* Vocabulary:
defile 山中狭径
strip 狭长地带
outpost 前哨；偏远村镇
the spoils 赃物，战利品
alike = (adv.) both/equally
vassal 封臣，家臣；附庸国
disinter 从地下掘出（尤指尸体）；发现（埋藏很久的东西）
heyday 最为强大、最为繁盛的时期 in her heyday
decrepit 衰老的
peremptorily 专横地，霸道地，不容商量地
cloudland 仙境，梦中世界
etymological 词源的
pun 双关语
nay (old-fashioned)不仅如此
autograph （名人的）亲笔签名
cuneiform 楔形文字
principality 公国，侯国
serf （旧时）农奴
personage 要人，名人
hieroglyph 象形文字
obsidian 黑曜岩
lathe 车床
cadastral 地籍的
pharaoh 法老
creed 信念，原则；纲领；宗教信仰 （the Creed 【基督教】信经）
scribe 抄写员，抄书吏（印刷术发明之前）
usurp 篡夺，篡权 （usurpation n.）
subvert = undermine
vizier 维齐（旧时某些穆斯林国家的高官）
granary 谷仓
commencement 开始；学位授予典礼，毕业典礼
fallible 会犯错误的
quietude 宁静
* sustenance
营养，食物
维持，保持 e.g. the sustenance of democracy
* admixture
混合 an admixture of aggression and creativity
混合物 a French-speaking region with an admixture of German speakers
* embody 具体体现 =represent
e.g. a young politician who embodies the hope of the Black youth
be embodied in sth
e.g. the principles embodied in the Declaration of Human Rights
embody sth 包括，包含，收录
e.g. The new model embodies many new features.
* scrap
有很多词性...
一个一个来
n.
碎片，小块 a scrap of paper
注意fig.的用法！
scraps of information 零星的消息
She's just a scrap of a thing. 她只是个不起眼的小东西。
（通常与否定式连用）丝毫，一丁点=bit
e.g. a scrap of difference
scraps 残羹剩饭
u.n. 废料，废品
v.废弃，取消
e.g. to scrap plans of a new school building
* relegate 使降级
be relegated to
e.g. Women tended to be relegated to typing and filling jobs.
He relegated the incident to the back of his mind. 这句蛮有意思的：他把这件事抛诸脑后。
* restore这个词以前没怎么注意过...主要是自己老是不用，哎。
现在来整理一下
restore the public confidence in economy
restore your faith in human nature
restore your sight
be restored to health
restore the garden to its former glory
restore old paintings 这个应该很常见啦
restore traditions
restore the painting to its rightful owner 物归原主
* rest on
有好几个意思
依靠，依赖 e.g. All of our hopes rest on you.
凝视 e.g. Her eyes rested on the piece of paper.
基于，以...为基础 e.g. The whole argument rests on a false assumption.
拓展一下，还有个rest with 是...的责任/分内之事
e.g. It rests with the management to make the decision.
* on the ground of 这一个月得是碰到三次了吧，再提一下，要学会用啊！
* reinstate sb in/at sth 使恢复原职
e.g. He was reinstated in his post.
另外，reinstate还可以与restore同义：reinstate the death penalty
* strew
把...布满: strew A on/across/over etc. = scatter
strew A with B 这个除了常规用法之外，还有fig.的用法：
e.g. The way ahead is strewn with difficulties.
* the skirts of a forest/hill/village etc: the outside edge of ...
这个时候的意思类似于outskirts
* recess 常见义不谈。
作名词的时候，可以表示 壁橱：a recess for books，当作动词的时候可以这么说：recessed shelves 凹进墙壁的格子架
同样作名词时，可以表示 隐蔽处；幽深处
注意它的fig.用法：The doubt was still there, in the deep recess of her mind.
* mythical 神话里的 =legendary
并不存在的，虚无的 fictitious
e.g. the mythical 'rich uncle' that he boasts about
* high road (highroad) 公路干线，交通要道
high road to sth 最直接的方式
e.g. This is the high road to democracy.
