India
This strict social class system divided people by family profession and allowed for no social mobility through marriage or wealth.
What is the Caste System?
Created during the Zhou Dynasty, this political concept claimed that Chinese emperors received their divine right to rule from God.
What is the Mandate of Heaven?
In this Greek city-state, male citizens over age 18 participated in direct democracy by debating and voting on laws suggested by the Council of 500.
What is Athens?
Created after public revolts, this written code of laws was displayed on stone tablets in Rome so all citizens could see them and prevent corruption.
What are the Twelve Tables (or Law of the Twelve Tables)?
Passing through the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts, this network of trade routes linked Classical China to Mediterranean markets.
What is the Silk Road?
During the Gupta Empire's Golden Age, Indian mathematicians developed this core mathematical concept alongside infinity and the numerical symbols 1 to 9.
What is the concept of zero?
This first emperor of unified China ruled under the harsh philosophy of Legalism and ordered forced laborers to build the Great Wall to stop northern invaders.
Who is Emperor Shi Huangdi (or Emperor Qin)?
Built entirely around military strength, this oligarchic city-state sent boys to military barracks at age seven and treated conquered people as slaves.
What is Sparta?
Named dictator during civil unrest, this military leader supported the poor, fixed Rome's debt, and introduced a 365-day solar calendar before being assassinated on March 15th.
Who is Julius Caesar?
Historical term describing the exchange and merging of cultural elements—such as food, language, religions, and goods—between different societies.
What is Cultural Diffusion?
Home to India's most important rivers, this vast region of fertile soil provided the geographic location where many Indian civilizations first began
What is the Indo-Gangetic Plain?
To ensure government workers were chosen based on merit rather than special privileges, the Han Dynasty introduced this rigorous examination system based on Confucianism
What is the Civil Service Exam?
Taking the throne at age 20, this Macedonian ruler marched his army for 11 years without losing a single battle, conquering Persia and reaching the Indus River.
Who is Alexander the Great?
Beginning under Emperor Augustus, this 200-year golden age of Roman peace and political stability was marked by increased wealth and expanded trade with India and China.
What is Pax Romana?
Unified under Attila in 444 AD, this fierce group of Central Asian nomads terrorized Europe and pushed Germanic tribes into Roman territory.
Who are the Huns?
Along with silk and textiles, these highly valued goods were one of India's main exports traded with foreign regions like Persia.
What are spices?
Isolated by geographic natural barriers like deserts and mountains, ancient China developed this belief that their civilization was the "Middle Kingdom" or center of the Earth.
What is ethnocentrism?
Created through Alexander the Great's conquests, this culture represented the blending of Greek traditions with Eastern cultures from Egypt, Persia, and Asia.
What is Hellenistic Culture?
Built using tiers of arches, these massive engineering structures used gravity to transport fresh drinking water long distances into Roman cities.
What are aqueducts?
When Emperor Constantine moved the Roman capital to Byzantium, he established this eastern half of the empire that survived for another 1,000 years after Rome fell.
What is the Byzantine Empire (or Constantinople)?
To help manage his large empire from the capital city, Chandragupta created a system where different government departments were run by officials, known as a ____.
What is a bureaucracy?
Long before modern astronomical tools, scientists in this Bronze Age dynasty calculated the exact length of a solar year as 365 and 1/4 days.
What is the Shang Dynasty?
Real political power in Sparta's oligarchy was held by this governing body, which consisted of two hereditary kings and 28 elected noblemen over the age of 60.
What is the Council of Elders?
In the Roman Republic, this small social class of wealthy landowning aristocrats held most of the political power and money
Who are the Patricians?
To defend its borders as discipline declined, the late Roman government hired these foreign soldiers who fought for money rather than loyalty to Rome.
What are mercenaries?