Download Vocabulary for the Near East 1800

Vocabulary for the Near East 1800-1200 BC
Hittites: a member of an ancient people who established an empire in Asia Minor and Syria that
flourished from circa 1700 to circa 1200 BC. They were the first to use iron.
Anatolia: modern day Turkey
Kassite: were a people of the ancient Near East, who controlled Babylonia after the fall of the
Old Babylonian Empire c. 1531 BC and until c. 1155 BC
Bronze Age: The Bronze Age in the ancient Near East began with the rise of Sumer in the 4th
millennium BC and lasted until around 1200 BC with the advent of the use of Iron.
Iron Age: An age lasting from about 1,200 BC until AD 43 in which iron began to be wide spread
Assyrians: a major Mesopotamian East Semitic-speaking kingdom and later empire of the
ancient Near East. It existed as an independent state which began a system of trade with the
Hittites from perhaps as early as the 25th century BC. It became prominent 750 BC until 612.
Minoan: a non-Indo-European civilization which existed on the Island of Crete off the coast of
Greece. They were displaced by the Mycenaean people.
Minotaur: A half human and half bull monster which King Minos hid in a labyrinth. Heinrich
Schliemann equated his discovery of the palace at Knossos with this legend and named it the
Minoan civilization.
Knossos: city on the island of Crete and the location of the Minoan Palace
Mycenaean: Indo-European people who settled on the mainland of Greece around 1,600 BC.
They are the fore-runners of the Greek civilization and probably intermixed with others to form
the ancient Greek population.
Heinrich Schliemann: archaeologist of the city of Mycenae
Agamemnon: Leader of the Greek demoi who traveled to Troy to rescue his brother’s wife,
Helen.
Mycenae: City on the mainland of Greece and named after the famed conqueror of Troy,
Agamemnon. H. Schliemann discovered a gold mask there and claimed it was the death mask
of Agamemnon.
Linear B: Writing system of the Mycenaean people which was copied from the Minoan’s script
called Linear A.
Pylos: location of archaeological remains of a Mycenaean settlement which helps give us
information about what were Mycenaean ideas or artefacts present in the epics of Homer.
Nestor was the leader of Pylos.
Achaeans: the name given to the Greeks who battled against the Trojans. This name also shows
up in Hittite records.
Sea People: group of people of Achaean origin who migrated into the Near East. Some settled
in Palestine (the Philistines) and some attacked the Hittite city of Troy.
Vocabulary for the Near East 1200-500 BC
Neo-Assyrian Empire: The Assyrian Empire that lasted from 911-627 BC. They were known for
their brutal military campaigns and were the first civilization in Mesopotamia to extend its
power beyond Mesopotamia (included: Egypt, Iran, Palestine, Syria, and northern Arabia!)
Nineveh: Capital city of Assyria
Tiglathpileser: Assyrian king responsible for creating the military genius behind Assyrian’s
power.
Mass deportation: taking an enemy from their land and placing them into a different location.
This prevents them from uprising.
Ashurbanipal: king of Assyria who built an extensive library with copies of the Epic of
Gilgamesh in stash.
Canaan: part of ancient Palestine between Jordan River & the Mediterranean —sometimes used
to refer to all of ancient Palestine. The ancient Phoenicians were the original settlers of Canaan
and called themselves Canannites. (Greeks gave them the name Phoenicians)
Solomon: third king of Israel and developed a wealthy kingdom based on trade alliances
David: second king of Israel and is responsible for creating a stable Israelite monarchy
Israel: Hebrew kingdom established by Saul, solidified by David, and later will refer to the
northern part of the kingdom when it divides after Solomon
Judah: refers to the southern part of the Kingdom of Israel after it divides after Solomon
First Temple: Solomon built the first temple due to the wealth he amassed via (by) trade
networks
Samaria: the capital of Judah
Diaspora: the dispersion of Jews/Hebrews after the Babylonian Captivity
Phoenician: group of Semitic people who lived in the Syrian area north of Israel. They began
around 1500 BC and were largely over-run by other civilizations (Assyria, Neo-Babylon,
Aramaeans) so they focused on colonizing in the Mediterranean areas west of the Levant coast.
They created an alphabet based on consonant sounds which the Greeks would steal and add
vowel sounds.
Aramaean: Semitic people who settled into Canaan after the collapse in 1200 BC. Their
language was used as the major trade language in the Near East until into AD well after the
Romans conquered.
Byblos: Phoenician city which was a distributor of books made out of papyrus. Those books
were called Biblion or books from Byblos-the Greeks used it to refer to books and we get the
word Bible.
Carthage: Phoenician city which had a massive trade monopoly. It was mythological founded
by Dido (Queen from Tyre) and was connected with Rome in a series of battles called the Punic
Wars.
Dates to know on the Test:
Old Kingdom: 2686 BC – 2134 BC
Middle Kingdom: 2030 BC and 1640 BC
New Kingdom 1550’s BC -1070 BC
Hittites: 1800 BC-1200 BC
Kassites: 1600 BC -1155 BC
Assyria: 911 BC-627 BC
Minoan 1900BC -1450 BC
Mycenaean: 1600 BC-1150 BC
Israel: 1027 BC-724 BC (Northern Kingdom) and 1027-586 BC (Southern)
Neo-Babylon: 626 BC- 539 BC
Persia: 550BC -323 BC