[IDIOM]
take the high road in sth 采取最积极的行动方针
e.g. He took the high road in his campaign.
* prodigious 巨大的，伟大的
a prodigious achievement/memory/talent
这个词的副词prodigiously很好用！
a prodigiously talented musician 有惊人天赋的音乐家（这边已经比较类似程度副词了）
She ate prodigiously. 她饭量惊人。
* lapse 哎，又是个很多很多用法的词。
【名词】
小错，疏忽 a lapse of concentration/memory
两件事发生的间隔时间=interval
行为失检；（平时表现不错的人一时的）失足
【动词】
（合同、协议等）失效；期满终止 She had allowed her membership to lapse.
衰退 His concentration lapsed after a few minutes.
lapse from sth 背弃，放弃（宗教信仰）
lapse into sth
（逐渐）陷入，进入
e.g. to lapse into unconciousness/a coma
She lapsed into silence again.
说话或举止显得异常（令人难以接受）
e.g. He soon lapsed back into his old ways. 他很快又犯老毛病了。
* mercenary
名词意思是雇佣兵
形容词：只为金钱的
e.g. a mercenary society/attitude
She's interested in him for purely mercenary reasons.
* furnish sb with sth 向（某人或某事物）供应，提供
e.g. She furnished him with the facts surrounding the case.
* tear asunder
* Palestine (region)
Palestine is a geographic region in Western Asia between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. It is sometimes considered to include adjoining territories.
The region comprises most of the territory claimed for the biblical regions known as the Land of Israel, the Holy Land or Promised Land. Historically, it has been known as the southern portion of wider regional designations such as Canaan, Syria, ash-Sham, and the Levant.
Situated at a strategic location between Egypt, Syria and Arabia, and the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity, the region has a long and tumultuous history as a crossroads for religion, culture, commerce, and politics.
The region has been controlled by numerous peoples, including Ancient Egyptians, Canaanites, Israelites and Judeans, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Ancient Greeks and Macedonians, the Jewish Hasmonean Kingdom, Romans, Byzantines, the Arab Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid and Fatimid caliphates, Crusaders, Ayyubids, Mamluks, Mongols, Ottomans, the British, and modern Israelis, Jordanians, Egyptians and Palestinians.
The boundaries of the region have changed throughout history. Today, the region comprises the State of Israel and the Palestinian territories in which the State of Palestine was declared.
Green: Roman Province
Red: Mandatory Palestine
Blue: the Palestinian territories
* Canaan
Canaan was a Semitic-speaking region in the Ancient Near East during the late 2nd millennium BC.
In the Bible it corresponds to the Levant（黎凡特）, in particular to the areas of the Southern Levant that provide the main setting of the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, i.e., the area of Israel, Philistia, Phoenicia, and other nations.
The name Canaan occurs commonly in the Hebrew Bible, with particular definition in references Genesis 10 and Numbers 34, where the "Land of Canaan" extends from Lebanon southward to the "Brook of Egypt" and eastward to the Jordan River Valley. References to Canaan in the Bible are usually backward-looking, referring to a region that had become something else (i.e., the Land of Israel).
The term Canaanites serves as an ethnic catch-all（涵义甚广的） term covering various indigenous（本地的） populations—both settled and nomadic-pastoral groups（游牧民族）—throughout the regions of the southern Levant or Canaan. It is by far the most frequently used ethnic term in the Bible,[2] which commonly describes Canaanites as a people which, in the Book of Joshua are marked down on a list as one of the nations to be exterminated, and later as a group which the Israelites had annihilated.
Canaan had significant geopolitical importance in the Late Bronze Age Amarna period (14th-century BC) as the area where the spheres of interest of the Egyptian, Hittite, Mitanni and Assyrian Empires converged. Much of the modern knowledge about Canaan stems from archaeological excavation in this area at sites such as Tel Hazor, Tel Megiddo, and Gezer.
