Origins
The original meaning of 'Civilization' (from Latin).
What is 'the City'?
This 4,000-mile-long river in northeast Africa was the site where agricultural villages thrived and eventually united under a sole ruler around 3150 b.c.e.
What is the Nile River?
Instituted in 776 b.c.e. in honor of the gods, this "all-Greek" festival took place every four years at midsummer.
What are the Olympic Games?
This famous phrase from the poet Horace translates to "Seize the Day" and encourages accepting whatever is to be.
What is Carpe Diem?
The first great dynasty of China.
What is the Qin Dynasty?
This belief system suggests that forces of nature like sun and rain are inhabited by living spirits.
What is animism?
Literally meaning “great house,” this was the title given to the first monarchs of united Egypt.
What is a pharaoh?
Derived from the Greek word gymnos (naked), this is the term for the place where Greek athletes competed.
What is a gymnasium?
This Latin term for "absolute authority" held by Roman rulers is the direct origin of the English word "empire."
What is imperium?
The guardians of the tomb of the first Qin Emperor.
What are the terracotta warriors?
Practiced during the Ice Age, these "sophisticated and highly naturalistic" images found deep in caves may have served as part of virtual hunting rituals.
What is cave painting?
In ancient India, this rigid system of class stratification included four principal castes, with the "Untouchables" at the very bottom.
What is the caste system?
This style of art and architecture is characterized by aesthetic principles of clarity, simplicity, balance, and harmonious proportion.
What is Classicism?
While Greek portraiture often focused on "idealization," Roman artists—especially for private portraits—preferred this style, which shows an "obsessive fidelity to nature."
What is realism?
The dynasty that was the high point and classical phase of the Chinese Empire.
What is the Han Dynasty?
This is the name of the massive, stepped temples built by Mesopotamians to honor their gods.
What is a Ziggurat?
This two-foot-high artifact commemorates the landmark union of Upper and Lower Egypt under the authority of one King.
What is the Palette of King Narmer?
Born into an aristocratic family, this woman is considered the greatest of the Hellenic lyric poets.
Who is Sappho?
This architectural innovation, which the Romans adopted from the Etruscans, allowed them to build structures much larger and stronger than the Greek post-and-lintel system.
What is the arch?
The meaning of 'Seres'; what the Romans called the Chinese.
The silk people.
Shortly after 4000 b.c.e. in Asia Minor, this fundamental change marked the "Birth of Civilization" as metal began to replace stone and bone tools.
What is metallurgy?
In terms of religious philosophy, how did the nature of the "Absolute Spirit" in Ancient India fundamentally differ from the nature gods worshiped in Egypt and Mesopotamia?
What is that Brahman is infinite, formless, and unknowable, whereas the gods of Egypt and Mesopotamia were seen as having human-like personalities and appearances?
This site at Delphi, identified by Greeks as the center of the universe, was the home of a priestess of Apollo who uttered mystical prophecies.
What is the Oracle at Delphi?
Roman records indicate that besides traditional work in textiles, Roman women could hold specific types of professional or public roles(name two).
What are musicians, painters, priestesses, midwives, and/or gladiators?
Both political stability and _____ were brought by the Chinese Empire to its people.
What is Cultural Unity?