20 definitions by HistoryNerd94
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 19, 2010
Socially transmitted patterns of action and expression. Material culture refers to physical objects, such as dwellings, clothing, tools, and crafts. Culture also includes arts, beliefs, knowledge, and technology.
by HistoryNerd94 September 27, 2010
The central figure in the ancient Egyptian state. Believed to be an earthly manifestation of the gods, he used his absolute power to maintain the safety and prosperity of Egypt.
The Egyptian state centered on the king, often known by the New Kingdom term pharaoh, from an Egyptian phrase meaning "palace."
by HistoryNerd94 December 26, 2011
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 28, 2011
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
An ambiguous term often used to denote more complex societies but sometimes used by anthropologists to describe any group of people sharing a set of cultural traits.
Scholars agree that political, social, economic, and technological phenomena are indicators of civilization.
by HistoryNerd94 September 25, 2010
The period of the Stone Age associated with the evolution of humans. It predates the Neolitic period.
by HistoryNerd94 November 4, 2010