Core Vocabulary
This term describes a complex society with cities, government, and social classes.
What is civilization?
A system in which power is controlled by one central authority.
What is a centralized government?
The study of ideas about life, morality, and human behavior.
What is philosophy?
A system of routes used to exchange goods and ideas.
What is a trade network?
Most Classical economies were based on this activity.
What is agriculture?
The historical period from about 600 BCE to 600 CE marked by large, organized societies.
What is the Classical Era?
A written set of rules and consequences used to maintain order.
What is a legal code?
A belief system from China that emphasized respect, order, and proper behavior.
What is Confucianism?
The group of trade routes connecting East Asia to the Mediterranean world.
What are the Silk Roads?
This system divided people into ranked social classes.
What is a social hierarchy?
A group of territories ruled by one leader or government.
What is an empire?
A system of departments and officials that helps manage large states.
What is a bureaucracy?
A religion founded in India that teaches a path to enlightenment.
What is Buddhism?
The spread of ideas, beliefs, and technologies between cultures.
What is cultural diffusion?
How governments and belief systems worked together to maintain order.
What is social control or stability?
What historians call what a civilization leaves behind that continues to influence later societies.
What is a legacy?
A form of government where citizens participate in decision-making.
What is democracy?
An ancient belief system from India that includes karma and reincarnation.
What is Hinduism?
Besides goods, this often spread along trade routes during the Classical Era.
What are ideas or belief systems?
Why empires needed both a military and bureaucracy.
What is to control large territories?
A society where people focus on specific jobs instead of doing everything themselves.
What is specialization?
The status of being a recognized member of a state with rights and responsibilities.
What is citizenship?
The belief in one god, practiced in Judaism and Christianity.
What is monotheism?
One major effect of increased trade between civilizations.
What is greater cultural exchange or innovation?
Why historians still study the Classical Era today.
What is because it shaped modern governments, religions, and cultures?