World History Study Guide

Chapter 4-6 Study Guide
1. Where did Alexander the Great come from? Describe his accomplishments.
Macedonia; helped create a new type of culture.
2. What type of government was founded in Athens, Greece?
Democracy
3. Describe the Hellenistic period.
Culture based on Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, Asians and other regions.
4. Homer is credited with writing what epic poems? What is the subject matter of these poems?
The Iliad and the Odyssey; last year of the Trojan war and heroes from the Trojan war
5. Describe the social differences between the city states of Athens and Sparta.
Athens: had great navy Sparta: had great army
6. The Peloponnesian War was fought between what two enemies? What were the effects of the Peloponnesian War?
Athenians and Spartans; Athens: lost entire navy Sparta: became supreme power in Greece, and in 340s BC all of Greece was conquered by Macedonia.
7. Describe the teachings and accomplishments of Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates.
Aristotle: pioneered the use of reason and logic to study the natural world, believed that the greatest good people could perform was the practice of rational thought, contributed to the development of science, esp. biology, and taught people that they can use what they know to infer new facts.
Plato: thought philosophers were best suited to govern people, believed that every material object in the world was only the reflection of a perfect ideal, for example all the trees growing in Greece were only reflections of a single ideal tree that did not actually exist.
Socrates: sought truths about broad concepts such as a truth, justice, and virtue, thought people could learn best by asking questions and believed that philosophers could study human behaviors to learn how to improve society as a whole.
8. What is Polis?
A city-state in ancient Greece
9. Who was involved in the three Punic wars and what were the results of each war?
Rome and Carthage; Romans enslaved entire population and completely destroyed the entire city.
10. Who was Augustus Caesar?
Meaning: the revered one, a religious honor, was head of the state for more than 40 years
11. Outline the development of Christianity.
After Jesus’s death, his disciples began teaching that all people could achieve salvation.
12. What was the Coliseum?
A place where gladiators fought and was a huge amphitheater that seated some 50,000 people
13. Describe the role of Dictator of the Roman Republic.
Part-time rulers in a time of war
14. Who was Jesus?
Preacher of redemption and warning
15. Describe the significance of Julius Caesar.
A general who brought many changes to Rome, gave citizenship to people and gave public land
16. Describe the Pax Romana.
The time of peace that lasted 200 years in Rome
17. What is a “republic?”
A political system in which the citizens of a region elect representatives to run the government
18. What role did the senate have in the Roman Republic?
Advised elected officials, controlled public finances and handled all foreign relations
19. Describe the checks and balances used by the various parts of the Roman Republic.
Magistrates presided over the Senate, Assemblies could reject laws approved by the state, Tribunes could veto officials’ actions, and Senate could refuse to give magistrates money
20. What is a Romance Language? Give three examples of Romance Languages.
Several languages developed from Latin; French, Italian, Spanish, Romanian and Portuguese
21. What do Buddhism and Hinduism have in common? What are the primary teachings of Buddhism and Hinduism?
One of the worlds’s major religions, found in India and reincarnation; Buddhism primary teaching - the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path Hinduism - Brahman (eternal being that created and preserves the world) and Karma
22. What is Siddhartha Gautama known for?
Founder of Buddhism and known as Buddha
23. What is Rome’s most enduring legacy? (Opinion question)
I think the most enduring legacy is the language and literature. Several language, also called Romance Languages, developed form Latin, the language of Rome. Every person who speaks French, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, or Portuguese is speaking a language with roots in the language of Rome. Even English, which developed from other language has much of its vocabulary from Latin. Modern literature and drama uses the technique of satire was derived from Roman authors. If we didn’t have language and literature, how would we communicate with others? What would our English classes be like?
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
24. Decline begins after the __pax__ __romana__ in 3rd Century
25. Invaders made trade _unsafe_ on _sea_ and on _roads_
26. The rich spent _gold_ and _silver_ on luxury items from Asia which drained Rome of these _precious_ metals
27. Rome began making coins with less silver which caused _inflation_
28. Inflation is a _drastic_ drop in the value of _money_ coupled with _rising_ prices for items
29. Agriculture _decreased_ because of infertile soil, and _farmland_ destroyed by war.
30. Food _shortages_
31. Spread of _disease_
Military Troubles
32. _Germanic_ tribes were invading Rome
33. Soldiers no longer had discipline or _loyalty_ to Rome.
34. Soldiers had loyalty only to their _commanders,_ who fought not for Rome, but to tey to become the _emperor_
35. To defend Rome, _mercenaries_ were recruited - foreign soldiers who fought for money
Political Troubles
36. Troubles in the empire made citizens lose _patriotism_ for Rome
37. Being a _political_ official was no longer thought to be an _honor_
38. Few people wanted to serve in the _government_
39. Out of 26 _generals_ who became emperors, 25 met _violent_ deaths
Temporary Help
40. _Diocletian_ in A.D. 284 became a strong leader
41. He _doubled_ the Roman armies and hired German mercenaries
42. Persecuted Christians
43. He _divided_ the Roman empire into 2 sides - East : Greek speaking - West : Latin speaking
44. He took over the East, but _Civil_ _war_ broke out after his death
Constantine
45. Took over the West part of the empire in A.D. 312
46. Moved the _capital_ to a strategic location in Greece in the East in _Byzantium_ and renamed it _Constantinople_
47. He accepted _Christianity_
The West Fall
48. The _west_ faced worse problems than the east that was far from _invaders_
49. From A.D. 376 to 476, huge numbers of _Germanic_ tribes poured into Rome to get away from the fierce _Huns_ _Attila_ the Hun was a powerful _chieftain_ who swept through the west
50. _Negotiated_ with Pope Leo I and withdrew
51. He died in 453 and was no longer a _threat_
52. Germanic tribes continued to _invade_ and finally the _west_ was no longer _Rome_
53. But the _Eastern_ Roman empire will _continue_ as the _Byzantine_ Empire that will preserve _Greek_ and _Roman_ heritage
54. Official date the West Fall was _A.D. 476_