HistoryNerd94's definitions

Agricultural Revolutions

(Ancient) The change from food gathering to food production that occured between ca. 8000 and 2000 B.C.E. Also known as the Neolithic Revolution.

The term Agricultural Revolutions is more precise because it emphasizes the central role of food production and signals that the changeover occured several times.

by HistoryNerd94 November 12, 2010

Hammurabi

Amorite ruler of Babylon (r. 1792–1750 B.C.E.). He conquered many city-states in southern and northern Mesopotamia and is best known for a code of laws, inscribed on a black stone pillar, illustrating the principles to be used in legal cases.

Toward the end of a long reign, Hammurabi initiated a series of aggressive military campaigns, and Babylon became the capital of what historians have named the "Old Babylonian" state, which eventually stretched beyond Sumer and Akkad into the north and northwest, from 1900 to 1600 B.C.E.

by HistoryNerd94 December 20, 2010

Scribe

In the governments of many ancient societies, a professional position reserved for men who had undergone the lengthy training required to be able to read and write using cuneiform, hieroglyphics, or other early, cumbersome writing systems.

Male domination of the position of scribe—an administration or scholar charged by the temple or palace with reading and writing tasks—further complicates efforts to reconstruct the lives of women.

by HistoryNerd94 December 21, 2010

Renaissance

The intellectual and artistic flowering in Europe during the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries sparked by a revival of interest in classical antiquity.

The Renaissance celebrated human possibility.

by HistoryNerd94 December 30, 2011

Reconquista

The long struggle (ending in 1492) during which Spanish Christians reconquered the Iberian peninsula from Muslim occupiers.

Columbus finally sold his plan to Isabel and Ferdinand, the monarchs of Castile and Aragon, who had married and united their kingdoms. In 1492, the couple had succeeded in conquering Grenada, the last Muslim-controlled province in Iberia, ending a centuries-long struggle known as the reconquista.

by HistoryNerd94 January 2, 2012

City-State

A small independent state consisting of an urban center and the surrounding agricultural territory. A characteristic political form in early Mesopotamia, Archaic and Classical Greece, Phoenicia, and early Italy.

The term city-state refers to a self-governing urban center and the agriculture territories it controlled.

by HistoryNerd94 December 18, 2010

Amulet

Small charm meant to protect the bearer from evil. Found frequently in archaeological excavations in Mesopotamia and Egypt, amulets reflect the religious practices of the common people.

The survival of many amulets and representations of a host of demons suggest widespread belief in magic—the use of special words and rituals to manipulate the forces of nature.

by HistoryNerd94 December 24, 2010