Geography
Leif Eriksson‘s exploratory journey brought him to the eastern-most edge of this continent.
What is North America?
This modern city now lies on top of the Byzantine capital of Constantinople.
What is Istanbul?
Name (or describe) two of the five pillars of Islam.
What is Shahada (declaration of allah), Salaah (prayer five times a day), Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca), Zakat (charity), or Sawm (fasting during Ramadan)?
Muslim scholars in the House of Wisdom translated many worlds of ancient literature. They especially liked medical texts and the philosophy of this ancient Greek.
Who is Socrates (or Plato)?
This emperor, sharing the names of two of Rome's most famous leaders, was the last to rule the western Roman Empire.
Who is Romulus Augustulus?
The development of gunpowder lead the Chinese to invent a range of weird new weapons with strange names. Name one.
What are as "flying incendiary club for subjugating demons", "caltrop fire ball", "ten-thousand fire flying sand magic bomb", "big bees nest", "burning heaven fierce fire unstoppable bomb", and "fire bricks" which released "flying swallows", "flying rats", "fire birds", or "fire oxen"?
The University of this place was the first founded in the world and it is in still in operation.
What is Bologna?
The feudal system of Europe led peasants, called this, to be forced into servitude to knights, lords, and kings.
What are serfs?
Decorated books, especially bibles, are referred to as this, related to the word for "light."
What is an illuminated manuscript?
This economic system structured European society during the medieval period.
What is feudalism?
This kingdom was one of the first to convert to Christianity and became rich and powerful by controlling the Horn of Africa.
What is the kingdom of Aksum?
This circular city in the middle east was once home to the great “House of Wisdom,” a school, religious center, and library.
What is Baghdad?
What is Iconoclasm?
The Songs of Dzibalche are a collection of poems and hymns from this civilization.
What is the Maya?
The Muslim states following the death of the Prophet were ruled by rulers known by this title.
What is Caliph?
The Byzantine Navy repelled the Kievan Rus' naval siege by adding this to the front and sides of their ships. Today, the tool is mostly reserved for horses, but it was very good at breaking oars.
What are spurs?
While chain mail is known from ancient times, its construction into this garment was essential for the protection of medieval knights.
What is a hauberk?
Cuju, a Chinese sport played by both women and men, bears strong similarities to several modern games. Name one.
What is hackey-sack, basketball, soccer, or volleyball?
The 12th or 13th century head of a Nigerian king is now known as this, named for the royal capital of the Yoruba people.
What is the Ife Head?
This essential mineral was vital for preserving food around the pre-modern world, we looked at examples of its collection from Tang China and the Maya.
Though this region remains linguistically and culturally diverse to this day, there is a strong north-south divide in the genetic makeup of the population.
What is India?
Medieval castles contained multiple of these tall structures to provide vantage points and give defenders an advantage during sieges and bombardments.
What are towers?
Halvan (or Halfdan) is the name of the Viking warrior who graffitied the interior of this important building.
What is the Hagia Sophia (or Ayasofya) Church/Mosque?
This Byzantine Empress decided that the best way to blend old and new was to rewrite the Bible using lines from the Iliad and Odyssey.
Who is Aelia Eudocia?
Between the 9th and 11th centuries the Byzantine Empire enjoyed a period of prosperity, art, and knowledge, known as this Renaissance.
What is Macedonian?
This famous tapestry shows one of the earliest battles in which knights were the main army of both sides of the conflict.
What is the Bayeux Tapestry?
Tetracycline, a vital antibiotic used to treat a range of diseases, was discovered and developed into a healthy beer by people in this place.
What is Nubia?
Hildegard von Bingen, the polymath Benedictine abbess and mystic, had a real problem with this, which she saw as proof of the devils work in her abbey.
What is Lesbianism?
The Christian, Ottonian art from Magdeburg we discussed is made from this rare material that is illegal to sell today.
What is ivory?
Silk road trade brought numerous goods and ideas across Central Asia. Name three things, besides silk, that was on the move.
Many options possible.
Under Charlemagne and his sons, the Holy Roman Empire was mostly located in modern France, by the 10th and 11th centuries it mostly covered this modern country.
What is Germany?
“Castle” Beynac is a fine example of this kind of elite, medieval home.
What is a manor?
The construction of this massive earthwork coincided with the arrival of Halley’s Comet. It’s in modern Ohio today.
What is the Great Serpent Mound?
Japanese writing scripts were often derived from the languages scholars were translating or adapting. This is the name of the prestigious script that was developed from Chinese
What is Kanji?
This successor kingdom to the Romans established one set of laws that would serve all people living under their power.
Who are the Visigoths?
Most Viking longships have been found in this context, not as shipwrecks.
What is buried in mounds?
This Chinese dynasty developed the magnetic compass.
What is the Song?
Ulama is the modern name of this ancient practice, which had no single name or set of rules in its original setting. Hint: you're going to need a team.
What is the Mesoamerican Ball Game?
Chinese women playing polo was a common theme of art from this dynasty.
What is the Tang Dynasty?
It was worth it for the Byzantine Emperor Justinian to orchestrate a complicated smuggling ring to get his hands on the ability to produce this.
What is silk?
These three, smaller Mesoamericn civilizations all occupied territory north of the Maya in the years before the rise of the Aztec Empire.
Who are the Toltec, Olmec, and Zapotec?
Pueblo Bonito is filled with these circular structures, possibly used as ceremonial gathering spaces? The name used by archaeologists is derived from the modern Hopi language.
What are Kivas?
The Silk Road encouraged the spread of religions in this period, but also led to this practice, which led to things like the Manichaean Buddha Jesus.
What is syncretism?
The Tiruvaymoli collects hymns from this religious tradition.
What is Hinduism?
The Jurchen people formed this breakaway dynasty and forced the Song Dynasty to relinquish control of the North for more than a century.
What is the Jin Dynasty?
Constantinople survived for centuries and resisted numerous invasions, including one by Attila the Hun, because they had invested in this.
What are walls?
The road system of this South American society included numerous suspension bridges.
What is the Incan Empire?
Figures like this saint show the development of racial thinking in the medieval world.
Who is St. Maurice?
The sculpture of Shiva as Nataraja, the Lord of Dance, comes from this empire of south India.
What is the Chola?
Floating agricultural spaces, known as this, were essential for the success of the Aztec Empire.
What are Chinampas?