* Attica
Attica is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece. The historical region is centered on the Attic peninsula, which projects into the Aegean Sea. The history of Attica is tightly linked with that of Athens, which, from the classical period, was one of the most important cities in the ancient world.
我觉得我得先附个欧洲地图...
* Assyria 亚述
Assyria was a major Mesopotamian East Semitic-speaking（闪米特语系的） kingdom and empire of the ancient Near East. It existed as a state from perhaps as early as the 25th century BC in the form of the Assur city-state, until its lapse between 612 BC and 599 BC, spanning the Early to Middle Bronze Age through to the late Iron Age.
From the end of the seventh century BC to the mid-seventh century AD, it survived as a geopolitical entity, for the most part ruled by foreign powers, although a number of Neo-Assyrian states arose at different times during the Parthian and early Sasanian Empires between the mid-second century BC and late third century AD, a period which also saw Assyria become a major centre of Syriac Christianity and the birthplace of the Church of the East.
Centered on the Tigris（底格里斯河） in Upper Mesopotamia (modern northern Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and the northwestern fringes of Iran), the Assyrians came to rule powerful empires at several times. Making up a substantial part of the greater Mesopotamian "cradle of civilization", which included Sumer（苏美）, the Akkadian Empire（阿卡德帝国）, and Babylonia, Assyria was at the height of technological, scientific and cultural achievements for its time. At its peak, the Assyrian empire stretched from Cyprus and the East Mediterranean to Iran, and from what is now Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Caucasus, to the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt and eastern Libya.
Assyria is named after its original capital, the ancient city of Aššur, which dates to c. 2600 BC, originally one of a number of Akkadian city states in Mesopotamia. In the 25th and 24th centuries BC, Assyrian kings were pastoral leaders. From the late 24th century BC, the Assyrians became subject to Sargon of Akkad, who united all the Akkadian- and Sumerian-speaking peoples of Mesopotamia under the Akkadian Empire, which lasted from c. 2334 BC to 2154 BC.
After its fall from power, the greater remaining part of Assyria was a geopolitical region and province of other empires, although between the mid-2nd century BC and late 3rd century AD a patchwork（拼凑之物） of small independent Assyrian kingdoms arose in the form of Ashur, Adiabene, Osroene, Beth Nuhadra, Beth Garmai and Hatra. The region of Assyria fell under the successive control of the Median Empire, the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Seleucid Empire, the Parthian Empire, the Roman Empire, and the Sasanian Empire. The Arab Islamic Conquest in the mid-seventh century finally dissolved Assyria (Assuristan) as a single entity, after which the remnants of the Assyrian people (by now Christians) gradually became an ethnic, linguistic, cultural and religious minority in the Assyrian homeland, surviving there to this day as an indigenous people of the region.
* Hittites
The Hittites were an Ancient Anatolian people who established an empire centered on Hattusa in north-central Anatolia around 1600 BC.
This empire reached its height during the mid-14th century BC under Suppiluliuma I, when it encompassed an area that included most of Anatolia as well as parts of the northern Levant and Upper Mesopotamia. Between the 15th and 13th centuries BC the Hittite Empire came into conflict with the Egyptian Empire, Middle Assyrian Empire and the empire of the Mitanni for control of the Near East. The Assyrians eventually emerged as the dominant power and annexed much of the Hittite empire, while the remainder was sacked by Phrygian newcomers to the region.
After c. 1180 BC, during the Bronze Age collapse, the Hittites splintered into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some of which survived until the 8th century BC before succumbing to（屈服，屈从） the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
The Hittite language was a distinct member of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family, and along with the related Luwian language, is the oldest historically attested Indo-European language. They referred to their native land as Hatti. The conventional name "Hittites" is due to their initial identification with the Biblical Hittites in 19th century archaeology. Despite their use of the name Hatti for their core territory, the Hittites should be distinguished from the Hattians, an earlier people who inhabited the same region (until the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC) and spoke an unrelated language known as Hattic which was probably a language isolate but may have been a Northwest Caucasian language.
