ANCIENT PERSIA
In ancient Persia, these local leaders held great wealth and power. They answered only to the king.
Who were the SATRAPS?
Historians date THIS PERIOD roughly from the time of the first Olympic Games and the rise of the polis to the fifth century BCE wars between Greeks and Persians.
What is the ARCHAIC PERIOD?
Before he was assassinated by a bodyguard, THIS KING shifted Greek power northward and made the plans his "Great" son would carry out.
Who was PHILIP THE SECOND OF MACEDON?
It was true in ancient Rome, and it's true in modern America, that THIS WORD OR PHRASE means "public thing" and "no king."
What is REPUBLIC or RES PUBLICA?
A member of THIS durable and powerful Roman institution had to be a member of the "patrician" class.
What was the SENATE?
This sixth century BCE king did not create the Persian Empire, but HE was credited with its advancement and modernization.
Who was DARIUS THE FIRST?
We remember THEM as disciplined militarists who sometimes partnered with Athens and sometimes fought them in Greek-on-Greek wars.
Who were the SPARTANS?
The most famous Cleopatra (VII, the seventh) lived several centuries after Alexander the Great, but she was from THIS FAMILY that dated back to the "Wars of the Successors."
Who was PTOLEMY or who were THE PTOLEMIES?
THIS ISLAND is part of Italy today, and conquering it during the First Punic War was a major early expansion of the Roman Republic.
What is SICILY?
THIS MAN was both a partner and a rival of Julius Caesar in his lifetime. His death was similar to that of Julius, but it occurred in North Africa instead of the Roman Senate.
Who was POMPEY?
We know this ancient Persian city by a Greek name because Alexander conquered it. Historians still aren't sure why its invaders burned IT down.
What is PERSEPOLIS?
We remember THEM for advancements in democracy and philosophy, but they also fought wars, including a long and bloody one with Persia in the fifth century BCE.
Who were the ATHENIANS?
These are the THREE CONTINENTS that wrap around the Mediterranean and were significantly "Hellenized."
What are AFRICA, ASIA, AND EUROPE?
Who was SULLA?
THIS MAN's "bread and circuses" policy was part of a careful strategy to draw political power from the plebeian masses of Rome.
Who was OCTAVIAN or CAESAR AUGUSTUS?
Historians date this Persian priest to about 3000 years ago. His own faith is still practiced, and his teachings are believed to have influenced multiple world religions.
Who was ZARATHUSTRA (known in Greek as ZOROASTER)?
Historians date THIS PERIOD roughly from the height of Athenian democracy to the death of Alexander the Great.
What is the CLASSICAL PERIOD?
THIS KING was a Hellenistic conqueror in South Asia, but also a willing convert to Buddhist religion. He surpassed Alexander's eastern reach when his army reached the Ganges River.
Who was MENANDER THE FIRST?
THIS was a political contest during the first centuries of the Roman Republic in which Plebeians challenged Patricians over rights.
What was THE STRUGGLE OF THE ORDERS?
Like the other members of the First Triumvirate, this very wealthy man died of unnatural causes. However, he's less famous than the other two because he was less successful as a military leader.
Who was CRASSUS? (Don't confuse him with "Cassius," who's also in the story.)
Ancient Persian kings Cyrus the Great and Darius the First are praised in the Old Testament for helping the people who wanted to live and build their temple in THIS CITY.
What is JERUSALEM?
It's ironic that the greatest conqueror of ancient Greece came from HERE, not Athens or Sparta. Some argued at the time that THIS PLACE was not Greek at all!
What is MACEDON or MACEDONIA?
The narrator of the Old Testament Book of Daniel complains that his people are stuck between the Ptolemies of Egypt and THIS KINGDOM's brutal Antiochus IV.
What was the SELEUCID kingdom/empire?
This is the NAME for the family of languages, like Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian, that derive most directly from Latin.
What are ROMANTIC or ROMANCE languages?
This is the term for a nation or citizenship based on shared values and a constitution, not race or ethnicity or religion. Though ancient Mediterranean empires were often brutal and superstitious, they sometimes extended this kind of citizenship to conquered peoples.
What is CREEDAL citizenship or a CREEDAL nation?