Chapter 4: Classical Civilization in the Mediterranean: Greece and Rome
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51 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Cyrus the Great | Founded the Persian Empire by 550 B.C.E.; successor state to the Mesopotamian empires. |
| Zoroastrianism | Persian religion that saw material existence as a battle between forces of good and evil; stressed the importance of moral choice; a last judgement decided the eternal fate of each person. |
| Hellenism | Culture derived from the Greek civilization that flourised between 800 and 400 B.C.E. |
| Hellenistic Culture | Culture associated with the spread of Greek influence and intermixture with other cultures because of Macedonian conquests by Alexander the Great. |
| Iliad and Odyssey | Greek epic poems attributed to Homer; defined relations of gods and humans that shaped Greek mythology. |
| Polis | City-state form of government typical of Greek political organization from 800 to 400 B.C.E. |
| Solon | Athenian reformer of the 6th century; established laws that eased the debt burden of farmers; forbade enslavement for debt. |
| Socrates | Athenian philosopher of the late 5th century B.C.E.; tutor of Plato; urged reflection of moral decisions; condemned to death for "corrupting" the minds of Athenian youth. |
| Direct Democracy | Literally, rule of the people, meaning the free male citizens in Athens; decisions came from the popular assembly without needing any elected representatives. |
| Pericles | Athenian political leader during the 5th century B.C.E.; guided development of the Athenian empire. |
| Olympic Games | One of the pan-Hellenic rituals observed by all Greek city-states; involved athletic competitions and ritual celebrations. |
| Oracle of Delphi | Person representing the god Apollo; recieved cryptic messages from the god that had predictive value if the seeker could correctly interpret the communication. |
| Persian Wars | 5th century B.C.E. wars between the Persian empire and the Greek city-states; Greek victories allowed Greek civilization to define identity. |
| Delian League | Alliance formed by Athens to other city-states after the Persian Wars; later taken over by Athens to become Athenian empire. |
| Peloponnesian War | War from 431 to 404 B.C.E. between Athens and Sparta for control over Greece; Spartans won, but didn't reach political unification of Greece. |
| Macedon | Kingdom of northern Greece; originally loosely organized under kings; became centralized under Philip II; conquered Greek city-states. |
| Philip II | Ruled Macedon from 359 to 336 B.C.E.; founder of centralized kingdom; conquered Greece. |
| Alexander the Great | Son and successor of Philip II; conquered Persian Empire and advanced to the borders of India; attempted to combine Greek and Persian culture. |
| Ptolemies | A regional dynasty after the death of Alexander, ruled in Egypt. |
| Seleucids | A regional dynasty after the death of Alexander, ruled in Persia. |
| Antigonids | A regional dynasty after the death of Alexander, ruled in Macedon and Greece. |
| Aristotle | Greek philosopher, teacher of Alexander; taught taht knowledge was based upon observation of phenomena in the material world. |
| Stoics | Hellenistic philosophers; they emphasized inner moral independence cultivated by strict discipline of the body and personal bravery. |
| Plato | Greek philosopher; knowledge based upon consideration of ideal forms outside the material world; proposed on ideal form of government based on abstract principles in which philosophy ruled. |
| Sophocles | Greek writer of tragedies; author of Oedipus Rex. |
| Aristophanes | Greek writer of comedies; author of the Frogs. |
| Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian | Three distinct styles of Hellenistic architecture; listed in order of increasing ornate quality. |
| Eutruscans | Culture that ruled Rome prior to the republic; ruled through powerful kings and well-organized armies; Romans won independence in about 510 B.C.E. |
| Plebians | Ordinary citizens, originally Roman families who couldn't trace relationships to one of the major Roman clans. |
| Consuls | Two chief executives of the Roman republic; elected annually by the assembly dominated by the aristocracy. |
| Clientage | The social relationship whereby wealthy Roman landlords gave protection and financial aid to lesser citizens in exchange for political and labor support. |
| Legions | The basic infantry unit of the Roman military; developed during the republic. |
| Carthage | Founded by the Phoenicians in Tunisia; became a major empire in the western Mediterranean; fought the three Punic Wars with Rome for control over Mediterranean, but were defeated and destroyed. |
| Hannibal | Carthaginian general during the second Punic War; invaded Italy but failed to conquer Rome; finally defeated in Africa at the battle of Zama. |
| Republic | The balanced political system of Rome from about 510 to 47 B.C.E., which had an aristocratic senate, a panel of magistrates and popular assemblies. |
| Tribunes | Plebian officials elected annually during the Roman republic. |
| Triberius and Gaius Gracchus | Tribunes who attempted to introduce land and citizenship reform under the late Roman republic; both were killed by order of the Senate. |
| Marius | Roman general during the last century B.C.E., introduced the use of paid volunteers to form the army, instead of citizen conscripts, which formed a military force with personal loyalty to its commander. |
| Sulla | Conservative military commander during the last century B.C.E. who attempted to reinforce powers of the Senate and to counter the influence of Marius. |
| Julius Caeser | General responsible for the conquest of Gaul, brought his army back to Rome and overthrew the republic; was assassinated in 44 B.C.E. by conservative senators. |
| Octavian | Later took the name Augustus; was the grandnephew/adopted son of Julius Caeser; defeated conservative senators after Ceaser's assassination; became the first Roman emperor. |
| Cicero | Conservative senator and Stoic philosopher; one of the great orators of his day. |
| Vergil | A great Roman epic poet during the Golden Age of Latin literature; author of the Aeneid. |
| Horace | Poet who adapted Greek poetic meters to Latin; author of lyrical poetry laudatory of the empire. |
| Ovid | Poet exiled by Augustus for sensual poetry considered out of touch with imperial policies which stressed family virtues. |
| Livy | Historian who linked the Roman Empire to the traditions of the Republican past; stressed the virtues thought to be popular during the early empire. |
| Natural Law | General principles of lawapplicable to all societies; became a fundamental concept of the Roman Empire's legal system, related to Stoic ethical theory. |
| Trajan | Emperor (101-106 B.C.E.) who instituted a more aggressive imperial foreign policy, resulting in the expansion of the empire to its greatest limits. |
| Jesus of Nazareth | Jewish teacher/prophet; believed by his followers to be the Messiah; executed by the Romans about 30 C.E. |
| Bishops | Heads of regional Christian churches. |
| Paul | Early Christian leader; moved away from the insistence that adherents of the new religion follow Jewish law; used Greek as the language of the church. |
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