Archimedean screw a pump to irrigate fields created in the 3rd century B.C. by Archimedes. (p. 115)






Dogmatic school a medical school that used speculation as part of research, as well as dissection. (p. 166)






Empiric school a medical school that concentrated on observation and cure of illnesses, they also laid heavier stress on the use of drugs and medicine to treat illnesses. (p. 116)

Epicureanism a practical philosophy founded by Epicurus, it argued that the principal good of human life is pleasure. (p. 112)






Great Silk Road the name of the major route for the silk trade. (p. 107)






heliocentric theory theory of Aristarchus that the earth and planets revolve around the sun. (p. 114)

Hellenistic the new culture that arose when Alexander overthrew the Persian Empire and began spreading Hellenism - Greek culture, language, thought and way of life - as far as India. It is called Hellenistic to distinguish it from the Hellenic period. (p. 93)






koine a common dialect of the Greek language that influenced the speech of peninsular Greece. (p. 106)






mystery religions called such because they featured a body of ritual not to be divulged to anyone not initiated into the cult. It incorporated aspects of both Greek and eastern religions and had broad appeal for both Greeks and Easterners who yearned for personal immortality. (p. 111)






natural law Stoic concept that as all men were brothers, partook of divine reason, and were in harmony with the universe, one law - a part of the natural order of life - governed them all. (p. 113)






politeuma a political corporation the Jews were permitted to create which gave them a great deal of autonomy - they obeyed the king’s commands but there was virtually no royal interference with the Jewish religion. (p. 106)






sovereign independent, autonomous state run by its citizens, free of any outside power or restraint. (p. 100)

Stoicism the most popular of Hellenistic philosophy, it considers nature an expression of divine will, people could be happy only when living in accordance with nature. (p. 113)






Tyche means "fate" or "Chance" or "Doom," a capricious and sometime malevolent force. (p. 110)