The history of the Hittite civilization is known mostly from cuneiform texts found in the area of their kingdom, and from diplomatic and commercial correspondence found in various archives in Assyria, Babylonia, Egypt and the Middle East, the decipherment of which was also a key event in the history of Indo-European linguistics.
The Hittite military made successful use of chariots, and although belonging to the Bronze Age, the Hittites were the forerunners of the Iron Age, developing the manufacture of iron artifacts（工艺品） from as early as the 18th century BC; at this time, gifts from the "man of Burushanda" of an iron throne and an iron sceptre to the Kaneshite king Anitta were recorded in the Anitta text inscription.
* Tel Megiddo (Armageddon)
According to the Book of Revelation, Armageddon is the prophesied location of a gathering of armies for a battle during the end times, variously interpreted as either a literal or a symbolic location.
The term is also used in a generic sense to refer to any end of the world scenario.
"Mount" Tel Megiddo is not actually a mountain, but a tell (a hill created by many generations of people living and rebuilding on the same spot) on which ancient forts were built to guard the Via Maris, an ancient trade route linking Egypt with the northern empires of Syria, Anatolia and Mesopotamia.
Megiddo was the location of various ancient battles, including one in the 15th century BC and one in 609 BC.
* David
David was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah, reigning in c. 1010–970 BCE.
Depicted as a valorous warrior of great renown, a poet, and musician credited for composing many of the psalms（赞美诗） contained in the Book of Psalms, King David is viewed in biblical sources as a righteous and effective king both in battle and in providing civil and criminal justice. He is described as a man after God's own heart in 1 Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22.
The Hebrew prophets regarded him as the ancestor of the future messiah. The New Testament says he was an ancestor of Jesus.
* Solomon
Solomon, also called Jedidiah, was, according to the Bible (Book of Kings: 1 Kings 1–11; Book of Chronicles: 1 Chronicles 28–29, 2 Chronicles 1–9), Quran, hadith and Hidden Words a fabulously wealthy and wise king of Israel and a son of David, the previous king of Israel.
The conventional dates of Solomon's reign are circa 970 to 931 BC, normally given in alignment with the dates of David's reign. He is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, which would break apart into the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah shortly after his death. Following the split, his patrilineal（父系的） descendants ruled over Judah alone.
According to the Talmud（《塔木德经》，犹太古代法典）, Solomon is one of the 48 prophets. In the Quran, he is considered a major prophet, and Muslims generally refer to him by the Arabic variant（变体） Sulayman, son of David. Solomon was, according to the Qur'an, a king of ancient Israel as well as the son of David.
The Hebrew Bible credits him as the builder of the First Temple in Jerusalem. It portrays him as great in wisdom, wealth, and power beyond any of the previous kings of the country, but ultimately as a human king who sinned. His sins included idolatry（盲目崇拜）, marrying foreign women, and ultimately turning away from Yahweh, and led to the kingdom's being torn in two during the reign of his son Rehoboam.
Solomon is the subject of many other later references and legends, most notably in the 1st-century apocryphal（传闻但不足为凭的） work known as the Testament of Solomon.
In later years, in mostly non-biblical circles, Solomon also came to be known as a magician and an exorcist（驱魔者）, with numerous amulets and medallion seals dating from the Hellenistic period（the period between the death of Alexander the Great and the emergence of the Roman Empire when Greek culture was in its heyday around Europe, Africa and Asia） invoking his name.
* Phoenicians' love for trade hhh They are really telented in business.
* Akkad (region)
Akkad is the historical name of a region in northern Mesopotamia around the city of Akkad, probably near the confluence of the Diyala with the Tigris.
