Middle Eastern History

120 flashcards by MentisLibrary

The Middle East from Sumer, Babylon and Persia through the rise of Islam, the caliphates, the Ottoman and Safavid empires, the mandates drawn after 1918, oil, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the wars and uprisings since 1979.

What is Gobekli Tepe?
A hilltop of carved stone pillars arranged in circles, built by people who had not yet adopted farming
Why is Jericho important to archaeology?
It has a stone tower and wall from the pre-pottery Neolithic, making it one of the earliest known walled settlements
What was Catalhoyuk?
A dense Neolithic settlement of mudbrick houses entered through the roof, with wall paintings and burials under the floors
Where were wheat and barley first domesticated?
In the Fertile Crescent, the arc of watered land running from the Levant through southeastern Anatolia into Mesopotamia
What was Uruk?
A Sumerian city on the Euphrates that grew into the largest settlement of its day, with temple precincts and mass-produced pottery
Where and when did writing first appear?
In southern Mesopotamia, as accounting marks pressed into clay that developed into cuneiform script
What was a ziggurat?
A stepped temple platform of mudbrick that raised a shrine above the city
Who founded the first empire in Mesopotamia?
Sargon of Akkad, who brought the Sumerian city-states under one ruler
What is the Code of Ur-Nammu?
The earliest surviving law code, setting fixed compensations for injuries and offences
What is the Epic of Gilgamesh?
A long poem about a king of Uruk who seeks immortality after his friend's death, preserved on cuneiform tablets
What is the Code of Hammurabi?
A collection of nearly three hundred laws inscribed on a stone pillar under a relief of the king before a god
Who fought Egypt at the Battle of Kadesh?
The Hittites of Anatolia under Muwatalli II, against Ramesses II of Egypt
What was the Late Bronze Age collapse?
A rapid breakdown in which the Hittite empire fell, Mycenaean palaces burned and trade across the eastern Mediterranean broke down
What did the Phoenicians contribute to writing?
A consonantal alphabet of about twenty-two signs that was far easier to learn than cuneiform or hieroglyphs
What made the Neo-Assyrian Empire distinctive?
A standing army, siege engineering, provincial administration and the mass deportation of conquered populations
What happened to the kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE?
Assyria captured Samaria and deported much of its population, ending the northern kingdom
Who destroyed the First Temple in Jerusalem?
The Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II, who took the city and deported much of its elite to Babylon
Who founded the Achaemenid Persian Empire?
Cyrus the Great, who defeated the Medes, Lydia and Babylon in turn
What administrative system did Darius I build?
Provinces called satrapies under governors, with royal inspectors, a standard coinage and the Royal Road for couriers
What is Zoroastrianism?
An Iranian religion teaching a supreme creator, Ahura Mazda, and a moral struggle between truth and the lie
What were the Greco-Persian Wars?
Persian campaigns against the Greek mainland after the Ionian revolt, defeated at Marathon, Salamis and Plataea
How did the Achaemenid Empire end?
Alexander of Macedon defeated Darius III at Gaugamela and took the Persian capitals, burning Persepolis
What was the Seleucid Empire?
The largest of the successor states to Alexander, ruling Syria, Mesopotamia and Iran from Greek-style cities
Who were the Parthians?
An Iranian dynasty that took Iran and Mesopotamia from the Seleucids and became Rome's rival in the east
What was the Sasanian Empire?
The last pre-Islamic Iranian empire, which revived Zoroastrian kingship and fought Rome and Byzantium for four centuries
What was Petra?
The rock-cut capital of the Nabataean kingdom, grown rich on the incense trade across Arabia
Where and when was Muhammad born?
In Mecca, around 570, into the Quraysh tribe
What is the Hijra?
The migration of Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina after persecution
How did Muhammad's mission end?
He returned to Mecca in 630 largely without fighting, and died in Medina two years later
Who were the Rashidun caliphs?
The first four successors to Muhammad: Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali