Key Terms

asceticism

the practice of self-denial and rejection of pleasures as a way to express religious devotion

Bedouin

the name given to nomadic tribes of Arabia

Code of Justinian

a legal project carried out by Emperor Justinian to compile and edit Roman edicts issued from the second to the sixth century CE

ecumenical councils

meetings organized by emperors that gathered Christian bishops from around the empire to settle matters of doctrine within the Church

foederati

foreign states and tribes that were given semiautonomy as Roman allies in exchange for pledging military service to the Roman Empire

Jewish diaspora

the dispersion of the Jewish people beyond their ancestral homeland of Israel/Palestine following the Romans’ destruction of the Second Temple

Late Antiquity

a transitional period between the ancient and medieval worlds that occurred from roughly 150 to 750 CE

tetrarchy

the rule of four emperors, two senior and two junior, established by the emperor Diocletian to quell the Crisis of the Third Century

Theodosian Code

a document initiated by the emperor Theodosius II compiling laws from around the empire that had been issued since the early fourth century