Chapter 1
Biological Old Regime. The natural restrictions on population
size and living conditions in the age before the Industrial
Revolution, such as widespread undernourishment, famine, and
unchecked disease.
Clientage. A system of mutual dependency in which a
powerful individual protects the interests of others in return
for their political or economic support. It may exist with or
without legal sanction, and has long been a basic institution
in many societies.
Demography. The statistical study of populations through
data such as birth and death rates, censuses, or marriage rates.
Extended Family. A family unit containing not only the
nuclear family, but other relatives (siblings, parents, etc.) living
under the same roof.
Matrilineal. Inheritance of property, and sometimes the family
name, through the female line.
Monotheism. Belief in the existence of only one god, as
opposed to Polytheism,or the belief in many.
Neolithic Revolution. The transition to the “new stone age”
involving the domestication of animals, the development of
agriculture, and the extensive use of basketry and pottery.
Nuclear Family. The basic family unit of mother, father, and
their children.
Paleolithic. The “old stone age” before the invention of
agriculture. Tools were made of stone and people lived by
hunting and gathering.
Slave. A person who is the chattel property of another and
therefore without rights.
Debt Slavery is the practice of enslaving someone to satisfy a
debt, often for a fixed period of time.
Chapter 2
Democracy. Rule by the people. In Greek terms, this meant
government by the entire body of male citizens as opposed to
by a small group of wealthy aristocrats. Slaves, women, and
resident aliens were excluded.
Hoplites. Armored spearmen trained to fight shoulder to
shoulder in a rectangular formation that was normally eight
ranks deep.
Polis. The Greek city-state, composed in theory of those who
shared a common ancestry and worshipped the same gods. It
was the basis of Greek life and values in the Classical Age.
Trireme. The dominant warship of the Classical Age. It was
propelled by three ranks of oars supplemented by square sails,
and had a metal prow for ramming opponents.
Tyrant. A ruler who, though sometimes legitimately elected,
ignored the laws and institutions of his polis and governed as a
dictator.
Zoroastrianism. A Persian religion based upon the conflict
between a god of good (Ahura Mazda) and a god of evil
(Ahriman). Its duallism influenced later Christian thought.Chapter 3
Epistemology. In philosophy, the study of how human
knowledge is acquired.
Hellenistic. The Greek culture of the fourth through the first
centuries B.C., based not on the polis, but on the great empires
founded by Alexander the Great’s commanders.
Pharisees. A Jewish sect that demanded strict observance of
the religious laws and opposed the introduction of Greek
customs and ideas by their rivals, the Sadducees.
Platonic Idealism (Realism). Plato’s theory that ideas or forms
are real and intelligible, and that they exist independently of
appearances discernible to the senses.
Sophists. Teachers of rhetoric who held that individual
experience, based primarily on the senses, was the only basis for
knowledge, and that all teachings were therefore relative.
Syllogism. A form of argument, common to much of western
thought, that reasons: if all A is B, and all C is A, then all C must
be B.
Teleological. Relating to the assumption that things can best
be understood in relation to their end or purpose. In ethics, the
principle that actions must be judged in terms of the result they
are intended to produce.Chapter 4
Censor. The official responsible for conducting the Census
which ranked each citizen’s property qualifications. In later yearsGLOSSARY
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