Term | Definition |
Cyrus the Great | Persian king who created a huge empire |
Darius | Persian king who built the royal road unifying the empire |
Royal Road | Road that helped to unify the Persian empire |
Zoroaster | Persian prophet & religious reformer |
Confucius | China’s most influential scholar |
Filial Piety | Children’s respect for their parents & elders |
Bureaucracy | Organization of government into agencies and departments |
Daoism | Philosophy of Laozi (Lao Tsu) that puts people in touch with the forces of nature |
Qin Dynasty | Dynasty that unified China |
Qin Shi Huangdi | First emperor or China, leader of the Qin Dynasty |
Homer | Greek poet who composed the Iliad and the Odyssey |
Epic | Heroic story told in the form of a long poem |
Polis | City-state of ancient Greece |
Oligarchy | Government ruled by a few powerful people |
Tyrant | Powerful ruler who gained control of a city-state’s government by asking the common people for support |
Democracy | Rule by the people |
Persian Wars | Conflict between Greece and the Persian Empire |
Peloponnesian Wars | Conflict in which Athens and its allies were defeated by Sparta and its allies |
Philosopher | Thinker who uses logic and reason to explore life’s important questions |
Socrates | Greek thinker who explored truth & justice, and developed a method of questioning and answering |
Plato | Socrates’ student who wrote The Republic, a view of the ideal society |
Aristotle | Plato’s student who developed a method for testing and organizing ideas |
Tragedy | Serious drama dealing with such themes as love, hate, war or betrayal |
Comedy | Light and amusing play that may poke fun at serious subjects |
Direct Democracy | Form of government in which citizens rule directly |