Chapter 2:

Empire in
Southwest Asia
Lesson 2

New Words: treason, relic, caliph, caliphate, bazaar,

converted, calligraphy, Arabic numerals.

People & Places: Sassanids, Heraclius, Mu’awiyah,

Damascus, Umayyads, Abbasids, Harun al-Rashid,
Baghdad, Iraq.
Empire in Southwest Asia

New Words:
treason: a crime against
one’s state or country.
New Words:

relic: A holy object.

New Words:

caliph: The head of Islamic

communities.
New Words:

caliphate:
The land ruled by the head of Islamic
communities.
 New Words:

bazaar: A market of shops.

New Words:

converted: Changed one’s religion.

New Words:

calligraphy: a kind of beautiful

writing.
 New Words:

Arabic Numerals: The numbers 1

through 9.
 People & Places:
Sassanids:Members of the
Sassanian Empire.
Singular: Sassanian
Plural: Sassanids
The Sassanian Empire(224-651):
was a dynasty from ancient
Persia.
 People & Places:
The Sassanian Empire:
was the last pre-Islamic Persian
empire. It was established in
224 by Ardeshir I, descendant
of Sasan. The Empire lasted until
651 when it was overthrown by
the Arab Caliphate.
 People & Places:
The Sassanian Empire:
It is considered by the Iranian
people to be a highlight of their
civilization.
 People & Places:

Heraclius (575-641): was the Emperor of

the Byzantine Empire from 610 to 641.
He was responsible for introducing Greek as the
Byzantine Empire’s official language.
 People & Places:

Mu’awiyah(602-680): founder and

first caliph of the Umayyad
Caliphate of Damascus.
 People & Places:

Damascus: Ancient city,

considered among the oldest
continually inhabited cities in the world.
Currently capital city of Syria.
 People & Places:

Damascus:
Located in the southwestern corner of
the country, it has been called the
“pearl of the East”, praised for its beauty
and lushness.
People & Places:

Umayyads: were the members

of the Umayyad dynasty,
established in 661 in Damascus.
 People & Places:

Abbasids: Members of the Abbasid

dynasty.
The Abbasid caliphate (750-1258): was
the second of the two great dynasties of
the Muslim empire of the caliphate.
 People & Places:

It overcame the Umayyad caliphate in

750 and reigned as the Abbasid
caliphate until it was destroyed by the
Mongol invasion in 1258.
People & Places:

Harun al-Rashid: caliph of

Baghdad 786-809, one of the
greatest Abbasids, he was
made almost a legendary hero
in the Arabian Nights.
 People & Places:

Baghdad: was the capital of the

Abbasid Caliphate.
Currently capital of Iraq, on the
Tigris River.
 People & Places:
Iraq:
Republic in the Middle East.
It is bordered by the Persian Gulf, Kuwait, and
Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan and Syria to
the west, Turkey to the north, and Iran to the
east. Its capital and largest city is Baghdad.