1. Acropolis – The highest ground in the Greek city, on which stood a fortress.
2. Adrianople – The town where in 378 AD the Visogoths defeated the Romans.
3. Askum – An ancient kingdom in what are now the Northern Highlands of
Ethiopia.
4. Aqueduct – A bridge built by the Roman Empire which carried water to cities.
5. Artifact – An object mad by a human being in the distant past that has
survived to the present.
6. Artisan – a worker with a skill in a special craft.
7. Assimilate – To absorb yourself into another culture.
8. Astrology – The study of stars and planets and their movements, with the aim
of predicting events on earth.
9. Babylon – A city on the Euphrates River that was ruled by Hammurabi when
he conquered and united Mesopotamia in 1792 BC.
10. Bantu – These nomadic people in Africa migrated throughout the central part
of the continent.
11. Barter – Trade in which people exchange goods without using money.
12. Bazaar – In the Ancient world this was the central meeting place for trade
among city-states.
13. Black Death – Also known as the Bubonic Plague, it was a contagious and
usually fatal disease that was carried by rats.
14. Boyer – a Russian noble
15. Buddhism – A religions founded in India and based on the teachings of
Siddhartha Guatama.
16. Bureaucrat – A trained public official who is appointed rather then elected.
17. Caliph – A Muslim political and social leader.
18. Calligraphy – a unique form of writing developed by the Ancient Chinese.
19. Carthage – An ancient city on the North African coast, destroyed by the
Romans in 146 BC.
20. Caste – In Hindu society a fixed social grouping based on class, occupation
and tradition.
21. Chivalry – A code of behavior for feudal knights and nobles.
22. City-state – An independent self governing community consisting of a city
and the surrounding territory.
23. Clergy – The ordained officials of an organized church.
24. Constantinople – The capital of the eastern part of the Holy Roman Empire.
The name was later changed to Istanbul by the Turks.
25. Culture – A unique way of life of a people.
26. Cuneiform – Wedge shaped writing used by the people in Mesopotamia.
27. Czar – The title given to the Russian Emperor from the late 1400’s to 1918.
28. Democracy – A form of government based on rule by the people.
29. Dharma – The rights and duties of members of various classes in the Indian
culture.
30. Dhow – An Arabian sailing ship
31. Domestication – To tame wild animals, making them useful to human beings.
32. Illiad – One of two epics written by the famous Greek Homer.
33. Eastern Orthodox – The Eastern branch of the Christian Church, headed by
the patriarch in Constantinople.
34. Empire – A state in which one ruler or country controls several kingdoms or
territories.
35. Epic Poem – A long poem that describes the adventures of a hero or heroes.
36. Epicureanism – A Hellenistic school of philosophy that developed in Athens
about 300 BC and stresses the importance of simple pleasures.
37. Feudalism – A political system in which the king granted the use of land to
nobles in return for loyalty, military assistance and service.
38. Fief – Land granted by a feudal lord to another noble.
39. Four Noble Truths – The major principles of Buddhism, which recognize the
inevitability for suffering and encourage individuals to achieve a state of “not
wanting” and practice moderation in order to reach enlightenment.
40. Gaul – A Ancient Roman province, roughly covering the same area as France
today.
41. Ghana – This empire in Northwestern Africa became very wealth trading gold
for salt.
42. Alchemy – An ancient field of study based on searching for ways to turn
common metals into gold.
43. Hagia Sophia - A cathedral built in Constantinople featuring a dome over a
rectangular building.
44. Hajj – Mohammed’s flight from Mecca to Medina in 622.
45. Hellenic Period – The period when the civilization of the ancient Greeks took
shape and reached its height.
46. Hellenistic Era – The period (323-100 BC) following Alexander’s conquest
when Greek culture spread throughout the lands he had conquered.
47. Silent barter – In Africa, a method of trade in which goods were left at a
prearranged place, without actual contact between individuals.
48. Heresy – The holding of beliefs considered wrong by the church.
49. Hieroglyphics – Ancient Egyptian writing.
50. Hijrah – Mohammed’s flight from Mecca to Medina.
51. Hinduism – A faith of most of India’s people, characterized by the goal of
returning to Brahman through reincarnation.
52. Icon – A religious image.
53. Indulgence – A pardon for sinning, given by the Catholic Church, at first as a
reward for some special service and later in return for a contribution of money.
54. Inquisition – In Europe, a 13th Century Church court that sought out and tried
persons suspected of heresy.
55. Islam – The monotheistic religion founded in Arabia by Mohammed
56. Jihad – An Arab term for “struggle” applied to the effort to convert or
conqueror the nonbelievers.
57. Karma – In Hinduism, the accumulated good and bad acts of all of one’s
previous lives.
58. Exodus – The flight of the Hebrews, led by Moses, from Egypt to Canaan in
about 1290 BC.
59. Macedonia – A kingdom of ancient northern Greece, ruled by Phillip and his
son Alexander.
60. Manor – The self sufficient estate of a medieval lord.
61. Middle Ages – The period from about 500 – 1500 that begin with the decline
of the Roman Empire.
62. Crusades - In the Middle Ages. A series of campaigns led by European
Christians seeking to regain the Holy Land from the Muslim Turks.
63. Monk - A man who separates himself from ordinary human society in order
to dedicate himself to God.
64. Monotheistic – The belief in only one God.
65. Mosque – A place of worship for the Islam religion.
66. Nirvana – The Buddhist term for the state if enlightenment.
67. Nomad – One of a group of people who have no fixed home and wander from
place to place.
68. Papyrus – A reed like plant from which the ancient Egyptians made paper
scrolls.
69. Parliament – An assembly of representatives who make the laws of a nation.
70. Patrician – The class of wealthy landowners to which the leaders of the
Roman Republic belonged.
71. Pax Romana – The Period from 20 BC – 180 AD of relative peace in the
Roman Empire.
72. Peloponnesian War – The war between Athens and Sparta that began in 431
BC and eventually led to the weakening of the Greek city-states.
73. Pharaoh – The ruler of ancient Egypt.
74. Romanesque – A style of architecture developed during the Middle Ages,
characterized by rounded arches, thick walls, small windows, and little
ornamentation.
75. Plebian – A member of the class of common people in Ancient Rome.
76. Polis – A city-state in Ancient Greece.
77. Punic Wars – A series of three wars fought between Rome and the North
African city-state of Carthage between 264-146 BC
78. Quran – The holy book of the Islam religion
79. Patriarch – In the Byzantine Empire, the head of the Church in Constantinople.
80. Apprentice – A person bound by agreement to a master artisan for a specific
amount of time in return for instruction in a craft.
81. Samurai – A class of noble-warriors in Japan.
82. Savanna – An open grassland with scattered clumps of trees and shrubs.
83. Serf – A Medieval peasant legally bound to live and work on a lord’s estate.
84. Shiite – One of the group of Muslims who broke away from the main body of
Islam in the 7th Century.
85. Shinto – An early Japanese religion based on respect for the forces of nature.
86. Theocracy – A form of government in which the ruler is seen either as a god
or as a chosen representative of the god’s.
87. Torah – A Hebrew name for the first five books of the Ole Testement.
88. Trial by Ordeal – A Medieval system in which an accused person is given a
physical test to prove his or her innocence.
89. Vassal – A Medieval noble who pledged loyalty and service to a feudal lord in
exchange for land and serfs.
90. Sunni – A group of Muslims who hold traditional Islamic beliefs.