After the emergence of the Akkadian Empire, Akkad came to designate the area between Nippur and Sippar.
During the first millennium BCE, Akkad was used as a name not only for the northern half of Babylonia, but also for Sumer. The meaning of the name is unknown.
* Sargon of Akkad
Sargon of Akkad was the first ruler of the Semitic-speaking Akkadian Empire, known for his conquests of the Sumerian city-states in the 24th to 23rd centuries BC.
He was the founder of the "Sargonic" or "Old Akkadian" dynasty, which ruled for about a century after his death, until the Gutian conquest of Sumer.
The Sumerian king list makes him the cup-bearer to king Ur-Zababa of Kish. His empire is thought to have included most of Mesopotamia, parts of the Levant, besides incursions into Hurrite and Elamite territory, ruling from his (archaeologically as yet unidentified) capital, Akkad (also Agade).
Sargon appears as a legendary figure in Neo-Assyrian literature of the 8th to 7th centuries BC. Tablets with fragments of a Sargon Birth Legend were found in the Library of Ashurbanipal.
* Shinar
The term used in the Hebrew Bible for the general region of Mesopotamia.
* Elam
Elam was an ancient Pre-Iranian civilization centered in the far West and Southwest of what is now modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of what is now Khuzestan and Ilam Province as well as a small part of southern Iraq.
Elamite states were among the leading political forces of the Ancient Near East.
In classical literature, Elam was also known as Susiana, which is a name derived from its capital, Susa.
Elam was part of the early urbanization during the Chalcolithic period （铜石并用时代）(Copper Age). The emergence of written records from around 3000 BC also parallels Sumerian history, where slightly earlier records have been found.
In the Old Elamite period (Middle Bronze Age), Elam consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered in Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands.
Its culture played a crucial role during the Persian Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded Elam, when the Elamite language remained among those in official use.
* Nineveh
Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located on the outskirts of Mosul in modern-day northern Iraq. It is on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and was the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
It was the largest city in the world for some fifty years until the year 612 BC when, after a bitter period of civil war in Assyria, it was sacked by a coalition of its former subject peoples, the Babylonians, Medes, Chaldeans, Persians, Scythians and Cimmerians.
Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq.
The two main tells, or mound-ruins, within the walls are Kouyunjik (Kuyuncuk), the Northern Palace, and Tell Nabī Yūnus.
Large amounts of Assyrian sculpture and other artifacts have been excavated and are now located in museums around the world.
Site remains suffered in the 2010s from the occupation of the area by ISIS. Iraqi forces recaptured the area in January 2017.
* Thebes
Thebes, known to the ancient Egyptians as Waset, was an ancient Egyptian city located east of the Nile about 800 kilometers (500 mi) south of the Mediterranean.
Its ruins lie within the modern Egyptian city of Luxor.
Thebes was the main city of the fourth Upper Egyptian nome（【古埃及】省） (Sceptre nome). It was close to Nubia and the eastern desert, with their valuable mineral resources and trade routes.
It was a cult（宗教信仰） center and the wealthiest city of ancient Egypt at its heyday. The site of Thebes includes areas on both the eastern bank of the Nile, where the temples of Karnak and Luxor stand and the city proper situated; and the western bank, where a necropolis（大墓地） of large private and royal cemeteries and funerary complexes can be found.
* The Philistines
The Philistines were an ancient people primarily known for their conflict with the Israelites described in the Bible. The primary source about the Philistines is the Hebrew Bible, but they are first attested in reliefs at the Temple of Ramses III at Medinet Habu, where they are called Peleset, accepted as cognate with Hebrew P'léšet. Assyrian sources also refer to Pilišti and Palaštu, also believed to be cognate with P'léšet.
We see the history of countries in the Middle East revolving one certain place which generally refers to Palestine and Israel in modern times, while Canaan in ancient times.
* The overview map of ancient Near East
Chronology of the main dominations in Ancient Mesopotamia
