Aqueduct		Treeless plains, especially the high, flat expanses of northern Eurasia, which usually have little rain and are covered with coarse grass. They are good lands for nomads and their herds.
Augustus		Way of the Elders branch of Buddhism followed in Sri Lanka and much of Southeast Asia. It follows closely the original principles set forth by the Buddha; it downplays the importance of gods and emphasizes austerity and the individual's search for enlightenment.
Ashoka		Historians' name for the eastern portion of the Roman Empire from the fourth century onward.
Byzantine Empire		An ancient capital of more than ten dynasties in Chinese history, today known as Xi'an.
Chang'an		Iranian empire, established ca. 226, with a capital in Ctesiphon, Mesopotamia. The emperors established Zoroastrianism as the state religion. Islamic Arab armies overthrew the empire ca. 640.
Constantine		A group of clans, tribes, communities and sub-communities, and religions in India. Each one typically has an association with a traditional job function or tribe.
Han		A powerful Indian state based, like its Mauryan predecessor, on a capital at Pataliputra in the Ganges Valley. It controlled most of the Indian subcontinent through a combination of military force and its prestige as a center of sophisticated culture.
Jati		Third ruler of the Mauryan Empire in India (r. 270-232 B.C.E.). He converted to Buddhism and broadcast his precepts on inscribed stones and pillars, the earliest surviving Indian writing.
Jesus		It requires travel across the Sahara (north and south) to reach sub-Saharan Africa from the North African coast, Europe, to the Levant. While existing from prehistoric times, the peak of trade extended from the 8th century until the early 17th century.
Judaism		Honorific name of Octavian, founder of the Roman Principate, the military dictatorship that replaced the failing rule of the Roman Senate.
Gentry		A term used to designate (1) the ethnic Chinese people who originated in the Yellow River Valley and spread throughout regions of China suitable for agriculture and (2) the dynasty of emperors who ruled from 206 B.C.E. to 220 C.E.
Gupta Empire		In Indian tradition, the residue of deeds performed in past and present lives that adheres to a "spirit and determines what form it will assume in its next life cycle.
Mahyana Buddhism		Founder of the short-lived Qin dynasty and creator of the Chinese Empire (r. 221-210 B.C.E.). He is remembered for his ruthless conquests of rival states, standardization of practices, and forcible organization of labor for military and engineering tasks. His tomb, with its army of life-size terracotta soldiers, has been partially excavated.
Karma		Roman emperor (r. 312-337). After reuniting the Roman Empire, he moved the capital to Constantinople and made Christianity a favored religion.
Mauryan Empire		Seasonal winds in the Indian Ocean caused by the differences in temperature between the rapidly heating and cooling landmasses of Africa and Asia and the slowly changing ocean waters. These strong and predictable winds have long been ridden across the open sea by sailors, and the large amounts of rainfall that they deposit on parts of India, Southeast Asia, and China allow for the cultivation of several crops a year.
Monsoon		Literally, "Roman peace", it connoted the stability and prosperity that Roman rule brought to the lands of the Roman Empire in the first two centuries C.E. The movement of people and trade goods along Roman roads and safe seas allowed for the spread of cultural practices, technologies, and religious ideas.
Patron/Client relationship		A conduit, either elevated or underground, using gravity to carry water from a source to a location, usually a city, that needed it. The Romans built them in a period of substantial urbanization.
Pax Romana		The process by which the Latin language and Roman culture became dominant in the western provinces of the Roman Empire.
Persian Empire		Is one of a series of imperial dynasties centered in Iran. It was in power from 550 B.C until The first of these was the Achaemenid Empire established by Cyrus the Great in 550
Qin		A people and state in the Wei Valley of eastern China that conquered rival states and created the first Chinese empire (221-206 B.C.E.). The ruler, Shi Huangdi, standardized many features of Chinese society and ruthlessly marshaled subjects for military and construction projects, engendering hostility that led to the fall of his dynasty shortly after his death.
Roman Republic		The first state to unify most of the Indian subcontinent. It was founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 324 B.C.E. and survived until 184 B.C.E. From its capital at Pataliputra in the Ganges Valley it grew wealthy from taxes on agriculture, iron mining, and control of trade routes.
Romanization		A Jew from Galilee in northern Israel who sought to reform Jewish beliefs and practices. He was executed as a revolutionary by the Romans. Hailed as the Messiah and son of God by his followers, he became the central figure in Christianity, a belief system that developed in the centuries after his death.
Sasanid Empire		In ancient Rome, a fundamental social relationship in which the patron,a wealthy and powerful individual, provided legal and economic protection and assistance to clients, men of lesser status and means, and in return the clients supported the political careers and economic interests of their patron.
Shi Huangdi		Device for securing a horseman's feet, enabling him to wield weapons more effectively. First evidence of their use was among the Kushan people of northern Afghanistan in approximately the first century C.E.
Silk Road		This is a Sanskrit word which means type, order, color or class.
Steppes		Great Vehicle branch of Buddhism followed in China, Japan, and Central Asia. The focus is on reverence for Buddha and for bodhisattvas, enlightened persons who have postponed nirvana to help others attain enlightenment.
Stirrup		In China, the class of prosperous families, next in wealth below the rural aristocrats, from which the emperors drew their administrative personnel. Respected for their education and expertise, these officials became a privileged group and made the government more efficient and responsive than in the past.
Theravada Buddhism		An ancient monotheistic Abrahamic religion with the Torah as its foundational text. It encompasses the religion, philosophy and culture of the Jewish people.
Third-century crisis		The period from 507 to 31 B.C.E., during which Rome was largely governed by the aristocratic Roman Senate.
Trans-Saharan Trade		Caravan routes connecting China and the Middle East across Central Asia and Iran.
Varna		Historians' term for the political, military, and economic turmoil that beset the Roman Empire during much of the third century C.E.: frequent changes of ruler, civil wars, barbarian invasions, decline of urban centers, and near-destruction of long-distance commerce and the monetary economy.