SSWH1
UNIT 1 VOCABULARY
Agricultural Revolution
 The slow process by which humans learned to
grow crops and domesticate animals for food.
 Allowed several changes:
 Humans could settle in one place
 Not everyone had to gather food, so some could
be employed in other ways = “specialization of
labor”
Polytheism
 Belief in many different gods
 “poly” = many
 “theos” = gods
 Sumeria and Babylonia were both
polytheistic societies
Monotheism
 Belief in one god
 “mono” = one
 “theos” = god
 Zoroastrianism and Judaism were both
monotheistic
Mesopotamia
 The region that was the home of the early
civilizations of Sumeria and Babylon
 The word “Mesopotamia” from words
meaning “between the rivers”
 Tigris River and Euphrates River
 Area known as the “Fertile Crescent”
Sumeria
 The first empire of Mesopotamia
 3500 BCE – 2000 BCE
 Many different City-States led by priests
and/or kings.
 Ziggurat = religious and government building
 Sumerian Script = early written language
Babylon
 The empire that came after the Sumerians in
Mesopotamia
 Most important emperor = Hammurabi
 Code of Hammurabi
 A code of written laws that applied to all
Babylonians.
 Rich and poor could be punished differently
City-State
 A city that is also an independent
state/nation.
 Has its own government
 (usually a king)
Pharaoh
 The title given to the kings of ancient Egypt
 The ancient Egyptians believed that the
Pharaohs were gods.
 Pharaohs were mummified in preparation for
their burial and afterlife.
 Most famous tombs = pyramids
Theocracy
 A government that is led by a representative
of god or gods.
 Priests
 God-kings
Zoroastrianism
 Early monotheistic religion based on the
worship of the god Ahura Mazda
 Prophet = Zoroaster
 Belief in the world as a struggle between
good and evil
Judaism
 Early monotheistic religion
 Followers know as the Hebrews
 “Founder” = Abraham
 Laws contained in the books of Moses
Ancient Written Languages
 Sumerian = Cuneiform
 Usually written on clay tablets
 Egyptian = Hieroglyphics
 Written on either clay or papyrus
 Papyrus = paper made from reeds
Impact of Phoenicians
 The Phoenicians were people who focused
mainly on trade
 Excellent ship-builders and sailors
 Their main contribution to the ancient word
was their language.
 Alphabet of letters that stood for sounds
 United other ancient languages together