico
Renaissance popes
Savonarola
Michelangelo
Leonardo da Vinci
Brunelleschi
Donatello
Ghiberti
“Northern Renaissance” and Erasmus
Martin Luther
Simony, usury, nepotism
Indulgences and purgatory
95 Theses
Guttenberg
John Calvin
Ignatius Loyola
Council of Trent
Henry VIII
Isabella of Castile
Ferdinand of Aragon
Hernan Cortes
Francisco Pizarro
Aztecs and Incas
Amerigo Vespucci
Vasco de Gama