Page 97 - ABCTE Study Guide_Neat

Cleopatra

The last Greek ruler of Egypt, Cleopatra, was forced from her throne in 40 BC. Julius Caesar, who
conquered Egypt, restored Cleopatra's power. She was romantically linked to Caesar (their son was
Ptolemy XV) and, later, to Roman political leader Mark Antony. With Octavian’s armies swarming
towardEgypt, she committed suicide in 30 BC.

Alexander the Great

Alexander was the Macedonian king who conquered the Persian Empire and vast stretches of other lands
in the third century BC. One of the most powerful military leaders of the ancient world and a ruler of an
unprecedented number of lands and peoples, Alexander died of disease in 323 BC.

The Twain Shall Meet: The Silk Road and Trade

Actually, a sprawling collection of different routes, the Silk Road was a connecting force between the
great civilizations of the West and East. The Chinese attempts to reach trading partners in the West and
the Roman conquest of Egypt in the first century BC helped bring the two parts of the globe together.
Nominally, silk was the traded commodity in question, but that trade also brought an exchange of ideas,
cultural practices, and peoples.

The Aztecs, the Maya, and the Incas

Across the Atlantic, the Mesoamerican empires of the Aztecs, the Maya, and the Incas rivaled those of
ancient Europe and Asia. In the early 1300s, the Aztecs established their capital of Tenochtitlan, built on
the site of modern-day Mexico City. The Aztecs had a distinct class system, schools, and a complex
religion.

Aztec Empire

The Maya of southern Mexico and northern Central America developed numerous city-states around AD
200. Archaeological ruins reveal their massive temples and stelae (large stone slabs carved with images
of important people and events). The Incan Empire stretched along the west coast of South America; the
Incas developed a civil service system and also maintained a basic federalist system of government. Both
the Incas and the Aztecs eventually met their doom when they came into contact with the Spanish
conquistadors.