World History to 1550 2
Terms
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- Alexander the Great
- A ruler of Greece in the fourth century B.C. As a general, he conquered most of the ancient world, extending the civilization of Greece east to India. In Alexander’s youth, the philosopher Aristotle was his tutor.
- Augustus Caesar
- The first emperor of Rome; the adopted son of Julius Caesar. In his reign, from 44 B.C. to A.D. 14, Rome enjoyed peace, and the arts flourished. The time of Augustus is considered a golden age for literature in Rome.The month of August is named for Augustus.
- Bacon, Francis
- An English politician, scientist, and author of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries; one of the leaders of the Renaissance in England.
- Black Death
- A disease that killed nearly half the people of western Europe in the fourteenth century. It was a form of the bubonic plague.
- Borgia, Lucrezia
- A sister of the Italian politician Cesare Borgia and, like him, famous for her treachery.
- Brutus
- An ancient Roman politician who helped assassinate his friend Julius Caesar.
- Caligula
- A cruel and insane ruler of the Roman Empire in the first century A.D.; one of the twelve Caesars. To humiliate the senators of Rome, he appointed his horse to the senate.
- Charlemagne
- The first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire; his name means “Charles the Great.†Charlemagne was king of France in the late eighth and early ninth centuries and was crowned emperor in 800. He is especially remembered for his encouragement of education.
- Cleopatra
- A queen of Egypt in the first century B.C., famous for her beauty, charm, and luxurious living. She lived for some time in Rome with Julius Caesar. For several years after Caesar was assassinated, she lived in Egypt with the Roman politician Mark Antony. Antony killed himself on hearing a false report that she was dead. After Antony’s death, Cleopatra committed suicide by allowing an asp, a poisonous snake, to bite her.
- Constantine the Great
- A Roman emperor of the fourth century. He founded Constantinople as capital of the eastern part of the Roman Empire. Early in his reign, Constantine issued a document allowing Christians to practice their religion within the empire. Before that, they had frequently been persecuted. 1
- Cortés, Hernando
- A Spanish explorer and conquistador of the sixteenth century. Cortés overthrew the Aztec rulers of Mexico and established the authority of Spain over the country. His name is also spelled Cortez.
- Demosthenes
- The greatest orator of ancient Greece. Demosthenes is said to have overcome a childhood stutter by forcing himself to speak with pebbles in his mouth. He delivered speeches called Philippics attacking King Philip of Macedon, who was an enemy of Demosthenes’ city of Athens.
- Fall of Rome
- The collapse of the Roman Empire in the fifth century. Two of the main events of the Fall of Rome were the plundering of the city of Rome by an invading tribe, the Vandals, in the middle years of the century and the abdication of the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, in 476.
- fief
- Under feudalism, a landed estate given by a lord to a vassal in return for the vassal’s service to the lord. The vassal could use the fief as long as he remained loyal to the lord.
- guilds
- Organizations of artisans in the Middle Ages that sought to regulate the price and quality of products such as weaving and ironwork. Guilds survived into the eighteenth century.