Vocab Number 5

1. Justinian- reclaimed much of the Western Roman Empire for the Byzantine Empire in an attempt to restore Rome to its former glory

2. Justinian Code- the body of Roman civil law collected and organized by order of the Byzantine emperor Justinian

3. Hagia Sophia- the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom in Constantinople, built by the order of the Byzantine emperor Justinian

4. Patriarch- the principal leader in the eastern branch of Christianity

5. Icons- religious symbols used by eastern Christians6. Excommunication- the taking away of a persons

membership in a Christian church7. Slavs- a people from the forests north of the Black Sea

who’s society and culture blended with the Greeks and created Russian culture

8. Vladimir- United the Slavic people under Christianity and built Kiev into a capital city for the Slavic people

9. Czar- a Russian emperor (from the Roman title of Caesar)10. Genghis Khan- (universal ruler) Mongolian ruler who

united the Mongol clans and started the Mongolian Empire11. Pastoralist- a member of a nomadic group that herds

domesticated animals12. Clan- a group of people descended from a common

ancestor13. Pax Mongolica- “Mongol Peace” – the period when the

Mongols imposed stability and law and order across much of Eurasia

14. Kublai Khan- the grandson of Genghis Khan who ruled over the Mongol Empire during its height

15. Marco Polo- Italian explorer, and one of the first Europeans to travel across Asia, and a government official of Kublai Khan

16. Ghazi- warriors for Islam17. Ottomans- followers of the ghazi Osman, and the builders

of a Muslim state in Anatolia18. Sultan- “overlord” or “one with power”; title for the

Ottoman rulers during the rise of the Ottoman Empire19. Janissary- a member of an elite force of soldiers in the

Ottoman Empire