Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, 2 e.
Glossary
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Glossary Terms for letter: S
Sack of Constantinople In 1204 Frankish armies went on a rampage and sacked the capital city of Constantinople.
Sacred kingships Institution that marked the centralized politics of West Africa. The inhabitants of these kingships believed that their kings were descendants of the gods.
Sahel region Area of sub-Saharan Africa with wetter and more temperate locations, especially in the upland massifs and their foothills, villages, and towns.
Saint Patrick A former slave brought to Ireland from Briton who later became a missionary, or the "Apostle of Ireland." He died in 470 CE.
Sargon the Great Reigning from 2334 to 2279 BCE, Sargon was the king of Akkad, a city-state near modern Baghdad; he helped bring the competitive era of city-states to an end and sponsored monumental works of architecture, art, and literature.
Sasanians An empire that succeeded the Parthians in the mid 220s CE in Inner Eurasia.
Satrap The governor of a province in the Persian Empire. Each satrap was a relative or intimate associate of the king.
Scythian ethos In part the result of the constant struggle between settlers, hunter-gatherers, and nomads on the northern frontier of Europe, this was a warrior ethos that embodied the extremes of aggressive mountedhorse culture, c. 1000 BCE.
Sea Peoples Migrants from north of the Mediterranean who invaded the cities of Egypt and the Levant in the second millennium BCE. Once settled along the coast of the Levant, they became known as the Philistines and considerably disrupted the settlements of the Canaanites.
Second-generation cultures Societies that expanded old ideas and methods by incorporating new aspects of culture and grafting them onto, or using them in combination with, established norms.
Seleucus Nikator A successor of Alexander the Great who lived from 358 to 281 BCE. He controlled Mesopotamia, Syria, Persia, and parts of the Punjab.
Semu This term referred to "outsiders" or non- Chinese people—Mongols, Tanguts, Khitan, Jurchen, Muslims, Tibetans, Persians, Turks, Nestorians, Jews, and Armenians—who became a new ruling elite over a Han majority population in the late thirteenth century.
Shah Traditional title of Persian rulers.
Shandingdong Man A Homo sapiens whose fossil remains and relics can be dated to about 18,000 years ago. His physical characteristics were closer to those of modern humans, and he had a similar brain size.
Shang State Dynasty in northeastern China that ruled from 1600 to 1045 BCE. Though not as well defined by borders as the territorial states in the southwest of Asia, it did have a ruling lineage. Four fundamental elements of the Shang state were a metal industry based on copper, pottery making, standardized architectural forms and walled towns, and divination using animal bones.
Sharecropping A system of farming in which tenant farmers rented land and gave over a share of their crops to the land's owners. Sometimes seen as a cheap way for the state to conduct agricultural affairs, sharecropping often resulted in the impoverishment and marginalization of the underclass.
Sharia Literally, "the way"; now used to indicate the philosophy and rulings of Islamic law.
Shiism One of the two main branches of Islam. Shiites recognize Ali, the fourth caliph, and his descendants as rightful rulers of the Islamic world; practiced in the Safavid empire.
Shiites The group of supporters of Ali, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, who wanted him to be the first caliph and believed that members of the Prophet's family deserved to rule. Although always a minority sect in the Islamic world, Shiism itself contains several subsects, each of which has slightly different interpretations of theology and politics. The leaders of the Shiite community are known as "Imam," which means "leaders."
Shoguns From 1192 to 1333, the Kamakura shoguns were generalissimos who served as military "protectors" of the ruler in the city of Heian.
Shotoku Prince in the early Japanese Yamoto state (574622 BCE) who is credited with having introduced Buddhism to Japan.
Shudras Literally "small ones," these people were workers and slaves from outside the Vedic lineage.
Siddhartha Gautama Another name for the Buddha; the most prominent opponent of the Brahman way of life; he lived from 563 to 483 BCE.
Silk A luxury textile that became a vastly popular export from China (via the Silk Road) to the cities of the Roman world.
Silk Road Trade route linking China with Central Asia and the Mediterranean; it extended over 5,000 miles, land and sea included, and was so named because of the quantities of silk that were traded along it. The Silk Road was a major factor in the development of civilizations in China, Egypt, Persia, India, and even Europe.
Silla One of three independent Korean states that may have emerged as early as the third century BCE. These states lasted until 668 CE, when Silla took control over the entire peninsula.
Siva The third of three Vedic deities, signifying destruction. See also Brahma and Vishnu.
Slave plantations A system whereby labor was used for the cultivation of crops wholly for the sake of producing surplus that was then used for profit; slave plantations were a crucial part of the growth of the Mediterranean economy.
Small seal script A unified script that was used to the exclusion of other scripts under the Qin, with the aim of centralizing administration; its use led to a less complicated style of clerical writing than had been in use under the Han.
Sogdians A people who lived in central Asia's commercial centers and maintained the stability and accessibility of the Silk Road. They were crucial to the interconnectedness of the Afro-Eurasian landmass.
Song dynasty This dynasty took over the mandate of heaven for three centuries starting in 976 CE. It was an era of many economic and political successes, but they eventually lost northern China to nomadic tribes.
Song porcelain A type of porcelain perfected during the Song period that was light, durable, and quite beautiful.
Speciation The formation of different species.
Spiritual ferment After 300 CE religion touched more areas of society and culture than before and touched them in different, more demanding ways.
Spring and Autumn period Period between the eighth and fifth centuries BCE, during which China was ruled by the feudal system. Considered an anarchic and turbulent time, there were 148 different tributary states in this period.
Stoicism A widespread philosophical movement initiated by Zeno (334262 BCE). Zeno and his followers sought to understand the role of people in relation to the cosmos. For the Stoics, everything was grounded in nature. Being in love with nature and living a good life required being in control of one's passions and thus indifferent to pleasure or pain.
Strait of Malacca The seagoing gateway to Southeast and East Asia.
Sufi brotherhoods Mystics within Islam who were responsible for the expansion of Islam into many regions of the world.
Sultan An Islamic political leader. In the Ottoman Empire, the sultan combined a warrior ethos with an unwavering devotion to Islam.
Sumerian King List The Sumerian King List is among the texts that recount the making of political dynasties and depict great periodic floods. Recorded around 2000 BCE, it organizes the reigns of kings by dynasty, one city at a time.
Sumerian pantheon The Sumerian gods, each of whom had a home in a particular floodplain city. In the Sumerian belief system, both gods and the natural forces they controlled had to be revered.
Sumerian temples Temples were thought of as homes of the gods and symbols of Sumerian imperial identity. They also represented the ability of the gods to hoard wealth at sites where people exchanged goods and services. In addition, temples distinguished the urban from the rural world.
Sunni Orthodox Islam, as opposed to the Shiite Islam.
Sunnis The majority sect of Muslims, who originally supported the succession of Abu Bakr over Ali, and supported the rule of consensus rather than family lineage for the succession to the Islamic caliphate.
Superior man In the Confucian view, a person of perfected moral character, fit to be a leader.
Suryavamsha The second lineage of two (the solar) in Vedic society. See Chandravamsha.
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