Key terms & definitions

Laws restricting clothing, materials and colours according to social rank, intended to preserve status distinctions and restrain extravagant spending.

A Lakota religious ceremony held at summer gatherings, expressing sacrifice and renewing connections between people and the spiritual and natural world.

A church group in which children learn about Christianity through age-appropriate teaching and activities.

Muhammad’s example and way of life, which Muslims follow as guidance.

Emptiness: the absence of a separate, independent essence. The Sanskrit spelling is sunyata; Mahayana Buddhism emphasises that all phenomena are empty of independent existence.

The two main branches of Islam. These religious identities became important political divisions in Iraq, but neither community held a single political viewpoint.

The movement in which Sunni tribal groups, including former insurgents, cooperated with US forces against Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Associated fighters became known as the Sons of Iraq.

A branch of Islam represented in this period by the Abbasid caliphs and the Seljuk rulers. Unlike the Shia Fatimids, the Abbasids did not claim the special spiritual insight of an imam.

The branch of Islam in which a local imam’s authority rests on religious knowledge and leadership, rather than the divine appointment and infallibility attributed to the Imams in Shi’a belief.

A follower of the Sunni branch of Islam. Aurangzeb was a Sunni Muslim and promoted Sunni religious scholars and their interpretation of Islamic law.

Followers of the other main branch of Islam. Saddam Hussein was a Sunni Muslim.

A dark patch visible on the Sun's surface. Changes in sunspot numbers indicate changes in solar activity.

‘Emptiness’: the teaching that things have no independent, permanent essence and depend on other things for their existence.

A small-gauge film format associated with amateur home movies; its recognisable appearance can evoke personal memory and nostalgia.

The Latin nickname meaning ‘proud’ or ‘arrogant’, given to Lucius Tarquinius in the Roman historical tradition.

Relatively recent geological materials lying above the bedrock.

The layering of text or images over other text or images.

An effect in which one image is laid over another so that both remain visible.

Something understood as existing or happening beyond the ordinary laws of nature, such as a ghost or communication across an impossible distance.

An explanation of illness involving forces beyond nature, such as divine or spiritual powers.

An exploding star whose light can help astronomers investigate the expansion of the universe.

A country with exceptional military, economic and political power, able to influence events internationally.

A number written at the upper right of an ion's formula to show the size and sign of its electrical charge.

A belief that an event, object or sign has a supernatural meaning or influence.

An additional tax on very high incomes, introduced in the People’s Budget for those with annual incomes above £5,000.

An employee who organises and oversees the day-to-day work of a group of workers.

An angle which adds to another angle to make $180^\circ$.

Two angles whose sum is $180^\circ$; they have the same sine value.

An electoral system in which voters select a first and second choice; if nobody wins more than half the first-choice votes, eligible second choices are transferred to the remaining top two candidates.

A person seeking protection, often by taking refuge at a sacred place such as an altar.