Key Terms
What is a caliph?
"successor" (to Muhammad), supreme political and religious leader in Muslim government
When the Christian church split between the Western and Eastern halves of the Byzantine empire, what denomination of Christianity was founded in both halves?
Eastern: Orthodox Church
Western: Roman Catholic Church
Who was the Mongolian leader who lead the Mongols on a vicious rampage across Europe?
Genghis Khan
Why were the first four caliphs considered "rightly-guided"?
They all knew Muhammad personally and were able his actions/teachings as a guide based on first hand knowledge and experience.
What year did the Byzantine Empire fall and who conquered them?
1453, Ottoman Turks
What was the Justinian Code?
body of Roman civil law collected and organized by Justinian in AD 534
What was the Byzantine version of the Roman Circus Maximus called and what was it used for?
Hippodrome for chariot races
Name one of the two Russian nobles responsible for making Orthodox Christianity the official religion and what their contribution was.
Princess Olga: travelled to Constantinople and converted to Christianity.
Vladimir: Olga's grandson who officially made Christianity the state religion of Russia.
What was the Hijrah?
Muhammad and his early follower's pilgrimage from Mecca to Medina
Why was Mecca so important to those living on the Arabian Peninsula before Islam was founded?
It was a center for religious pilgrimages as the Ka'aba shrine was located there with many idols representing many different gods and spirits worshipped by many of the Bedouin tribes.
Define excommunication and explain the role it played in the Great Schism
to declare a person as outcast from the church
Final straw was the Eastern Patriarch and the Western Pope excommunicated each other.
1054: Church divides
Explain the two major differences between the Roman and Byzantine empires.
Roman: Latin-speaking, practiced polytheistic pagan religion
Byzantine: Greek-speaking, practiced Christianity
How and why did Russian nobles help the Mongols keep control of Russia?
Nobles helped Mongolians keep control out of necessity. They were not strong enough to remove Mongols from power.
Some collected taxes on behalf of the Mongols,
Alexander Nevsky advised other Russian princes to cooperate with the Mongols,
Ivan I successfully put down a Russian revolt, gaining title "grand prince" as appreciation from Mongols
Who paid the poll tax (jizyah) and why did they pay it?
All non-Muslims had to pay the poll tax. It exempted them from required military service.
The Hagia Sophia, constructed in AD 537 under Justinian, first served as a(n) _______ and was later converted into a(n) ______ due to the overthrow of the Byzantines by the ______.
Orthodox Christian church, mosque, Ottomans
Define Islam and Muslim, giving the translations from Arabic.
Islam: monotheistic religion "submission to the will of Allah"
Muslim: follower of Islam, "one who has submitted:
Explain two causes for the fall of the Byzantine empire.
Plague kills hundreds of thousands, lower population and weakened to attack
constant threats and attacks from barbarians in the east and west
Rise of Islam and attack from Arab armies (Crusades)
Attacks from Russians
Slavic culture - Slavs were initial inhabitants of Russia, combined with the Vikings
Greek Byzantine - Orthodox missionaries from Constantinople (located on the Black Sea) were nearby and travelled to convert Slavs and Vikings
Name the 5 pillars of Islam and briefly describe each.
Faith: proclamation of faith that states Allah is the only god and Muhammad is his prophet
Prayer: pray 5 times a day, facing towards Mecca
Pilgrimage: hajj: journey to Mecca that all Muslims should attempt to make at some point in their life.
Alms: giving back to those less fortunate- special religious tax
Fasting: Fasting from dawn to dusk during holy month of Ramadan
Explain how advancements in astronomy were beneficial to Muslims attempting to fulfill the Five Pillars? Which pillars were impacted by these advancements?
Creation of the astrolabe - used to tell time, chart celestial events, and calculate relative position
Correct lunar calendar to keep track of holy days
Pilgrimage (relative position towards Mecca), Fasting (lunar calendar to determine when Ramadan was, Prayer (which direction to face towards Mecca)
Define jihad and explain how Abu-Bakr used it to lead Muslims to control all of Arabia? How will later Muslim Caliphs use jihad to expand the empire?
"striving" refers to the inner struggle against evil but in the Qur'an it refers to the armed struggle against non-believers. Jihad was used to give moral/ethical reason behind military expansion --> Qur'an tells Muslim people to take arms against non-believers.
What was the context that led to the Great Schism (Church divide)?
Dispute started over icon worship, which was popular in Eastern half of the empire, but an emperor banned it. Pope got involved and took opposition against the emperor.
This was the beginning of the dispute between the two halves of the empire over the authority of the Pope vs. Emperor
Who was responsible for expelling the Mongols from Russia and how did he do it?
Ivan III, Prince of Moscow- refused to pay tribute to Mongols (this is after Moscow has been growing in power, wealth, and influence for some time now) which resulted in a stand-off between the Russians and Mongolians and ultimately the Mongolians retreated without fighting.
Explain the internal conflict the Umayyad dynasty caused and how it led to the Sunni-Shi'a split.
Umayyads took power after system of electing caliphs collapsed after murder of Ali.
Some Muslims were resentful of their seizing power, and many did not like their extravagant lifestyle or the fact that they moved the capital from Mecca to Damascus --> leads to Shi'a party forming who claim caliph should be descendant of Muhammad
The Umayyads were removed from power and replaced by the Abbasids. Explain two major changes or policies they enacted in attempt to strengthen the Muslim Empire.
Moved capital to Baghdad to have better access to trade goods, resources, and information.
Created a bureaucracy to devlop more efficient and stronger government.
Taxed land, imports/exports, and non-Muslims to build up wealth of the state.